BY LANA

We’d be understating it if we said that flooring is kind of a big deal. It’s a REALLY BIG deal and one decision that you won’t want to get wrong in your reno or new build! Your flooring sets the tone for the aesthetics of the whole home and the flooring you choose will have flow-on affects to every other interior choice you make. Scared yet? Don’t worry, that’s where we come in!

We’re constantly asked which type of flooring we like best. Carpet, tiles, vinyl, laminate, solid timber, engineered timber, bamboo or polished concrete? There’s a lot to consider! The truth is, we love lots of types of flooring! And the simple answer is to go back to your vision board and that should help you choose the flooring for your project. Your board (and your budget!) will hold all the answers.

Here’s a quick rundown of the most common types of flooring to get you started thinking about what might work for you:

Carpet

As much as I love hardwood floors, I can’t go past the feel-good factor of carpet in bedrooms. I wouldn’t do a whole house in wall-to-wall carpet but a bedroom? Definitely. Who doesn’t want to wake up in the morning and put their feet on a lovely, soft surface rather than a cold, hard floor? Enough said.

Vinyl Planks

Although we’ve chosen carpet for bedrooms in most of our renos, we bucked the trend with our River Shack reno and chose vinyl planks instead. The River Shack is a holiday home that hosts a lot of guests, so the floors we chose had to look good, but also be super durable, water-resistant and low maintenance. It’s also less-expensive than other types of planks.

Laminate

Laminate flooring simulates the look and feel of timber (or stone), but there’s actually no timber used at all. It’s made from compressed wood composite, cork, melamine and other materials. It looks like timber because of the photographic layer used on its surface, which is protected underneath a clear ‘wear’ layer. Laminate planks are basically a picture of wood, but not real wood.

Solid Timber

The purest (but not necessarily the best) form of flooring – real, solid timber planks. In many older homes, these are made from softwood like Cypress Pine. If installing new timber, you need to consider what it looks like, how you want to stain it (if you want to stain it at all) and which top coat you want to apply to protect the floor. And of course, the cost factor always comes into play. Solid timber is usually one of the most expensive flooring options. And if you’re restoring original floorboards during a renovation, just remember that you’ll need to patch gaps (when walls are removed) and seamlessly join old with new (if you’re extending) #easiersaidthandone #doyourresearch. Check out the pics below to see how Bon white-washed the Cypress Pine floors at her Beach Shack.

Engineered Timber

Engineered timber has all the benefits of real timber because it basically IS real timber … it’s just made up of layers. Think of it like a sandwich: the top piece of bread is what you see. It’s about 6 mm of hardwood timber, like a European or American Oak. The middle of the sandwich is packed with goodness – either a softwood like Poplar or a man-made core. This makes the whole sandwich super strong and stable. Because it’s not as solid and heavy, it’s also not as expensive as solid wood boards. If you’re looking for the best engineered timber, look no further than Woodcut.

Bamboo

Bamboo is the most sustainable and environmentally friendly alternative to timber. It’s woven from strands of bamboo and then cold pressed together. We’ve never used bamboo, mainly because we haven’t loved the colour options available.

Tiles

Tiled flooring is a no brainer for bathrooms but it’s not as popular a choice in kitchens, dining and living spaces these days compared to timber which is more forgiving underfoot. But if your vision board keeps whispering “tiles” to you … I would seriously consider it.

Polished Concrete

Polished concrete floors are a type of flooring we’ve always admired but have never used in our renos … not yet anyway. They’re definitely growing in popularity and are well-suited to particular styles of homes, especially industrial, minimalist and modern homes.

So, there go. Those are your main choices of flooring. Want to go deeper? There are so many pros and cons to weigh up for each and we’ll run you through all of these AND narrow the field with an amazing 3-question test I developed, all in The Reno School.

What is The Reno School? It’s the ultimate online course for anyone planning a renovation or new build. It teaches you everything we know about how to design, renovate and style your dream home. We use our years of experience to fast-track your knowledge, build your confidence and get you ready to reno. We've made the mistakes, so you don't have to! www.therenoschool.com