By Sandra Meineke
Flooring is a purchase that nearly every homeowner makes at some point in the
life of their home
—whether at acquisition, or later in a remodeling or updating project. In fact,
it may be the most significant purchase one will make. Flooring is expensive,
and it lasts for years, so, it should be chosen with great care and
forethought.
We spoke with Christopher Davis, president and CEO of the World Floor Covering
Association, about today
’s trends in flooring, matching flooring to the lifestyle of the homeowner, going
green and other topics. Davis says,
“WFCA is in the business of educating the consumer about the pros and cons of
each product so they can make good decisions. People want to be happy with the
result, and if they find out later that a flooring doesn
’t hold up, they’re unhappy. There are pros and cons to every type of flooring. It’s really important that people go into a flooring purchase with their eyes open.”
Design Trends
Designers are pushing the boundaries of creativity in new products that pair
multiple surface textures like leather and wood tiles, bold jewel-toned hard
and soft surfaces and distressed textures from wood to sisal. Homeowners are no
longer limited to expressing themselves through furniture, art and other
accessories. Now, flooring that complements and highlights a home
’s interior is available in animal prints, nude tones, layered looks and leather.
Davis suggests that prospective flooring purchasers ask themselves several
questions: What is your lifestyle all about? Do you have children or animals?
Do you entertain frequently? What is your budget for the project? The answers
to those questions will help you decide what type of flooring will work best
for you and your family. To help you through the decision making process, we
have included WFCA
’s checklist at the end of this article.
“The beauty of flooring is you can pretty much get the look you want in any
format,
” Davis says. “Wood shrinks and expands, so there are certain places you can’t use wood. Porcelain is a wonderful product. It can be made to look like
anything, including limestone. Bamboo is an interesting product. It
’s considered a green product because only a portion of the plant is harvested.
Bamboo will probably increase in popularity due to a lack of exotic woods.
Laminate flooring looks like concrete or anything else you choose.
”
Wood Trends
Wood provides warmth and character. Modern consumers are selecting domestic
hardwood products in driftwood gray, crackled white oak, polished black or
white, as well as the beautiful and familiar birch, maple, oak and walnut. This
year, you will see new treatments in wood such as hand-sculpted and scraped
planks, multi-toned weathered finishes, rolled edges and ends, recovered
distressed wood and timeworn looks.
Innovative wood tiles are available in a surprising variety of whimsical shapes
and sizes, including Tetris patterns, puzzle pieces, bricks and even fish
scales. To allow for greater definition of the wood grain, designers have
created a wide plank spanning four or more inches. New color palettes for wood
include white sand and candy apple red.
Every wood manufacturing company now offers eco-friendly product options. Floors
are being made from abandoned distillery beams and 600-year-old buildings. One
new manufacturing process actually transforms common renewable domestic
hardwood species into exotic look-alikes. This technological advancement
accelerates the aging process, enhancing the natural hue and shade of the wood
and creating an opalescent three-dimensional effect. The result captures all
the allure of exotic hardwood without the environmental baggage. Wood
manufacturers are also making commitments to replace every tree cut from
carefully managed forests with protected saplings.
Highly prized bamboo floors include oil-finished woven bamboo that infuses cork
strands for added dimension, anti-bacterial properties, soundproofing and
insulation. Bamboo flooring can be as soft as pine and harder than maple
depending on the species of bamboo used and when it was harvested. Bamboo can
grow from sprouts to harvesting in three to five years, thus an acre of bamboo
can provide more flooring than an acre of trees, and the plant remains to
sprout more shoots instead of destroying the entire tree as with traditional
hardwoods.
“Due to a change in the Lacey Act last year, some more exotic species of wood
will not be available,
” Davis said. The Lacey Act is federal legislation concerned with the
preservation of endangered plants and animals worldwide. Last year it was
amended to require people who buy and ship wood to track and certify where the
wood came from and renders huge fines for untraceable woods.
“The biggest problem in high end woods is illegal harvesting and destroying the
rainforests,
” Davis said. “You can now get the look of the exotics on a laminate or with domestic hardwoods
that you can
’t get otherwise because the real wood is not available anymore.”
