Flooring is a big design choice for your home.
It literally covers a lot of ground and makes quite the visual impact. If you moved into a home with someone else’s
design selections in place, you may be wishing for a change. With some budgeting and some creativity, you
can make it happen.
Hardwood flooring comes at a high price, but
wood laminate flooring can provide you with a similar look and texture for
less. Laminate works well for any room
of the house, but if you would love the look and want to really keep the cost
down, consider smaller areas only like bathrooms, walk-in closets, and
hallways.
If you have tile or laminate in a large space
like the living room but would like to create a cozy and inviting, anchored
seating area, you have an option beyond an area rug. I love rugs, but with their set dimensions,
you can feel limited on size and shapes.
Just recently, I ventured into carpet floor tiles to replace a rug in our
high traffic laundry room and garage entry.
You can buy individual carpet tiles online you attach to each other with
peel-and-stick adhesion. Because the
carpet tiles can be cut to fit wall-to-wall, you can cover less desirable hard
flooring with a style you handpick. Or
you can create a custom size area rug or hallway runner that fits perfectly
amid your seating areas, furniture groupings, and walkways. You have the option to blend individual
pieces, offered in a variety of solids, stripes, gradients, and graphic prints,
to create a custom design.
Another flooring technique we will be seeing
more of, as it has certainly hit others areas already, is seeing flooring
material being carried right up the wall. Using subway style tiling and wood
pieces as a wall finish in bathrooms and kitchens in particular is a popular
technique on home design television.
DesignInMind column; appeared in the Valley Morning Star July 21st.
