Basement Flooring: Form and Patterns
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Continuing on in our little 3 part design series here on selecting the best basement flooring for your dream room, this would be the third installment which will undertake form and patterns. If you recall the first part in this series dealt with the basics of basement flooring colors. Then came how to choose the colors for your basement flooring. Now lets take it a step further and give it some umph with a little form and function.
First up is simply the basement flooring form. Form, if you recall from the first part of the series is nothing more than the actual shape of the basement flooring material. These days, basement flooring comes in an absolute wide range of materials. From carpeting to laminate, tile to stone, they all have very distinct shapes ranging from squares to planks to sheets to rectangles. You think of tile basement flooring. You can have large squares or small squares. Think of laminate basement flooring. You can have rectangular planks ranging in widths from three to eight inch planks or wider to actual squares. Carpeting is a continuous roll with no breaks. You get the drift.
Patterns are exactly what you might think, it’s a pattern. But with patterns you can think out of the box, they don’t have to be symetrical and don’t have to follow grids. They could be floral prints if you want or a rigid stone look laid out in a different color pattern. They could even be geometric figures and shapes laid out in a fashion that would look good imprinted on the basement flooring of your choice. Bottom line is there are all kinds of patterns for you to work with already pre-printed on different flooring of your choice.
Patterns and form in your basement flooring can completely transform your basement into the room of your dreams and give it a mood and style all it’s own. If you are looking for an informal room you could start with a basement flooring pattern small in design and it would inevitably soften the rooms glow. Looking for something more formal for your basement flooring? Think about using laminate basement flooring or an engineered wood basement flooring. Because of there linear rectangular designs mixed with other features of the basement could lend to adding a degree of formality to your basement. More formal I’d suggest wider planks.
Here are a few things to keep in mind for using scale and pattern in your basement flooring design. If you have a small basement already, stay away from the larger patterns. Larger patterns will make the room look smaller. Smaller basements will benefit more from smaller patterns. The inverse is absolutely true for large basements. Larger rooms will benefit more from larger patterns. Why? Simple, large patterns can dominate small basements and small patterns will disolve away and get lost in large basements.
Basement Flooring Colors: Choosing the Right One
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Together as a team, color, form and pattern can either make or break a basement flooring project. Based on the color you choose, the form of the material, or the pattern you claim, the flooring can dominate an entire basement or be part of the scenery to enhance other items you may have in your basement. Wrong decisions could also lead to detrimental designs. To see what I’m talking about here think of yourself in a four walled room with heavy dark hue’d paint on the walls and very light colored flooring. If the basement is small already it could give you the feel of the walls closing in on you.
This is really part 2 of a 3 part series for basement flooring design:
- Basement flooring design with color
- Basement flooring color choices
- Basement flooring forms and patterns
To get a good example to look at for your basement flooring project that complement each other very well, you’ll need to start thinking of saturation. Saturated colors tend to complement one another. Imagine a dark walnut laminate basement floor with a blue counter-toped tile bar setting in your basement. Or what about some peach colored walls with a very light pastel carpet for a perfect living arrangement. You could even take on a contrasting perspective if done moderately in small basements. Why? contrasts tend to make things look smaller than they really are so go sparingly in smaller basements. A good feel for this might be a basement that is done in a checkerboard type fashion with black and white tile basement flooring. Personally I think this would look awesome as someone’s nascar themed basement or a playroom for the kids.
There are a few guidelines so to speak when choosing a basement floor color. I know, design is personal, so these are just guidelines. First, practice the art of restraint. To much color can have differentiating results. Too much of the same and it’s bland. Too much pop and its uncomfortable. If you don’t want a single color to dominate your basement in your basement flooring, think about selecting grid patterns. Carpeting for basement flooring can come with either grid or speckled looks. Darker laminates can be used in different colored parquet patterns for basement flooring.
Here’s some helpful tips when selecting the colors for your basement floor:
- Names are cool, but select the color not the name. Home Depot orange or Barney purple sounds good, but will they look good with what you are planning.
- Trust the gut! You know what you like.
- Narrow the selection down and then take the samples home to check out each basement flooring color in your own home to see what might work.
- Check the colors at different times of the day. This is especially true if your basement does have outside light shining in. Even if you don’t, different light sources will give different results on your basement flooring.
- If you are doing a “make-over” session and already have a finished basement, cover up everything you can so as to not interfere with your decisions. The eye catches a lot and will be lying to you in those situations.
- Most of all, take your time. This is not a have to make it now decision, but a decision that you will be spending that hard earned cash on that will be around for a while.
Thanks again for stopping by Basement Flooring Guide and hope these little color tips helps you in selecting the perfect color for your next basement flooring project.
Color Design for Basement Flooring
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When you start thinking about design for your basement flooring, the same will always hold true as if you were designing any other flooring. There are three basics that you will need to adhere to: form, pattern and color. Form deals with nothing more than the physical shape of the basement flooring material that you are planning for. Pattern is just that, the pattern for the flooring that you have in mind whether it will have a stone, tile, or whatever look you might decide upon. But more on that later as probably the most important and powerful design feature that you will need to key in on above all else is the basment flooring color.
This is really part 2 of a 3 part series for basement flooring design:
- Basement flooring design with color
- Basement flooring color choices
- Basement flooring forms and patterns
Why is color the most important? Simple. It’s typically the first thing that anybody notices when you walk in a room. This includes the basement and the color of the basement flooring that you choose. Not only that, the color of basement flooring could instantly affect your mood and how you feel about being in a basement. To effectively use color in your basement flooring design you must understand the design elements of color: the shade or tint, the hue’s and the value.
