Happy New Year Home Improvers!

After the holidays, most of us home improvement enthusiasts will be busily planning our property to do list for the coming year. But for homeowners that want to keep up with and introduce the latest trends to the home before their neighbours, what does the near future have in store for our flooring?

We have compiled the hottest flooring trends for 2014 so get creative this year and craft a stylish and striking home in the process.

Reclaimed Barrels and Wood

When it comes to flooring 2014, it is all about sustainability and nothing says eco-friendly like using reclaimed and reconditioned barrels as your floor covering. Each barrel has been fully recycled with the markings of old wine names and distant vineyards creating a bespoke vintage finale to your newly decorated living space or kitchen area.

Reclaimed wood is also a beautiful hardwood trend to take advantage of and, this trend in particular, is certain to last from this season to the next.

Non-Toxic Cork

Another highly sustainable option is the non-toxic cork, in spite of many of us thinking of cork as a material reserved for pinboards and traditional bottle stoppers. This type of flooring is derived directly from the cork oak tree, which cultivates easily and can be harvested continually without damaging the environment or yield.

The cork is treated using eco-conscious materials and methods and, despite not being homeowners’ first choice for flooring in previous years, cork flooring has some excellent qualities that are certain to put this green material in high demand during the next year. Cork is a great insulator and even has a level of soundproofing that many flooring products lack. In addition to this, cork flooring is truly beautiful and is great for homes where individuals suffer from allergies due to its hypoallergenic nature.

Bamboo

Looking for a wooden floor covering with a difference? Then bamboo flooring may just be the trend for you! Bamboo is available in a horizontal, vertical or strand woven application, which provides a hardened finish for high traffic areas. The highly engineered stand woven flooring is actually twice as durable as traditional bamboo flooring. In addition to this, bamboo flooring is available in a range of stunning finishes, from natural blonde tones to black and chocolate colours. Avoid installing bamboo in moisture-prone rooms, this type of wood is particularly porous and will expand in the face of high humidity.

Polished Concrete

Polished concrete has been a firm favourite on the interior design scene for the past few years and 2014 sees this firm and fashionable favourite return. Polished concrete flooring offers the perfect cocktail of durability and style to transform any room in your home. Concrete is also an extremely versatile material and polished flooring is available in a number of decorative finishes.

Due to its popularity in recent years, polished concrete has become quite expensive, installation is also costly as it requires specially skilled tradespeople to achieve the seamless look this type of flooring is renowned for.

This post was written by Brittany Thorley from Readymix Concrete. She is an avid home improvement blogger and actively shares her expertise on flooring and other home improvement topics.