15 Best Flooring Options for Living Room [Photos]

The flooring of homes deserves the same level of attention being given to the wall paints and other home decorations. This is because the beauty and other features of the house will depend on the floor designs, that is why we’ve made a list of the best flooring options for living room.

The choice of flooring will go a long way in determining the choice of painting design and color that will be fitting for the house. Since most of the other furnishing in the living room will stand and sit on the floor, flooring can make or mar them.

Therefore, it’s good to do some homework before selecting the flooring designs. Bear in mind also that is the most durable of the interior parts. You have a lot of options to choose from, but you need to consider several factors.

The style of your house is one of them. Your class, your budget, and the feel you desire are others coming to play here.

There is possibly no limit to how extensive floor designs can be. The list of design merely is inexhaustible. This post takes a look at just 15 options that you can choose from. It looks at them from the angle of strengths and weakness.

Meanwhile, you’ll benefit from a statistical analysis of the popularity of the most common flooring options, including the ones that are not analyzed in this post. We’ll show you the pros and cons of some of the 15 considered here.

Best Flooring Options for Living Room [Statistics]

In a recent poll based on analysis of thousands of living rooms checked, the following are the percentages of scores of the various flooring materials in the descending order:

• Hardwood: 72.84%
• Carpet: 10.19%
• Ceramic Tile:  3.30%
• Concrete: 3.29%
• Porcelain Tile: 3.11%
• Marble: 1.42%
• Travertine: 1.27%
• Vinyl: 0.76%
• Tatami: 0.7%
• Limestone: 0.68%
• Painted Wood: 0.67%
• Laminate: 0.65%
• Bamboo: 0.55%
• Slate: 0.41%
• Terra-cotta Tile: 0.35%
• Plywood: 0.13%
• Linoleum: 0.11%
• Cork: 0.10%
• Brick: 0.09%

Now, let’s have a random consideration of 15 flooring designs you can get from these best flooring materials.

15 Best Living Room Flooring Options

Below is a list of the 15 living room flooring options alongside their pros, cons, and cost. This will give you an idea of the different types of flooring is available for living rooms so you can decide on which one best suits your needs.

1. Hardwood

• Availability: Cherry, oak, walnut, and unfinished selections in strip, parquet, and plank forms
• Sizing: 1.25-2.25 inches wide
• Cost: $3/square foot for unfinished oak up to $12+ per square foot for exotic wood varieties

This, as can be seen from the statistics above, is the most accepted of the flooring materials. It can be made for you from any of the trees used for flooring.

Some of the solid trees you can choose from are oak, cherry, and walnut, among others. Though all solid hardwood floors are hard, some species of wood can be harder than other species.

Thus, it’s advisable that you choose tough species that will withstand the volume of traffic on your living room so that the depreciation doesn’t come quicker than you imagine.

The width of planks can vary and are generally about one-inch thick. You can get solid plank that is about three to five inches thick as standard or medium. You can also have another common width of 5 to 10 inches.

There are two types of finishing for hardwood, namely prefinished and unfinished. If you buy the unfinished hardwood, you’ll be required sand it down and apply the polishing to your taste to have the shiny and moisture-resistant living room floor.

But the prefinished hardwood will come with finishing already applied.

A big pro of hardwood is that it requires less maintenance. It also increases the home’s resale value significantly and lends itself to an array of options.

The main con of hardwood is that it’s expensive to buy and install. You also need to do refinishing periodically.

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2. Painted Wood

• Availability: Paint in a variety of colors and stencils
• Cost: From $150 for an average floor size
• Sizing: N/A

If you’re pissed off by the prohibitive cost and maintenance intensity of hardwood, the painted wood is an option you can turn to. Apart from the cost, it gives your living room the liveliness and makes it welcoming with bold colors.

Having painted wood on your floor is a smart way of freshening and enlivening an uninteresting and boring living room. Living rooms with painted wood floor heightens anticipation and expectations of visitors and homebuyers right from the entry point.

If you apply golden paint, your living room floor will have the upscale natural color of the soil while it maintains the elegant look. While you can play around with colors, from extreme white to pure black, a bold color will add a punch to the heterogeneous scheme of your living room.

The pros of painted wood floors are the low maintenance and availability of a vast array of designs and style. Not to be overlooked is the fact that it lends itself to endless creativity.

But it has its cons. It requires a tedious and lengthy job to come up with beautiful painted wood. It can be tough to get a classic painted wood floor, and it involves retouching.

3. Bamboo Flooring

• Availability: Horizontal, Vertical, and strand woven bamboo in natural coloring and carbonized darker colors
• Cost: Between $5 to $8 per square foot
• Sizing: Measured by the square foot

If you like, you can say it’s in the family of hardwood. But one specific thing about bamboo is that it’s an excellent alternative to hardwood. You naturally get brightness in the floor color of your home, and this gives your living room a warm atmosphere.

