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Floor Covering Ideas

Flooring ideas to suit all tastes and budgets whether you are looking at carpet, tile, floorboards, laminate, rugs...

When it comes to flooring there aren't too many options - tile, carpet, linoleum, real wood or laminate and most of these can be improved upon with the addition of an accent rug (or maybe a cute dog!).

Your decision will make a big difference to the overall look and feel of your vacation home so it is well worth spending a bit of time considering your options before making a decision.

You need to find a balance between what you like and what makes sense financially if your property is also to show a profit.

Whatever you choose is likely to be expensive and you don't want to end up paying twice because you made the wrong choice or found that something doesn't stand up to wear and tear as well as you had hoped. Certainly in America we found the quality of carpeting was poor compared to Europe and regular cleaning would be essential.

Carpet or Tile?

With pool home owners in the Orlando area, Carpet vs. Tile is always a big debate and we sought the advice of other vacation property owners when making decisions about floor coverings for our own pool home near DisneyWorld.

Area Rugs

If you opt for tile, you may like to add color and warmth with the addition of inexpensive area rugs which will go a long way towards adding a more finished look to your vacation property and also give the impression that you haven't just stopped the furnishings at a bare minimum but have gone the extra mile.

Don't under-estimate how important it is to over deliver to your renters when you are advertising your property for a top-dollar rental price. Area rugs are seen as non-essential so show an owner who has provided items in the property that are purely decorative.

Rugs are also particularly useful if you have 'inherited' a bit of a hotch-potch of furnishings in a room and are trying to find something that brings all the colors together to make it look like a deliberate color scheme rather than an accident!

Making An Entrance

One area of the house where the decision is most important is in your entrance hallway - right inside the front door.

The first impression a visitor gets needs to be weighed up against a practical option for this very high traffic area of your property and your floor covering and flooring choices here need to take into consideration practicalities as much as aesthetics.

My thanks to newandrew @ flickr for the cute dog photo