Interior designers would not choose laminate floor, for the most part, over genuine hardwood. However there are times when laminate flooring is definitely the best option and they are happy with the results that a laminate hardwood floor provides.
Sticking With a Budget
The secret of interior design is creating an effect that the client will fall in love with while sticking to any budgetary constraints. Most designers have a hard job with that because they love to have the best of everything but the most skilled designers manage to achieve that goal by making essential compromises without spoiling the whole design.
Where a design calls for particularly expensive hardwood flooring, sensible designers may choose the very best quality laminated flooring and stay within budget. Good quality laminate looks exactly like real wood when laid and has added advantages over wood in that it is extremely durable, being both scratch and dent proof. And it will neither warp nor crack. With this in mind, if you are being your own designer, it is better to seek out a discount laminate floor of good quality than to choose from the cheap flooring that is always available and which will fail to give you the same results.
You can generally install a laminate floor yourself, if it is of good quality – high grade laminate often has a way of clicking the boards into place for easy installation. That way you can save yourself a lot of money.
Rooms Where it is Inadvisable to Install Solid wood Floors
A second reason for an interior designer to choose laminate over hardwood is that you can use a wood laminate floor in places where you can not even think about real wood. That is those places which may get a lot of water on the floor – in the bathroom, kitchen or conservatory and in some entrance ways and porches.
If you would like to maintain the same flooring throughout your home you would need to install laminate floors in those rooms which mimic the look of the solid wood you have chosen in other areas (or use the same laminate floor throughout).
The best laminate flooring makes a very good job of that and designers choose it for that very reason. You can do the same.
Mahogany laminate floor
As each laminate range is produced with so many different wood effects with no difference in price, you can choose the exact wood that goes well with your design without worrying about the cost of the actual wood. You can also use “wide planks” which are usually more expensive when you are talking about a solid wood floor. Wide planks give a smoother effect to the floor and look fantastic and I have seen some fantastic mahogany wide plank laminate topped with a cream leather shag rug which looked better than any hardwood floor I have ever seen.
Remember to consider the color of your furniture and fabrics in the room when considering your laminate floor. At least with laminate samples what you see is what you will get so you can happily match up soft furnishings and furniture without worrying about natural variations in wood colors (or color change as the wood ages and is subject to heat and light).
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Does the laminate flooring scratch easily? I would like to put it in our rental home. Are the lighter shades better at hiding dust and fluff?
Hi Katrina
I have found good quality laminate flooring to be pretty scratch proof from normal walking about etc however if you are moving heavy furniture or anything like that I would use a rug underneath or something. I generally put little pads on the bottom of my dining room chairs too as they are quite heavy. I don’t think the laminate would scratch but I’d rather not find out the hard way.
I think that medium colored laminate such as oak or beech would hide dust better simply because it is closer in color to dust
but some of the dark laminate looks so nice in the right setting that it is worth 30 seconds sweeping every few days to keep it looking good.
Hope that helps
Jan