Tips And Advice

All houses are divided into two areas. Open areas (is where you do not have doors, i.e. entry, hallways, formal dining and living and the family room).
Closed areas (is where you do have doors, i.e. Office, bedrooms … etc.), and therefore, you can have any other types of floors in there.

Note 1: Even though the kitchen and the breakfast have no doors, they are still considered closed areas.

Note 2: The breakfast area is actually a natural area that can be considered to belong either to the Kitchen (a closed area where it’s recommended to have same floors as in the kitchen). Or, you can consider it belong to the family room (an open area where it’s recommended to have same floors as in other open areas).

Note 3: Don’t try to match the colors of two connected yet different types of floors. I.e. (wood and tile). It is always recommended to do a contrast to show the beauty of each type separately.

Note 4: Unless you want to have wood floors in your kitchen, than you don’t need to match it with the kitchen cabinets. You simply do it backwards. Have the main color on your floors and then match everything else accordingly (i.e. wall’s colors, kitchen cabinets and so on).

It is always recommended within one open area in a house, to have one type of floors to give it consistency and of course the highest re-selling value. It is also ok if you want to go with two types. Yet, if you go with three or more, than you will end up of what is called (chucker board floors), and trust me,, you will hate it !! :s
When thinking of remodeling, always upgrade to a higher grade product and don’t just replace with a similar type. Example: Tile (porcelain, ceramic.. etc.) to stone ( Travertine, slate .. etc.)
It is always recommended to match stone with stone. I.E.: Granite countertops with travertine backsplash.
The bigger, the better: When you want to have new tile floors, the bigger the tile is the better (yes, even in a small bathroom). Because with bigger tiles, the grout lines are less, and that tricks the eye to make the floors less busy and accordingly looks more open.
On the opposite side, it is better to go with smaller tiles on walls, because it will give you that combination factor between the floors or the backsplash and the walls or the cabinets. It is also easier to take up and install again in case of a maintenance needed behind it (i.e.: plumbing or electrical) without necessarily damaging the walls.