How to style tiled flooring in your living room

How to style tiled flooring in your living room

Tiled flooring in living rooms is becoming more common, especially in modern homes with open-plan styles that flow between multiple rooms or areas of the home. Styling tiled flooring may feel tricky if you’re used to having more traditional flooring in your home, but there are lots of ways you can take tile flooring and use it beautifully to reflect your taste.

In this guide, we’ll take you through the different design styles you may see with tiled living room flooring, as well as some of the different types of tiled flooring you could select for your living room. Finally, we’ll explore the ways you can make existing tiled flooring work in your space with some fun flooring ideas - after all, you need to ensure that your floor suits your decor.  

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Living room floor tiles design

Whether you’re trying to make your existing tiled flooring work or you’re keen to have tiled flooring in your living room, the look of tiled flooring has been around for a long time and has always worked best in bright, modern spaces.

It’s worth remembering just because you have tiled flooring, doesn’t mean you can’t be toasty warm! Our guide to the best flooring for underfloor heating has lots of information on what flooring works best with different underfloor heating types, and it’s no surprise that tiles are up there with the best! So now we just need to help you answer, which tiles work best in a living room?

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How to select tiles for a living room

When you’re trying to pick flooring for your space that has the look and feel of tiles, you might not immediately think of anything other than traditional stone tiles. However, there are plenty of different flooring types that can replicate the look and feel of stone tiles whilst bringing their benefits too. 

Stone tiles

Stone tiles are the traditional choice– they’ve been around for thousands of years in different forms and have been used in homes and buildings around the world. They’re popular because stone is durable and strong, which means you can have the same flooring for decades and never have to worry about changing it. But typically, stone tiles are cold to the touch, have grout marks that can harbour germs and are prone to stains, chips, and scratches particularly when they get wet.

Luxury vinyl tiles

Luxury vinyl tile is a great alternative to stone tiles, because not only does it mimic the look and feel of real stone, but it’s comfortable, cushioned, warm under your feet and can be water-resistant. You can get luxury vinyl in either tiles or planks, making it a versatile choice for your home.

The secret to LVT is its design layer. It sits between the durable plywood bottom layers and the protective topcoat and contains a printed image of the material that it’s replicating – for instance, a wood plank or a stone effect, like a patterned tile – and the topcoat can also be embossed to mimic the pattern beneath to create even more realistic feeling tiles.

Vinyl

Similar to LVT, sheet vinyl is made from multiple layers that work together to recreate the look of stone tiles or wooden floors (in which case, you might want to have a read of our guide on styling wooden flooring in your living room), however, sheet vinyl works a little differently than LVT. Sheet vinyl is laid in large rolls instead of individual planks and tiles, meaning it’s a lot more flexible than LVT. You are more likely to get the realistic effect of individual tiles or planks with LVT, however, sheet vinyl has plenty of great properties besides.

Because sheet vinyl is laid in large rolls, there are fewer individual joins for moisture to get beneath the flooring and into your subfloor. This makes it a really popular choice for bathrooms and kitchens, so if you have an open-plan layout in your home, you can continue your vinyl flooring into your living room. 

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Living room tile floor ideas

Potted plants can be placed around to add a tropical feeling to your living room, and tall palms and fronds can also add the impression of being somewhere minimalist and calm, like a spa, especially when paired with minimal white vinyl.

Alternatively, you can include some bright and colourful rugs to be a vibrant focal point in the point – this works well with both light and dark tiles, like cream LVT or black laminate. Did you know that you can create a rug from your favourite Tapi carpet using our carpet whipping service? Pop down to your local Tapi store to pick up some samples of your favourite colours and designs to try out in your space. 

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If you think that the tile look could be the flooring for your living room, why not book a free home appointment or a free store appointment to speak to one of our knowledgeable floorologists about the different options you could try today? Or alternatively, read more on our pick of the best flooring for living rooms.

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Published: 01-12-2022

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