The Best Flooring Options For Your Home, According To Your Favorite HGTV Stars
Choosing a flooring option for your home requires plenty of careful consideration. You have to match your favorite material to your lifestyle and then fit both into your budget. Luckily, your favorite HGTV stars have plenty of advice about the different options available, so you don't have to do all the research yourself. Whether you are a firm believer in style over everything or a busy parent who just wants a sturdy material that can withstand the dramas of your daily life, these stars can recommend a perfect fit for you.
If you are already thinking about wood but don't know which finish to choose — Jenny Marrs has the answer you seek. If you want a flooring choice that is luxury for less, you might draw inspiration from Christina Hall. If you want your entryway to look straight out of a "Restored by the Fords" episode, Leanne Ford can walk you through the easy DIY process that anyone can do. No matter your style or budget, these are the best flooring options for your home, according to your favorite HGTV stars.
Christina Hall favors luxury vinyl flooring
Christina Hall has been an HGTV darling for more than a decade. In her newest show, "Christina on the Coast," she explains one of her favorite flooring options for her clients' homes — and it's not the material you might expect. Instead of traditional wooden flooring, Hall thinks luxury vinyl flooring is one of the best choices. If you think vinyl might be cheap or tacky, you are not alone, but the material has come a long way since it first hit the market. "Ten years ago, 20 years ago, luxury vinyl didn't look like this. It looked basic," Hall shared in the episode "Another Dime in the Jukebox," via Realtor.
In addition to its newfound chic, high-class appearance, luxury vinyl flooring is also incredibly durable. This makes it a great fit for much-used areas of the home like entry halls, mudrooms, and kitchens. For DIY fans, the flooring comes in both planks and tiles, and is very easy to install, even for beginners. If you glue it down, it can be difficult to bring it up again if you want to change it out. However, LVF tends to last for years and years, so unless you're in your forever home, it is unlikely this renovation responsibility will fall to you.
David Bromstad loves weathered wood flooring
If you have a home in a coastal area, "My Lottery Dream Home" star David Bromstad thinks you can't go wrong with wood. "I love wood floors in a beach house, especially the ones that have that weathered feel," he told HGTV. "Wood is soft to me and when I picture a beach house, I want it to be cozy and stylish at the same time." Even if you don't live near the water but want to capture the effervescent feel of a Nancy Meyers movie in your living room, wood flooring is best for chic, homey spaces.
If wood isn't in your budget but you want the look of it, Bromstad has a great workaround for you. "Another option, although not as warm, is porcelain tile that has the look of wood," he said. "I have seen them in every color of wood and texture you can imagine and they look amazing. They obviously are not as warm as the feel of wood, but are both durable and practical."
Jenn Todryk thinks light hardwood floors make rooms look bigger
If you have a limited budget for upgrading your home, Jenn Todryk of "No Demo Reno" thinks it is best to spend the largest chunk on the floors. But not just any flooring will completely transform your look — you need to invest in light-colored hardwood floors. "Light hardwoods are really on trend," she said in the episode "Work Hard Play Hard," via Realtor. "They lighten up the space. They make it look bigger, look brighter. When the light hits it, it just reflects that sunlight."
Todryk isn't just saying this, either –- science backs her up. Lighter colors tend to reflect light instead of absorbing it. So if the room you are renovating is smaller or darker, light wooden flooring can go a long way to opening up the space and tricking your eye into thinking the room is bigger. By choosing a lighter wood, you are also more likely to get away with more time in between floor cleanings, too. The lighter the wood, the longer it appears clean to the naked eye, which is a plus if you are too busy to sweep every day or live in a high-traffic home.
HGTV star Leanne Ford loves white-washed flooring
Leanne Ford of "Restored by the Fords" is famous, and some might say infamous, for her love of the color white. Most of her renovations expertly layer the color across furniture, paint, flooring, and textiles — exciting some fans and irritating others. So it comes as no surprise to those who follow the designer that she thinks white flooring at home is best. White-washed wooden flooring, in particular, which is a beachy flooring trend some people love.
