By Gail Alcock, Product Director for Malmo™ LVT
It goes without saying that fitting a customer’s flooring to a high standard is the key aim of any installer, but some customers may also want some advice on the latest flooring trends. Being clued up on the latest designs to recommend to customers can give fitters a competitive edge and help them attract more business.
Trends by their very nature come and go, but this year one of the biggest trends that a savvy installer should have on their radar is what we’re calling Urban Garden, which is all about bringing the outdoors indoors. This is recognised by having plants and greenery, water features, large windows, skylights and glazed doors that bring in lots of natural light and natural materials such as timber and stone. The trend lends itself particularly well to open plan kitchen spaces, but it can be applied anywhere in the home.
Luxury Vinyl Tile (LVT) flooring is growing in popularity with consumers who increasingly recognise its benefits for easy installation, fashionable design, high performance and easy maintenance. With its broad design choice and installation flexibility thorough its Rigid and Stickdown formats, LVT is a versatile floorcovering that will adapt to any design trend. Here are some things to bear in mind when recommending LVT to customers looking to bring Urban Garden into their home.
Design Choice
When it comes to flooring, the choice of colour is ultimately a personal one based on the customer’s taste, but for customers looking to create the Urban Garden look, light coloured woodgrains or wood effects work particularly well. Light oak, pale birch, ash and whitewashed effects will provide a blank canvas for the room, allowing the earthy colours associated with the trend such as ochre, burnt orange and forest green to really stand out. Across our Rigid and Stickdown collections we offer a wide choice of light wood effects as well as stone-inspired designs in light neutrals which can also bring a touch of nature to interiors.
Heat and Light Considerations
Natural light is a key feature of Urban Garden achieved through large glass door openings to the garden and skylights over the kitchen, connecting the interior of the home to the natural world outside. When fitting flooring in rooms with lots of glazing where temperature ‘hotspots’ from direct sunlight can occur, it’s important to consider that some types of flooring can be prone to expansion and contraction due to changes in temperature and humidity.
Installers can avoid any come back from customers further down the line by recommending they use Stickdown LVT in these areas. Because it’s a fully adhered system that is glued directly to the floor or sub-floor, Stickdown LVT can withstand high and fluctuating temperatures and will resist movement, so there’s no danger it will lift, fade or warp. The flooring can be recommended to customers with confidence in conservatories, open plan spaces with bi-fold doors and skylights and garden rooms.
Surface Texture
Reflecting the look of nature in interiors is very popular just now, whether that’s adding a timber accent wall, a marble effect worktop or wood effect flooring. With Urban Garden, patterns and textures that mimic natural elements such as the grain of wood or the texture of stone are key as they can create a sense of calm and relaxation in indoor spaces.
Installers who can offer their customers advice on trends, and who can demonstrate an understanding of the look and feeling their client is looking to achieve, will be better placed for recommendations and repeat business than those who simply turn up to fit a floor and leave without a second thought. Keeping on top of trends shouldn’t be a burden though, we all know that demand is high and time is precious.
At Malmo™ we have done some of the legwork for installers, retailers and consumers by creating a set of mood boards showing how our flooring designs fit with Urban Garden, as well three other key interiors trends: Organic Sculpture, Earth Bound and Grand Millennial. These can be found on our website and they have also been shared on our social channels.
The Urban Garden trend looks set to be around for some time, and by recommending flooring that reflects the look, installers can help their customers achieve beautiful and relaxing spaces that bring a little bit of the outdoors inside.
