13 trendy, but tremendous sensible, eating room flooring concepts
Eating rooms are inclined to fall into two broad camps today. You could have these set in an area all of their very own, fairly separate from the kitchen and residing house, usually present in older homes, the place they had been used solely sporadically, for particular events. Then you could have eating room concepts which are both fully, or partially, open to the kitchen which undeniably make extra sense on a day-to-day foundation. Maybe the best is to have each.
Both manner, these are areas that must multitask, being as much as the job of seating the family for meals, coping with inevitable spills, meals odours and so forth, all similtaneously feeling welcoming – someplace everybody appears ahead to coming collectively to dine.
Being a room that must be each sensible in addition to heat and alluring means your flooring wants cautious consideration. Our assortment of concepts are right here to indicate that eating room flooring might be easy-to-clean, sturdy and delightful, all on the identical time.
1. Take pleasure in the most effective of each worlds with engineered timber
“For eating room flooring, the best alternative balances sturdiness with visible heat,” picks up Paul Moody, international advertising and marketing and insights director at Havwoods. “Engineered wooden flooring is especially nicely suited, providing the pure character of actual wooden alongside enhanced stability – a bonus in areas that see common use and occasional spills.”
“Engineered flooring is extremely hardwearing and may deal with every part a busy eating space throws at it,” agrees Adam Robertson, MD at Urbane Dwelling. “Spills wipe clear in seconds, and with a lacquer end, you get added safety towards scratches and stains with out compromising on type.”

Paul Moody is the World Advertising & Insights Director at Havwoods, the place he leads international advertising and marketing technique, buyer insights, digital progress and model growth for one of many world’s main wooden flooring manufacturers. Alongside his function at Havwoods, Paul has additionally served as a decide for the British Institute of Inside Design Awards for the previous three years, supporting and celebrating excellence throughout the inside design trade.

Adam Robertson is the co-founder and managing director of Urbane Dwelling, a specialist flooring firm recognised for its experience in parquet, bespoke carpets and runners. With a background in design and a robust eye for element, Adam is captivated with all issues associated to high quality timber, from floorboards to wall panels.
2. Create a shiny and breezy house with pale massive format tiles
Massive format flooring tiles, in a recent, pale shade, are good for making a shiny and breezy eating house and work notably nicely in orangery kitchen extensions due to how simple they’re to wash.
If you’re apprehensive that tiles would possibly really feel somewhat sterile, María D Arráez, director of Tile of Spain UK, has some recommendation. “To make sure tiles don’t really feel chilly or sterile, it’s essential to give attention to end and styling. Hotter tones, textured surfaces and designs that replicate pure supplies resembling wooden or stone can immediately soften the look.
“Pairing tiles with underfloor heating additionally enhances consolation, whereas including a rug beneath the desk helps to introduce softness and outline the eating zone,” provides María.”

María D Arráez is the Head of Tile of Spain on the Spanish Embassy’s Industrial Workplace in London. She is accountable for the promotion of the Spanish ceramic tile trade within the UK and helps the Tile of Spain members of their export methods to the UK.
3. Soften the scheme with a big space rug
Rugs come in useful for therefore many issues across the residence – for serving to to visually zone a room, to guard carpets, add a welcoming contact to your hallway flooring and, within the case of eating rooms, to melt the general look and assist add a comfy really feel.
“A greater answer than general carpet is engineered wooden flooring paired with a big space rug,” advises Adam Robertson. “This method offers you the most effective of each worlds: the heat and luxury of a gentle floor underfoot, mixed with the sturdiness and straightforward upkeep of timber.”
“An space rug is a great various to a fitted carpet beneath the eating desk,” provides Kirsty Barton, model storytelling supervisor at Various Flooring. “It’s an ideal option to outline the house, both layered over carpet or positioned on prime of picket flooring to guard the flooring under. Including a protecting rug pad beneath means that you can keep away from the trouble of buckling, wrinkling and sliding. Not solely does it safe your rug in place, but it surely additionally extends its lifespan and protects your flooring.”
Store space rugs
Wayfair
The Carpet Calm down – Trendy Rug
Provided that this rug is machine cleanable, it could be best for putting beneath your eating desk. It is available in a variety of colors and sizes and has a non-slip backing too.
Dunelm
Herringbone Jute Border Rug
This 100% jute rug, with its sensible herringbone border, is available in sizes proper as much as 300cm x 400cm. It has a non-slip backing and is ultra-flat, which means it sits nicely beneath furnishings.
Amazon
Washable Rug Vintage Rug
Inject some classic attraction into your eating room with this wealthy crimson rug, which additionally occurs to be machine cleanable and non-slip. It additionally is available in numerous different designs.

