Flooring Ideas Wood Ceramic VS Carpeting
When we were building our current home we researched flooring ideas for our home. But, because of our budget we had to install carpeting in most of our rooms, some vinyl tile and solid wood floors. If money wasn’t an issue we would have installed hardwood flooring in our entire home, with the exception of our bathrooms and laundry room.
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In our previous home we ripped our our carpeting and had hardwood floors installed in every room, including the closets. With the exception of two bathrooms and our laundry room. I loved having those wood floors. They were so easy to keep clean and I never had to vacuum.
Our current home will be ten years old in a few months and I’d love to replace the floors with hardwood. But, we’re not planning on living here for many more years, so spending that kind of money wouldn’t pay off for us when we sell our home.
Unfortunately we will have to replace our crappy carpet with new carpeting in the next year. But I’m hoping to replace our vinyl tile with tile that looks like wood flooring. I think it will help with selling our home, and it won’t be as big of an investment.
I started researching flooring ideas and found many ceramic floors that look just like wood. I’ve seen these in person, and I have to say, unless you touch it, you really can’t tell that’s it’s not wood. It really looks that realistic.
What’s Better Wood Or Ceramic Floors?
Solid wood flooring is easy to clean. I’ve had them in my previous home and found them to be easy to maintain. They say you need to have them refinished every couple of years. But I’ll be honest, I’ve never done that here or in my previous home. What I don’t like about solid wood flooring is that it scratches and dings, especially if you have pets or drop something on it, like a 10 lb turkey, yeah I totally did that! Engineered wood flooring is solid wood, but it has those spaces in between each slat. I find that uncomfortable to walk on with bare feet and if you spill something it will get in between those cracks pretty easily. Laminate flooring is a great option and I think it’s come a long way in the past 20 years. I find it to be more durable that it once was.
Ceramic floors have also come a long way. They are much more durable than they once were. I’ve seen ceramic floors that look just like wood floors. If a tile does get damaged you can replace that tile and not have to tear up the entire floor. I’d say the one issue with ceramic tile is the grout. I would choose a dark grout so it doesn’t show the dirt. But sealing it every couple of years can keep it looking clean. Here are a few flooring ideas that I found while I was searching.
French Oak Engineered Hardwood Flooring Color Tobacco
5 inch Greenland Multilayer Distressed Hand-Scraped Hardwood Maple Champagne(Richland) Flooring
Michael Anthony Furniture Novi Maple Series Distressed Lowland Brown Solid Hardwood Flooring
FRENCH OAK SOLID HARDWOOD FLOORING COLOR TOBACCO 3/4″X6″
Oak Tobacco Distressed – Prefinished Solid Wood Floors Oak Flooring
Taormina Stering Wood Look Tile- Plank Tile 8″x 24″
Antigua Mix- Barnwood 8×24 Wood Plank- Wood Look Tile-Blue /Brown Spain
Memphit Turquoise-Beach Wood Bammod Wood Plank-Wood Look Tile 8×24
What do you prefer in your home, wood or ceramic tile?
Shopping Guide:
FRENCH OAK ENGINEERED HARDWOOD FLOORING COLOR TOBACCO 5/8″X6″
5 inch Greenland Multilayer Distressed Hand-Scraped Hardwood Maple Champagne(Richland) Flooring
Michael Anthony Furniture Novi Maple Series Distressed Lowland Brown Solid Hardwood Flooring
FRENCH OAK SOLID HARDWOOD FLOORING COLOR TOBACCO 3/4″X6″
Oak Tobacco Distressed – Prefinished Solid Wood Floors Oak Flooring
Taormina Stering Wood Look Tile- Plank Tile 8″x 24″
Antigua Mix- Barnwood 8×24 Wood Plank- Wood Look Tile-Blue /Brown Spain
Memphit Turquoise-Beach Wood Bammod Wood Plank-Wood Look Tile 8×24
Sooo do not agree with your comment “…… found many ceramic floors that look just like wood. I’ve seen these in person, and I have to say, unless you touch it, you really can’t tell that’s it’s not wood”. Sorry…but you asked.
When we purchased our 1955 home back in the mid-80’s, we were blessed to have solid oak floors on the main floor (except for bath and kitchen) though it was covered with carpeting. In the early 90’s we ripped up carpet and two layers of padding, then refinished those original floors ourselves. Lots of work, but maybe that is why I can spot a real wood floor from a ceramic wood look-alike, or even a laminate, a mile away. 😉
And there’s another “tell”. The very minute I walk into a room I can tell if the floors are real wood or anything else….even if they look like wood. How do I know? It’s how the room sounds. Each type of flooring has certain sound absorption qualities. And to compare ceramic wood-look floors with real wood….well….there’s no comparison. The ceramic sounds much louder than wood. Sound bounces around entirely differently on ceramic than it does on wood.
