How to Choose the Perfect Flooring: A Guide to Visiting a Flooring Showroom

Choosing new flooring is one of the most impactful decisions you can make for your home. It’s the foundation of your interior design, and it’s a major investment. With so many different materials, styles, and colors available, the selection process can feel overwhelming. This is why visiting a professional flooring showroom is such a crucial step in the journey. A showroom allows you to see and feel the different options in person, get expert advice, and borrow samples to see how they look in your own home’s unique lighting. A well-planned visit to a showroom can make the entire process easier and help you choose your new floor with confidence.

Before You Go: Do Your Homework

To make the most of your showroom visit, a little preparation goes a long way.

  • Gather Inspiration: Spend some time Browse interior design websites like Houzz or Pinterest. Save photos of rooms and flooring styles that you love. This will help you to articulate your personal style to the showroom consultant.
  • Consider Your Lifestyle: Think about the practical needs of your household. Do you have children or pets? This might make a durable, waterproof option like Luxury Vinyl Plank (LVP) a better choice than hardwood. Is the flooring for a high-traffic area? Durability will be key.
  • Bring Key Items with You: To help with color coordination, it’s a great idea to bring a few items with you to the showroom. This can include a paint chip from your wall color, a sample of your kitchen cabinet or countertop material, or even a cushion from your sofa. This will help you see how different flooring options will work with your existing decor.
  • Know Your Approximate Square Footage: While the company will perform a professional measurement later, having a rough idea of the size of the room or rooms you are looking to update will help the consultant give you a preliminary budget estimate.

What to Do at the Showroom

A flooring showroom is a playground of textures, colors, and materials.

  • Look and Touch: This is the biggest advantage over shopping online. You can see the true color and texture of the flooring samples. You can feel the difference between different carpet piles or the texture of a hand-scraped LVP. The way a material looks on a screen can be very different from how it looks in person.
  • Talk to an Expert: The consultants in a flooring showroom are knowledgeable professionals. Talk to them about your project. Show them your inspiration photos and tell them about your lifestyle. They can ask you the right questions and guide you toward the materials and styles that will best meet your needs and your budget. They can explain the pros and cons of different options, from the durability of LVP to the softness of a particular carpet fiber.
  • Borrow Samples: This is the most important step of all. Never make a final decision based on how a sample looks under the bright, fluorescent lights of a showroom. You must take samples home to see how they look in your own house, with your specific wall colors and, most importantly, in your home’s unique natural and artificial lighting throughout the day. A color can look completely different in your living room than it does in the store.

Your Redlands Flooring Showroom

Choosing new flooring should be an exciting, not a stressful, process. Taking the time to visit a showroom and get expert advice is the key to making a choice you’ll be happy with for years to come. For homeowners in Redlands, CA, and the surrounding areas, the team at Taylor’s Carpet Care invites you to visit our flooring showroom. Contact us today to schedule a design consultation.