Floor Me: Alternatives to Wood and Polished Concrete Floors
Much has been written about selecting and installing wood flooring as well as refinishing your original concrete floors in your midcentury modern home.
Certainly the unbroken visual of one flooring throughout your home is beautiful but these options can be unpractical for some families. If you have young children you might want a softer, more cushioned alternative to wood or concrete or perhaps you want an option for your entry way or laundry room that can handle the occasional wet floor. Or maybe you just want more colorful flooring options than concrete or wood provide.
We spoke to Karen Nepacena, interior designer and author of Midcentury Modern Style: An Approachable Guide to Inspired Rooms for affordable alternative flooring suggestions.
Cork flooring is a mid century flooring option. Medium priced and easy to install. Photo by Christopher Dibble
Cork
Cork is one of my favorite choices for flooring. We have cork in the bedroom side of our home. It is comfy on the feet and hypoallergenic. And cork is very period specific — many midcentury homes had cork as their original flooring. But cork and water and pets don’t mix so I don’t recommend cork for the laundry room or where your pet spends most of their time. It is in the medium price range and cork options today are long planks that are clicked together so they are easy to install.
FLOR Carpet Tiles inject color into your mcm home decor. The tiles are easy to install and change as time goes by. Photo by Christopher Dibble
FLOR Carpet Tiles
You don’t see carpet in too many midcentury homes these days but if you have a room you are using as a teenage hangout like a garage you might want to consider carpet tiles from FLOR. These tiles are made from recycled nylon content and come in many great patterns and colors including midcentury specific designs and they are super easy to install and clean. Water doesn’t harm the tiles so if you spill something you can just pick up the tile and rinse it off and click it back into place.
Vinyl Composition Tile is durable and cost effective. Photo by Christopher Dibble
VCT: Vinyl Composition Tile
VCT gets a bad reputation because you often see it in schools and hospitals where it looks in rough shape. But it lasts forever and this option is a great one for those who want to tackle the installation themselves. It is an especially nice option for a laundry room or small powder room. You can really have fun with VCT as there are different colors to select from to make a fun pattern. For example, you can do a black and white checkerboard pattern in a nod to the 1950s. For a look that you won’t get tired of select tile in a white or cream color.
You can buy these at a big box store and you can install it yourself but you must make certain your subfloor is perfectly flat and level. This option requires the most prep work so you might want to use a professional installer.
Marmoleum is another type of floor tile that is made from natural materials. It is also a good option and is period specific.
Porcelain tile is extremely durable and has a multitude of different looks and tile sizes. Photo by Christopher Dibble
Porcelain Tile
I use porcelain tile in the majority of my projects. This option is great for an active family as it is really durable. But it also has some great design options. For a high end look go larger in scale — 12x12 tiles are the typical size so 24x24 tiles throughout your home will give you a terrazzo or concrete floor look. This is one option that you don’t want to try to install yourself.
For more inspiration on flooring options for your home pick up a copy of Karen’s book which is packed with design ideas and great photos by photographer Christopher Dibble.