The first thing to understand about basement flooring color is the “hue” that you are looking for. Hue’s are nothing more than the pure colors so to speak. Red, blue and yellow would be hue’s, in fact they are what is called primary hue’s. People tend to get hue’s and shades or tints mixed up all the time. Shades and tints altogether though are not so different than hue’s as a shade or tint’s primary makeup is a hue. Here’s the simple facts of it all. A shade is nothing more than a darker form of the original hue and a tint is just a lighter form of an original hue. Shades and tints are made by adding either black or white pigment to the primary hue respectively. Pink is a tint of red and navy is a shade of blue. Make sense?
Where people tend to get lost the most on basement flooring color is the color value in the design element. The value of a color is nothing more than how bright the color may be. Bob Dylan, I think that’s who it was, said it best as “shades of gray”. This is in essence the color value. In other words, if you took a color and put it in a black and white picture, how would it show up. Typically, darker colors generally have lower color values while lighter colors tend to have higher color values. Darker color valued basement flooring will tend to make a basement feel smaller. Lighter color values in basement flooring will open the place up more and make it stand out.
Hopefully this will give you a better understanding on basement floors and what you can do with colors. So, what’s your idea for the best basement color flooring? Drop us a comment here at Basement Flooring Guide and let us know.
Laminate Basement Flooring Design Possibilities
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With laminate basement flooring you truly do have a wide array of design possibilities. When practicality is very important but a primary concern is to be visually appealing, laminate flooring can meet both of these needs and help you stay sane when the budget is tight. When most people think of laminate flooring, one of the first things that tend to pop into someone’s head is a wood look. While this is definitely feasible, laminate flooring comes in many more styles and colors than just looking like solid wood. Most people don’t know that you can also get laminate in patterns resembling marble and sandstone, most tile patterns, abstract design prints, and amazing floral layouts as well.
A typical “plank” form is what most people generally associate with laminate flooring. However, in more recent times a new form of laminate is gaining rapid acceptance throughout the northern hemisphere. What is it you might ask? Laminate basement flooring that is square in shape and resembles more of a tile look. Yep, that’s right, there are really two basic types of laminate flooring for you to choose from when deciding to renovate your basement floor.
First let’s start with laminate basement flooring planks because that’s the one that most everybody is familiar with. Generally speaking, regardless of the manufacturer, laminate planks are all typically the same size , are about 4 inches wide and only a quarter of an inch thick. Here’s where the wood look comes in as most laminate installations that you would see or have seen and you know it’s laminate comes with this grain wood look. What most people don’t know is that you can also get this laminate plank flooring in a wide variety of ceramic tile and stone designs as well.
Now let’s take a look at laminate basement flooring squares. You might hear them called either laminate square flooring or laminate board flooring. Irrespective of what you might hear it called it’s the same thing. Here’s where it can get fun working with laminate. These squares come in a variety of sizes. They can range from seven inch squares up to two foot squares. Not to mention the design possibilities as they basically come in just about any pattern under the sun. Ranging from abstract mosaic looks to solid stone to wild florals prints, you can achieve the look for your basement flooring with ease. They even come in squares that mimic tile floors fully decked out with grout lines instilled in the pattern. Awesome!
Not only that, but if you do choose to use laminate basement flooring squares, you can also choose not install it in a typical grid fashion. You may want to think about installing them in a more diagonal form to the walls. And don’t forget that you can spice them up along the way as well by adding in some decorative floor border, or getting multiple color variations and putting them in a checkerboard across the basement floor, or whatever you might dream up. One word of caution though, aesthetically this could look dynamite with square laminate flooring for basement floors, but plank laminate flooring because of the wood look tends to look better horizontal due to it’s linear wood design.
The Basics of Tile Basement Flooring
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Tile for basement flooring is an exceptional choice. Big. Small. Rectangular. Square. Way too many colors, shapes and designs to even think of them all. One things for sure, tile floors in basements is never out of style. What we plan on covering this time around here at Basement Flooring Guide is the differences, the designs, the rules and you for ceramic tile on basement floors.
Differences in Tile Basement Flooring: First off, you have a huge choice in different types of tiles available for you to choose from for your basement flooring needs. There are virtually no limits to the possibilities afforded to you with using tile in a basement. From size and shape to color and finish, you can virtually make the room of your dreams. Not only that, you can almost gaurantee yourself that using tile in a non-uniform pattern you will end up with a unique basement flooring design that will differentiate itself from any other room in your house. Quite possibly, this design could be different than any other house on your block, town, city or state.
Tile Basement Flooring Design: Have an inner artist or designer in you? Here’s your chance to explore your creative side. Tile is such a fluid medium in that you can shape and design not only in size but also in color and contrast, it allows you to put your own personal stamp on your basement. Go ahead and get creative. Explore different ideas. Explore differnt fashions. Mix and match colors, textures and finishes if you so desire for your own innovative basement world.
Rules of Tile Basement Flooring Design: So just what are the rules of design for tile basement flooring? I love this one, it’s an oldie but a goodie. Rule number 1, there are no rules. Rule number 2, when in doubt, see rule number 1. That’s it. Truly there are no rules. It comes back to basic personal choice and the home owners creativity (or lack thereof). If you like a straight uniform design, then so be it. There’s nothing wrong with that. If you’d like to use multiple color combinations to get that tropical feel and bring you back to a warm sunny day, go for it. Non-conformist? Use multiple shapes, colors and sizes to achieve that glorious mural right there on your basement floor.
Where do you fit in: Bottom-line is, everywhere when it comes to tile basement flooring. Every designer knows that design is personal. Let your inner artist come out. If you like it, isn’t that all that matters anyways as you are the one that lives there. By all means, express yourself and your personal tastes. It’s your home in your style for your way of life. One of the greatest things about tile is being able to design your own designs and then visibly seeing your creation come to life!
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