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Let’s be real about the nature of consumer trends; it is much easier to get behind a fashionista’s pick for a must-have pair of winter boots than it is to get behind a blogger’s picks for this year’s must-have plumbing fixtures (they’re brass, in case you’re curious). Nine months from now, if you should decide that you no longer love those must-have boots, you can always toss them in the closet and forget about them. If you no longer love those must-have brass fixtures, however, well, that’s a different story.
Some trends come and go quickly, while others have staying power—eco-friendly products, for example, won’t disappear from the 21st Century zeitgeist anytime soon. If you intend to purchase new flooring in 2018, but don’t want to jump on a trend you will later regret, we recommend that you choose one of the following options.
Hardwood Flooring
Although trends in hardwood flooring have changed somewhat during the past few years, installing hardwood in your home is a surefire way to guarantee you see the maximum return on your investment while ensuring that your floors won’t ever really go out of style.
Wide planks and hand-scraped products were all the rage in 2017, and aren’t likely to go out of favor with homeowners for quite some time. If your tastes in flooring lean toward the traditional end of the spectrum, having ¾” planks installed in a herringbone pattern will wow your home’s visitors and make your new floors the envy of your friends and neighbors alike.
Carpeting
Patterned carpets, friezes, and eco-friendly products made of recycled post-consumer plastics will continue to be top performers in the residential sector of the flooring industry in 2018. Patterned carpets manufactured in cut-loop fashion add texture and flair to staircases, hallways, and home offices, while the longer, looser yarns of a frieze add warmth and character to intimate settings such as bedrooms, family rooms, or areas where friends and family members congregate.
Mohawk, the world’s largest manufacturer of flooring products, leads the industry in the use of post-consumer recycled materials as a component in creating products that are both eco-conscious and sustainable. By using recycled polyethylene terephthalate—PET, for short—to manufacture its EverStrand line of products, Mohawk prevents billions of plastic bottles, peanut butter jars, and dish soap containers from going to our nation’s landfills.
From a cost perspective, installing new carpeting in your home is the most budget-friendly way to breathe new life into your home’s interior settings. If you’re interested in installing eco-friendly carpet in your home, look for products stamped with the Carpet & Rug Institute’s Green Label Plus logo.
Luxury Vinyl Plank (LVP)
According to consumer research, LVP was the fastest-growing sector of the flooring industry in each of the past two years and showed no signs of slowing down in the foreseeable future. Though vinyl flooring got a bit of a bad rap during the ‘80s and ‘90s, today’s LVP products outperform many of the hard-surface flooring options available in the residential flooring marketplace.
COREtec, a division of US Floors, offers one of the best LVP products ever created—the COREtec Plus line is waterproof, dent-and scratch-resistant, and has an attached cork underlayment that reduces noise and resists mold and mildew. COREtec Plus hides substrate imperfections, is available in stone-look and wood-look, and, in most instances, your flooring contractor can install the product over your home’s existing hard-surface flooring.
Regardless of which flooring trends appeal to you, you should always be sure to consult a flooring professional before you commit to purchasing a specific product. If you are unsure of which products will perform best under your home’s unique conditions, we recommend contacting a reputable shop-at-home flooring retailer in your area to get a free in-home estimate.
