Redefine Flooring Trends with Timeless Choices
Published: June 1, 2023
Where do you start your remodeling plans? Open a web browser and search for “Flooring trends,” and you’ll find a seemingly endless array of options, ideas and suggestions. After a while, you may feel as if you’re reading the same article over and over again – and if you glance back at equivalent stories from previous years, you’ll start to see trends ebb and flow from “wow” to “whoops.”
That’s the big problem with trends: By definition, they can blow through like a thunderstorm and disappear, sometimes leaving everyone glad they’re gone. If you’re planning a relatively inexpensive home update, you can erase it without too much guilt if the look you expected and the look you get don’t quite match up. But flooring is as much of an investment in the future as it is an addition to the present, and most people can’t afford to redo it on a whim.
So how do you choose flooring that gives your home a here-today look without wishing it were gone tomorrow? The trick is to remember that ultimately, your choices should be about you, your family and your lifestyle – not about recreating the pictures in a shelter magazine. If you like a trend and want to see it around you, great. But if it leaves you cold, or you really like something that isn’t the hit of the moment, that’s your cue to redefine it in terms of your unique tastes.
Think sustainability
Some trends simply make good sense, and the move toward sustainability in flooring choices comes from all sorts of smart places. You wouldn’t think twice about considering price, so think of sustainability as environmental cost. This can be as simple as broadening your material choices to include readily renewable options such as bamboo, or considering the manufacturing impact of a product and the products you’ll need to take care of it.
The function junction
As an outgrowth of the pandemic, people rethought how they use their homes and what they do where. “Home” became a multi-function concept like never before. One of the important outcomes of that rethinking was a renewed focus on making home spaces do more. To take advantage of those insights in a new flooring project, look at your rooms with an eye to how you can make them easier to use in more ways. Is carpet the best choice for a room that might double up as bedroom and an office? What’s most comfortable underfoot in a room in which you stand up for long periods of time?
Authentic originals
Another pandemic outcome was a huge demand for quickie interiors. As people scrambled to make their homes more versatile, they gulped down large amounts of fast furniture and décor. Those products certainly met a need, but they came with a cookie-cutter vibe that didn’t feel “like me” to many people. One way to avoid that mass-produced look is to introduce items that convey the look of craft and artisan appeal. Consider tile with the look of handmade designs, or interesting patterned floors that transform manufactured products into unique expressions.
Bring nature in
Your home is your shelter, but it also needs the comfort of natural touches to invite the real world inside with you. That need to feel connected to nature in a sustaining way is another emphasis that the pandemic brought with it. You can accomplish this natural focus with materials and with colors, as you look for choices that echo nature in soothing or stimulating ways. A hardwood floor – or the laminate lookalike – can add this look as an enduring platform for everyday living.
Warm up your colors
In recent years, gray has dominated interior color motifs with a slick, just-refinished look. Some people find it upscale and stylish. Others see it as cold and soulless. Wherever you fit on the attitude spectrum, you’ll probably want to avoid going all in on an all-gray look, as this is one trend that’s headed offstage. If you fall in love with a specific gray vinyl plank for your bath, or a particular gray tile really strikes your fancy, go for the looks that suit you, but don’t feel compelled to buy in to the top-to-bottom gray look. Instead, look for white oak, taupe finishes and warmer tones.
Rather than try to turn your home into a showcase of today’s trends, pick the ones that line up with your tastes and pass by the ones that “everybody likes.” If you’re looking for interesting ways to make your floors timeless and up to date at the same time, take some style cues from the design pros at Kermans. We’re always happy to show you what’s new and help you make it your own.