By Jacqueline Hinchcliffe—When it comes to emerging color trends in flooring, what works in one region of the country might not fly elsewhere. That being said, there are some common themes and motifs that cut across the map. For instance, while the “greige” phenomenon of 2020 is holding steady, dealers are also seeing a shift from cooler to warmer hues. Colors like cream, beige, blonde and sand are gaining popularity among consumers across the country. However, depending on the region, bright colors are paired with these neutrals to create a bold contrast. As for carpet and tile, geometric patterns remain popular while hard surface flooring visuals are shifting away from darker tones to lighter, more natural hues.
FCNews rounded up various independent floor covering retailers, distributors and designers from around the country to get a feel for what’s popping in their respective markets.
Anne Marie Nash
Contract Furnishing Mart
Tigard, Ore.
“In color trends, we’re seeing a shift from gray and white to the warm tones of cream and beige with accents of green to evoke a biophilic aesthetic. People are bringing in more large-format tile to create streamlined floors, walls and backsplashes and moving away from smaller accent tiles.”
Ariana Lovato
Honeycomb Home Design
Arroyo Grande, Calif.
“We’re specifying more hard surfaces for our projects, especially the wood-look LVT planks. In porcelain and ceramic tile, I’ve been seeing a lot of patterned tile that looks like fabric. The design industry as a whole is going away from the gray-black-white theme and welcoming the warm tones again.”
Gary Touchton
Venetian Blinds Carpet One Floor & Home
Houston, Texas
“We are selling quite a bit of LVT, mostly the higher-end versions from COREtec are trending the most with the natural colors and the gray tone colors selling the most. As far as colors, we are selling blues, grays and bright bold colors for some projects. I have had several requests for hot pink carpet options from several of the top designers in the Houston market. Lineal pattern carpets and animal prints of all shapes and sizes are also still hot in the Houston market.”
Scott Rozmus
FlorStar Sales
Romeoville, Ill.
“Customers continue to gravitate toward waterproof offerings, but there is significant and increasing demand again for hardwood flooring. As far as color trends, we are seeing movement away from the multitude of gray tones to combinations that include gray-browns as well as blonde, sandy or even coastal hues.”
Rachel Berlin
Precision Floors & Décor
Plymouth, Wis.
“I would say the warmer tones are coming back as far as color trends. I’ve seen a lot of that in wood looks. I think, originally, people wanted to be matchy and they put gray everywhere—on the walls, on the floor, gray furniture. It went really gray, gray, gray and then it got cold. In Wisconsin, we have winter for nine months. I know I don’t want to be in a house that feels cold visually, too. I think, when it became a sea of gray, people wanted a warmer balance. Now the gray is ok, put it on the wall, but then put a warmer color on the floor.”
Catherine Buchanan
Independent Carpet One Floor & Home
Westland, Mich.
“The cool grays are leaving and warm grays are taking hold. Tile presentations are in demand for LVT clicks. There aren’t enough out there in the resilient industry. Precision cuts are big in our store for carpet. Kane, Stanton and Nourison are making a resurgence simply because all the hard surface sales are prompting area rugs to bring ambiance to the home. Commercial carpet tiles are the way to go, so we are loving the new designs and size availability.”
Ryan Commerce
Indoor City of Lancaster
Lancaster, Pa.
“As far as hardwood trends go, definitely we’re still seeing European white oak being very popular with some of our higher-end clientele. There’s been a little bit of a shift away from the gray that was so popular for so long. Large-format tiles are still popular; 12 x 24 still seems to be popular in our market. [Trends for] carpet, which is mainly being used in bedrooms now, are still the gray, gray-beige, taupe-type looks although some of the wool area rugs are popular as well.”
Carlton Billingsley
Floors and More
Benton, Ark.
“Seeing older looks with a modern twist has made for some fun/interesting projects. We continue to see retro tile (subway, hex, rounds, etc.) in black, white and gray colors, and blond/natural wood-look colors in planks.”
Marjorie Benson
Friendly Floors
Port Charlotte, Fla.
“I don’t see too much new. We all know gray is fading some, although it’s still popular, especially the gray-beige. Every rendition of blue is really big here in Florida, along with cream, white and even gold is making a bit of a comeback, considering it did not sell at all for a few years.”
Adam Joss
The Vertical Connection
Columbia, Md.
“Remodel projects still tend to use warm honey tone colors to complement traditional cabinets and wood work. New homes are using gray tones that complement the white cabinets or more contemporary wood work. We see the style of flooring being used transitioning from very rustic with lots of color variation to less rustic with more uniform colors.”
Sarah Ruckert
Petersen’s Carpet and Flooring
Frederick, Md.
“While gray is still a hot color, we’re definitely seeing a shift back to more beiges or flooring (carpet and hard surface) that blends both grays and beiges. We definitely have noticed a shift away from super dark-colored wood/LVP. Herringbone patterns and other geometrics in carpet, tile and sheet vinyl seem to be popular.”