But you may, if you prefer, give the bamboo flooring a darker treatment finish by giving it processing treatment that can provide the bamboo an appearance of stained wood.

The pros of the bamboo flooring are in the characteristics of the plant itself. The flooring is made from an eco-friendly plant.

Since it’s in the grass family, it grows more quickly and, thus, costs less. The installation also is pocket-friendly.

The main con is that it’s not as durable as other flooring woods.

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4. Marble Flooring

• Availability: Multiple colors mixes (available in a triangle, rectangle, and mosaic cuts)
• Cost: Between $5 to $15 per square foot
• Size: Measured by the square foot

Let’s leave wood and plants for now. Marble flooring has long been an indicator of luxury and elegance.

It’s a unique show of class in homes on the living room floor when it radiates its whorls and hues with tonality. You’ll have an all-time gorgeous visual glee that lasts as long as you want. Polishing marble floors regularly turns your living room floor into a pseudo-mirror.

The main pros are the unmatched beauty that keeps inviting you and your visitors to the living room. Marble increases your home resale value.

But as cons, marbles require intensive maintenance in the form of constant cleaning, regular sealing, and polishing. It absorbs stains because of its porosity.

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5. Carpet Floors

• Availability: Synthetic and natural
• Cost: Between $1400 to $4000 for an average living room size
• Sizing: By the square yard

One can safely say that carpet is the commonest of the flooring covering options around. Wall-to-wall carpeting is not an uncommon option in homes.

It’s so flexible and can be changed any time the homeowner feels like. It doesn’t require so much effort to match your carpet to your unique home décor.

And you can find universal carpet designs that will give your home the warm and cozy vibes. There are acrylic, nylon, olefin, polyester, wool carpets.

Among the pros of carpet is easy maintenance. It doesn’t require more than vacuuming. It minimizes sound and saves energy.
It, however, can trap germs and triggers allergic reactions. Besides, it accommodates stains and dirt.

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6. Concrete Flooring

• Availability: You can achieve an array of textures and colors by tint, dye, latex paint coverings, and scoring or etching
• Cost: From $2 to $6/square foot for polished gray slab to about $5 to $8/square foot for elaborate styles
• Sizing: By square foot

You’re not likely to find flooring with the durability, versatility, functionality of concrete. You can spin up any style and design with concrete flooring in your sitting room. You can make any bold statement and elicit any emotions with it.

You have an opportunity of trying an array of colors, texture, and smoothness that enables you to carpet a portion of the concrete floor.

Durability, versatility, and minimal maintenance required are tops of the pros in addition to low cost.

As for the con, the hardness of the surface makes it unsuitable for kids and grandparents. It requires yearly sealing while you need rugs for additional comfort.

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7. Polished Concrete

Polishing of concrete flooring is still a fresh flooring design trend. You can even see modern homeowners are adding colors, dyes, stains, to the surface before polishing it. They’re achieving designs of every sort with polished concrete.

The pros of polished concrete flooring include cost-effectiveness and versatility. You can add to this durability. The main con is that it’s a multi-step process that requires the services of specialized professionals.

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8. Linoleum

• Availability: Solid colors, marbled, patterned, and flecked options
• Cost: $2 to $5/square foot
• Sizing: By square foot

If you intend to spend more than 40 years in your home without changing the floor design, the best flooring option for you is linoleum.

Combining durability with beauty, linoleum can give you a vast array of colors, simulated textures, and patterns.

The cost won’t tear your pocket while you’ll have a versatile floor that will blend perfectly with your living room wall paint design décor.

The pros of linoleum include water resistance, simplicity, and eco-friendliness, in addition to easy maintenance.

However, its edges and corners can curl up in the face of humidity. Another con is that it discolors with time and age.

9. Travertine

• Availability: Brushed, polished, matte, and tumbled with different color variations
• Cost: $3 to $30/square foot
• Sizing: 1×1, 1×2, 2×2, 2×4 and 4×4 with custom sizes

This is another unique flooring design that can come in natural coloring and give a stylish organic presence.

You can add some patina to your living room décor with elegant opulence and flavor or travertine.

It’s a type of limestone that comes in an array of muted and bold colors like beiges, browns, creams, and tans.

It’s quite easy to replace and environmentally friendly. Another pro is its water and moisture resistance. You can consider its cumbersomeness as a significant con. It’s difficult to install on DIY levels.

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10. Slate Flooring

• Availability: Comes in gauged/ungauged slate
• Cost: $4 to $10/square foot
• Sizing: By square foot

If you’re happy because linoleum promises you 40 years of service in your living room, you need to hear from slate.

Slate floors can last 50 years there. This is not at the expense of attractiveness of right flooring materials. It combines beauty with durability and functionality.

It’s aesthetically pleasing and unique. Another pro is that it’s resistant to stains, cracks, breaks, and scratches. Add durability to that list. Unfortunately, it’s costly to install, and the surface can be too cold.

