Changing our home into a modern space

Posted on: 18 October 2016

Too many people discount what's under their feet when they're giving their home a facelift, defaulting to plain, boring carpets or fake, tacky composite flooring. The truth is there's no substitute for real timber when you're picking a floor for your home--and here's why.

1. Wood goes with everything and fits with every style. Everyone's style is different, but a wooden floor can accommodate all of them in a way that carpeting never could. If you prefer Bohemian jewel tones, but you're planning on selling on your home to a Japanese-styling minimalist, you'll find that you will both be equally happy with a timber floor.  
2. Real wood heals itself of minor marks and scratches. Have you ever wondered why wooden chopping boards are so much better than other kinds? It's because wood is self-healing; minor marks and scratches will simply vanish over a couple of days. If you walk over a composite wood floor wearing stiletto heels or drag a sofa across the room, you'll almost certainly leave marks behind, but real timber has no such trouble. If your home has high-traffic areas, you can even buy timber coated with a self-healing resin that enhances the self-healing effect.
3. A good timber floor will last for generations. Wood is a durable material that can last an incredibly long time (there's a wooden church in Essex that has been standing since the 9th century). There's nothing quite like wood for laying a floor that will last exactly as long as you want it to, especially with a little TLC.
4. Rugs give you way more design flexibility than carpeting does. Rugs are widely available, they come in all manner of shapes and colours, and there's one for every budget. They're also horrible on carpet; they make everything look too busy, and they have too homogeneous a texture to really set a room off. Wooden flooring is where rugs really come into their own, and you can update them as often as you'd like.
5. There's nothing more straightforward than cleaning a wooden floor. Carpets can take ages to hoover, they're prone to picking up stains, and they're horribly expensive to have shampooed. Wooden flooring, on the other hand, has none of these problems. Minor spillages can be wiped or swept up the second they happen with no fuss at all, and all you need to do to keep the floor in great shape is whip round with a hoover once a week and run a mop over anything that still looks a bit grubby.