She was working on a client's historic home and could not save the original wooden flooring due to time and budget constraints. When her first choice of white-washed wood was not available, she decided to complete the process herself, as Ford was that committed to the floors being finished in this way. "Originally, I was imagining a very subtle white oak for the space but as I mentioned ... time and budget," she wrote on her blog. "They told me about a pretty red oak they had in stock. It was ready to be installed, but it was a product they had never tried before but had a hunch would work ... And guess what ... it worked!" She chose to use Bona Nordic Seal instead of using the traditional chemicals with bleach.
Jenny Marrs has scratch-resistant matte-finished oak at home
Jenny Marrs and her husband Dave Marrs know what it is like to be busy. The couple has five kids and plenty of pets on their Arkansas farm, so they need a flooring option to withstand heavy use. This is why Jenny chose a special scratch-resistant flooring for her farmhouse and recommends others in similar circumstances do the same. "The floor in the living room, and throughout the entire house, is a non-glossy white oak," she wrote on her blog. "It's the same flooring I have at home, and it's great for kids and animals because it holds up really well against scratches."
Matte wooden flooring tends to provide a touch of historic charm to modern homes, which works especially well for Marrs and her clients as they both live on farms. The grain of the wood also gives the space a nice touch of character. Parents everywhere will celebrate with Marrs as matte-finished flooring tends to not only hide dirt and grime more easily but also is overall simpler to clean, too.
Chip Gaines like natural wood
While Joanna Gaines is famous for her love of shiplap, her husband Chip Gaines feels the same way about natural hardwood flooring. "Flooring runs in the family. My dad and mom own a flooring company. For me, there's something about hardwood floor that does something to my soul, in a positive way," he shared with viewers during the Discovery+ special, "Breaking New Ground: Expanding the Silos."
His recommendation for those installing flooring is to leave them as natural as possible. Instead of adding matting, gloss, or any coloring, Chip likes to leave the wood as unprocessed as possible. "I see those natural hardwood floors and my heart jumps out of my chest," he said. "Don't put too much makeup on those babies, let's just let 'em fly." There is sometimes a little bit of disagreement between the Gaines as to the best course, as Joanna likes flooring to be stained darker. Per Realtor, he told his wife, "I prefer light, but you always prefer dark." Chip's love of hardwood makes sense. When properly maintained, hardwood floors can withstand heavy foot traffic, resist scratches and dents, and last for decades.
Page Turner suggests luxury vinyl planks for the budget-conscious
Wanting your home to look straight out of an episode of an HGTV show but staying within a realistic renovation budget is an issue for many. Luckily, Page Turner of "Fix My Flip" has a solution for the best choice in this situation. In the episode "Two Bros With Tujunga Woes," she confirms that those who want to keep things bougie but also need to stick to a budget should install luxury vinyl planks. "I see million-dollar-plus houses putting in this type of flooring," she explains to viewers. While vinyl might have had a certain cheapness associated with it in the past, the modern material is anything but. It is an easy-to-install option that looks like it costs a lot more than it does — something many homeowners have come to appreciate.
The flooring knocks it out of the park in the episode. It could be doing the same in your home, too. Anton, one of the episode's home flippers, explains, "It looks like real wood but is less expensive, more durable, waterproof, and good for pets," via Realtor. Other stars on the channel, like Christina Hall, also recommend this option.
Erin Napier has marble tile in her bathroom
When considering the best flooring options for our homes, we can start by looking at what our favorite HGTV stars use in theirs. Erin Napier of "Hometown" fame searched far and wide to source the specific type of marble for her Mississippi bathroom. "We got to use slabs of calacatta gold marble thanks to our friends at Premier Countertops who sourced the stone for us," she wrote on Instagram. "I couldn't decide what would be the most appropriate surfaces for our 1930 Tudor, and I kept returning to the design of the Wakulla Springs Lodge and its marble slab ice cream bar and baths from that same era."
