How to choose the right flooring for your home

So, you have come to a point in your life when you simply fancy a change of scenery, but with house prices in the UK averaging at over £220,000, is it worth all of that money just for a change?

Change your interior, not your home

It’s a fact that home renovation will cost less than a new home; you will also continue to live in familiar surroundings, and you can customise to your heart’s content. Renovating can mean several things, whether it is a simple refresh of decoration or completely changing everything in your home. In either case, your flooring is one thing which will make a huge difference to the way you and your visitors view and feel your home.

But what floor?

But what do you do with the flooring? There are so many choices to make when considering what you want to feel under your feet. Is it the softness of a thick pile carpet with a cushioned underlay, is it the classy look of a hardwood floor, is it tiles, vinyl or laminate?

Sure, the feel of a lovely soft carpet has a real attraction, with the multitude of styles, materials and  pile height on top of varying thicknesses of underlay and a fabulous ability to hold onto dust, food, pet hair and odour. Yes, a good hoover can help to control the majority of these, however even the best hoovers on the high street cannot keep a carpet in almost new condition for a decent length of time.

Why wood?

So, in my opinion when it comes to the best flooring for your home – real hardwood has to be top of the list.

There are so many variations of hardwood to choose from, whether it’s the elegance and beauty of Cherry hardwood to provide your room with an aura of warmth, or the low maintenance and hard-wearing qualities of Oak flooring, you can be sure to find the perfect style for any room in your home. All types of quality hardwood flooring provide you with something that oozes with class, requires little maintenance and is a breeze to keep clean with the sweep of a brush. In addition to this, you can say goodbye to those stubborn stains from spillages of food and drink which happen a lot more often than you would like.

Budget options

If you are working with a budget, carpets tend to be the choice of many as they do not require as many of your hard-earned pennies. Laminate is also a popular budget choice. Laminate flooring and carpet, however, do not have the long-lasting qualities that are offered by a solid hardwood floor. You won’t find a hardwood floor that needs to be professionally cleaned periodically, you won’t find a hardwood floor which needs to be replaced because the edges of each piece have started to bubble. You will find a hardwood floor however that will last a lifetime without losing its modern feel, its classy look and its ability to match with all tastes of decoration and style that change with you and each of your life stages. While it is perhaps not the cheapest option to begin with, hardwood certainly is the most cost effective over time.