Is your spare bedroom still suffocating under a layer of shag carpeting? Do you have hardwood floors that are starting to look like the cat’s scratching post? Is your bathroom tile showing off more cracks than grout? Sounds like 2020 is the right year to look into some great new options for replacing your floors!
In a recent survey of homeowners, nearly three-quarters of respondents (73 percent) said they were already planning out a home improvement project of some sort. 30 percent of the homeowners surveyed said their floors were the current home feature they most disliked. Long story short, if you decide to install new floors in 2020, you’re going to be in good company!
New flooring can do a great deal to refresh your home’s decor, and if you choose your materials wisely, you can also give your home’s value a big boost. In addition to being a smart investment and a style upgrade, a new floor can also make your home more convenient and safer.
The sheer number of different flooring options available to you can be overwhelming, though! We talked to a range of different designers and home improvement professionals to zero in on the flooring trends that were going to be blowing up in 2020.
1) Wood-Look Porcelain Tile
Porcelain tiles with a convincing wood finish aren’t just a pipe dream anymore. Attractive, convincing, and durable wood-look tiles are skyrocketing in popularity right now. Quality wood-look porcelain tiles deliver the same beautiful aesthetic as real wood with much-improved durability and resistance to scratching. Engineered flooring options, in general, are garnering more homeowner interest than natural wood these days. It’s the reduced maintenance requirements that really draw in homeowners; not having to make a style sacrifice is just a bonus.
2) Marble-Look Porcelain Tile
Not too far from wood-look porcelain tile, you’ll find porcelain tile finished to replicate the look of marble. When it comes to faux-finish tiles, these may be even more impressive than their wood-imitating brethren. Well-made tiles can be virtually indistinguishable from real marble. This allows you to put in an opulent-looking floor anywhere in your home for a fraction of the cost you’d pay for genuine stone.
3) Stained Concrete
Stained concrete is an excellent choice for use in homes whose decor leans toward industrial, modern, or midcentury looks. It can work well with any minimalist or functionalist design scheme. When stained concrete is the intended final finish, concrete floors are typically mixed, poured, and polished by hand.
4) Terrazzo
Designers know that every old trend will come around again sooner or later, and 2020 is poised to be terrazzo’s year. Terrazzo is a composite flooring material made by embedding a range of different aggregates (including stone chips, shells, crushed glass, and more) in concrete. The surface is polished to an extremely smooth finish. Although terrazzo is probably best known right now as a large-format flooring choice used in public and commercial buildings, its time as a residential flooring choice is here. One handy advantage terrazzo has to offer: It’s a very environmentally-responsible option.
5) Waterproof Vinyl Plank Floors
Vinyl plank floors are broadly similar to laminates, including in price. They offer greater durability, though, and they can imitate wood just as well. Water-resistance is a significant advantage, too; it allows you to install vinyl plank flooring in bathrooms and kitchens without worrying about reduced floor life.
6) Large-Format Tiles
Designers and homeowners alike are coming to appreciate the size and convenience of larger flooring tiles across a range of different materials. Any flooring material offered in tiles of 12 inches by 12 inches or larger counts as “large-format.” Manufacturers are currently producing tiles in sizes up to 40 inches by 120 inches. Porcelain is the most common material for these big tiles, but large-format sizes are being used for other ceramics and natural stone, too.
7) Black-And-White Tile
Many popular home styles are making use of classic black-and-white checkerboard tiles. These can be seen in rustic design styles like modern farmhouse and in transitional styles.
8) Slip-Resistant Floors
The average age of homeowners is rising steadily, and a lot of those homeowners are concentrating their home improvement efforts on making it easier for them to age in place. This means safety improvements are only going to get more popular in 2020; slip-resistant materials and coatings can reduce the risk of falls.
9) Engineered Wood
In 2020, homeowners are going to get a lot of mileage (or square footage) out of engineered wood products that combine attractive veneers with durable plywood cores. This is a very affordable and environmentally-responsible way to get wood floors. The year’s most popular finishes are likely to be ash, mahogany, and oak.
10) Natural Wood From Responsible Sources
Natural wood floors enjoy perennial popularity, but in 2020, homeowners are more likely than ever before to want their wood to come from environmentally-friendly sources. Certification from the Forest Stewardship Council is important, and modern homeowners tend to seek out non-toxic wax or oil finishes.
