How to choose the best flooring: A room-by-room guide

Whether you’re redesigning your living room, installing a new kitchen or have recently moved, you’ll want to find the perfect flooring to suit your home. Every home is different, but for every room, there are typically a few key things to keep in mind before you settle on a specific flooring option.

Durability, ease of maintenance, comfort, and, of course, style are all things to consider. From carpet and real wood, to vinyl and laminate, each option brings something unique to the table. In this guide, we’ll walk you through what to keep in mind with every room, helping you decide on the perfect floor.

Hallway

As one of the first things you see when you enter a home, hallway flooring can play an important role in your home’s interior design. It’s also one of the most high-traffic areas, which means striking a balance between durability and style is key.

Easy-to-maintain carpets such as loop pile are a popular choice for hallways. The well-known Berber carpet is an excellent example of a loop pile carpet which is extremely hard-wearing with an eye-catching pattern. 

To leave a lasting impression on your guests, nothing quite sets the tone like real wood flooring. Adding natural warmth and charm, real wood flooring is timeless and luxurious.

Living Room

Living rooms can vary a lot from home to home, so there is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to flooring. A living room is for rest and relaxation but it usually sees a lot of traffic, as well as the occasional spill or scratch. That’s why durability and ease of maintenance are important for a living room floor, especially if you have children or pets in your home.

Twist pile carpets are relatively hard-wearing, they don’t show many scuffs and marks and are the most common living room choice for families. For those with a quieter living room looking to create a relaxed and warm atmosphere, a velvet pile carpet is a great option with its close cut and smooth feel. 

If you are really looking to make a statement, you could opt for something a little more unique. Our tartan and plaid carpets do just that, blending both traditional and contemporary styles. These are 80% wool carpets, making them a sustainable choice, and they can also come in bespoke designs and tartan styles.

Hard floors are also common for living rooms in more modern and open-plan homes. If your living room also functions as a dining room, laminate flooring is an affordable, stylish and versatile option which is easy to clean. Luxury Vinyl Tiles (LVT) are another great type of hard floor, coming at a fraction of the cost of classic wood, stone or ceramic styles. These tiles are modern and technologically innovative, and available in a wide array of designs.

Kitchen

The kitchen is very often the central hub of a home, attracting more foot traffic than any other room. For that reason, you’ll need a hard floor that doesn’t pick up dirt easily. A flooring option which is stain and scratch-resistant is also important.

Striking a balance between style and affordability, laminate flooring is common in kitchens. These floors capture the beauty of a natural wood, stone or tile aesthetic, with their high-resolution surface textures. Both easy to install and maintain, laminate floors are available in a range of styles and are designed with state-of-the-art technology.

For a more affordable option, vinyl flooring is a great choice. Just like laminate flooring, vinyl floors can mimic beautiful wood, stone or tile designs and are exceptional at resisting warpage in humid and moist environments.

Bedroom

When choosing the right flooring for your bedroom, your top priority will be comfort. Like a living room, a bedroom is a space for rest and relaxation so carpets are the usual. Soft surfaces like carpets are also very good insulators and will help keep your bedroom cosy during the winter months.

There are several options when choosing carpet and each has varying textures, resulting in unique styles as well as feelings underfoot. Velvet pile carpets are a common bedroom carpet, offering a smooth and comfortable feeling.

For a more luxurious look and feel, you could consider a deep pile carpet like Saxony. These carpets are thick and soft, adding elegance to your bedroom. However, they can leave behind indentations from footprints and vacuuming.

Bathroom

A bathroom needs a floor which can withstand moisture and humidity and you’ll want something that’s easy to clean too.

Vinyl flooring offers a solution to meet these criteria, as well as coming in a wide range of styles and colours to compliment the aesthetics of your home. 

With vinyl flooring, you can get a very affordable option which can be installed quickly and simply by one of our experienced vinyl floor fitters.

Choosing the right flooring is about striking a balance between comfort and style. Whether it’s a high-traffic hallway, a cosy bedroom, or a moisture-prone bathroom, each space has its own special requirements.

At Sharon Leon, we have a range of flooring options to suit your preference, as well as a team of expert floor installation professionals.

With thousands of styles available, you can be confident you’ll find a floor that complements the style of your home—arrange a free quotation today.