Matching flooring is often recommended because it creates a seamless finish and better flow throughout your home. However, when it comes to interior design rules for flooring, there are no hard and fast rules — if you like mixing flooring or think your interior design could benefit from it, go for it.
By using different types of flooring, you can create zones within each room in your home. For instance, you could use carpet in the sitting area and hardwood flooring in the eating area of your living room. This will give your room a visual distinction and provide a unique look to your room.
Apply “The Rule of Three” to Home Flooring
This rule says you should use three flooring types at maximum throughout the whole home. For example, you might use hardwood in public areas of the house, except the kitchen and bathroom, where you use vinyl linoleum.
It unifies the design of your home
One of the most important benefits of having uniform flooring is continuity. If you're aiming for a certain look and vibe, using the same set of flooring materials for every room in your house will really tie up the design.
Failing to Consider the Flow of the Home
Choosing drastically different flooring types for each room can create a disjointed and chaotic feel. It's important to ensure that the flooring choices complement each other and contribute to a cohesive flow throughout your home.
To install two different shades of hardwood, a good rule of thumb is to go dark with one and light on the other. You can also get by with medium-dark and medium-light. An example is mahogany next to maple or white oak. Do be sure the hues don't clash though.
The 'Less than Three' Rule. Having more than two different types of floors colliding with one another is confusing to the eyes and may make your space seem cluttered or mismatched. When making your design choices, do not exceed more than two different types of material per floor of your home.
If you follow any kind of interior design guidebook, well, you're probably wondering if mixing design styles is even allowed! But we're here to tell you that it absolutely is. Contrast is what makes a room interesting and inviting. So don't get too hung up on any one “rule” that experts give you.
In the hallway you will want something very robust and hardwearing, while in a kitchen or utility, you want something with water resistance. And thirdly, get thinking of the style of the floor in terms of colours, tones in line with your interior colour scheme.
The rooms buyers most closely inspect (and judge) in a house are the kitchen and master bath. These are the interior spaces where the most value can be added during a sale, so they need to look their best.
Put a mark on the board at the 3 feet point. Now, measure the adjacent board from the same corner to 4 feet and put a mark there. Then, measure the distance between the two marks. If it is 5 feet, then you have a perfectly square corner.
Flooring specialists use a carpet edge gripper to transition flooring that's lower than the carpet. This aluminum strip tacks to the subfloor, and the specialist forces the carpet into the toothed side of the strip. You could also use T-molding for a hardwood-to-carpet transition.
In some cases, you may want each room to feel separated from the other. If you make the direction of the planks flow perpendicular to doorways, you can achieve a clear-cut separation without having to change flooring materials between rooms.
Absolutely not necessarily. Structurally if it's attached to the subfloor going across the floor joists is the norm. But still your preference still should matter. That being said, there are many homes whose brand new floor system has changed in direction and still everything goes one direction.
Mixing flooring types can add depth and interest to any space, but it's important to take the time to select the right colors, textures, and flooring types to create the look you want. By wisely and creatively incorporating different types of flooring, you can create a stylish and cohesive look and feel in your home.
Stick to two or three coordinated flooring materials total to retain a unified flow. For example, combining stone, wood and carpet can start to look busy if used broadly across rooms. Pay special attention to transition zones by avoiding abrupt seams or staining color mismatches.
Matching flooring is often recommended because it creates a seamless finish and better flow throughout your home. However, when it comes to interior design rules for flooring, there are no hard and fast rules — if you like mixing flooring or think your interior design could benefit from it, go for it.
One pro of having different flooring in the kitchen and living room is that it allows for different aesthetic preferences in each space. This means the kitchen can have a more durable option, like Dekton flooring and paving, while the living room can have a more aesthetically pleasing look.
Using the same value of different colors between rooms makes a home feel varied but balanced; using different values of the same color between rooms creates depth. For example, paint your lower kitchen cabinets a dark stormy gray, then choose a lighter shade of gray for the adjoining living room's walls.
Think velvet pillows, cashmere throw blankets, and hair-on-hide rugs—anything you instinctively want to touch. “Smaller accent items instantly elevate a room and give it a very sophisticated, moneyed vibe," Kuo says.
Create Distinct Atmospheres. Think of your two living rooms as an opportunity to explore different design themes. Maybe one room embraces a sleek, modern vibe with minimalist furniture and monochrome tones, while the other has a cozy charm with plush sofas, warm colors, and plenty of throw blankets.
The more expensive flooring upgrades yield the highest returns and appeal most to homebuyers. And hardwood is the clear winner, followed by engineered hardwood and tile. Carpet and luxury vinyl tiles add comparable value, though vinyl is the cheapest option.
Striking Contrasts: The Beauty of Natural Stone
Natural stone stands tall as an outstanding choice when looking for a flooring option that exudes sophistication and provides a stunning contrast to your hardwood floors. Materials like marble, granite, or slate create a sense of luxury and unparalleled visual impact.
The rule goes like this: 60% of space should be one color, 30% of space in another color, and 10% of the space devoted to a statement hue. Practically, this could look like gray-stained hardwood floors throughout most of the house, soft mint carpet in the bedrooms, and dramatic black tiles in the bathrooms.