How to Choose the Right Flooring For Your Space

{Photo Credit:  Nesting With Grace}

It’s been a few years since we’ve undertaken a major flooring project, but I have to admit that they’re challenging for me.  There are SO many choices out there, plus you have to live with your decision for quite a few years–you can’t change your flooring as easily as you can paint your walls, after all!

Because I do work with clients frequently who are building or renovating, I’ve come up with a short checklist that we use when we’re making floor selections.

First,

So, this one is probably my favorite, I’ll admit–I’m a form over function kind of girl!  Aesthetics covers color, pattern, texture, and how it coordinates with and finishes the room. Here’s a stunning before and after example from The Craft Patch Blog.

She pulled up their dark and dated carpet and replaced it with Shaw Floors‘ hardwoods in Brant Point Brown.  She also took down a pillar and painted the walls a lighter color, and now the entire look of the room is bright and fresh.

Photo Credit:  The Craft Patch | Read more about this project {here}.

Dark hardwoods are still so popular right now, and understandably so, and A Turtle’s Life for Me added them to her living room redo, as well, but then anchored the seating area with a cozy and colorful area rug.

By the way, did you know that you can have a rug cut exactly to order?  Style, color,  border, shape, and size? Shaw Floor‘s Cut-A-Rug allows you to fully customize your rug choices to fit your space.

Photo Credit:  A Turtle’s Life  | Read more about this project {here}

••••••

And of course, we can’t forget:
It’s pretty obvious that some rooms demand certain flooring choices.  If you’ve ever lived in a house that had carpeting in the kitchen or bathrooms (I have!), then you know exactly what I mean.  There’s a reason that “wet” rooms, like laundry rooms, bathrooms, and kitchens, do best with tile or hardwoods, while carpet and laminates are seen more frequently in living spaces and bedrooms.  And if you have pets or kids, then you know that easy clean up of spills and messes is absolutely essential (by the way, waterproof carpet actually exist now {more here}; I wish they’d had this when my kids were toddlers!).

The good news is that function and aesthetics can go hand in hand with the huge variety of flooring choices out there these days.  The new engineered hardwoods are eco-friendly and built to stand up to kids, pets, and high traffic {more here}.

Take a look at this lovely and durable tile that Nesting With Grace used in her kitchen renovation:

Photo Credit: Nesting With Grace | More about the project {here}

Matt and Jacque over at The DIY Village tackled an equally impressive (and on-trend) tile project in their bathroom, ripping out old vinyl flooring and replacing it with penny tile–functional and fun!

Photo Credit: The DIY Village  |  More on this project {here}

••••••

And of course, cost is always a factor (unless you’ve recently won the lottery).  There are several factors that go into the cost of new flooring, including quality, style, source (yep, marble costs more than vinyl), and installation.

If you love to DIY and are reasonably handy, then you can probably install your own flooring–my husband and I have done it before and we’re still both alive and married, so it can’t be that bad.  It’s also a great way to save money.  But, if you’d rather hand the job off to a professional, no one’s judging, and it will definitely save you time and frustration.

Like I mentioned earlier, there are SO many creative flooring options out there these days.  Peel-and-stick vinyl has come a long way and is a pretty easy and inexpensive project for a DIY beginner.  They even make it to look like wood and stone as well as tile {see more on that here}.

Check out how DIYBeautify used peel-and-stick vinyl tiles to add pizazz to her laundry room:

 Photo Credit:  DIY Beautify  |  More on this project {here}

And if you’re a truly fearless DIY’er, you can refinish what you already have or even create your own floors like On Fern Avenue:

Photo credit:  On Fern Avenue  |  More on this project {here}.

Looking for additional information and inspiration?  Visit Shaw Floors, the flooring company whose style, quality, and design are rated #1 year after year by independent retailers across the country who sell flooring products.

Inspiration |  Trends  |  Tips  |  Inspiration Rooms

Carpet Advantages  |   Carpet Installation

 

A huge thank you to these bloggers who graciously allowed me to showcase their talents in this post: Nesting With Grace, The Craft Patch Blog, A Turtle’s Life,  The DIY Village, DIY Beautify, and On Fern Avenue.

Good luck with your next flooring project, and thanks for stopping by!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Shaw Floors. The opinions and text are all mine.