Designing the Flow of Your Rooms

Creating a cohesive look throughout your home is an important element of interior design. As we walk through each room, our minds subconsciously pick up on visual differences and similarities.

Even though it can be subtle, it’s best practice to avoid placing too many different colors, textures, furniture and floors throughout the home. However, having too much of the same visual element repeated in a space can also be jarring. How do you find the balance between these two ideas?

Every home is different, and every one has their own unique design style. You should try and understand the basic principles of interior design, but don’t feel like you have to go a certain direction. In the end, your floor is your floor — do what makes you feel most comfortable in your own home.

Find your style.

The key to achieving balance in a home, particularly when it comes to floors, is deciding between uniformity and harmony. Do you want your home to feel like a continuation of a primary theme throughout? Would you prefer to have complementary styles?

Again, there’s no right answer here. Each philosophy has its merits and challenges. Let’s walk through what each school of thought entails and some of the critical aspects to consider for each.

Uniformity (Matching)

This style is great for creating a cohesive look and feel throughout the “user journey” of your home. If done correctly, taking the uniformity approach will help anchor your guests and each room will feel connected to the others. This is a great choice if you’ve fallen in love with a particular floor type that you want to incorporate into your entire house.

If you’re opting for matching floor types throughout your home, it’s important to consider the following tips as you make your decision.

Close enough isn’t good enough!

You should either find an exact match of your floor type or go with something that is completely different. Be intentional with your design choices.

Use samples from the manufacturer first.

Take them home, get comfortable with them and look at them from all angles. If that product is discontinued, try taking a high-res picture to get an exact match. Taking good photos means a higher chance for a perfect match.

When in doubt, start over.

Options can be limited, and a blank slate gives you full control and guarantees an exact match. Why risk creating a mismatch if you aren’t sure? Don’t force it!

Harmony (Coordinating)

As opposed to uniformity, harmony opens the doors of possibility wide open. Since you aren’t restricted to just one floor type, you can play with various styles, textures, colors and durabilities to find the combination that works best for you.

Coordinating can require a bit more planning if you want to still achieve some sense of overarching complementary style, however. Here are a few guidelines to keep in mind as you start mapping out your floor plan.

Beware of contrasting colors.

This one is fairly obvious, but opposite colors are jarring to the eye. Selecting a primary color and a handful of secondary colors works well to achieve variety and synergy. Also, neutral is always a powerful and versatile choice. Pick a color palette that you like and stick with it for consistency.

Follow the “Rule of Two”

Essentially, you should only allow one floor type to meet another at a time. For example, you wouldn’t want three different patterns, textures or colors to converge at one point. Keep it on a two-type basis as you transition from room to room.

Consider other complementary elements.

Remember, you can still layer on a sense of cohesiveness using other elements in your home. For example, you can tie two rooms together through painted walls, crown molding or trim, and you can coordinate similar floor types to make everything flow seamlessly. Rugs can also help make rooms feel different from, yet related to, one another.

So, there you have it. Understanding and appreciating the fundamentals of these two design principles is just another tool to add to your kit. Being aware of the basics helps you make decisions that allow you to curate a beautiful home without sacrificing your own taste, comfortability or functionality.

Start by finding the style that you love and go from there. Explore all the various styles that hardwood, laminate, luxury vinyl, porcelain or ceramic tile, natural stone tile or carpet have to offer. Once you have found a floor type that fits your design preferences, budget and long-term goals, you can begin to narrow down how each room flows into the next.

Uniformity and harmony are ideas that you can choose to follow as a guide, but there are no right or wrong answers. The styles, materials, textures and patterns of your flooring are completely up to you! Put your own spin on your living space, and create a flow that fits your overall aesthetic and personality.