It's time you got floored

It’s the most important space in any home, and there are several changes on this front. From matte finishes to metallic ones. Here’s a low down:

Malwa Mirage Ceramics Pvt Ltd has launched the Mirage range of tiles in India.

Mirage is an incredible range of innovations in designer floor and wall tiles, prominent among them being the range of vitrified body marble, wood and metallic finish polished tiles. Nitco Ltd’s Naturoc is another recent launch.

The Gres Lapato range in Naturoc gives the best of both worlds: it’s a matt tile and yet has a glossy finish.

Says Vivek Talwar – Managing Director, Nitco Ltd, “Our launch of vitrified tiles four years back was aimed at providing value for money products for mass usage. Now for the first time Nitco has launched Naturoc.” The International Collection from H & R Johnson exudes the super rich European finish that ensures a remarkably long-lasting décor and sheen. The collection depicts the perfect marriage of the best of both worlds – style and technology. Somany Ceramics has introduced VC Shield floor tiles.

These tiles have an impervious VC covering, which makes the tile abrasion resistant, stain free and protects the colour and design of the tile, which is detained between two unique glaze layers. 

Modular carpet

InterfaceFLOR’s Convert collection is a groundbreaking new category of modular carpet, the first one that is manufactured with a full colour spectrum of post consumer (recycled) yarn, harvested through InterfaceFLOR’s ReEntry 2.0 recycling programme.

“At the heart of Convert is InterfaceFLOR’s ability to recycle all nylon face fibre into a clean stream of recycled nylon. With this technology, InterfaceFLOR is aggressively recycling both its own as well as its competitors’ old carpets into InterfaceFLOR Convert. 
The Convert collection has the largest recycled content (as high as 72 per cent) among any carpets available,” explains Raj Menon, Country Manager India, InterfaceFLOR.

Orient’s latest Europa Designs collection offers tiles in wood and marble look finish, capturing every small detail of wooden and marble floors. This provides the user with the flexibility of having the desired finish along with the various advantages of using floor tiles. 

Cost-effectiveness and durability factors

Ceramic tiles have become hugely popular and are also considered as the most cost-effective kind of flooring.

Earlier, ceramic tiles were perceived as an expensive investment.

Today, tiles are available in different patterns, textures, sizes and prices also. From the durability aspect also, ceramic tiles easily last a lifetime and require minimal maintenance. Regular cleaning with detergent and water, and rinsing; or commercial household cleaners or bathroom cleaners can be used as per instructions so that the tiles retain their sheen and original colour.

The yardsticks of durability and cost-effectiveness keep on changing as per the requirement and application of the tiles. A tile would last 10 years if it were laid in a living room while the same tile would deface within two years if it has been laid in high traffic areas. 

Trends

Sanjeev Rajan, AGM Marketing, Somany Ceramics says, “the new trends in tile flooring are deep textures with metallic finishes and wooden finishes and a coffee and rustic look is emerging as one of the most popular combinations.

Floor tiles in bigger sizes like 18” X 24” and 24” x 24” are the trend these days. These tiles give rooms a look as if it was laid with a single solid piece of stone/marble. Vijay Aggarwal, Managing Director, H & R Johnson (India) Ltd. has a slightly different take.
“Today, small-sized tiles are being replaced by large format tiles, especially in cities since XL-sized tiles add lot of volume to small apartments.

“In addition, we see consumers opting for vitrified tiles in matte, metallic and wooden shades rather than plain tiles,” he says.

Move over wood, marble

The trend in flooring is shifting increasingly from the use of materials like wood or marble to the use of floor tiles due to the advantages that tiles have over the other materials.

Explains Madhur Daga, Executive Director, Orient Tiles, “in comparison to wood and marble, tiles are more affordable, are easier to install, convenient to maintain and attract lower refurbishment and replacement cost. Floor tiles also offer much more variety in terms of designs, finish and texture and are easily available.” 

As far as flooring is concerned, there are several ways you can accessorize them to add different effects to the space. 

Says Rajesh Mahajan, Founder and Managing Director, “Maspar offers a huge variety of rugs as part of the larger frame, in a way that it always offer rugs in coordination with the collection it presents.

The material used is 100 per cent cotton and there are beautiful patterns and colors that you would even like to use them as a decorative piece starting a mix of neutrals, black and white and bright and bold in different themes.”

Adds Ashwani Khurana, Owner, Dreams Furnishings, “rugs and modern design and wall to wall wooden flooring is the trend of these times.

These days people prefer more of rugs over anything else. One can couple a nice suitable rug on the wooden floor also.”

Tiles differ as per their usage and application.

Therefore, it is important to choose the correct tiling solution for each room.

The method of lying and fixing is equally crucial as selecting the right tiles for each room.
So take care of these simple tenets and your floor will sure attract attention!