Flooring and rugs

Flooring and Rugs

The hard finishes are often required to be decided upon quite early on in a project. These refer to the more permanent and fixed surfaces within a room, of which floors are a key part.

Communicating flooring choices

A project manager or contractor will need to know what type of flooring you want to install and where pretty early on. It may be that there is a mixture of carpet, wood, stone and tiles so it's essential to be able to clearly show exactly what is going where.

The easiest way I have found to do this is to use the floor plan and create a colour code for each type of flooring. I then use coloured pencils to show which flooring is being installed in which room.

Be clear about exactly how you want the flooring to be fitted - whether it's tile laying patterns or ensuring the transition between wood flooring and carpet is seamless - and keep checking it is being installed correctly.

Tips for choosing flooring

• A jute carpet is ideal to use in high traffic areas where you want to introduce some cosiness.
• Be careful about where you install cream carpet - it's very unforgiving and can also feel quite boring.
• Patterned carpets can work really well on a staircase, and can bring a lot of interest to a hallway where there is limited opportunity to introduce colour and pattern.
• I would recommend trying to use the same flooring in as much of the house as possible - it's easier on the eye and creates a better flow between rooms.
• Try to use as much matting in an entrance hall as possible for people to clean their shoes on when they arrive.

Rugs

I tend to look for rugs a bit later on in the design process, as I want to see how the rest of the room is taking shape first. However, if you are getting something made bespoke, be mindful of lead times which can be as long as 6 months.

Sourcebook

Northfield jute carpet, by Tim Page

Claremont jute carpet, by Tim Page

Specialists in bespoke carpets, rugs and runners Peter Page

American carpet company Stark Carpets

Rug and textile designer Vanderhurd

Coir matting

Robert Stephenson for internationally sourced rugs as well as bespoke contemporary designs

Guinevere for antique Dhurries

Robert Kime for for antique Oushaks and Kilims