Tile and Wood Flooring Trends 2022
From daring marble-effect bathroom tiles to wood-look on your walls, this year’s hard-flooring trends offer plenty of scope for crafting your personal style.
Wood-look tiles are trending upwards
On the wall or on the floor, a wood-effect tile will add style wherever it goes.
Get the best of both worlds with wood-effect tiles. They’re easy to clean, resilient to spills and bring the aesthetic of real wood into your home. Most have a slip rating of around R10 or R11 which makes them much less slippery than wood flooring and so ideally suited to pets and children. Wood-look tiles have been around for a while now; however, they are only just becoming popular in the Irish market. Designs are always improving and looking increasingly realistic and there’s a wonderful range of choice, including wide-plank and herringbone options.
Extra trend alert: Why restrict your wood-look tiles to just the floors? Jump on this new trend and tile a feature wall behind your bed, wet room walls or kitchen backsplash with wood-effect wall tiles.
Smart system underfloor heating
A smart system for your underfloor heating is the way to go to save electricity and keep your home cosy.
With renewable energy on everyone’s minds these days, electric heated floors are the way to go. Electric heating mats are highly efficient, cost-effective, and easy to install under either wood flooring or tiles. The convenience of controlling your home from your phone now extends to underfloor heating. Smart systems such as WarmUp’s 4ie Thermostat synch to the MyHeating app on your phone, so you can adjust the temperature on the go. This helps save electricity and ensures you come home to a cosy space efficiently heated.
Homeowners are loving warm grey laminate wood flooring
Warm grey herringbone laminate flooring is a top trend this year.
Grey will always be in fashion, however, there is a shift in the tone. People are leaning more towards warmer greige than the icy greys, such as Greige Oak. Realistic grain details that include beige and cappuccino colouring. This trend does allow for a more versatile neutral from which to decorate a home, giving it added appeal. When it comes to style, herringbone is becoming increasingly popular for both laminate and engineered wood floors. Wide and long planks such as Wilderness Oak Long and Wide make a room look bigger and are ideal for hallways and open-plan spaces.
Daring marble-effect porcelain tiles
For the ultimate in head-turning style, choose a bold marble-effect tile.
Marble-look tiles are reaching new and adventurous heights with bold patterns inspired loosely by the original stone. Of course, the white-and-grey Carraras and Statuarios will always have a place and are still top of the popularity charts, however for those who want to make a statement, there’s the likes of the Golden Collection with a choice of black, blue or white. Characteristic of these large-format porcelain tiles is their striking gold veins. Also attractive are the swirling marble designs of the luxury collection – Luxury Beige and Luxury Dark are simply gorgeous. A new tile to the World of Tiles collection of premium Spanish porcelain is Rubi with its bold blue veins on a classic white backdrop. And while we’re talking about blue, remember it’s very much the darling colour. Rubi, Blue Golden and Atlantis Blue will bring you to new levels of serenity.
Seamless style with inside and outside tiles
Tile inside and outside with the same or very similar tiles for a seamless finish.
A number of floor-tile ranges now come with a slip-stop option rated R11 for outdoors. This means you can create a lovely flow from the inside areas to your outdoor space. Remember though, that a slip rating of R11 is the minimum you’ll want to be using to tile outside, given our rain, frost and snow. Outdoor tiles are 20mm thick and can be laid onto raised platforms to make space for piping and cables underneath, on concrete or directly onto grass or gravel. Read our blog on laying outdoor tiles before you start.
