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How to match flooring with furniture
How to match flooring with furniture
It is one of the most common challenges for all interior designers and anyone looking to furnish their home tastefully and harmoniously (without making mistakes and unattractive choices): how to match the flooring with the furniture. The focal point for a well thought-out interior design scheme is the correct balance between the furniture and the walls and floors, the same dialogue found between the props and backdrop in theatre scenery, and the same principle which brings life and harmony to our living areas.
How to identify the right combination of flooring and furniture may not be immediately obvious, but it is a key element in defining a room. The first thing to bear in mind before deciding how to match the flooring and furniture is the idea we wish to convey, how we want the room to appear, which sensations we wish it to arouse, what the inspiration is in terms of style, and what the design needs and wishes are.
Let’s take a look then at some tips to help enhance the design and make everything as harmonious as possible.
The first tip is to follow a color pathway. Maintaining continuity of palette can provide a softer, more harmonious look (favor white and lighter shades combined with neutral and pastel colors), while more audacious contrasts can provide a bigger impact. Another key characteristic which should be in agreement between the walls, floors and furnishings is the texture of the materials. For a successful choice, and to ensure that the different elements are in harmony, the color is not sufficient. It is necessary to pay attention to the grain or vein pattern, the processing, and the finish of the chosen materials. Combining more evident textures (such as wood grain) with more neutral, full and laminated surfaces, is often an excellent route to a harmonious interior design. Wood plays a leading role in this delicate (but creative) interplay of equilibria; the manifold possibilities – both in terms of color and texture – offered by wood-effect porcelain stoneware make it a very popular choice for all rooms in a house.
The right floors for wooden furniture
Wooden furniture is a cornerstone of furnishing. From the classical style of antique furniture to the new horizons of modern taste in industrial or Scandi style and shabby chic. Wood is able to warm up any atmosphere while retaining a cool, contemporary style.
When selecting flooring to go with wooden furniture, one of the most traditional solutions is to work with neutral tones and light colors – a linear and versatile foundation which can be livened up and enriched with wooden furniture.
Another, more refined and characterful, solution is to opt for wood flooring. In this case it is essential to combine the type of wood of the furniture and tiles on the basis of the color, the warm or cool subtone, and the texture, in order to create refined interplays of continuity and contrast between the different woods.
From this point of view, an excellent choice of flooring to go with oak furniture is Provoak by Provenza. It is a celebration of the versatility of wood in all its tactile and evocative power. Warmth, naturalness, allure. These are the characteristics of the collection inspired by the manifold aspects of oak. The strength of combining this choice with wood lies precisely in the refined texture, the natural and compact grain, which is able to enter into a dialogue with and enhance any room and space. It is, indeed, available in five different shades for a versatile wood finish to match any esthetic vision. The Nero Bruciato color is particularly popular for rooms where a bold contrast is required, creating the perfect dark wood-effect floor to combine with lighter wood tones. The burnt effect brings out oak’s most elegant and sophisticated dimension, driving it towards more contemporary horizons.
Choosing the right color for your flooring on the basis of the furniture
Should furniture be lighter or darker than the floor? This is one of the most awkward questions when designing interior spaces. It all depends on the effect you wish to achieve. Light-colored flooring will contribute to giving a room a fresh, bright and airy sensation, and is often the best choice to enhance smaller rooms from a visual perspective. Lighter colored flooring is generally easier to match (and furnish), and attenuates color contrasts.
With darker flooring, on the other hand, the space feels more constrained, and creating the right combinations can seem more difficult, but – for this very reason – bolder and more characterful. On a dark floor, furniture will stand out in contrast, providing a very elegant, contemporary and sophisticated effect.
As regards wood, choosing contrasting tones from those of the furniture is often a high-impact solution, without compromising on the harmony of the environment.
Mimesis by Emilceramica allows you to find the most appropriate temperature within the range of expressive possibilities of brushed oak. This collection best expresses the natural, decisive character of the wood; knots and grain patterns become the natural beauty marks which knowingly fits into modern, high-design environments. With strong mimetic intent, emphasized by the Real technology, the four available colors (Avorio, Ecrù, Miele and Tabacco – perfect for a rustic-look floor) provide the aesthetic and tactile perception of wood in an unchanged manner.
Wood-effect floors and furniture: how to combine them?
Wood-effect floors are like the background wash of a watercolor, lending themselves to being enhanced by the preferred furniture style. Depending on the color, texture and temperature of the flooring, you can let loose with the widest range of furniture choices. For example, dark wood-effect floors (potentially with larger plank widths) are an excellent base for industrial-style furniture, while lighter wood-effect tiles are ideal for a more classical style or for the always popular shabby-chic floor.
Wood floors combine with the colder, more industrial tones of metal, with laminate surfaces, with the roughness typical of stone. The route through the infinite design properties retains the chromatic and textural harmony.
In order to find the tiles which best suit the style and atmosphere you are aiming to create, look no further than Millelegni By Emilceramica: an exploration which circumnavigates the globe in search of the most desirable and sought-after species of timber, transforming them into refined, modern floor coverings. The collection takes in the legacy of the most iconic woods, starting with Scottish Oak wood-effect tiles: unmistakable grain patterns, with rich, dense coloring reminiscent of some of the finest single-malt Scotches. In the Canadian forests, on the other hand, we find the Larch coloration, ideal for wood-effect floors with a strong personality, thanks to its dense, reddish grain.
Millelegni perfectly represents the exploration of wood: the nuances, soul, and infinite creative possibilities of a material with timeless allure, which is the main player in some of the most successful design combinations.
03 August 2022
Magazine
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