In fact, this isn't the first time Napier has used marble as her bathroom flooring material of choice. In 2017, she and husband Ben renovated a bathroom at another property and chose 4×4 carrara marble tiles for the flooring and walls. Marble is one of the best choices for rooms that tend to get wet often, like kitchens and bathrooms, because of this exact design choice. You can seamlessly extend the material up the wall to protect the sheetrock from seepage, and it continues to look fantastic.
Mike Holmes thinks tile is a great idea, but only for certain areas
The key to a great home renovation expert is someone who will be honest with you about what truly works and why. Mike Holmes has long built a reputation for being that person, as he often cleans up other contractors' messes. He thinks tile flooring is one of the best options for a house but only in very specific parts. "Don't get me wrong — I'm not against tile and I actually like it, especially when it comes with in-floor heating," he wrote for HGTV. "For instance, you'll definitely want tile over carpet for the entrance of your home and the mudroom. When you and your family wear winter boots, you don't want them staining carpets."
However, Holmes also has a tip for making sure that the new tile you put down in your home is long-lasting and performs to its best potential. If you are replacing existing tile, "Always remove the old floor before installing the new floor," he shared on Instagram. "Ceramic is heavy. Add on top of that a completely new floor, and you've got a very heavy load. If your home was built to minimum code it's not built to carry that much weight."
HGTV star Breegan Jane suggests herringbone tile for the bathroom
Choosing the right bathroom flooring is important for both safety and aesthetics. You want a beautiful space to start and end each day, but you also don't want to slip and fall or have a mold problem because you chose the wrong flooring. Breegan Jane, an LA-based interior designer who often partners with HGTV, agrees. "Bathrooms are awesome opportunities to see how great design can both make a stunning statement and enhance utility," she shared on her blog.
The key is finding a flooring type that easily does both. Because bathrooms are a space that gets some of the most use in a home, it's important to consider strength when selecting a flooring option. This is why she likes tile. However, you can take a step further and make your tiling more functional and pretty based on how you lay it. "You can also take advantage of patterns with tile in order to gain a little grip on your bathroom flooring," she wrote. "I laid subway tiles in a herringbone pattern to do this, and it gave the floor a little more personality."
Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent recommend checkerboard tile
Design power couple Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent have a bold checkerboard tile floor in their home. They can't stop singing its praises, leading us to believe it's one of the best options for everyone else, too. The tile is in the entryway of the couple's New York City apartment. "I think this room really set the tone for what we're trying to execute throughout the house," Brent told Architectural Digest. "This is the floor we always wanted," Berkus added.
Tiling is a great option for such a highly used area of the house because it is durable and easy to clean. If anyone tracks in mud or spills something during a party, the tiles can be tidied up quickly, unlike carpet. They are also long-lasting. "In practicality, they're actually really durable," Brent boasted, explaining why the couple selected this particular kind of tile. It is not a product of modern manufacturing but tiles from Spain dating back to the 1800s. However, because the checkerboard style is a timeless one, the pattern does not make the space look old-fashioned; instead, it's rather elegant. "It mixes from very traditional to super, super modern," Berkus said.
Hilary Farr thinks tile inlays in the kitchen are best for messy cooks
Lots of homeowners want to have the same flooring throughout their entire house. This can be cost-saving, as you don't have to source multiple materials and switch up the installation process from one room to another. It can also assist with aesthetics, as a single flooring option presents a more cohesive look. However, HGTV designer Hilary Farr knows that there are crucial things to consider when buying new floors. Sometimes you have to consider both practicality and design together to come up with the best solution.
On an episode of her hit show "Tough Love with Hilary Farr" titled "Two Generation Renovation," Farr presents a unique solution to a family's flooring problems. They want wooden floors throughout their home. However, they are wary of that material in the kitchen due to general wear and tear, as well as being messy cooks. To solve the problem, Farr recommends a flush tile inlay to protect both the flooring and the cooks from any damage or harm. Such inlays provide better non-stick footing and are easier to clean than wood when something spills.