How to Make Concrete Floors Look Nice: 6 Tips for Your Home
Six tips for a concrete floor that looks warm, not cold and gray: the finish, the colors, how much concrete one room can take, and what to put next to it.
You have a bare concrete floor, or you are about to choose one. It is strong and affordable, but one question stays: how do you keep the room from looking cold and gray? Below is how to make concrete floors look nice in your home, in six tips.
Concrete was once a material for industrial interiors, offices and public spaces. Now it is in homes too. It works in a large house, a townhouse or a flat in a high-rise. It suits industrial interiors most often, but it can also take its place in a classic interior, because it can take so many shapes.
Tip 1: Choose the finish before anything else
The finish decides how the floor looks, so start with it. A polished floor is the basic option. A varnished floor looks expensive, although it is not. Concrete is also easy to paint, so you can make it almost any color.
Texture is the second choice. The floor can be perfectly smooth with a glossy sheen, or rough and porous with a matte effect. A painted floor can even look like another well-known material.
Designers call concrete with a decorative finish architectural concrete. With the right finish, it looks no worse than marble or granite. Its quality is comparable to natural stone, marble and travertine.
What color should you paint a concrete floor?
Choose calm, solid colors: black, white, green or a wood hue. Next to gray or graphite, they give a warm combination.
Tip 2: Let the gray work for you. Light gray concrete is a quiet background. Furniture and objects stand out against it, and other colors look richer. Concrete floors and walls also go well with shades of gray and white, and the room keeps its minimalist, industrial character.
Tip 3: Break the gray on purpose. A room with only gray surfaces can feel flat. Brightly painted walls, or other elements in a strong color, fix that. Patterns that reference classic design or contemporary art work too: next to plain concrete, they look sharp and deliberate.
Tip 4: Keep concrete to one surface per room
Concrete is a heavy material, in look and in fact. It can easily take over a room. Use it on the floor, the walls or the ceiling of one room, not on all three. Too much of it has the opposite effect.
Keep some traditional elements around it, so the concrete stays the highlight and not the whole story. Concrete walls are a bold choice. They fit loft rooms well. In a private home, industrial concrete next to natural materials gives a striking result. If you want the look on a wall without real slabs, imitation concrete panels are an option.
A smaller dose also works. Tables, chairs, shelves, countertops, cabinets and flower pots are all made of architectural concrete.
Interest in concrete floors has grown with loft, minimalist and high-tech interiors. The tips here work in other styles too.
Tip 5: Soften it with wood, glass, metal and plants
Concrete looks cool and hard. Four materials balance it:
- natural wood;
- large glass surfaces;
- metal elements;
- live plants.
Wood does the most work. Warm wood tones soften the hard look of gray, untreated concrete, and the room feels cozy.
Glass, mirrors and shiny metal keep the modern look. Large windows suit this design very well.
Plants give a strong contrast and make the room feel alive and fresh. If live plants are not practical for you, a good-quality imitation gives a similar effect.
What are the pros and cons of concrete floors in a house?
The pros: a concrete floor is durable, easy to care for and affordable. The cons: too much of it takes over a room, and it can feel cold.
Builders use concrete for foundations, floors, partitions, paths, platforms and house facades. Designers and architects now use it in interiors too. As a finish inside a home, it has these advantages:
- durability;
- eco-friendly;
- resistant to fire, excess moisture and damage;
- easy to work with, and needs no complex care;
- affordable price.
A concrete floor gives a simple, timeless style. You can also save on other finishing materials. Dust and cobwebs collect less on a smooth, sealed surface, so it is easy to keep clean.
Are concrete floors cold?
They can be. In a bedroom, put a thick, warm carpet on a concrete floor, or lay it over a heated floor system.
A bedroom with a concrete floor: a bamboo wall mural and a floor lamp add life and warmth to the gray.
Tip 6: Pick the right rooms. Concrete floors suit the bathroom, kitchen, loggia and hallway. They also work in a bedroom, if you add a thick, warm carpet. Over a heated floor system, a concrete floor works even better.
See it on your own plan first
Concrete is a strong statement, and it is hard to judge from someone else's photo. Try it on your own room first. In Home Planner you can measure your space, draw a 2D floor plan and see it in 3D, and furnish it with products from well-known brands. You can create realistic visualizations of the result, or start from ready-made layouts for a bedroom, bathroom, living room and more. Then decide how much concrete your home can take.
Try it on your own project
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