Family Room Flooring Considerations

The living room is a multifunctional area that has to accommodate a variety of needs. As the social center of the home, it is both the space most likely to be seen by guests, and the room that people will naturally gather in to engage in communal activities. The flooring in this space has to play both a style and design role in the overall home, while also accommodating the functional needs of the environment.

Social Flooring Considerations

Maintenance: The living room is a space that gets used, which means that the flooring will have to deal with a moderate amount of foot traffic. If you enjoy throwing parties on a regular basis then this is compounded exponentially. Choosing a living room floor that is easy to clean, maintain, and care for will save you a lot of effort and trouble in the long run.

Durability: Over time the foot traffic that you get in the living room can cause flooring surfaces to wear down. Depending on the type of material used this can lead to floors looking faded, shoddy, or scratched. Other materials may have what is known as a “wear layer” an invisible protective coating that can fade over time, leaving the surface subject to stains.

Safety: The level of traffic that you get in a living room makes flooring safety another issue you should be concerned with. In general this will refer to the traction of the floor. Polished smooth materials such as marble and glass can be slipping hazards, especially if a spill occurs.

At the same time softer surfaces such as carpet and cork will be more forgiving on falls than hard tile flooring.

Style: Since the living room is a social center, it also tends to act as a natural connector to the home, tying various elements and styles together into a concerted whole. At the same time the fact that this is the public face of your interior space means that it is on display for any guests to see and judge. That makes the architectural and decorative choices you make in your living room particularly poignant to the entire home.

Popular Living Room Flooring Options

Carpet
Cork
Hardwood

Family Flooring Concerns

Softness: Flooring has an indelible impact on the surrounding atmosphere. Softer materials will contribute to a gentler overall environment. At the same time a soft floor also makes it possible to get down on the ground, to play with children, pets, or even just create extra informal sitting spaces in this social place.

Noise: Some floors are going to be louder than others. This is especially important for upper story family and living rooms, as the sound of stomping feet can resonate below and throughout the home. Soft materials such as carpet, cork, and rubber, as well as underlayment padded resilient coverings can do a lot to help dampen the noise of heavy steps.

Warmth: in the living room it is important to create a sense of warmth and comfort. Some flooring, such as glass, ceramics, and natural stone, can get quite cold in the winter. On the other hand thick materials such as carpet, rubber, and cork will maintain an average temperature throughout the year, while also insulating the room against heat loss, making it easier and less expensive to maintain a comfortable temperature throughout the space.

Flooring Health Factors

Indoor Air Quality: Certain types of flooring can have an effect on the indoor air quality of your living room. Low cost vinyl can be made with chemicals that may off gas Volatile Organic Chemicals for several weeks after installation. Some adhesives used in flooring installations can also off-gas these harmful toxins.

Asthma and Allergies: Some carpet fibers will tend to attract and hold dirt and dust. These particles can then be sent flinging into the air with every footfall, creating an environment that can agitate people with asthma and allergies. Certain types of rubber flooring also have a slight odor which is harmless to the majority of people, but can be agitating to some.

Cleaning Issues: Hard surface and impervious resilient living room flooring options are going to be the easiest to keep completely clean and sanitized, because dirt, liquids, and small particles will not be able to penetrate past their surfaces. With carpet, you sometimes have a problem with liquids and small substances seeping down past the fibers and into the under padding after a spill. These can be quite difficult to completely sanitize and remove.

Living Room Flooring Design Trends

Modern Flooring: This style uses very sleek, precisely placed, and polished materials. Stark or acid stained concrete is a popular choice, as is brick, both as a contrast or as a focal point. The exotic flair of bamboo flooring fits a modern style nicely, while cork tiles can add a bit of whimsy to the space.

Retro Style Floors: A retro style living room will often use floors that play towards nostalgia for recent decades past. This can include flooring choices such as thick, comfy shag carpeting, or familiar, steadfast hardwood. Vinyl and linoleum, while not common in a living room, do have an inherently defined and retro aspect to their presence.

Rustic Flooring Options: Living rooms styled with a rustic design will use natural elements, that are not necessarily precise, but which can have an inherent warmth that is lacking in manufactured options. This will include floor material options such as slate, limestone, hardwood, bamboo, and cork.

Classic Flooring: Classic design styles use elements and materials which were common during various periods of history. With flooring, you will want to avoid obviously synthetic materials, and instead opt for natural and quality faux natural products such as hardwood, and polished stone. Ceramics may mimic natural materials enough to also be used.