Living Room Flooring Ideas For You

Generally, people spend the most time in three rooms of their house: the master bedroom, the kitchen, and the living room. Because it is the room most likely to have a television, the living room is the usual place that people tend to congregate when homeowners have company. Additionally, a survey of prospective homebuyers listed the living room (tied with the kitchen) as the room that they value most when looking at various homes. The long and the short of it is, the living room is very important. It’s where you will be spending a large amount of your time, so you want it to be comfortable and look nice. That process begins with the floor. We’ve already covered some living room flooring options in a previous post, (hardwood, vinyl, and natural stone), but there’s so many more choices available to you. Let’s take a look at some other living room flooring options. 

Carpet

Wall-to-wall carpet floors are common, cost-effective, and cozy. It is less expensive than hardwoods and relatively low maintenance; a vacuum is all that’s necessary for a surface cleaning. When it comes to interior designing, it’s a versatile option because of the different types of carpet available (acrylic, nylon, olefin, polyester, wool) and the vast array of colors, designs, and patterns. It also has the added bonus of being easier to replace than other flooring options while also minimizing sound and saving energy. 

Concrete

We go from carpet to its polar opposite: concrete. A popular new trend for the minimalists out there is the use of concrete as flooring for indoor spaces. But unlike a traditional basement, this concrete floor can be enhanced through various processes like tinting, dying, painting, staining, scoring, etching and polishing. Its durability is unmatched, and its cost is among the lowest of any living room floor choice. For those aiming for an industrial-chic type look, concrete is a valid choice.

Linoleum

Many people use linoleum and vinyl flooring interchangeably, but this is incorrect. Vinyl flooring is made of synthetic components while linoleum is made from natural, organic, renewable materials. It is inexpensive, durable and versatile. It also has the added perk of being water-resistant, which might not matter as much when it comes to living room flooring but it certainly beats having to scrub and treat a carpet after a spill. In that same vein, linoleum is easy to clean, requiring treatment with mild cleaners, some vacuuming, and a mop for any stains. Linoleum is also environmentally friendly, due to its natural wood composition. Should you need to dispose of it, linoleum is biodegradable and can be recycled at any nearby recycling plants. 

Laminate

Made from pressed wood chip particles and topped with an image layer that mimics a hardwood floor, many people refer to laminate floors as laminate wood floors. It consists of three layers: a wear layer, an image layer, and a base layer. The wear layer protects the floor from external damage, the image layer is literally a photorealistic image rendering of a wooden floor pattern, and the core layer is made up of about a half-inch of wood-chip composite material. There are several benefits to installing laminate floors, mainly that they are: scratch resistant, easy to clean, ideal for homes with children and pets, and less expensive than some other flooring options. 

Engineered Wood

Somewhat like a cross between solid hardwood and laminate, engineered wood is a viable alternative to both. Engineered wood consists of a plywood base with a layer of real hardwood laid on top, perpendicular to the base layer. This type of flooring is cheaper than solid hardwood, but superior in quality to laminate flooring because it features a layer of real hardwood on top as opposed to an image. It looks and feels strikingly similar to real solid hardwood, and actually handles temperature fluctuations better than solid hardwood. In addition to being fairly easy to install, engineered wood also is available in several different wood types, styles, finishes, colors, and plank widths. Finally, the top layer of wood can be sanded and refinished if you ever wanted to make a change.

Living Room Flooring Options

Your living room is one of the most frequently used rooms in your home. Because of this, the design and feel of it are of paramount importance to you. It all starts with the floor. In the previous post about living room flooring, we looked at some higher end options like solid hardwood, vinyl, and natural stone. In this article, we discussed some of the benefits of some more economical options, including carpet, concrete, linoleum, laminate, and engineered wood. They each had their own perks, from durability to aesthetic appeal, and each homeowner should consider how each type of flooring would look and feel in their respective homes. After all, if a solid foundation is the key to building a strong house, then it stands to reason that the floor is the key to successfully tying a room together.   

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