Flooring completely changes the feeling of a home, yet it’s one of the things people get wrong the most.
People focus so much on paint colours, kitchens and furniture, but flooring quietly sets the tone for the entire house.
Get it right, and everything feels more elevated. Get it wrong, and even a beautiful property can suddenly feel cheap, chaotic or strangely outdated.
Interior expert Jordana Ashkenazi told the Daily Mail that flooring has sadly become one of the most ill-considered decor choices homeowners make.
‘You can walk into a property within seconds and immediately tell whether it feels calm, expensive and well designed or cold, patchy and dated, and the flooring is usually a huge part of that,’ she said.
So are your floors naff or nice? Jordana reveals the most common mistakes people make – and how to fix them.
Skimping on real wood
One of the rooms in Amanda Holden’s £7million Surrey mansion features black and white tiled flooring
Molly-Mae Hague’s glamorous Cheshire mansion features white marble floors with grey veining
According to Jordana, nothing really compares to real wood flooring that actually looks better with time.
She explained that real wood develops character naturally, whereas cheaper flooring often ‘just develops damage’.
It also has a heavier, more solid feel underfoot that people subconsciously associate with expensive homes.
‘It has warmth, texture and character that instantly elevates a home, and unlike cheaper alternatives, it actually gets better with age,’ she said.
‘You can sand it back, restain it, change the tone over time and restore it properly rather than replacing the entire floor,’ Jordana highlighted its versatility.
Jordana added that laminate and vinyl flooring nearly always give themselves away.
She said: ‘There are definitely some better laminate options on the market now, and many are practical and easy to clean, especially for busy family homes.
‘But no matter how expensive they are, you can almost always tell they’re not real wood,’ Jordana continued.
Tell-tale signs that your floors are not real wood include a hollow ‘click clack’ sound when you walk across them in heels, lifting or creating gaps once heavy furniture is brought in, and faster wear and tear.
‘Over time, laminate and vinyl tend to chip, wear and age much faster than real timber and, unlike wood, you can’t properly restore them; you usually end up ripping the whole thing out and starting again,’ Jordana said.
‘There’s also something about vinyl in particular that still feels very plastic visually, no matter how much it tries to imitate natural materials. From a design perspective, it can instantly cheapen a space.’
Dismissing underfloor heating
Geri Halliwell opted for more rustic-looking brown tiles in her kitchen
Nothing quietly says ‘this renovation had budget’ like underfloor heating.
Jordana said: ‘It instantly makes rooms feel calmer and more luxurious because you don’t have radiators interrupting every wall and dictating where furniture has to go.
‘From a design perspective, radiators are always tricky to work around, so having clear walls completely changes what you can do with a space.’
She added that modern systems are also far smarter now than people realise.
‘You can zone different rooms, control it from apps and avoid heating the entire house unnecessarily. People assume it’s outrageously expensive, but smart zoning can actually help save money in the long run,’ Jordana shared.
Choosing wall-to-wall beige carpet downstairs…
….Especially paired with cream walls and pine bannisters.
‘Carpet absolutely has its place upstairs, but fully carpeted downstairs spaces can quickly make a property feel stuck in the late 90s,’ Jordana said. ‘Timber flooring layered with rugs feels far more elevated and intentional.’
Herringbone and chevron flooring scream middle-class
Molly-Mae’s older sister Zoe and her husband Danny Rae in their home
‘If a house has herringbone or chevron flooring, black steel doors and a kitchen island, you already know somebody owns matching labelled storage baskets and has an oat milk subscription,’ Jordana quipped.
The look can absolutely be beautiful, but it’s become the signature of the modern British renovation.
Signing off on ultra gloss flooring
Ultra shiny floors are the ‘fake tan’ of interiors, Jordana declared.
‘The shinier the floor, the worse it usually looks. Large ultra gloss tiles in particular can instantly make homes feel cold, tacky and overly show-home-like,’ she said.
‘They reflect every light, footprint and speck of dust and often end up giving “nouveau riche nightclub bathroom” rather than relaxed luxury.’
She recommends opting for matte finishes, textured stone and softer natural surfaces, which nearly always feel calmer, richer and far more timeless.
Or faux marble flooring
‘This is one trend that can look incredible or absolutely dreadful depending on the material chosen,’ Jordana said.
‘If the veining is too chunky, too grey, too repetitive or obviously fake, it instantly cheapens the whole space and makes a home look dated,’ she continued.
‘If you’re going to do faux marble, it needs to be a very high-end porcelain or quartz with realistic movement and variation, laid carefully so the veining flows naturally like real stone would.’
Patchwork floors look cheap
However, consistency in flooring makes homes feel more expensive, Jordana told the Daily Mail.
‘One of the biggest mistakes people make is creating a patchwork of different flooring throughout the house,’ she said.
‘Obviously, you may want wood flooring or tiles downstairs and different tiles in bathrooms, but when homes start mixing random stair runners, carpeted landings, wood in one bedroom, laminate in another and odd tiles here and there, it can quickly start to feel visually chaotic and disconnected.’
Jordana suggests picking a few harmonious finishes and tones because consistency makes a home feel ‘calmer and more intentional’.
