by Residential Interior Flooring Trends, 2024 Edition
Welcome to the internet’s most comprehensive free 2024 flooring trends report. The TLDR version of the report: Luxury vinyl tile has surpassed carpet as the top favorite residential interior flooring material, but it comes with major caveats. Carpet is still in demand in residential interiors but trending down; hardwood flooring remains in high demand; and demand for tile flooring is only down slightly despite recent price increases. Read on to find out all the other details you’re wondering about 2024’s top residential interior flooring trends.
So far in 2024, inflation is shaping up to be one of the most significant influences affecting the residential flooring market in the United States. At the upper end of the market, people have largely adjusted to the price increases and are paying them. However, these peoples’ expectations are also high. They are in search of top quality, high-value flooring materials that will look luxurious in their homes and will also provide long-term durability.
At the middle and lower ends of the market, it’s a different story; lately, people in that situation have been more inclined to postpone remodeling projects. Still, sizable numbers of these homeowners are planning to start remodeling projects valued at less than $5,000 US. It’s the substantial home improvement projects valued at more than $5,000 that are largely being postponed.
When these homeowners decide they are ready to start a new home improvement project, they’re demonstrating a willingness to be more persistent in looking for bargains and, frequently, also a willingness to be flexible in choosing lower-priced surfaces in places where they might have splurged in times past. For example, laminate flooring is now picking up some sales that a few years ago would likely have gone to solid hardwood flooring.
So this is the overall economic environment that’s influencing the actual buying trends in the flooring category as 2024 unfolds. In all cases, I’m citing the latest known data from reliable sources and have formulated this trend report with actual sales statistics being the top priority consideration.
1. Luxury Vinyl Tile (LVT) and Luxury Vinyl Planks Are Top Trends in American Homes
Luxury vinyl flooring is available in multiple configurations including planks, tiles, and sheets. This non-porous, waterproof flooring material is often used in kitchens and bathrooms because it is nearly impervious to water and is not easily vulnerable to moisture damage.
In 2022, luxury vinyl tile outsold carpet by dollar value if you count ALL installations including both residential and commercial, according to Floor Covering News. Statista lists vinyl / resilient flooring as being the second-most popular flooring material for remodeled kitchens in 2022, after hardwood flooring.
Stone Polymer Composite (SPC) flooring is a popular subcategory within the LVT flooring category. SPC flooring has a core that’s made from a combination of materials that typically include limestone with polyvinyl chloride and stabilizers. It is durable, affordable, and easy to maintain, which are three of the reasons that sizable numbers of homeowners are choosing to decorate with it.
Imitation stone flooring is evidently a hot subcategory within this market niche.
Although this is a popular type of flooring, I wouldn’t give it a blanket recommendation, due to concerns about toxicity and environmental issues. If you have the means to choose a healthier, more sustainable flooring option, I’d encourage you to do so.
Rug and Carpet Trends in 2024:
2. High-End Rugs and Carpets Are Trending Up
Floor Covering News reports that
“Higher-end products continue to perform as consumers show a willingness to spend more on a product that may only appear in one room of the house.”
3. At the Middle and Lower Ends of the Residential Interior Market, Carpet Installations Are Still Popular, Particularly in Bedrooms
My understanding of the situation is that carpet is still one of the top-selling floor coverings in the United States, but a high percentage of sales (about 40%, according to Floor Covering News) are for commercial installations. According to Grand View Research, carpeting accounted for 40.6% of all floor covering sales in the United States in 2022. This statistic covers both commercial and residential flooring.
In residential interiors, my understanding is that carpet as a flooring material has mostly been trending down for most of this past decade. In 2019, Time reported that carpet was virtually vanishing from homes in every room other than the bedrooms. However, in 2021, we saw a brief reversal of this downward trend. In 2021, carpet sales grew 11.5% year over year, according to Floor Covering News. But then in 2022, the downward trajectory resumed, with rug and carpet sales falling 9.1% year over year.
Although carpet is still in demand for residential interiors, it is not as popular as it used to be. In many new homes that are currently being built, carpeting is not being installed outside of the bedrooms. In the main living areas, there are many builders who now typically prefer to install other types of flooring.
As far as carpet fibers go, Grand View Research reports that most are synthetic, with nylon holding 50% market share for all carpeting products in the United States as of 2022. Other available carpet fibers include wool, acrylic, polyester and polypropylene.
4. Area Rugs Are in Demand
As demand for wall-to-wall carpet decreases, homeowners are turning to area rugs instead. Area rugs can add rich elements of color, texture and pattern to a space. They also tend to add softness and comfort, plus they can significantly improve a room’s acoustics. They can protect valuable hardwood floors from damage, which is particularly important in high traffic areas. They can easily be moved and cleaned as necessary, making them much more hygienic than wall-to-wall carpeting. All things considered, area rugs can be valuable additions to virtually every room in the home — so it is no wonder there’s strong demand for them in 2024.