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11. Ceramic Tile

• Availability: Rectangle, triangle, and plank cuts come in a range of motifs, patterns, as well as simulated materials such as hardwood
• Cost: $5 to $10/square foot
• Sizing: By square foot

Welcome to the world of floor tiles. There’s virtually no end to what can be said about floor tiles. Ceramic tile is among the most familiar floor tiles you can think of.

The colors, shapes, textures, sizes are just too numerous to be contained. It’s a flooring option that you could consider for your home.

Additionally, ceramic tile floors are a brilliant option for those looking for stain and water resistant flooring for their living room. Ceramic tile is very durable as it’s constructed of a robust material that can endure years of use.

Finally, ceramic tile flooring is easy to clean and is ideal for those liable to allergies. Unlike carpet fibers which is known to promote allergens, ceramic tile flooring is incredibly smooth and requires a simple wipe to get rid of dust and dirt.

12. Porcelain Tile

• Availability: Polished, unglazed, or matte (available in a triangle, rectangle, and hexagon shapes as well)
• Cost: From $2 to $25/square foot
• Sizing: 6×6, 12×12, 16×16 and sizing

Porcelain is another variety of tile. It’s similar to ceramic, but it produces more gleaming opulence and reality.

Another difference that it’s made with denser clay and it’s put through very high temperatures. This makes it harder than other types of tiles.

With porcelain tile, you have on your living room the floor tile that is extremely durable, strong, and resistant to many elements.

As for its pros; it’s resistant to frost and very cold temperature. It is also low in maintenance and is fireproof. But its installation is cumbersome, and the installation materials are pricey.

13. Terracotta Tile Flooring

Still on the tile; time to explore terracotta is here. It’s a variety of unglazed tile common to houses where living room tile extends to the porch or other outer space of the house. It also has countless variations.

But the remarkable strong point of this tile is the price. It’s quite inexpensive and also adds glamor to your living room. But it’s not so strong like other tiles and can be too expensive to install.

14. Vinyl Floor Tiles

• Availability: Sheet and tile vinyl options
• Cost: From $0.50 to $10/square foot
• Sizing: Sheets comes in  6 or 12 feet wide, vinyl tile flooring comes in  9×9 or 12×12 inch sizes

Vinyl tiles have various patterns, colors, and designs. They’re resilient yet flexible with a cushioned surface to add to the comfort. The top layers of this kind of tile are attached to a layer of felt and foam to make it soft on the foot.

Interestingly, vinyl has been advertised for years as the low-cost flooring choice for homeowners; vinyl has survived the test of time in terms of popularity and prevalence of use.

Vinyl flooring has lots of amazing benefits including:

• Scratch-resistant
• Minimal maintenance
• Easy on the feet of the elderly
• Water-resistant
• Kid-friendly
• Long-lasting enough to withstand busy foot traffic

Apart from all these features, vinyl flooring is equally incredibly easy to care for and clean. Dust and dirt only need a damp cloth or mop, and an entire floor can be adequately cleaned in minutes.

Vinyl floor, when properly installed, can last for decades. Additionally, replacing a vinyl floor is very cost-effective as pricing can be as cheap as $0.50 per square foot.

If you’re a DIY enthusiast, you can also install a vinyl floor seamlessly as it’s a DIY-friendly endeavor that homeowners perform by themselves without hiring a professional.

Excitingly, vinyl flooring is now available in stunning finishes that offer magnificence looks at affordable costs. Simulated ceramic tile flooring and wood plank-style flooring are readily available vinyl options that won’t get your pocket burnt and can transform the entire look and feel of your living room.

15. Engineered Wood

Another cost-effective alternative to hardwood flooring is engineered wood flooring. It’s the ideal preferred option for those who are love elegance but are restricted by their budget.

Cost asides, it’s a good option for you if you’re having issues with how hardwood floors will cope with high humidity area.

Engineered wood is a combination of a top layer of real hardwood and multiple layers of ply plank. Such plank will be run in different direction beneath the hardwood.

Thus, while engineered wood may bear semblance to the hardwood, it’s not as resistant to moisture as the latter.

However, you can make it stronger if you apply high-quality coatings such as the type you’ll apply to the hardwood. Through that, you can prevent quick wear and tear.

One of the pros of engineered wood is the cost. It uses less expensive solid wood. It’s also suitable for high humidity levels.

The main con is that it can’t be sanded down or be frequently refinished because of the thin top veneer.

Living Room Flooring Ideas | Conclusion

You’re not restricted to choosing from the list here. But they are the best flooring options for living room and are expected to influence your choice of whatever flooring option you eventually choose next for your home.

That said, we’ll love to know what you think about the 15 living room flooring ideas mentioned here, is there any other living room flooring option you love that we didn’t include here? Please, let us know on the comment section below.

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