How To Choose A Laminate Flooring Pattern

Laminate flooring is a wonderful innovation in home flooring. It is inexpensive when compared to more traditional hardwood or stone floors and offers the ability for homeowners to install it themselves without needing special skills or abilities.

Decide on Decorating Tone

As with all flooring, installing a laminate floor can set the overall tone for a room. Laminate comes in patterns that include stone, tile, and wood. Before choosing a specific pattern, consider what overall statement you are trying to create in the room. Lighter colors create a light and airy feeling in a room. Darker colors can create a more formal feeling for a room or can also create a warm inviting feeling for a smaller cozy room.

Consider Installation Location

Although the laminate flooring of today looks very close to the real thing, it is still a fabricated flooring material. As a result, it usually not well suited for installations that place it right against authentic materials. For example, if you are considering a stone laminate floor, it probably will not look very good installed where it comes directly up to a real stone fireplace surround. Generally, this is true for almost all materials and laminate patterns.

Also consider that a laminate pattern with a light texture will be less slippery and easier to walk on, particularly in areas with high foot traffic. This can also be a consideration if you have children in your home.

Laminate Colors and Floor Patterns

Laminate flooring patterns with grain in them or which have a degree of variation in the color will tend to show less dirt and soil than will lighter-colored solid laminate patterns.

Laminate flooring will last for many years, so be careful of choosing a pattern that happens to be the latest trend. Instead, choose laminate patterns that will stand up as room décor changes over time.

Try Samples

Before you make your final selection for a laminate flooring pattern, try several different samples on your floor. Lay down a plank or two of the samples and see how well you like the pattern with your room. View the planks under different stages of light during the day. Try different pieces of furniture around the planks to determine if the flooring pattern suits your current decorating style. If you are planning on installing the laminate in a room with large appliances that will not be changed frequently (refrigerator, washer/dryer, etc), look at the sample planks next to these appliances.

There are also other ways to test the samples to determine if the laminate flooring you are considering will work in your home. Try getting it dirty and cleaning it. See if it will stand up to the wear and tear that will be found in your home and if it is a flooring pattern that will stand up to your typical home maintenance routine.

Once you have decided that you like the pattern and that laminate flooring will work in your home and in the location you are planning on installing it, then you can order the flooring and all of the installation materials for your remodeling project.