How To Use Floors To Enhance Your Furniture

The choice of flooring can totally define the look of a room - when visitors arrive, the floor will dictate how they perceive the size, shape, function and style of your space, and by selecting the right flooring choice, you can make sure that your furniture is properly presented and your home looks its best.

Choose a flooring option that is
sympathetic to your furniture's style

Changing your floor is not as expensive as you might think- there are a huge range of options to suit all budgets. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Although they aren't as hard wearing as traditional carpets, foam-backed carpet is very cheap, and allows you to make a quick, cheap impact on a room. Make sure that if you have heavy wooden furniture you invest in some rubber or foam pads for the bases to prevent them from permanently marking the carpet.

Carpeting can stifle the style of modern furniture, especially if the carpet has a bold pattern, but when combined with more traditional pieces can help to create a warm, cosy effect.

Modern furniture relies on clean lines, and to reflect this, it works best with a sleek wooden parquet floor. If you want a wooden floor, but haven't quite got the money to spare, try installing some click-system, wood-effect laminate - it's cheap, and properly fitted it can be almost indistinguishable from the real thing. Make sure you place any large items of furniture, such as coffee tables or sideboards, on top of rugs or rubber pads to prevent them from marking the floor.

If your room is split into different areas for differing purposes, like an open-plan kitchen with a lounge area or a lounge/dining room, then it can be very effective to vary the flooring according to function, using ceramic tile for kitchen areas, carpet for lounge, and laminate for dining. This also allows you to create differently styled areas within the same room - a sleek contemporary dining set nestled at the end of a more cosy carpeted lounge, for example.

Make sure you consider the consequences of your new flooring choice - Ceramic tiles have the benefit of being easy to clean and totally waterproof, but they can become dangerously slippy, so make sure to use rugs to provide grip and warmth. Likewise, laminate flooring looks great, but can quickly deteriorate if used in a damp environment like a bathroom or kitchen, or in hotter rooms like conservatories.

A real wooden floor is great in any room, and really brings out the best in any type of furniture. It's a practical option too, as the wood can be sealed against moisture, and can naturally expand and contract with changes in temperature. The only drawback with wooden flooring is the cost and difficulty of installation.

If you're feeling adventurous, and think you've got what it takes to lay your own wooden floor, check out this youtube video which will show you exactly how it's done and warn you of some of the most common difficulties you may run into.