How to Choose Tile for Your Living Room?

What role does your living room play for you? It is usually the heart of the whole house. It is the place where you socialize when you have visitors or the place where you relax with your loved ones at night. Therefore, it is natural that there are a lot of things to consider when choosing tiles for your living room. Follow this guide to find the right tile that suits your lifestyle.

1. Ensure a Suitable Atmosphere

Getting a space that has a homely feel is an essential factor to consider when choosing tiles for the living room. After all, this is the room where your loved ones and guests spend the most time. So how do you choose the tiles for your living room?

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To make it a comfortable space for everyone, choosing the right colors is essential. It is well documented that the colors of an environment can affect the human subconscious. Therefore, the color scheme in your living room should favor soft colors and avoid extremes. Some of the favorite colors used in living rooms are brown, beige, gray, and amber colors.

Consistency in how you choose the tiles for your living room between the flooring and the furniture design is also crucial in getting the perfect space.

2. Choose Wood Look Tile, if You Like the Aesthetics of Hardwood

Hardwood floors look excellent in the living room, but they scratch easily and can be challenging to maintain. If you like aesthetics of hardwood but want the hassle, go for ceramic wood look tile. It is really durable and resistant to both moisture and scratches, which means your floors will look great for a long time.

You can buy ceramic lumber that mimics the look of almost any type of tree. Keep in mind that real wood floors are softer and warmer than ceramic wood, which can be hard and cold. However, ceramic wood look floors are easier to clean than real hardwood floors. This type of flooring can be expensive to install, however. Car title loans can be the perfect way to cover those costs, and have your living room looking stunning!

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3. Pick Ceramic or Porcelain Tile for a Solid and Dense Flooring

Ceramic and porcelain look-alike, but porcelain is slightly denser and slightly less porous than ceramic. If you have children and pets, this can be a good option as it can handle a bit more action (and is less likely to get stained).

Porcelain generally costs a bit more than ceramic, but it usually lasts a bit longer. Porcelain tiles come in many different designs and colors, so you’ll have plenty of options!

4. Install Mosaic Tile for a Patterned and Textured Flooring

Mosaic tile may look strange for a living room, but it can really add a lot of color, texture, and artistry to your space. It works well if you want the rest of the room to be simple, and at the same time, you want an explosion of color or design in the room.

Mosaic tile is ideal if you want to create a design yourself, it lasts a long time and is easy to clean.

5. Consider Durability and Maintenance

When choosing tiles for your living room, durability is an essential factor to consider. Not only does your living room floor get a lot of human traffic, but it’s also exposed to falling and spills objects that can cause damage.

For durability, porcelain tile is always the top priority. Porcelain tile is harder than old-style ceramic tile and most natural stone tiles. Regardless of the finish, the hard body ensures that they will retain their original appearance for a long time.

Most porcelain tiles are stain-resistant, which means they are virtually maintenance-free. This is because most porcelain tiles are pre-glazed or sealed, so surface porosity is kept to a minimum.

6. Choose Flooring that Suits Your Daily Lifestyle

Don’t buy fancy flooring for entertainment purposes. If your floors are regularly subjected to heavy traffic, you shouldn’t add glazed or slippery tiles to your rooms, particularly when you have children or pets in the house.

Having a tile floor makes you vulnerable to slips and minor accidents. Therefore, consider the daily needs of your family members when choosing a tile for your living room.

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Parquet wood floors are back in vogue

7. Make a Small Room Looks Bigger by Choosing Lighter Colored Tiles

Ceramic and porcelain are decent options for small living rooms, as are all other tiles in white, beige, or cream. Light colors give the room a more open look.

Ultimately, you need your tiles to be a color that you don’t mind looking at every day. VIP Realty suggests you take home samples of different colors and styles to see what works best for your living room before making a final decision.

8. Choose Large Tiles to Make Your Living Room Appear Spacious

The larger the tiles, the bigger your room will appear. Look for tiles that are 13 x13 inches (33 x33 cm) or larger. There will be fewer grout lines in your living room, simplifying the space.

That also means you have to clean fewer grout lines. Larger tile looks more modern than smaller ones. However, remember that small tiles are more slip-resistant than large tiles.

9. Select a Matching Grout to Create a More Cohesive Room

If you don’t want your floor to get a lot of attention, choose a grout that matches the tile of your choice. Similar colors will make the tiles appear to flow together, making the living room perfect.

An off-white or gray grout will bond light tiles and draw less attention to the floor. Select a grout that matches the color of the tiles for the perfect look.

