How to choose and combine
Let's start by clearly defining what we don't need. Namely, traditional, established standards, which suggest that the flooring should not distract attention from the rest of the interior elements. In short, it is believed that gender should be neutral.
This opinion is not so often challenged, and as a result we see “laminates”, faceless parquet boards and linoleum everywhere. But you have the power to create a unique atmosphere and mood in the room just by using the floor. The main thing is to present it correctly and ensure that it blends organically with the walls and furniture.
When choosing an unusual floor, you should pay special attention to its compatibility with the doors. Ideally, it is better to lay the floor first, and then start choosing doors. This way you will eliminate mistakes in choosing a style.
Now let's move on to specifics - what unusual things can you come up with in terms of floor coverings.
Marmoleum
Marmoleum is an original floor covering that resembles both linoleum and cork. The composition of the product includes organic materials: balsa wood, natural resins, tourniquet, chalk, linseed oil and even wood flour. The visual and practical properties of the coating are similar to classic linoleum, but, unlike it, marmoleum breathes, is environmentally friendly and hypoallergenic.
Surprisingly, this coating has antibacterial properties and prevents the formation of fungus and mold.
The material is relatively new, it is difficult to buy in Russia, but in Europe it can be found in elite sports complexes, private schools and kindergartens.
Everything has its drawbacks. Marmoleum is difficult to install, difficult to transform, and crumbles at the edges under mechanical stress. But progress does not stand still, we hope that the weak points of the material will soon be modernized.
Laminate with printing and prints
An original solution that has been steadily gaining popularity in recent years, while remaining unusual, is laminate with printing and prints. This is a very good compromise between classicism and pronounced originality. These floors are an excellent example of the balance between restraint and style. This is the ideal solution for a city loft. On the one hand, variegated parquet attracts attention, and on the other, it looks quite non-standard, and at the same time easily combines with most interior design styles.
You also have an excellent opportunity to create a decorative floor covering in the loft style, incorporating originality and unique performance characteristics into the material itself. We are talking about cork floors with photo printing from the Loft collection from Corkstyle. In our store you can buy adhesive cork floors with high-quality prints in this style, as well as floating floors with similar images.
Printed floors
Parquet with multi-level embossing allows you to create a convex relief pattern on the board. The “Massive Floors” salons offer coverings with prints. One of the most popular damask patterns is a style-forming ornament in classic interiors. Colored solid floors with imitation of shabby paint will fit perfectly into the Provence and Chile style.
Aged wood
Surely it will not be a secret to you that a variety of vintages are still trendy. And this also applies to floor coverings. Thus, aged wooden boards of different shades with “traces” of the previous paint will easily give the interior of your apartment a resemblance to a ship’s deck or a living room in some old tower.
A very similar style solution, but still unique in its own way, is offered by the Impuls collection of cork floors with photo printing from the same manufacturer. You can also buy it in our store both in an adhesive version and in the form of a floating floor.
Unusual carpeting
If you carefully approach the choice and definition of style, then even a covering that is losing popularity, like carpet, can make the room not only cozy, but also unusually stylish. This is an excellent solution for a bedroom or nursery. Just remember that such coatings are contraindicated in rooms with a fireplace and any other rooms with a high fire hazard.
Unusual carpets
If a large-scale renovation with a complete replacement of the floor covering is still too much of an undertaking for you, a carpet of an unusual color and shape can solve a lot. If you choose a bright fantasy theme, such a carpet can set the accent and mood of the entire room, and even the most inconspicuous old floor covering will be “lost” against its background.
Unusual floor tiles: mosaic and ethno
Speaking about “unusualities” in floor coverings, one cannot fail to mention something truly amazing - Mexican-style ceramic tiles. Original Mexican patterned tiles are handmade and kiln glazed. If you try, its visual analogues can be found in specialized stores.
Such tiles often serve as the basis for a patchwork-style flooring design - tiles of different sizes and with different patterns, but designed in the same style, are combined in an original “patchwork quilt” mosaic. The result is literally mesmerizing and creates a special comfort and atmosphere in the house.
Ceramic tiles have their drawbacks that make them not entirely suitable for installation anywhere other than the kitchen or bathroom. But we have an excellent solution for you that will allow you to create exactly the same style, bypassing the disadvantages of ceramics. These are cork floors with Granorte Vita Decor photo printing. This stunning collection will give you the unique coziness and comfort of a cork floor , multiplied by the amazing ethno-patterns of Mexican ceramics.
Original flooring ideas
Today, the choice of decorating your home is limited only by your imagination and the depth of your wallet. However, even in an age of abundance and diversity, we remain ourselves and continue to look for new things and experiment with what we have already found. Naturally, such experiments do not bypass the field of floor coverings.
In this regard, we invite you to familiarize yourself with the list of original floor coverings with which you can decorate your own home without much difficulty and expense.
Wood floors.
The reasons why lumber is harvested by sawing a tree trunk along, and not across, are simple and understandable even to a child. However, our first example suggests going against banal logic for the sake of originality.
The technology is simple: cut blanks of the same height, lay them on a flat floor and glue them. Next, all that remains is to sand the surface of the discs, fill the space between them with grout or smaller discs and cover everything with polyurethane.
Now imagine what beauty can be achieved using discs of different types of wood!
Floor made of coins.
Have you been putting the change that accumulated in your pockets into a piggy bank for a whole year and are now ready to break the overflowing piggy bank and have a wild ride? Don't rush to spend your savings on all sorts of nonsense. There is a more original way to use them. However, what kind of coins they will be - new or already out of circulation - is up to you to decide. You can develop the idea and replace “trifles,” for example, with buttons or bottle caps.
