What are the decorating rules for using two different types of wood flooring?

How do you separate different types of wood floors?

Pros of Matching Wood Floors

There are two main reasons to use matching wood floors.

Wood Floors Match Throughout House

The first is it gives your home a finished, uniform look.

The matching floor creates a seamless effect, where they all merge into one large area.

It makes your floorplan look more wide-open, and the entire living area seems larger.

Should Wood Floors Match Throughout House

If the floors are laminate wood, the manufacturer may not make that exact same pattern anymore.

to your wood floors.

If you could do this, it would reinforce the uniformity and construction style of your home.

Unfortunately, attempting this will result in another near match rather than an exact match.

Is it treated the same way?

Will it receive the same amount of sunlight and thus age at the same rate?

You see my point.

Its better to use a coordinating color for your other wood decor than trying to match the floor.

This is important when remodeling.

The good news is you dont have to match.

Think about the mood you want to set in each room and how you want to decorate it.

Is there a lot of natural light, or do the colors need to help the room look brighter?

Bright colors also make a room look larger.

Choose one or two types of flooring to cover every room visible.

This will make your flooring choice look intentional rather than haphazard.

Create Visual Barriers

You also want to be intentional about where you switch flooring types.

There should be an obvious separation, so switching in an entryway or doorway is the best option.

you’ve got the option to also use thresholds to frame an area.

Placing thresholds around that area visually separates it from the coordinating floor surrounding it.

The three exceptions to this would be master bathrooms, hallways, and exterior entrances.

You might also have an exterior door that opens into the kitchen from the garage.

Maybe all of the floors and walls use muted colors or all bolds or all pastels.

Every color in the house should complement that room.

The idea is to lay planks crosswise from the length of the room.

So, in a hallway, dont lay the planks running down the hall lengthwise but across the hallway.

This will make the hallway look wider.