Floor finishes: what’s hot and what’s not!
Floor finishes: what’s hot and what’s not!
While we all want to make personal decisions when it comes to decorating our homes, there is no doubt that the possibility of selling our prime asset at some point in the future may well influence some of our decisions.
Real estate gurus on TV property programmes constantly reinforce positive messages about neutral paint colours. These are said to preserve a house’s value and maximise the number of potential buyers when the property is taken to market. But, when it comes to flooring, can we apply a similar logic? What are the world’s most popular flooring choices? What flooring should you choose knowing that any potential buyer in the future will love it just as much as you do now?
Well help is at hand, because some recent research has put together a list of the world’s most popular flooring options, so you can find out the safest flooring choices for today and tomorrow.
And there is a clear winner: hardwood flooring. This led the way statistically with 2,052,000 Google searches, 253,092 Instagram posts, and 321,000,000 TikTok views in the past 12 months. In short, it seems that this interior design classic - durable, timeless, and versatile - still enjoys unrivalled appeal.
In second spot is vinyl flooring, with 6,300,000 Google searches, 270,628 Instagram posts, and 86,900,000 TikTok views. A cost-effective alternative to flooring materials such as porcelain, hardwood, and stone, vinyl floors offer a wide range of designs and colour options, a waterproof finish, and resilience at an affordable price.
Third place is taken by laminate flooring, with 5,154,000 Google searches, 313,398 Instagram posts, and 54,300,000 TikTok views. Providing pretty realistic hardwood or engineered wood flooring looks, laminate floors offer durability and practicality at a competitive price.
But the real value in this research lies in the design detail. In the past year, when it comes to specifics, the clear winner was herringbone flooring with 772,000 Google searches, 11,949 Instagram posts, and 1,900,000 TikTok views. Today’s home owners understand that herringbone flooring is a great way to tie together the aesthetics of a home and add an element of luxury. While herringbone flooring may require a little more material than traditional wood or laminate flooring patterns, and often makes for a more complex installation, it more than pays back by creating a great design feature in both small and large rooms.
Wide plank flooring, with 35,200 Google searches, 10,725 Instagram posts, and 146,200 TikTok views, is also very popular. This form of hardwood flooring, made using the thickest part of the tree’s trunk, can feature planks up to 350mm (14 inches) wide. Fantastic for larger rooms, these extra wide planks make the most of the natural knotting and graining of the timber.
Another pattern with great contemporary appeal is Chevron flooring. This garnered 117,400 Google searches, 5,012 Instagram posts, and 564 TikTok views. The second zig-zag floor pattern to make the flooring research’s top three, it is known for its defining 45-degree cut and Hungarian Point.
Drilling down further into the detail, the clear species winner in the hardwood flooring category is White Oak. This timber option attracted 374,600 Google searches, 3,557 Instagram posts, and 203,000 TikTok views. Durable, light, and modern, White Oak can be dyed and stained, but is most commonly seen as a pale brown with an olive cast.
So the golden ticket may well be a White Oak Herringbone flooring. But always remember that there are uber-realistic alternatives, such as timber-effect porcelain, that can provide near identical looks and a host of practical benefits. Enjoy your search!
This blog is based on new research, undertaken by The Underfloor Heating Store, that used internet search data, TikTok, and Instagram, to reveal the most popular flooring materials and design trends world-wide. Based in the UK, The Underfloor Heating Store is a market-leading online retailer of electric and water underfloor heating systems focused on the consumer market. It is part of The Highbourne Group Ltd.
