Mixing Multiple Floor Coverings in Your Home

Dear Rob:

Is it acceptable to mix flooring types in the same home?

-Brenda in New Hampshire

Dear Brenda:

In short, absolutely!

Below are some guidelines to help you plan your flooring project. Keep in mind that these are guidelines and not set rules because each house and personal taste varies so much.

Mixing Hardwood

As a general rule, keep the hardwood on one floor of your home the same species and color. However, you can change the species or color when a door completely separates the rooms.

It is also best to run hardwood in the same direction throughout connected spaces. If a door fully separates a room, you have more flexibility to change the direction.

Using multiple wood species or colors can reduce the sense of flow and continuity in your home. You may also lose bulk purchasing discounts from the retailer.

Mixing Tile

\Tile is the easiest product to mix in a home. You can have a common area tile that is the same while changing the tile in each bathroom.  You can also use one common tile throughout the areas with tile in the home, mixing in different accents within those areas to define each room. With floor plans being more open and hard surfaces being used more throughout the home, more opportunities are available to mix tiles. All you need is a transition point or door to change tiles (style, direction, or color).

Using different tiles in each area can give each room its own personality. If the tiles are intended to be more restful or serve as a background than a focal point, that is perfectly acceptable as well! A circumstance where you may want to consider using all of the same tile is if you have rooms with patterned wallpaper.

Mixing Carpet

Let’s say you have hardwood or tile in the common areas of your home. A great place to break up and change the flooring is by using carpet in the bedrooms. Because each bedroom has a door, you can choose different styles and colors for each bedroom to suit the décor of that room.

Another reason to mix carpet in a home is if the main carpet color chosen does not coordinate well with all of the other wall colors in the home.

Tile, carpet, and hardwood all mix well with each other as well. From room to room, each of these products can transition well to each other.

An idea to help you determine if you are mixing the right amount of floor coverings is to go back to kindergarten – and color. Create a drawing or make a copy of your floor plan and use different colors to outline each type of flooring. When coloring rooms with hardwood, draw lines indicating the direction the hardwood will be installed. When drawing tile, draw squares indicating the direction the tile will be installed. Also, use different colors for each different tile used. For carpet, color the rooms solid. This will help you determine the degree to which your floors are either being used for a background or if they are going to be more of a focal point.

-Rob