As a designer who started out (back when I was 5 years old) as a musician, sound is as important to me as appearance. So yes, sound should be a determining factor along with looks, durability, use of the room, family life style, and of course budget. (I wish I could say our current home has all hardwood, but it only has it in the bedrooms.)
With all the options out there today for flooring, it really comes down to personal preference. …and thank goodness for that 😀
Depends…if you live somewhere cold you will need to put a warming mat ounder it, tile = cold in the winter.
You are facing the same dilemma that I am I am in the process of bringing my house added the early 80s or late 70s and flooring is becoming an issue with me now I have been going I want to stay in the gray tones and I love the Woodlock that’s what I want but living in Michigan and it being cold in the winter is my concern with tile and I didn’t want to have to put heat underneath all the floorings that’s another added expense so I’m in that situation too I’ll be looking forward to your post
Above commentor is so right, we have ceramic tile in a single wide mfg. home, very cold in winter. PLUS if something breakable hits that ceramic tile it’s a goner. Have broken more things I treasured on that blasted tile over 10 yrs. time than I care to remember. Hate it.
Would love to have wood floors but have to be careful what kind due to swamp cooler, can’t have bamboo for example.
When previous owner ordered house she picked worst crappy carpet, now we are living with it. Would rather take carpet out of rooms to just have linoleum with area rugs over it. Carpet is high low junk and looks it, aaarrrggghhh! But due to cold factor hubs won’t take carpet out.
Would leave carpet in 2 extra bedrooms but want to take out of living room and our room where it is awful dark green and living room is shades of white and browns, argh.
Have great weekend
I have a house built in the 50’s and it has old oak floors and i love them. they are so easy to keep clean. I do however have tile in my dining room and bathrooms. I have a steam cleaner and that is how they all get cleaned.
The flooring question is indeed a difficult one. The one thing I think about is the absolute longevity of the product. I love the warmth and feel of real wood. But like you, I have raised children and weathered many seasons with all sorts of pets. My husband has sold floor covering products for nearly 40 years. Saying that, I have been subjected to all sorts of “trials” when it comes to flooring. I have discovered that living with the trendy things such as Wood look ceramic, or carpeting (broadloom or tiles) is just not worth the time and trouble
I say, get what your heart wants that your budget will accommodate. Wood look ceramic breaks, it’s cold and it will eventually be one of those trends that just didn’t stand the test of time. Carpet “uglies” out sooner than later, but wood…. I put Wood look luxury vinyl tile in a kitchen area that was just not suitable for real wood. It was flooded 3 times, and down for years without looking any less beautiful than the first day it was down. Lifetime, commercial warranty against, pets, kids, floods etc. Real wood down everywhere else. It gets a coat of wax when needed and always provides warmth and beauty everyday. So….. follow your heart. It’s still OK to love traditional!
In every situation except the bathroms prefer wood. I have wood kitchen floors now, but like yours, they show the scratches and the dings quite easily. We were recently in a flooring store in our area celebrating their grand opening. We talked to a representative at length about the wood look ceramic tiles. I was astonished at how great they looked, the durability that was demonstrated to us and the incredible ease of cleaning. We left the store and went home to discuss our findings. Just when we had thought we were going to go with the “new style” wood look ceramic tile, I said to the hubs. “my only hesitation is the coolness and in winter the coldness of the tile.” He in turn said to me, “I’ve been wondering about that all along, but didn’t want to bring something up that didn’t seem that big of a deal to you.” We both said “yeah” and didn’t go back to the store. In the meantime, our neighbor down the street has a mid-century modern home like ours and has renovated it to its 1959 style to the “T”. It looks FABULOUS. He used a new type of linoleum for the floor in his kitchen the hubs and I both immediately loved. I asked Tom (our neighbor) if I could take off my shoes and stand on his floor with bare feet. It felt perfect, almost soft. We finished our tour of his house, went home and I said I wanted his floor in our kitchen. We went to the store where he purchased his and were sticker shocked! We have since been doing some researching and looking and found a wide variance in quality and price. I do think we have found what we want at a much better price…..we’re thinking about pulling the trigger.
I also prefer wood except perhaps in bathrooms. If you are looking to sell your home in the near future I don’t think ceramic tile will be a plus for families with small children because it is cold, slippery, and when something is dropped on it, it shatters! I have a friend with 8 kids. She bought a house with lovely ceramic tile in the kitchen and she ended up ripping it out because her children kept dropping things and glass would shatter everywhere. This is something to consider since you say you want to sell in a few years.
I agree that the tile that looks like wood is delicious, but I would only use it in the bathrooms if I were going to sell. HTH
We put ceramic tile in our kitchen several years ago. Recently, our ice maker leaked and the water got under the tile. The tile is broken and the grout is coming out. We are going to have replace the entire kitchen floor. This also happened to my friend a few years ago and they had to replace all of the tile. I also find it very hard to stand on for a long period of time (such as cooking Christmas Dinner). I have tile in my two entry ways and I really like it there. I would never put it in my kitchen again. I am thinking about wood grain vinyl.