Kirsty is model storytelling supervisor at Various Flooring. She has nearly 20 years working within the carpet trade and roles inside various flooring starting from gross sales, buyer providers to buying.
4. Mix practicality with on-trend visible attraction
Terrazzo is a sort of stone flooring made utilizing marble chippings which, whereas historically set into cement at the moment are extra usually embedded into epoxy resin or polyacrylate.
As a eating room flooring, terrazzo works completely – it has a naturally busy look which is a life saver in terms of hiding crumbs and spills – plus it’s tremendous hardwearing and easy-to-clean too.
5. Soften the entire look with pure flooring
Whereas there isn’t a denying the truth that carpets are somewhat extra excessive upkeep than most laborious floorings, you should not rule them out altogether when you have your coronary heart set on this route.
Kirsty Barton has some recommendation on the most effective choices. “Sisal is nice at bringing natural depth into eating areas. Its tactile, woven look helps to melt the look of on a regular basis put on. It advantages from fast consideration to potential stains, however selecting flecked tones or patterned weaves might make marks appear much less noticeable, serving to preserve its pure attraction.”
6. Fluctuate flooring laying patterns to zone an open-plan room
The place your eating room is both absolutely, or partially, open to a different house, resembling is commonly the case with open plan kitchens, you need to use your flooring to zone the areas.
With tile, engineered timber and even LVT, altering the laying patterns or instructions is a refined, but actually efficient, manner of doing this. Alternatively, think about using a distinct tile or laying sample beneath the eating desk to show the entire space right into a characteristic.
Herringbone is a very in style sample in eating rooms and Ian Tomlinson, MD at Chaunceys Timber Flooring, reveals why. “Parquet flooring choices resembling herringbone can work nicely as a result of there’s extra color variation throughout the ground and any scratches are harder to identify.”

Chaunceys Timber Flooring is a family-run firm based mostly in Bristol with Ian turning into the Managing Director in 2012. They’ve been supplying sustainable, high-quality timber flooring to householders, award-winning architects, design and construct firms, and famend inside designers since 1988.
7. Obtain a minimalist look with ‘seamless’ tiles
Each rectangular and sq. tiles work nicely right here and by matching the color of the grout to the tiles, you’ll be able to obtain a seamless look which is ideal if you’re after a contemporary end general.
Tiles are additionally a extremely sensible alternative, as María D Arráez explains. “Eating room flooring must strike a steadiness between practicality and ambiance. Porcelain and ceramic tiles are a robust alternative, due to their sturdiness and resistance to spills, stains and on a regular basis put on – best for an area centred round eating and entertaining.”
8. Open up the design choices with LVT
Lauren Levy, design supervisor at Amtico Flooring, explains why that is an possibility to contemplate. “In a multifunctional house used for every part from enjoyable to enjoying video games to socialising, LVT flooring is a superb possibility. Constructed to face up to all of it, with out compromising on type, it’s a sensible and reasonably priced alternative for busy households the place design and sturdiness go hand in hand.”
LVT additionally is available in every kind of colors, patterns and finishes, together with wooden impact, making it good for kitchen flooring too.

Lauren Levy is a Design Supervisor with over 20 years’ expertise within the inside design trade and 14 years specialising in flooring design for international Residential and Industrial markets. With a background in textile design and manufacturing, she brings a refined eye for color, texture and materiality, creating flooring that balances magnificence, efficiency and on a regular basis residing.
9. Take steps to guard your new flooring
Paul Moody has some recommendations on defending an engineered wooden flooring. “Sensible steps, resembling utilizing pads on chair legs and shortly wiping up spills will assist protect the ground’s look.”
Ian Tomlinson additionally factors out that some varieties of wooden flooring are a better option than others in a eating room. “Watch out when deciding on the end. Lighter flooring for instance present put on extra shortly, and due to this fact require extra care to keep up the look. Usually, darker wooden flooring shall be extra forgiving in the long term. Shiny finishes, resembling gloss or satin, can spotlight scratches, particularly on darker flooring. For a extra discreet look, we advocate an extremely matt end.
“A textured flooring can even assist conceal scratches,” he provides. “Take into account choices like brushed, sawn and brushed, or distressed wooden for added sturdiness and a country attraction.”
10. Mess around with parquet designs for added curiosity
The recognition of parquet flooring and herringbone patterns appears to be enduring, and in a eating room, these sorts of designs work so nicely.
Firstly, they’re nice at masking dents and filth, and secondly, they open up the potential for enjoying round with sample, mirroring their chevron design elsewhere within the house for a totally cohesive finish consequence. For those who like this concept, you should definitely look into how you can lay parquet flooring first – it may be a tough job.
If you’re apprehensive concerning the sturdiness of any such flooring, it’s price noting that engineered timber is often well-placed to face up to each day eating room life, as Ian Tomlinson explains. “One of many key benefits is its superior structural stability. The multi-layer building, that includes a hardwood prime layer bonded to a birch plywood base, resists pure enlargement and contraction attributable to warmth and moisture, making it appropriate for many environments together with kitchens, and eating rooms.”
11. Add somewhat grandeur with conventional tiles
When you’ve got the posh of a separate, ‘big day’ eating room, you would possibly like to contemplate decking it out in a extra conventional, grand type, full with floor-length curtains, richly-coloured partitions and, in fact, a stone, or stone-effect, flooring.
For those who love the concept of furnishing your eating room in order that it appears match for a banquet, flagstone or chunky sq. tiles, interlaid with smaller colored tiles work brilliantly.
Frightened stone flooring will really feel chilly underfoot? Sophie Chapman, affiliate and inside designer at The Vawdrey Home has some recommendation. “Stone or tiled flooring can work superbly, but it surely’s essential to melt them with rugs or underfloor heating so the house feels snug relatively than chilly.”

