Flooring for a Living Room

Best flooring for a living room

The living room is where family and friends gather to watch TV, play games or just spend quality time. Guests also join in on the fun. Since the living room is where a family spends most of its time, it’s important for the space to be both functional and visually appealing. The type of flooring in a living room says a lot about its comfort and appeal.

Best type of flooring for a living room

Nothing beats the classic look of hardwood flooring. Hardwood floors have been chosen for living rooms for ages and that trend doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon, if ever. There are many benefits for having hardwood flooring installed in a living room, and there why they’re better than alternatives.

Let’s get into the details…

Choose from different types of hardwood

The versatility of hardwood flooring is second to none. You’ll be able to choose from many types of hardwood. For instance, oak, hickory, ash, maple, and bamboo. Every type of wood will have a relatively different appearance and will therefore add different character to your home. One thing is certain, all hardwood types carry a classic, strong appeal that will be a great flooring option for your home.

Other types of flooring aren’t as versatile. As you’d expect, carpet has many limitations in terms of variety and overall look. Natural stone flooring is beautiful, but it is more difficult to match with the rest of the living room, along with any surrounding rooms.

Hardwood flooring will last for a long long time

Additionally, hardwood flooring is both sturdy and sustainable, and should last over 20 years. One of the many great things about hardwood is that it can be refinished multiple times. Therefore, if scratches to your hardwood become noticeable, you can have your flooring refinished to basically create a new surface. This is perfect for families with pets who love to run around the living room. It’s best, however, to limit your pets’ running around on hardwood.

It’s also a good idea to include floor protectors at the feet of all your furniture legs, as well as to clean up any spills as soon as possible. Hardwood floors are porous, so liquid can cause damage if it seeps through the surface. If you prevent scratching and moisture absorption, your hardwood flooring will undoubtedly last a long time.

When it comes to carpeting, it absorbs dirt quite easily. It can last for a long time, but you’ll probably end up changing it before its expected lifetime. Carpet is definitely not the best choice for areas of high foot traffic like a living room.

Natural stone allows dirt to show much more than hardwood. Due to this, you’d have to clean natural stone flooring quite frequently. Plus, some natural stones like marble, tend to scratch easily.

Try hardwood-related alternatives: Engineered hardwood or Vinyl Plank flooring

Hardwood flooring can be pricey. The good news is there are options that are cheaper, but look similar, and can effectively imitate hardwood.

Engineered hardwood is basically made to look like real hardwood. But unlike real hardwood, engineered hardwood is actually made of multiple layers. These layers include a wear layer. You might not believe it, but engineered hardwood actually protects better against scratches and moisture due to its wear layer. It’s just harder to penetrate the surface with the extra cushion.

The best part?

The look of engineered hardwood doesn’t suffer at all to real hardwood. The reason for this is that engineered is topped with a layer of real hardwood. For example, engineered hardwood might not be 100% oak throughout, but it’s topped with a layer of oak wood, making it look like a real oak floor to anyone.

Engineered hardwood is a type of flooring that isn’t that much less expensive than hardwood, but is a bit more pocket friendly.

Another choice is vinyl plank flooring. Vinyl plank flooring is layered similarly to engineered hardwood. Therefore, it also protects against scratching and moisture quite well. The difference is that vinyl plank flooring is topped with a high-resolution image of hardwood, rather than actual hardwood.

So, instead of being topped with real oak, it’s topped with a high-resolution image of oak. However, the look hardly suffers. You and your guests will be able to tell that it’s not actual hardwood, but vinyl planks still possess a quality look and last quite a long time. Vinyl Plank flooring is also significantly cheaper than real hardwood flooring.

There you have it!

The best type of flooring for your living room is some form of wood flooring. Wood is classic, cozy and inviting. There’s a reason why wood flooring is so popular throughout homes.

Nadine Floor Company

Please visit Nadine Floor Company to find the best new flooring option for you. Our staff will walk you through each flooring type we offer. We’ll also complete a flooring estimate and installation. Contact Nadine Floor Company today at (469) 666-4530. Also, please check out our blog for more helpful home remodeling input.