Whole Home Flooring

Whether you’re choosing flooring for a new home or replacing your current flooring, there are many factors that play into which flooring will be best for each space. You also want to consider how the flooring throughout your home will connect. In our exclusive video interview with interior designer Rebecca Hay, we take a look at the important role flooring takes throughout the home.

To start, Hay warns that flooring, while often overlooked, should be one of the most integral elements of interior home design. When working on a whole home project, Hay takes into consideration how all the spaces in the home will be used as well as the final look she aims to achieve.

The best place to start is with the primary flooring material in the home. Many times, this is the flooring that will run throughout the main level of the home and usually includes the kitchen, living room, and dining room. Hard surface floors like hardwood, tile and luxury vinyl are often chosen for these spaces for their versatility and beauty. Hay often recommends a quality engineered hardwood. “When you have an open-concept home, it’s really important that you keep that open flow,” shares Hay. This shared flooring across spaces makes the whole are feel bigger.

Get The Look: Combining the unique characteristics of red and white oak with engineered waterproof technology, Shelby Lane by Hydrotek H2O delivers an unparalleled hardwood floor that’s fit for any room in the home. Shop the color "Cottage" to get a similar look.

With the main flooring chosen, Hay moves on to make smart choices for hard-wearing areas in the home. These include entryways and stairs. Depending on your environment and the amount of traffic your entryways will get from guests and family, you may want to consider a floor that is more durable than what you’ve chosen for the majority of your living space. When it comes to durability, tile is the undisputed winner in Hay’s eyes. She often chooses a beautiful tile for entryways, knowing that it will stand up to shoes, dirt, and debris that are tracked in from outside. When it comes to stairs, Hay recommends choosing a runner to add personality and warmth.

Carpet is a favorite of Hay’s when it comes to flooring for bedrooms. She knows that her clients will enjoy the softness underfoot, the noise dampening effect, and the beautiful look. She often chooses lighter colored carpets and installs them wall-to-wall to make a space feel larger.

Get The Look: Offering one-of-a-kind softness and strength with a satiny smooth feel, Soujourn II in “Pearl” by Tigressa Cherish is perfectly suited to the bedroom. Its beautiful light color and subtle striations work together to help visually expand the feel of a room. 

When it comes to bathrooms, it’s all about the look and feel you want to achieve. For a beautiful, sophisticated master bath, Hay recommends something like elegant marble. For kids’ bathrooms or spaces where you want to show more personality, she loves to go with a porcelain tile with lots of texture and pattern.

The last piece of the whole home flooring story according to Hay is area rugs. “Area rugs define the space within the home,” she shares. She has always found this step in choosing flooring exciting and loves the way a beautiful area rug can change a space. She also shares a tip for smaller spaces: “the bigger the rug, the bigger the room will feel.”

Take the entire tour of this home and hear more from Rebecca in our exclusive video.

Interior Design by Rebecca Hay | Photography by Mike Chajecki