Things to think about when deciding about floor covering

Have you ever had a time when you needed to decide on a floor covering replacement for your home or property? It can be a little overwhelming with so many choices: hardwood, carpet, tile, stone, laminate, and so on. Once you select the type of floor covering, you then must sift through all the different brands available and what is going to look best in your home. Should you use a variety of material or just one? I listened recently to a story told by a friend, and she talked about replacing her common area with a combination of carpet and hard surface flooring. Unfortunately, she and her husband had different opinions about what they should do (Really? Never heard of that!). ☺ She asked me if there are any guidelines about flooring, and the answer is, of course but it is my guidelines and may not agree with someone else! Anyway, here is my take of some things to think about when deciding about floor covering:

Consider Form and Function ~ When selecting anything for a property, home, or office regarding flooring, consider how you need the floor covering to function. It is important to get the look you want, but just as important, if not more important, is that it should function the way you need it to. You may love the plush, fluffy white carpeting, but it probably will not function well in a common area with sippy cups and puppy paws.

Maximum of Three ~ When considering how many different flooring materials to have, I think about this as my “rule-of-thumb” to remember: While standing in any one place in your home, it is best to not see more than three different flooring materials within your view. More than three, and it is too busy. That said, I believe less-is-more, and less than three is even better! Whether it be hardwood, tile, or carpet, try to keep your flooring materials cohesive. That leads us to …

Go with the Flow ~ Think of your floors as the “backdrop” of your home. Ideally, it is good to have a seamless flow from room-to-room and having the same flooring throughout the common areas of your home provides that flow. Common areas would be your main living areas, such as the living room, family room, dining room and hallway. And, if you can include the kitchen, that much better. One last idea is to do an inset of carpet within the laminate flooring. If it works well with the shape of the room, it’s a nice way to break up the expanses of hard flooring and provides the same effect as an area rug. I’ve seen this design idea before, and with great results!

How to Break it Up ~ If you do want to change flooring from room-to-room, the bedrooms and bathrooms are the best choices for mixing things up. If you like the feel of soft carpeting underfoot when you step out of bed in the morning, then wall-to-wall carpeting in your bedroom should be your way to go! Tile in the bathrooms? Or course! This makes perfect sense, and these are natural areas to break the flow from the common areas. That said, many people like to have tile or stone flooring in their kitchen, and that’s okay too, IF there are doorways or other areas that create a natural break in the spaces.

I hope this helps! Choosing flooring for a home can be challenging, especially with the myriad of options available. Have fun and enjoy the process. Make design a fun exercise, not stressful!

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PG Long has six branch offices across the Pacific Northwest, including in Oregon: Portland, Medford, Eugene/Springfield, and Bend. Other branch offices include Boise, ID, and Kennewick, WA. When you’re ready to get started on your flooring, we’re prepared to help you in every way possible.

We proudly serve residents from Portland, OR; Boise, ID; Bend, OR; Eugene/Springfield, OR; Medford, OR; Salem, OR; Kennewick, WA; Eugene, OR; and Vancouver, WA, and invite you to stop in for your flooring estimate. We will work hard to find the right floor covering that you’ll love for years to come.