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Personally, I strongly dislike different types of flooring in an open floor plan. My entire first floor - including the powder room, which is the only separate room on the floor - has the same flooring, a dark brown color solid hardwood floor.
Personally, I strongly dislike different types of flooring in an open floor plan. My entire first floor - including the powder room, which is the only separate room on the floor - has the same flooring, a dark brown color solid hardwood floor.
Thanks. I think I prefer this too. But Tile in the hallway and kitchen is very temping because of low maintenance and can be easy to clean.
I have pre-finished solid hardwood. It does have the microbevels on each plank, which I don't love but you get used to. The finish itself is very, very durable and strong. Normal dirt and spills clean right up, just as easily as they do on tile. And I like that it's quieter and more forgiving on your feet and joints than tile.
And for pre-finished wood, there is no maintenance involved. I mean eventually, I would be able to refinish if I wanted, but I am not sure I'll ever get to that point during the 15-20 years I expect to live here. Almost 4 years now, and while there are a few dents and dings in the floor, the finish is still intact.
I'd want tile in the hall and kitchen. If you do it right, and select colors that complement one another, it won't look awkward or abrupt.
I’d be tempted to go in this direction, especially if the entry gets a lot of use, and you have a lot of wet months every year. But, a lot depends on your floor plan. If the area is totally open, with no architrctural definition between the different areas, then I’d choose surfaces carefully to blend with each other.
On this important decision, you might get a one time consult with a designer. At the very least you will have more knowledge about what to think about, and what sorts of wood and tile are out there now.
I don’t necessarily like a large expanse of one floor. But so much depends on your individual floor plan.
Tile is a pain to clean, and the robot floor cleaners don't do a good job on it. So, it means either hiring someone or getting on your hands and knees to clean grout. No way!
I don't like having different flooring in an open plan, either. Even in the small senior apartments I've been renting the last few years, they always put a linoleum in the kitchen and bathroom areas, and carpet in the living spaces/bedrooms - even if they're really tiny studios. It just looks silly to me, and can be awkward when placing furniture in the space. You're limited in where you can put furniture, too. It looks weird to put a table half on the carpet and half on the linoleum, for instance.
If you want to define your spaces, you should be able to do that nicely with area rugs.
I see no problem with having different types of flooring in the home as long as they complement each other. It's not unusual to see wood in entries and carpet in other rooms, or tile in entries and kitchens and wood elsewhere. It's VERY common to see tile in a kitchen. I say this after the fact, but I wish I had installed tile in our kitchen. I have wood in all of the other rooms on the first floor but have tile in the family room. It'd be totally stupid to have a wood floor when people track in water coming in from the pool.
It depends on the level of openness. If you have even a partial wall separating the spaces, different flooring could work. It doesn't work in my case. My floor plan is extremely open and large, like a loft. From the front door, you can see the great room, kitchen, hearth room, two dining areas, and if the doors are open, into the master and office. There are no walls at all defining these areas and the flooring is all hardwood. I can't imagine putting different flooring anywhere in this area, though I would like something different in the kitchen if it weren't part of this space. We cook with abandon and the wood floor is showing use. There's a large sisal in the entry way that takes care of debris, and large area rugs in the other spaces. Some homes here do have carpet in the great room and tile in the entry and I don't like it as well. Nobody has put different flooring in the kitchen, but again, this place is open to the max. I love the look of separate spaces in general, though.
Tile is a pain to clean, and the robot floor cleaners don't do a good job on it. So, it means either hiring someone or getting on your hands and knees to clean grout. No way!
I don't like having different flooring in an open plan, either. Even in the small senior apartments I've been renting the last few years, they always put a linoleum in the kitchen and bathroom areas, and carpet in the living spaces/bedrooms - even if they're really tiny studios. It just looks silly to me, and can be awkward when placing furniture in the space. You're limited in where you can put furniture, too. It looks weird to put a table half on the carpet and half on the linoleum, for instance.
If you want to define your spaces, you should be able to do that nicely with area rugs.
You know, we put down tile in our open plan great room rears ago. I chose colored grout. I had zero problems cleaning it. I do not scrub anything while on hands and knees! The reason we put down tile was because of the disgusting path in the carpet that we tended to wear from front door to kitchen. So, for us in that situation, tile was a problem solver.
If I had an expanse of tile to clean, I’d use a steam cleaner. They are light, and they work.
Different situations call for different solutions.
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