Unlike a floor made of wooden disks, the work here is not at all dusty, but VERY painstaking. Particular attention should be paid to leveling the surface. Cracks and irregularities should be repaired with cement and putty.
You can lay out the currency (in the literal sense of the word) mosaic right away on the floor, but it is much easier to first divide the floor area into squares, work on the table and assemble the pattern in parts on self-adhesive paper. And then transfer this unpretentious puzzle to the floor. Finally, we fill it all with epoxy sealant with a UV blocker and leave it to dry. When ready, you can act out an episode from the cartoon “Golden Antelope”, rolling on the floor and asking “That’s enough!”
Paper stone floor.
Everything ingenious is simple. Unlike previous methods, here negligence in work is not only not forbidden, but rather encouraged. We take regular wrapping paper, crumple it and leave it under pressure overnight.
Then we straighten the paper blanks and coat them with glue mixed in half with water. Be sure to overlap the joints of the sheets so that they do not unravel when they dry out. When laying the dampened paper on the floor, press it as tightly as possible. Let it dry, cover it with stain and the next day treat the floor with the same glue solution. We wait for the surface to dry completely and cover everything with parquet varnish. Ready.
Fabric floor.
In general, the technology for making such a floor has been around for many, many years. It’s just that over the last decade it has ceased to be in demand and has fallen out of sight. Well? Everything new is well forgotten old. As you might guess, a special feature of this floor is a textile fabric with a pattern or design.
Strips of cut fabric are attached to the floor using PVA glue (in the case of a solid fabric, it is enough to glue the material around the perimeter). When processing, it is important to get rid of wrinkles and expel air, because... any unevenness on the surface will inevitably lead to rapid wear and tear - it will simply crack. It is also advisable to iron the glued fabric. Now for two weeks, every 2-3 days we cover the floor with parquet varnish. 5-7 layers of varnish will give your floor sufficient strength and durability.
As you can see, such floors look very original and unusual.
Of course, it is impossible to talk about all types of floor coverings in one article. By the way, we didn’t even try to do this. We just offered you a few interesting solutions in the hope that now your wild imagination will tell you how else this list could be expanded. But before you get started, take a look at the “Floors and Flooring” section on our forum. There will definitely be experienced specialists there who will give you good advice and help you avoid mistakes when bringing your ideas to life.
Floors with 3D effect
Floors with a 3D effect will look absolutely impressive. Even in the photograph you can clearly see how realistic the image on the floor appears. “Live” this floor looks even more impressive. As an option, you can lay ceramic tiles with a three-dimensional pattern. Such a solution may not be easy to adapt to a living space, but for some art space or studio such an idea would be just right.
Unusual concrete floors
Yes, it may seem strange, but concrete floors can be beautiful too. Of course, in this case we are not talking about residential premises, but for a sales area or store this can be a very good solution. Modern technologies for constructing self-leveling concrete floors make it possible to achieve such a flat, smooth, literally mirror-like floor surface that at first (and even at second) glance you cannot tell that it is concrete.
The top layer of 1-2 mm is made using a special mixture - topping - which, after hardening, acquires exceptional strength and resistance to various types of influences. The topping can be of different colors, so the “boring” gray color of concrete is by no means necessary. You can add any pigment to the topping, even glitter!
Unusual cork floors
Cork floors are a whole huge layer in the range of ideas for flooring. We have already mentioned above how you can use cork floors with photo printing to realize super-original ideas for the floor.
But the options described are only a small part of the range in which cork floors are presented on the market. Our store offers you the widest selection of adhesive and floating cork floors from the most prominent world-famous manufacturers.
The breadth and variety of visual solutions amazes the imagination - from the natural texture and shades of natural cork to the stylization of stone, minerals, wood, etc. Among dozens of collections of cork floors , you are sure to find the model that fits perfectly into the interior.
You can learn more about the properties and benefits of cork floors
What to do if you are tired of the unusual floor?
Any original, eye-catching design has one drawback - it quickly gets boring. Therefore, floors made from non-standard materials are only good for those places where people go sometimes, and do not stay there all the time. These are bars, cafes, hostels, etc.
“On the edge” solutions are not suitable for a house or apartment: after just a few weeks you will want to change the floor to a calmer and more discreet one, but this will be difficult to do. Tiles, self-leveling flooring - these coatings are not easy to dismantle; it takes a lot of time and effort.
If you want to create beautifully designed floors at home that are suitable for living, modern types of laminate flooring will help you. In addition to the classic rectangular slats, there are options available in interesting shapes and colors. At the same time, the unusual laminate retains all the advantages of this coating: affordable price, simple installation and dismantling, and easy maintenance.
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Leather floors
Finally, let's say a few words about this type of flooring, which not everyone has even heard of, although you can buy it without any problems. We're talking about leather floors . Yes, indeed, the decorative layer of such floors is made from real leather, followed by stylization to resemble the skin of “expensive” reptiles. This is already the most perfect chic and brilliance, and a clear indication of the wealth of the house and the high taste of the owners.
You can read in detail about leather floors We present to you two amazing collections of such super-original floor coverings in the form factor of adhesive and floating floors.
Terrazzo porcelain tiles
Terrazzo porcelain tiles are at the peak of interior fashion in Europe. It was presented at interior exhibitions in Milan and Paris. The variegated texture with colored inserts allows you to create an accent floor in fashionable monochromatic retro interiors.
Terrazzo is reminiscent of Antonio Gaudi's bold experiments with broken tiles.
But in Russia the new product was met with hostility. The fact is that such mosaic tiles are too much reminiscent of Soviet flooring in government institutions - hospitals, schools, kindergartens. It's funny how associations vary from country to country and affect tastes.
A wide selection of floor coverings, from creative to noble classic, is presented in the Lanskoy shopping complex.
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