A founding member of The Vawdrey Home, Sophie oversees the design group bringing her trademark power & creativity to tasks. With a BA in Inside Design & Environmental Structure, Sophie develops distinctive furnishings packages, types tasks & loves sourcing journeys to vintage festivals and French brocantes.
12. Take into consideration how your furnishings will tie in
Your flooring concepts and the color and end of your partitions will type the backdrop of your eating room, however do contemplate how your furnishings selections are going to take a seat alongside them, simply as you’d when designing a lounge.
Eating room furnishings is often fairly sizeable, with the eating tables and chairs and maybe a sideboard or dresser, being probably the most distinguished objects within the room. It pays, due to this fact, to contemplate how they’re going to sit towards your flooring from a visible perspective.
One method is to match supplies and colors, whereas the opposite is to decide on one thing in full distinction to be able to enable every factor to completely stand out. The selection is yours, however make certain your choice leads to an area that appears thought-about.
13. Select a carpet with excessive care
As we have already mentioned, becoming carpet in a eating room might be the least sensible possibility, however that does not imply you must quit on the concept altogether. The important thing factor right here is to know somewhat concerning the various kinds of carpet on the market.
When selecting a carpet, Kirsty Baton recommends a ‘fake carpet’, which means one that’s created from artificial, versus pure supplies. “A pretend carpet is a superb alternative as its simple upkeep gives peace of thoughts towards spills and stains. With so many nice choices to select from, whether or not it’s plush velvety finishes or sisal look-a-likes that carry texture and a pure aesthetic to the room. These sensible supplies ship spectacular stain resistance, are simple to wash, and stay gentle and classy underfoot.
“Conserving to a daily cleansing routine tailor-made to your carpet sort is the easiest way to remain forward of on a regular basis crumbs, chair motion and the occasional spill,” provides Kirsty. “This helps preserve its look and prolongs the lifetime of your flooring, even in high-traffic eating areas. Select merchandise which are designed particularly for the fibre – whether or not that’s a WoolSafe or a CleanSeal authorised package.”
What’s the finest sort of flooring for a eating room?
This very a lot is determined by your particular person wants, the look you might be aiming for and the kind of house you might be working with. For instance, in a extra formal, not often used, house, you may get away with one thing much less sturdy, purely chosen for its aesthetic attraction. If this can be a eating house that can type previous of your loved ones kitchen concepts, nevertheless, one thing hardwearing would be the best choice.
Sophie Chapman sums up the choices. “Timber is commonly a robust alternative because it brings heat and character whereas standing up nicely to each day put on, notably when correctly completed. Stone or tiled flooring can even work superbly, but it surely’s essential to melt them with rugs or underfloor heating so the house feels snug relatively than chilly.
“Lastly, carpets can be utilized, notably in additional formal settings, but it surely’s price selecting a texture or sample that can age nicely over time. Finally, the flooring ought to really feel cohesive with the broader scheme whereas supporting how the room is basically used.”
Whether or not you might be coping with a hardworking house, resembling a hallway or kitchen, or one designed to sink again and calm down in, ensure you know the commonest flooring errors householders make – that manner you’ll be able to keep away from doing the identical. And, should you’re nonetheless not satisfied you want a separate house, discover out simply why eating rooms are again in vogue.