Hardwood floor color for a small living room?
I just had laminate floors installed throughout my house. It is very tiny, but the flow of the wood seems to give it a feeling of being larger. It may be the grain of the wood flooring that gives the illusion of a larger expanse as the eye follows the length of the planks. I chose a medium oak color. It's not too light nor too dark. It is not the really shiny finish. I think it's a perfect color. My wall colors are light pastels, so the floors look nice with the paints I've chosen. The living room is a pale yellow-green called Winter Garden, the kitchen is light peachy tan called Toast, the bedroom is sage and the other bedroom is a light seafoam green. All look good with the oak flooring. Since you are putting wood in the kitchen, consider the wood finishes of your cabinets and the colors of your countertops. My cabinets are light maple, and the oak flooring is a little darker. There are so many beautiful hardwoods. I'm sure you'll make a good choice. A pecan would be a nice one, too. Some woods have definite red tones, so watch out for this if you want a neutral color.
Can laminate wood flooring in two adjoining rooms be mismatched?
First, it is unlikely you will find flooring to perfectly match. You should mix up all the boxes of laminate flooring because of possibiliites of slight mismatches between runs. Not likely you will find the same on a new that will match a worn installed. Now, depends on if you want the same colors. For example, a maple in one and a dark walnut in the other room. Quite a contrast. IF the contrast is great, you probably want a dramatic change, so from light to dark should work. If however, you want them to be similar in color, you may want to add a dark strip between the two to make the change more pronounced, kind of quartering off the room. A line in the sand if you will. IF you want it to look like one continuous area, then you need to pull up the dinning area and replace it all at the same time. Otherwise, you won't get the feel visually that you are trying to acheive.
Laminate vs wood flooring can be summed up pretty simply in two words… price and style! We think laminate flooring look great, there are some exceptional products available, but laminate doesn’t look the same as solid hardwood and that’s a fact. In a dining room or master bedroom where style is your main concern you might want to consider spending a little more on a quality hardwood floor.Laminate wood flooring is perfect in a functional setting where practicality is your priority. In a child’s playroom, in the family den or parts of the house where you have dogs running around laminate flooring just makes sense. It’s attractive, quickly cleaned and hard wearing too. In these situations solid wood flooring seems rather impractical and expensive. The same is also true when comparing laminate with bamboo flooring.Also remember that solid hardwood can stain and is vulnerable to strong sunlight. If stains and extreme weather conditions are a part of your day to day life then laminate flooring is the smart choice. When it comes to the pros and cons of laminate flooring there are plenty of reasons to choose laminate over hardwood or bamboo flooring, but its fair to say they are of a practical rather than aesthetic nature.
Laminate in your bedroom can increase value compared to carpet, especially if the carpet is old and worn. Some laminates have guarantees of 30 years which would attract buyers who don’t want to invest too much when they move in.As for looks, bedrooms usually reflect people’s personality, so there is no reason why different bedrooms can’t have different looks in terms of flooring. The fact they will both be laminate makes them consistent enough to not look ‘weird’.Make sure you use the correct profiles to connect different types of flooring between rooms. You can use ramp profiles for flooring of different heights, or T profiles for flooring of the same height - this will increase fluidity to make sure everything looks great. You can see different types of laminate profile here: Laminate Flooring Door Thresholds
Need your thoughts on laminate flooring design?
Ok so my living room as a blonde color laminate flooring.. My kitchen and dining room area is vinyl. What I would like to do is lay down laminate in the dining room. My living room has a large opening into the dinning room and my dinning room and kitchen is like all one big room without structural separation. So my question.. Should I try to match up the color/ style laminate flooring in my living room and continue into the Dinning room? Would it look strange if I went with a darker color in the Dinning room? also if I keep vinyl in the kitchen area would that look strange since its not a separate room from the dining?
Do you think if i just put wood flooring in my living room and carpet in rooms would be ok.is that a good ide?
I've got hardwood throughout the entire house except for the kitchen/laundry area which is tile. There is hardwood in the bedrooms but we put carpet in there just because it's a little quieter. But we may be going back to removing that carpet soon. Hardwood looks good and is MUCH easier to maintain than carpet
What would you do about laminate flooring in two adjoining rooms if you decide to take the wall down?
Assuming it is the same color laminate in both rooms, you could work new pieces into the gap. Another idea would be to install some different color flooring, or trim. You don't say if the laminate is running parallel with the wall you are removing, or perpendicular. If parallel, then simply removing the existing pieces against the wall you are removing will give you enough room to install some new pieces. If your laminate runs to the wall, instead of along it.... then you're in for a little more work, to make it look good. But it will be well worth it. (Im assuming you did not glue the pieces of laminate together) I would remove the flooring as needed to install new pieces, completely relaying it. That's one of the nice features of the 'locking' laminate floors... they are fairly easy to rework. Have Fun =D
I've often wondered this as well and I think it comes down to lack of imagination and habit. It is typical (meaning traditional and habitual) to put the kitchen, dining, and living ('public spaces') on the ground floor and bedrooms ('private spaces') on the upper floor. Even though family structure and use of these spaces has changed in the last several decades, this setup is repeated over and over again. Whenever I got the opportunity to design a house or housing units I always rotated this schema by 90 degrees; i.e. one bedroom on the ground, and some public space (lounge or living room) on the upper floor. In suburban contexts this means you can take advantage of decent views. The bedroom on the ground floor - if it is a third bedroom - has the advantage of being used as a 'granny' flat or for an older child who can come and go as they please, especially if you design it larger and with a door leading directly outside. It also makes economic sense for many people who would like to rent out a bedroom at some point. It is easy enough to plan if you are doing this on purpose and issues of access, noise, light and so on, can be dealt with (we 'architects' are supposed to be good at this) so there's no excuse. I actually stole the idea from Neave Brown who designed his housing with the public/private organisation completely reversed. This meant the noise created in the living room was right over their own family's bedrooms and was therefore more controlled, rather than disturbing their neighbour's sleep.Families lead complicated and different lives compared to 100+ years ago when the typical pattern made sense. It's worth revisiting this pattern and reinventing it wherever we can.