There are several similarities between choosing new flooring and selecting paint colors for your home. One of them is the challenge of selecting a large-application material from significantly smaller samples.
So, it’s not surprising that one of the biggest flooring regrets or frustrations that homeowners experience is falling in love with a flooring sample in the showroom, only to discover it looks completely different after installation.
Why does that happen? Let’s take a closer look.
A Professional Consultation Is the Best Way to Enjoy Showroom-Quality Flooring in Your Home
There are several reasons why flooring can look different in your home than it did when you viewed the sample at the store. And that disappointing problem is the #1 reason why Creative Floors always recommends taking advantage of an in-home flooring consultation: it’s game-changing for making confident selections about the flooring materials that will look and function best in your home.
5 Reasons Flooring Looks Different After Installation
Here are some of the reasons flooring may look so different in your home compared to what you remember from the samples:
1. You Selected Flooring Online or in a Big-Box Store
There are several reasons not to use online flooring distributors when installing your flooring. We’ve heard so many nightmare stories about people coming to Creative Floors to repair what went wrong after they chose the wrong flooring online or at a big-box store.
The samples you view online or under the fluorescent lights in a cave-like big-box store lack the full-spectrum color and dimension they’ll have when they’re laid out in full on your home’s floor. In worst-case scenarios, people receive the wrong flooring sample for their use at home, and that causes a whole different level of complications for the final order.
Also, never underestimate the importance of professional flooring installation for the final look and feel of your new floors. By working with a local flooring professional like Creative Floors, you have access to the Orlando area’s best flooring installers. In addition to ensuring your flooring is professionally installed, this also ensures you have access to the maximum product warranties.
2. Flooring Lighting Differences
The type and quality of light in your home or individual living spaces have a tremendous effect on how the flooring looks from room to room. Odds are, your home doesn’t have the same daylighting or overhead lighting as our showroom.
For example, daylighting tends to bring out the very best in most flooring types, while fluorescent or LED lights may not. Then there are the variations in lighting plans (cool, warm, colored lights, etc.) that also interact with the colors and tones inherent in a flooring sample. During your design consultation, we’ll walk your sample from room to room and see how it looks with your available light sources.
Then, we leave the samples with you so you can walk them around again as the lighting changes. Once you’ve seen the samples at different times of day and at night with your overhead and ambient light sources, you’ll have a better idea of whether it’s the right look or if we need to find something warmer or cooler, an option with different wood grain or patterning, etc.
3. Existing Wall Colors
Just as the lighting type and quality affect flooring aesthetics, so do the surrounding wall colors. These colors will be reflected on flooring surfaces and will either enhance or detract from the flooring’s appeal. The combination of lighting and wall colors can make the same flooring materials appear lighter, darker, warmer, or cooler.
For example, you may find that a room painted orange or in warmer pastels can make lighter flooring take on too rosy a tone, whereas neutral walls could make certain flooring samples appear washed out. Once you see how various samples look in each room, you’ll get an idea of whether you prefer the flooring to create contrast or to become part of the neutral backdrop.
When we meet with you, we’ll walk you through matching flooring samples at home to your existing wall colors for the best overall effect. If you’ve been on the fence about whether to repaint your home, our experienced interior design team offers tremendous peace of mind. During your flooring design consultation, we are always happy to discuss other interior design questions and flooring showroom tips to help you choose wall colors and flooring selections that bring out the best in the overall look.
4. Room Size, Shape & Ceiling Height
The size and shape of your room also play a role in the final outcome of your new flooring installation and can impact final decisions when choosing flooring colors. For example, darker flooring finishes and colors may make smaller rooms feel cave-like, while certain wood grain patterns may be overwhelming and too busy in a large, open-concept design. If you choose hardwood flooring, LVP or laminate, our in-home consultation is essential to determine the direction in which the planks should be installed for the most attractive finish.
You may not have thought about how ceiling height alters the overall visual effect of flooring. Just as choosing flooring colors or patterns takes room size into account, we also factor in ceiling height. Depending on the desired outcome, we typically recommend lighter or bolder patterns in rooms with higher ceilings. In contrast, rooms with more common eight-foot ceilings are best served by lighter and simpler-patterned flooring options.
When you schedule a flooring consultation for your Casselberry home, we will discuss the pros and cons of your top flooring options and how they work with the size and shape of a particular room. For example, you may find that sticking to a single flooring type makes more sense than choosing different options from room to room. In other cases, you may initially plan on installing one type of flooring, only to realize some areas of the home benefit from variation in selections for more visual interest or to keep a specific color/pattern from overwhelming the space.
5. Furniture Matters When Selecting Flooring
Choosing flooring colors, types, or patterns in a showroom is one thing. Bringing them into your home with the existing furniture and furnishings is another.
Viewing various flooring samples at home is a must to see whether or not your first-choice flooring options work with your existing home design. You may be surprised to find that the flooring you thought you loved doesn’t look as appealing as anticipated when it’s laid down next to your living room furniture or when you see it next to your full-length drapes in the dining room.
View Prospective Flooring Options in Your Casselberry Home
Our willingness to come into your home for personalized design consultations is one of the reasons Creative Floors continues to be the Orlando area’s first stop when shopping for new flooring. Our team offers the personalized flooring consultation Casselberry and Orlando homeowners trust most.
There’s no need to imagine how a particular type of flooring will look in your home, at different times of the day, or adjacent to your furniture. During your in-home consultation, we’ll bring the samples to your home, provide professional design input and recommendations, and let you keep the samples for a while. That way, you can see how they look in your home as natural daylight gives way to artificial lighting throughout the day.
With our thorough, no-pressure, information-forward approach, you can feel 100% confident that your flooring will look every bit as great as you thought it would once it’s installed in your home. Contact Creative Floors to schedule an in-home flooring design consultation where you’ll glean personal insight into these five important considerations when making final flooring selections for your Casselberry home.
