Trend Report
GROUNDED DESIGNS
THOMAS GRIEM, INTERIOR ARCHITECT, TG STUDIO, CONSIDERS THE CHOICE DECISIONS BEHIND GETTING FLOORING DESIGN JUST RIGHT
THE DECISION ON THE LOOK OF THE FLOOR IS PROBABLY ONE OF THE BIGGEST FINISHING DECISIONS IN EVERY PROJECT. THE CHOICE OF THE FINISH NEEDS TO BE PRIMARILY GUIDED BY THE REQUIREMENTS OF USAGE, IN OTHER WORDS BE FIT FOR ITS FUNCTION AND GENERAL WEAR AND TEAR.
In our projects in countries with warmer climates, where the outdoor/indoor activities merge and become one during most of the year, we use a hard surface that is robust and can be washed down easily. This tends to mean we steer towards using tiles, either natural stone or porcelain, or a poured flooring system like concrete or screed with inclusions.
Often with the floor, people prefer a seamless look with as little grout lines as possible. There are companies now on the market that produce very large floor tiles which look more like slabs. These are created in porcelain laminate and can span 1m by 3m and therefore create a beautiful seamless look.
Printing technology is also advancing. It is now so good that applied images of marbles or natural stone convince most people that they are walking on the real thing. I most like those porcelain tiles that convincingly look like real stone while having a
texture and a great print. If cost is no object I of course prefer the real thing and use a stylish marble particular in bathrooms. It is important to remember that stone is heavy, so make sure your joists can take it. Many companies supplying marble will let you go to the yard to select the piece. As it is a natural product mined out of the ground no two pieces are exactly alike. It is important you ask for an anti-slip finish to be applied as polished marble can be very slippery when wet.
The ultimate clean grout line free flooring products are resin based products like concrete or terrazzo. Especially Terrazzo is seeing a comeback. Pure floors are offering any RAL colour in their smooth flooring products. Bear in mind that the base has to be perfect for pouring this floor and it is a skillfull task to get it right, which makes the product expensive. Finally the product I like most for our London projects is wood. For me wood is the obvious choice for an organic and warm finish in most part of the world and controlled city living environments. Whenever budget allows it, I use a very special hardwearing wood flooring product from Schotten and Hansen. They only use oak wood veneer and treat it by scraping out the soft pulp of the wood and heating it in kilns. The outcome is a very tough
July 2014 Interior Design Today 43
veneer that has a texture by touch and great organic look. The veneer can be stained from light beige to black and the planks come in varying lengths and widths.
Our clients at the moment steer towards an elegant dark grey Oak. Also Herringbone patterns are very much in vogue.
www.tg-studio.co.uk
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