Floor Talk!

“I am getting differing opinions regarding the design of floor coverings and its effects on the perception of room size. What is often taught sometimes runs counter to actual experience and so on.” Reader- you ask some good questions and we hope that you will find our advice helpful as it relates to the size of patterns and the size of different floor coverings and how they affect the overall visual appearance of a space. Be sure to visit the Virtual Room Designer on our site to experiment with different sizes!

1. “Do small tile or small patterns in carpet or vinyl tend to make a room look larger or smaller in comparison to larger tile (such as 18-20 inch). “ The short answer is that I find, in general, when you incorporate a large size tile, vinyl pattern or carpet pattern in a smaller space, the room visually takes on a larger appearance. Most people generally think the opposite. But, consider when you have a small size floor covering or pattern there are more lines that you see. For example, with a smaller tile, there are more grout lines than with a larger size tile. The more lines you have, the more it breaks up that floor visually making the floor or space appear smaller. If you use a larger size tile or pattern, then there are fewer lines that break up the floor thus making the overall room appear larger.

Tuscan Valley 6″

Tuscan Valley 18″

One thing to keep in mind is the pattern repeat (usually indicated on the product label). If you are working with a smaller space and a large pattern repeat you need to make sure that enough of the pattern is going to be visible on the floor and not cut off so that you receive the full visual of that floor pattern. Otherwise, the pattern will not deliver the intended design impact and will look incomplete or confusing. I have replaced 6×6 and 8×8 tiles with 24×24 stone looking tiles in a powder room before with beautiful results. The larger size tile made the small powder bath look and feel larger and the larger size tile created a more authentic look of natural stone.

Other considerations – Installing a large tile on the diagonal (45 degrees) can also make a room look larger by drawing your eyes into the space and add a little design punch at the same time.

Ceramic Tile turned on the diagonal (45 degrees)

2. Does a wooden border or tile border of, say 18 inches, at the edges of a room surrounding a carpet make the room appear larger or smaller? How does the contrast in the color of the two materials in this case affect it, if at all? Good for you for thinking outside the box! If you are using a wood or tile border to tie two rooms together, sometimes that is more important than it potentially making the room feel smaller. Often times, these types of borders are utilized to create a visual link to an adjacent room, provide a design accent or detail or more commonly, to create a more intimate area in a room that feels too large. So, to answer your question, yes, borders are used to create or define spaces within a larger space making the room more intimate and appear smaller. If the border material is of a contrasting color, then it will provide another visual break making the space again more intimate.

Wood Border with tile center

All wood foyer

Also consider the number of pieces of furniture in the room and how they are arranged. Move the furniture off the walls when possible and create a nice conversation area in the center of the room which will help highlight your border.

Another common misconception is that using a dark floor will always make a room feel smaller. That is not necessarily true. The size of the room, the wall color and the amount of light in that room are all factors in whether a room visually appears larger or smaller. Don’t be afraid of a darker floor (unless you are planning on having a dark wood floor that is bare and you have large dogs with long nails-that’s not a good idea!)

Example of dark floors with light walls

Example of dark floors with darker walls

One last thought, sometimes a desired look or design theme will suggest a certain size of flooring material to achieve the authentic look you want. For example, if you want to create that classic look in a vintage bath you might consider the black and white 2×2 mosaic’s that were popular in the early 1900’s. This type of floor, although small would be the perfect compliment for the design. Or, if you want an ultra modern look then you could incorporate 1×1 mosaics in metallic finishes on the floor that would again be very appropriate.

Westminster Resilient Vinyl Flooring

As you can see there are many variables that can come into play but I hope I was able to give you a better understanding. Thanks for asking us about your flooring questions!