Extension/Playroom flooring - exciting lino???

[Flannelmcpoppety]

Hi all!

We're in the final throes of an extension. It's on a classic Victorian semi; ie comes out off the back of the kitchen and then will open onto the garden.

Planning to use it as a playroom/spare room (it will have a sofa bed in it). Also it will have a loo and a very small utility room (just space for the washing machine and dryer) at the end.

We have three small children who pound in and out of the garden without very diligent foot wiping so the floor will need to be kind of hard wearing.

Kitchen has natural wood (stained dark brown) but the extension won't have wood flooring. I got all excited about sisal/sea grass but think it would get totally trashed, so we were thinking Lino is the best option. I'm totally uninspired...I don't really want fake wood (will look obviously fake next to kitchen's real wood) or fake stone (the bit of the garden it will lead out to has a patio). Something quite geometric or colourful would be cool. I quite like the Harvey Maria patterned tiles but they're £££ and I'm not sure really worth the money...

Any suggestions??? Help!

[CodyKing]

Seagrass is slippy so avoid!

Lots of colourful Lino about - have you looked at different patterns?

[CinderellaFant]

Something like this? I love it

[Flannelmcpoppety]

Thanks for replying!

I like that jigsaw one - it would be perfect if t was just going to be a playroom - but since we want it to transform by night (sometimes) into a spare room I think we want something a bit more grown up?? But still interesting??

I don't know where to start with patterned Lino - know that sounds lame - but places like carpet right etc have SO MUCH that I get lost, you know?

It doesn't help that my search is basically all online due to having almost no free time during the day...

[CurlsLDN]

I haven't ever bought flooring, so have no idea what's a good price or what sort of spec you need, so I won't recommend anything. But I just googled 'Moroccan lino' and saw lots beauuuuuuuutiful floors!

[Flannelmcpoppety]

Eg I lovelovelove loads of these but it's super expensive


www.murafloor.com/pattern-vinyl-flooring/

[Stumbleine]

I've been having the same dilemma for my new kitchen. Having ruled out real wood/stone on practicality grounds, but don't want 'fake' wood/stone the most luxury vinyl seems to be!

Have now discovered Forbo Marmoleum flooring and will be going for one of those. Seems comparatively reasonably priced too (I also coveted Harvey Maria!)

[Misselthwaite]

Rather than lino what about cork tiles?

[Flannelmcpoppety]

Thanks again! Curls - I know - but when you click on them, they're all tile decals or something and not nice normal lino...!

That marmoleum looks interesting - I might have a look at that on my actual computer tomorrow (just on phone now)...

Cork - interesting - is it hard wearing enough???

[BendydickCuminsnatch]

Oh my god the murafloor stuff is amazing! Actually glad DH accidentally ripped our kitchen Lino now we're also building a playroom...

[Hufflepuffin]

The house I grew up in had cork floors. It was hard wearing but faded in the sun so needed replacing after 15 years, my mum replaced it with exactly the same cork tiles. BUT it's quite cheap to buy and install so I would still recommend it. It's brilliant for kids as its soft and bouncy - we barely broke any plates or glasses when I was younger!

[Flannelmcpoppety]

Bendydick - tragically - I've now read some terrible reviews online here uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.murafloor.com

I wanted to order a sample and couldn't work out how, which made me suss...only two bad reviews but it's off putting...maybe I should start a separate thread to see if anyone here has experience with them as otherwise I was just about to suck up the cost because it is so beautiful!

Dh has vetoed cork, sadly...it being a bit bouncy would be kind of cool though.

[BendydickCuminsnatch]

Oh no :( too good to be true. I never knew there were so many possibilities with the humble linoleum though.

[Hufflepuffin]

Tell him all my trendy London stylist and architect friends are putting it in at the moment!

[phoolani]

I love this stuff www.colourflooring.co.uk. Think it's not cheap, tho.

[tootsietoo]

We've got this stuff in the kitchen:

www.carpetright.co.uk/vinyl/mardi-gras-75-striped-vinyl-flooring

Not nearly as cool as the murafloor looks, but was pretty cheap, but you get what you pay for - it's getting damaged quickly. However, it's in a rented house, and I'm working on the basis that it was so cheap that we can rip it up and replace it in another year or two.

[Flannelmcpoppety]

Tootsie - I have a sample of that one! It's more muted in colour than it seemed in the photos. The other weird thing was that I sent off to about 5 different companies for what I thought were 5 different stripy samples and they all came back with the exact same one....

Cork - I am beginning to be convinced enough myself to convince DH after seeing some pretty funky cork patterns online. But I do like a few nice bright colours...and patterns...

[dynevoran]

I was going to also suggest colour flooring on phoolani's link. V nice in person. Not patterned but bright still.

[CodyKing]

If you live colour - why not basic Lino and a huge rug? You can change the scheme anytime.

If the floors too bright it'll take way from the room rafter than add -

[Hufflepuffin]

I agree that it's tempting to add colour through the walls/floor at the moment because it's a big empty box, but it might be easier to keep it pretty basic and add colour with everything else (paint, rugs, furniture) as obviously it won't be a kids room forever and lots of lego/shopkins/etc on top of a multicoloured floor would do my head in (and make it more likely to get trodden on!)

[tootsietoo]

Flannel - exactly the same here! Quite a lot of places sell that stripy stuff. The sample looks muted but oh my god it is not when it is put down. Once it was laid my eyes were swimming for a day or two and I really thought I'd made the wrong decision. But I love it now. We have some bright coloured chairs, so it all works well. I could take a pic for you to see - will have a go now. It is also good because the stripes hide lots of dirt and marks.

It's all very well saying "I want to get some plain basic vinyl" but actually to get a plain colour costs a lot more! The cheap stuff is all imitation tiles or wood and I have an irrational hate of something that is pretending to be something its not. But to be fair some of the wood effect vinyls are not too bad, and you could then cover up with a big rug. I did manage to find some cheap grey vinyl - I think it came in brick red or grey - which is in the boot room. It's ok, but fairly industrial looking.

[tootsietoo]

Here it is

[BendydickCuminsnatch]

I am thinking more and more about cork, we had it in the bathroom when I was a kid and actually love it!

[Flannelmcpoppety]

Ooh thanks tootsie! It does look lovely actually....

Cork is good for cork leopards too isn't it? Ie you're supposed to buy it so people want to grow it or something??

I was in a long meeting today so obviously was thinking about this and had almost decided on just black and white squares but now I'm back to the stripes again..!

[tootsietoo]

I wanted black and white squares too! I think it's a toss up.

[GiddyOnZackHunt]

I want a rubber floor, one of those silver ones with circles in one of our bathrooms

This sort of thing www.drfrubberflooring.com