Even a dazzling interior can be let down by poor flooring, so it’s vital you think about this key design aspect before parting with any cash…

The flooring throughout your home is more important that you might, at first glance, realise. Design experts have agreed that it is pivotal to the success of any home conversion or renovation project – but why? Well, think about it – the area your floor covers is huge compared to many surfaces within your home and therefore simply cannot be ignored. With any colour scheme, the flooring plays a huge and important role.

The type of flooring that you choose, while looking good, also needs to fit with the primary purpose of your room. For example, carpet looks and feels great in bedrooms and on staircases – and it has a practical purpose too, as it muffles sound and creates a sense of warm and comfort. Similarly, in areas that are likely to be the site of spills and splashes, such as bathrooms and kitchens, vinyl flooring is a popular choice. Naturally water-repellent, there are a huge range of styles and patterns that can be cut to fit in even the most awkwardly shaped room.

Your essential guide to carpet
Just like a kitchen, a quality carpet is an investment – and one that will give years of pleasure. Don’t forget that the British make the best carpet in the world! From the White House to Hong Kong Airport and the QE2, when the best is needed, it is British, drawing on centuries of tradition and craftsmanship to produce only the finest products.

Colour and design
The floor is like a fifth wall in terms of the area it covers and a new carpet can change a room’s whole appearance, not to mention the choice of fabrics and furniture. The same basic rules apply to carpet colours as to those for soft furnishings: light carpet will make a room look bigger while dark colours will make your room look smaller but won’t show up dirt.

Your choice of colour makes a personal statement and with such a wide spectrum of colours available, you could let your carpet make a fashion statement. That said, various shades of beige are the most popular colours for carpets. Warm, earthy tones that are fiery and passionate create a sense of luxurious intimacy and are particularly suited to large rooms and those that are north facing.

Neutral shades are easier to build schemes around – both now and in the future. A plain, natural colour is clean and simple, but neutral shades do tend to show stains and marks. Non-traditionalists like to blend these soothing shades with bright wallpaper and soft furnishings. Those who want to be calm without being dull, cool but not cold, use soft neutrals, gentle greens and natural shades, particularly where you want to give a feeling of space and bring the outdoors inside.

Blue is a popular choice, being practical, stylish and subtle. Navy is common in traditional schemes, giving a sense of tranquillity and harmony, while light blue creates a calming and relaxing environment.

The natural aquatic associations of the sea make blue the ideal choice for a bathroom.

Plain or patterned?
Plain carpet is ‘safe’, timeless and ageless. It will suit any room or decorating style. It gives you greater flexibility with wallpaper and fabrics and is easier to build schemes around – both now and in the future. It also opens up a room, and using the same colour throughout, either upstairs or downstairs, does give a feeling of space and links rooms. If you want a surface texture, such as the popular ‘natural look’ that replicates coir and sisal, then it has to be plain carpet.

Patterned carpet is, however, staging a comeback with fashion-led designs that really do make the floor a focal point. On a practical level, it can also hide stains. Whether it is a contemporary design, classic floral or small motif, pattern does provide visual interest to the floor, but remember that a large pattern will work better in a large room. If you are mixing patterned carpet with pattern on walls or soft furnishings, ensure that they have a common colour for a harmonious look.

Particularly striking and individual are borders, while runners also look stunning on stairs and in hallways.

Room-by-room guide
A soft, luxurious carpet looks great in any room, but in each room it serves a different purpose. Here are some handy hints, room-by-room:

The bedroom is the one room where you can be really indulgent. Also,it is the room that will take the least wear, so you need not spend as much on a bedroom carpet as on a carpet for elsewhere in the home.

It is often assumed that carpet is not suitable for a bathroom, but this is not always the case. Ideally, your choice of carpet will be totally synthetic, including the backing. Carpet should only be avoided if it’s going to get soaked on a regular basis.

The hall, stairs and landing are the areas that take the most wear and tear in a house. Here you’ll need a carpet that is at least ‘Heavy Domestic’ or possibly ‘Extra Heavy Domestic’ and with an 80% wool content.

In the living room, a hardwearing, practical carpet is best. Style wise, you pretty much have free rein.

A popular choice for the dining room is natural loop pile carpets that replicate the look of coir and sisal.

Remember that carpet is like everything else and you get what you pay for – expect to pay around £20 per square metre for good quality carpet.

Carpet trends
People are increasingly stamping their own personality and character on their interiors – even if it means mixing and matching. This season, there will be a declaration of colour, with yellow set to be the new ‘hot’ colour and black is back. Indeed, in plain carpets, darker colours will complement the ever-popular beige. For impartial advice on all aspects of buying a carpet, call 0845 601 2200 or visit www.carpetfoundation.com

Discover vinyl flooring
Vinyl is one of the most affordable choices when it comes to hard flooring. It can be both decorative and is softer underfoot than any of the stone or clay fired floor choices. Vinyl is a particularly good choice for kitchens, halls, children’s rooms and even some living rooms. To lay vinyl it needs to be glued, whether you are using sheet forms or tiles, to a spotlessly clean and level, preferably plywood base.