10. Take Pictures of Your Furniture and Paints to See How Things Blend Together.

Take some photos of your living room before going to the store. Think about the decorations, doors, curtains, furniture, and artwork that you have in the living room. It will always be tough to say precisely how things will look together. Still, having the photos should help you narrow down your options.

If you have fabric or paint samples from when you painted or bought new furniture, take those with you too. Be sure to bring photos of the room with you when you buy tiles.

All You Need to Know About Sustainable Wood Flooring

Updating the flooring in your home is one option if you want to make an impact without breaking the bank. It’s also going to increase its value, especially if you choose wood flooring. Design trends come and go but you’ll never go wrong with a wooden floor. An increasing number of property owners are looking for ways to be more sustainable with their home improvement projects and, when it comes to sustainable flooring, engineered wood fits the bill perfectly. If you need some help with measurements check this free square footage calculator

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Why Engineered Wood is a More Sustainable Choice

The process of manufacturing engineered wood flooring uses far less of the tree per plank than a solid hardwood floor. This alone makes it a more sustainable, environmentally friendly, and natural wood product. Because the process doesn’t involve and toxic glue, engineered wood flooring is also better for your health. They manufacture bamboo floors and LVTs using toxic glues which are not good because they can contaminate the air you’re breathing.

How can you tell whether the wood flooring you’re looking to buy is really sustainable, and what does sustainability actually mean? Let’s see if we can answer these questions for you.

Is There a Difference Between Sustainable and Green?

The terms “green” and “sustainable” have become marketing buzzwords but what do they mean? “Green” is a term generally used to describe any type of product that has a positive environmental value. It’s a pretty loose term and can be used to describe a product that a company has manufactured using renewable resources. If the product brand falls short in production and disposal, it doesn’t make a difference to its “green” label.

Sustainable, on the other hand, is a label with far higher standards. It should not impact the environment in any way, throughout its life cycle, from harvesting to disposal.

Buy Your Flooring From a Supplier With an Excellent Reputation

Spend any time researching engineered wood flooring before you make your choice and you’ll encounter a number of different retailers. Most of them are going to be reputable, but you have to be careful if you want to avoid the misleading and unethical ones.

If you find a retailer with a sustainable or green logo on their website, check to see what it actually means. It may be that all their products and ethical but equally, there could be just one product that fits the bill.

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If you can’t find the information, you need to clarify the product you want is sustainable, don’t be afraid to contact the retailer. They are obliged to make things clear.

A Glance at Environmentally Friendly Certifications

Across the globe there are around 600 environmentally friendly labels, 36 of which relate to forest products. Some of these may also indicate a product is sustainable. For the flooring industry, you need to be looking for the following:

  • GREENGOLD Gold – interior materials and products with low chemical emissions.
  • Indoor Air Advantage Gold – products comply with the strictest of indoor air quality emission standards.
  • FloorScore – products meet strict air quality requirements for indoors.
  • FSC (The Forest Stewardship Council) – promotes responsible management of the world’s forests. Together with the Programme for the Endorsement of Forestry Certification they help guarantee wood comes from sustainable sources. This means it is replaced after harvesting and does not harm the environment and neighbouring ecosystems.

Carefully Read Product Instructions

Manufacturers customise their installation and care instructions. Follow those instructions to the letter and your perfect floor will last. This applies even if you’ve hired a professional to install your flooring. Don’t leave them to rely on their previous installation experiences. It doesn’t matter whether the flooring being installed in plank flooring, chevron flooring, herringbone, or Versailles panels.

If you’re looking to finish your flooring, you may consider using a water based polyurethane for floors. A water based polyurethane will protect your floors from scratches and scuffs while also giving them a beautiful shine.

Test the polyurethane on a small section of your floor before applying it to the entire surface, as some products may cause the wood to become sticky or gummy. Also, follow the manufacturer’s instructions carefully, as incorrect application can lead to problems like peeling or bubbling.

When it comes to cleaning and taking care of your flooring, make sure you use eco-friendly products and follow the advice of the manufacturer. Don’t be tempted to use home-made cleaners that contain vinegar or other types of acidic ingredients. They will destroy the finish of your floor. Make sure these cleaning products are available for the installer to use as well. Also bear in mind that if you fail to follow the manufacturer’s instruction, the flooring will not be covered by any warranty.

If you want to respect the environment, choosing sustainable wood flooring is the best way to do it. The tips we’ve shared above will help you find the best flooring for your home.

About the Author

This article was written by Martin O’Callaghan of Wood Flooring Ireland who are have been providing the Irish market with Wood Flooring sourced from sustainable European Forests.