Please help me with floor transition

[jff]

Hello,

I am renovating some rooms of my new home and I want to change the flooring of the garden room (it used to have a carpet). The garden room is an open-plan extension of the kitchen-diner area; this area currently has laminate flooring that seems to be red-oak (not sure, though).

Given that I can't find the same laminate flooring, I do not know what flooring to use in the garden room. I would like it to be resilient (because it will be heavily used), easily washable, but I would also like it to look good! My budget is limited, so I will have to live with my decision for a long time...

Do you have any ideas on what to use? Given that the garden room receives a lot of light, should I use shining tiles? Or should I use a similar laminate to achieve continuity? Here are some photos of the current laminate flooring:

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• jff
• 12 Jun 2012
• 1

Untitled

• jff
• 12 Jun 2012
• 1

Here is how it looks with some small square tiles that I had around:

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• jff
• 12 Jun 2012
• 1

I think it looks better in the photo than in real-life...

Any help/ideas/feedback are greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your time,
Joao

 

[aveatry]

As you have an osb sub floor of unknown thickness - fixing ( is it concrete under that ) tiles may be a problem due to movement over the osb joins.You can use flexible tile adhesive but in my experience you will still get cracks in your grout,
I would go for laminate, have a look around and you may be lucky and find a match. I am no expert but just a big diyer

 

[jff]

Thanks, aveatry. I am tending to laminate flooring, too. Unfortunately, I can't find an exact match (and I've been to 5 or 6 different stores and I've asked for online samples!).

Do you think a similar tone would look good or should I go to something completely different?

Thanks,
Joao

 

[jdpjamesp]

Personally I'd go for something completely different so it looks like it's planned rather than a bodge at trying to find a match

 

[aveatry]

That laminate that looks like tiles could work

 

[crazydaze]

You should'nt wash down a laminate!!!!!! You'll peak the joints etc. Sweep Clean or wipe down with laminate spray cleaner and a flat headed mop.

As has been suggested, a stone effect laminate would be very practical for a garden room area, and fitted correctly it won't be affected by direct sunlight etc.