by Shari Brodsky

Created on: April 30, 2008   Last Updated: May 08, 2008

Nothing sets the tone of your decorating style like what's on the floor. Country chic with knotty pine floors or the sleek elegance of polished marble what's on the floor will define the home.

Floors aren't just a style choice; they're also made to be walked on. How they hold up to traffic, kids, and pets, how long they live, and how easy they are to maintain will determine the right flooring choice for you.

Wall-to-wall carpeting is a nightmare for anyone with allergies, children, pets, or feet. As a result, most home-buyers are looking for options that are easier to keep clean and show less wear. The three primary options are wood, (hard or soft), laminate, and tile. Each has its own set of positives and negatives.

Tile is the easiest to maintain. It doesn't scratch or stain, but padding barefoot around your living room may be uncomfortably cold. If you drop a glass, it'll be sure to break, and of course, with young children, it's not the ideal surface on which to play.

Wood floors add huge resale value to the home and are easy to maintain once they're finished and sealed. (Many can be purchased pre-finished). They're more comfortable for bare feet, and with the myriad of finishes available can be tailored to suit your design needs, be it casual country or polished ballroom-like formality.

Laminate flooring is more problematic. Although at first glance it looks like hardwood, there are several problems with it. The first is that it cannot be refinished, which means if you scrape it, or scratch it, you can't buff out the flaw the way you can with wood floors. The second is that they do not hold up as well as real wood or tile. They come with wonderful guarantees, but those guarantees don't cover the kind of daily mishaps most people encounter. This means that although it's marketed as indestructible, it needs to be treated far more carefully than wood or tile floors. The third issue is simply that due to the more hygienic and decorative aspects, laminate floors are now being used in many facilities where linoleum used to be the norm. In ten years time, laminate will seem like nursing home and grade school flooring, making it less appealing to prospective buyers and your own eye.

The decision as to which flooring best suits your needs is a personal one. If you're changing the floors only to increase the resale value, then laminate may indeed be the way to go. If you're planning on sticking around, then tile or wood floors are probably a more suitable option.

Whatever you choose, remember to take a moment to appreciate the pristine beauty of your brand new floor.

Learn more about this author, Shari Brodsky.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.