First up is simply the flooring form. Form, if you recall from the first part of the series is nothing more than the actual shape of the flooring material. These days, 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. Just think for a moment if you can about tile flooring. You can have large squares or small squares. You could even have a mixture of both. Think of laminate flooring for a sec and see what you come up with. Bet you didn’t know that you could have either rectangular planks ranging in widths from three to eight inch planks or wider or you could actually have laminate squares that are actually square. Still another form to think about would be carpeting for your basement. Carpeting is a continuous roll with no breaks. You get the drift, flooring comes in many different forms. Next let’s move on to pattern.

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. So many people get caught up in a symmetrical design these days just because they simply don’t take the time or have the vision to see something like the floors in your basement in a “big picture” style. If you could, the best thing that you could do is just step back for a bit and not rush into something and make a rash decision. Look at something for a visible appeal. 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 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 flooring pattern small in design and it would inevitably soften the rooms glow. Looking for something more formal for your basement? Think about using laminate flooring or an engineered wood 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. Looking for something more in an elegant appeal, 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.

Just remember, the best thing that you can do for yourself when choosing an appropriate flooring for your basement and getting the overall design that you want is to take your time. Step back away from it a bit, look around at the styles and patterns that you like. Find a way to fit them in and fit them in nicely. Most every decision that’s been made that turns out to be a bad one you can bet happened irrationally and quick. Make your basement a place that you want to be and not something that you dread anybody ever laying eyes on. Above all, remember it’s yours and nobody else’s and if you like it, who cares what the neighbors think.

This is really part 2 of a 3 part series for basement flooring design:

1. Basement flooring design with color
2. Basement flooring color choices
   
3. 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 ceramic tile 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 flooring, think about selecting grid patterns. Carpeting for basement floors can come with either grid or speckled looks. Darker laminates can be used in different colored parquet patterns for particularly beautiful basement floors.

Here’s some helpful tips when selecting the colors for your basement floor:

1. 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.
2. Trust the gut! You know what you like.
3. 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.
4. 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 floor.
5. 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.
6. 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.

This is really part 2 of a 3 part series for basement flooring design:

1. Basement flooring design with color
2. Basement flooring color choices
3. 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 flooring that you choose. Not only that, the color of 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 flooring color is the “hue” that you are looking for. Hues are nothing more than the pure colors so to speak. Red, blue and yellow would be hues, in fact they are what is called primary hues. People tend to get hues and shades or tints mixed up all the time. Shades and tints altogether though are not so different than hues as a shade or tints 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 flooring will tend to make a basement feel smaller. Lighter color values in 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.

Now that being said, some basements will be more suited to different types of basement flooring options than others. When considering different basement flooring ideas you should question the durability of the material. Go high with this estimate but for the most part, basements tend to see medium use as a general rule of thumb as they do not typically encounter heavy traffic loads.

Instead of putting a new addition on your home, finish your basement. Most of the hard part is already done, it’s built. That doesn’t cost you anything but putting on that new room extension to your current home certainly would and then you would have to finish it. This will give your family room to grow that won’t bear that additional building expense as well as finishing expense. Here’s another news flash for you, finished basements are among the top 3 choices that buyers look for when purchasing a home. You can instantly add value to your home just by finishing your basement if you are looking to sell it. Who know’s, it might sell quicker or add an extra 10 g’s to the sale price for a minimal investment.

There are many different materials you could choose from during your brainstorm for basement flooring ideas so keep your options open. Here’s a pretty basic list to get you started with.

Basic Basement Flooring Ideas:

• Laminate Flooring
• Vinyl Flooring
• Carpet

Best Basement Flooring Ideas:

• Refinished Concrete
• Porcelain Tile
• Marble Tile
• Ceramic Tile

Some of the best basement flooring ideas have been around for quite sometime and still hold true for basement flooring. I’m a really big fan on refinishing concrete as a basement flooring idea. A nice stain and buff job and you have a flooring option that bears no rivals in my opinion. The only thing you’ll have to account for is how cold the floor may become, but there are options for that as well. If you’re worried about the coldness of a stained concrete floor in the basement, you could go with some ceramic tile basement flooring with some inlaid radiant heat to warm the floor up.

Throughout the years, people have been transforming their basements into spare bedrooms. Husbands have been turning basements into recreational sports viewing theatre’s. Wives restoring basements into arts and crafts offices. Basements have been made into at home gym’s with no membership fees. No how cool is that, anyways, you get the jist of it. What this has meant is that new basement flooring ideas have been needed and the market has responded with a virtual plethora of offerings.

Basically, when it comes to basement flooring, if you can put it in other rooms you can put it on your basement floors. Of course, some are much more durable and resistant to the basement extremes than others and proper precautions will need to be in place, but in general, the choice is all yours dependant on the amount of work and funds you want to put into it or hire somebody to do.

Hardwood flooring is certainly a viable option for basement flooring for someone who has a home that is already covered in all hardwood. Why stop there just because it’s going to be used for basement flooring. Why not have the basement match the rest of the home. There is a bit higher of a risk with hardwood floors as it’s very susceptible to damage from flooding. If you incur flooding or other water damage frequently in your basement then you should definitely steer clear of installing hardwood as a basement flooring. Because of this, if you decide to use hardwood for basement flooring, protect it. We’ll have more articles based around protecting hardwood for basement flooring in the future here at Basement Flooring Guide so check back often.

Laminate is a popular choice when it comes to basement flooring, and rightly so, for the following reasons. First, laminate flooring is durable and can withstand to a certain extent the torture a basement flooring endures throughout the seasons. Most laminates come with a pretty extensive warranty and some are even certified for basements. You’ll want to make sure you get the certified kind if you plan on installing it. Laminate has become a true do-it-yourselfer type of basement flooring. And finally, laminate flooring is exceptionally easy to clean.

Carpet is surely another viable option for basement flooring. As far as basement carpet options go there are a few things to consider. A lighter carpet can really open up a room brighten a dark basement. One big advantage of carpet is that it is fairly inexpensive per square footage on average versus the other two options above. Yeah it’s a little harder to keep clean than the others but it can sure make an empty room look luxurious quickly. Plus, the carpet itself is not nearly as hard or as tedious to install as those options above when it comes to basement flooring and thus installation is usually cheaper as well when contracting the work out.

All in all, there are a ton of options available when it comes to basement flooring and basement flooring ideas. Stay tuned as Basement Flooring Guide is going to be showcasing each of those options in the near term.