Floor covering for new home office with lots of visitors?

[BlogOnTheTyne]

What would you cover a floor with if you had about 30 people visiting per week, coming straight into the room from the outside?

Just had a home office built for my business and am either thinking of basically using coir matting (the stuff used for door mats) across the entire floor space, with a nicer but washable rug in the seating area - or a cheap, polypropelene carpet in a v dark colour with a doormat recess at the entrance part, plus washable large rug in seating area.

Think vinyl/wooden boards will be too 'cold'.

What do you think would be best for easy cleaning (from muddy/oily/wet footprints) plus hard-wearing?

Don't want to specify the business but think along the lines of legal practice or accountant firm with clients visiting for meetings. So it needs to be comfortable and inviting as well as functional.

I am an accountant with home office accessed straight from outside. I have laminate wood flooring which is easy to clean and looks nice. I have a really good doormat just inside which most people do wipe their feet on. I don't have anywhere near 30 visitors a week though.

I think coir matting would look odd tbh.

I'd get washable flooring with that many visitors and a really good doormat such as a turtle mat.
Imagine if someone steps in dog poo and then comes in without realising it. With coir that would be a bit of a nightmare....

I'd do karndean/amtica so that you can wipe it over easily every night. We have wood effect downstairs, and it doesn't look cold, but is sooo easy to keep looking nice.

I would buy a big washable door mat and have ceramic tiles but good quality ones.

Thanks for the feedback. Can washable laminate wood/wood effect flooring be put down if there are skirting boards already in place in the room?

Also, I would need a recess created in the flooring to accommodate an in built doormat. as the floor level is too high for the external door to open over a doormat above the floor level. Can this be done with hard flooring options?

Finally, I've been told that there's no way our local supplier/store could do hard flooring options before Christmas now, as they need to send away for the flooring and fit it and are very busy. Wow. That's weeks away. This is pushing me back in favour of polypropelene carpet but am I foolish to rush into a decision just because of the time scale for completion?

Would a hard flooring still feel welcoming and warm?

Wood or laminate looks more warm/welcoming IMO, and there is always a very slight "give" in them. Tiled flooring is very difficult to make appear warm, unless you go down the route of terracotta type colours. Tiling is also very harsh noisewise.
Why not go to another supplier, that's a ridiculous timescale!

With tiles you can have a recess for a door mat, or you could have a mat outside and a washable mat as you walk in. I am not in the UK and most office blocks , shops and houses have tiles on the floor, it is the norm here. The local government builiding has a mat just as you walk in as well as a mat outside. For the noise as long as there is furniture and it is not an empty room then that absorbs the sound. It is personal choice but I would always go for tiles , but don't buy cheap ones as they just chip as soon as something drops on them. Good luck with your choice :)

Thanks. Think I may go for good quality wood effect laminate with a recess for a doormat too. The store is John Lewis and they seem v busy before Christmas in terms of measuring up, ordering in and fittings.