Vinyl, made from polyvinyl chloride, is available in two main varieties: a more expensive, longer-lasting, solid form, and the cheaper kind, which is a mixture of fillers and pigments with a thermoplastic binder that can either be cushioned or flat. Both varieties come in solid colours as well as increasingly realistic copies of natural materials such as wood. Since it’s available in sheet or tile form, the solid colours can be laid in various checkerboard and decorative designs. It’s often mixed with cork for tough but soft kitchen and children’s room floors.

Keep your vinyl floor clean
Vinyl floors are easy to maintain and clean. Before you get started, vacuum or sweep the surface of the floor. Fill up a sink with water and pour in some all-purpose cleaning solution. Take a mop or sponge and dip it into the liquid. Once it’s wet, use it to mop an area of the vinyl floor until it’s clean. Dip the sponge or mop into the solution to remove the dirt, and repeat the same process across the whole floor. While mops can be used, most people find it best to get on their hands and knees as dust or debris can be difficult to reach.

Avoid using any cleaning products that contain solvents. Strong cleaners are not necessary, as vinyl floors are easy to clean with gentle products. Make sure your vinyl floor is swept on a regular basis to prevent dust, dirt and debris building up. It may also be a good idea to add coir mats near entrances to rooms with vinyl floors. This will stop people from carrying dirt onto the floors from outside.

When you wet the floor, wait a few minutes before getting to work with your sponge or mop. This will give the liquid time to loosen the debris. But be careful that you don’t let water sit on the floor for too long, because it can damage the glue on the outer edge. If you take good care of the vinyl floors throughout your home, they can stay looking beautiful for years.

Vinyl floors: Room-by-room
There are a number of rooms in your home which could benefit from the addition of vinyl flooring.

The most obvious of these has to be the bathroom – while carpets and tiles are an option, neither of the versatility and practicality of vinyl. Bathroom carpets can become waterlogged and smelly, whereas vinyl floors will always be water-resistant and easy to wipe clean. Bathroom tiles can be a dangerous minefield – choose the wrong type of tile and you could find yourself with porous tiles that soak up and retain the room’s moisture. Or, worse still, puddles can form on tiled surfaces, creating a slipping hazard for those who use the room.

So, getting flooring right in the bathroom really is very important – and vinyl is a sensible and attractive option with a wide variety of patterns, styles and finishes available.

The other main area where vinyl is used in the home is the kitchen. The material really lends itself to tough kitchen use, as any spillages can be easily cleaned and the room can be kept spotless with a weekly wash down. The vinyl flooring can be carried through to utility areas too. You won’t have to worry about the floor looking cheap or lacking style – there are a growing range of colours and finishes to choose from. You could even opt for a wood-grain effect and enjoy a stripped wooden floor underfoot, without the headache of stripping and maintaining the floorboards! ■

Ann Says
‘The decision as to what type of flooring you use in your kitchen should depend on the style of your house and its décor, the quality of the other finishes in the house, your family’s needs and lifestyle, and your own taste and personal preference.’

Be inspired – Creative floors for living
Polyflor, specialists in luxury floor tiles, has a collection of exciting flooring designs ideally suited to any room in the house. Featuring ultra realistic wood effect planks and clean and crisp natural stone, marble, and slate effect tiles, each flooring product has been carefully selected to provide a wide range of hardwearing and easy maintenance colours and styles, to ensure every possible look can be achieved. For more information call 0161 767 1111 or visit www.polyflor.com

Get a designer look
Karndean design floors replicate all the beauty of natural flooring with none of the practical drawbacks. Karndean offers significant advantages in terms of design, maintenance and cost, whilst being virtually indistinguishable from the materials which inspire the designs.

Focusing on close attention to detail, Karndean have developed a process by which colours, textures and sizes are reproduced to the highest possible degree of realism.

For more information, including a full colour brochure and samples please contact consumer enquiries on 01386 820 100 or visit www.karndean.com

Our top tips for perfect vinyl floors

Never allow dirt or debris to gather on the floor.
It can damage the floor and destroy the stylish sheen that makes vinyl so desirable.
It’s important to make sure abrasive cleaners are never used on vinyl floors, as they can damage them. You’ll also need to avoid using certain types of detergents.
If you’ve laid vinyl tiles, keep the gaps between each tile clean and free of dirt by giving them a quick scrub with a toothbrush.
Make sure you choose a vinyl tile or sheet with a well sealed top layer. Photos: istockphoto & The Carpet Foundation