5. All-Natural Carpets and Rugs
The “healthy home” is shaping up to be one of the most important trends in the home improvement space as we head into 2024. Many consumers who are installing carpeting or decorating with area rugs are interested in sourcing textiles that are completely nontoxic. Some are in search of products that are chemical free, undyed and untreated.
Of particular importance: healthier fibers and finishes for carpets and rugs that will be used in babies’ nurseries, children’s bedrooms, children’s play rooms and any rooms where kids and pets are likely to spend any significant amount of time playing on the floor.
One motivator for purchases of these healthier floor coverings: Moms are helping their children deal with numerous ailments such as childhood allergies, asthma and chemical sensitivities. Natural, chemical-free floor coverings are desirable for helping to improve these conditions. Another issue is that new parents are becoming increasingly environmentally conscious as they consider the state of the environment their children and grandchildren will inherit. They’re often willing to pay premium prices to have the healthiest possible products to enhance their children’s well-being.
Hardwood Flooring Trends in 2024:
Between 2005 – 2018, hardwood finish flooring was trending steadily upward and was one of the top favorite flooring choices in single-family homes. Adding the market share for both solid and engineered hardwood flooring in the construction of new, single-family detached homes: In 2017, the combined market share for solid and engineered hardwood flooring had grown to 31 percent of installations.
Solid hardwood flooring’s market share took a beating in 2022, suffering a decline in sales volume. The main reason for this, according to Floor Covering News, is that people who were renovating opted for less expensive rigid core or laminate flooring.
If you’re building a new home or renovating an existing home at the high end of the market, it still makes most sense to install solid hardwood if you can afford it. The cost of flooring installation is mostly labor. If you can afford the substantial labor costs, it’s prudent to pay the little bit extra for solid over laminate flooring because of solid hardwood flooring’s substantially longer life expectancy. But in the recent past, sizable numbers of homeowners just haven’t been able to eke out the little bit extra to pay for solid flooring, so laminate flooring has been trending up.
6. Hardwood Is Expected to Be One of the Top Trendy Kitchen Flooring Materials in 2024
According to Statista, hardwood flooring was the most popular material for installing in remodeled kitchen floors as of 2022, with 25% market share in the United States. As far as new home builds go, I don’t have up-to-date data for 2024 yet, but as of 2018, experts at Home Innovation reported that hardwood flooring was the most popular flooring material that new home builders were installing in their kitchens.
7. A Shift Toward Light, Warm Hardwood Flooring and Away From Whitewashed Gray
Last decade, gray was the most popular neutral color — and even wood floors were not immune from being whitewashed gray. However, this look is now considered outdated by many interior designers and trade professionals. The up-and-coming wood tones are bright blondes, Scandinavian lightwoods, hickories, and sunny oaks. Taupes and a range of other browns are also of interest.
8. Longer, Wider Wood Boards
In 2024, a top trend in the home remodeling market is for flooring boards that are as long and wide as possible. Lengths vary; although some homeowners still prefer traditional board lengths of 4 to 5 feet, others are installing longer boards measuring 6 to 7 feet in length.
Tile Flooring Trends for 2024:
Globally, tile flooring’s popularity is on an upward trajectory. The Asia Pacific market for tile flooring is more substantial than the North American market, but North Americans are still some of the most important consumers in this category.
The market researchers at Statista lump ceramic and porcelain tile into one category; they tell us that together, combined sales of ceramic and porcelain were the third most popular flooring materials for installation in remodeled kitchens in the United States in 2022.
The following are some more specific details about the up-and-coming tile flooring trends we’ve observed in 2024:
9. Ceramic Tile Flooring Is More Popular Than Porcelain Tile Flooring
The folks over at Transparency Market Research reported that ceramic tile is more popular than vitreous porcelain tile; as of 2018, ceramic tile held more than 60% of the global ceramic / porcelain tile market, and they expected to see ceramic maintain this dominance through at least the year 2027.
In 2022, ceramic tile got more expensive, and year-over-year sales as measured in dollars increased. However, year-over-year sales as measured in square footage decreased.
Out of all the building materials available, ceramic tile has been one that has been most adversely affected by inflation. This is largely due to increasing freight costs. Ceramic tile is relatively heavy, as compared against other materials. Much of our ceramic flooring is imported, so those freight costs across long distances add up. However, ceramic tile’s overall value proposition is still attractive considering this materials long expected lifespan, its ease of maintenance and its all-around appeal as a flooring material.
10. Faux Marble Ceramic Tile Flooring
Marble has been a top trend for luxury flooring, but there’s also been an uptick in interest in faux marble floors. Faux marble, faux quartz, and other faux stone ceramic tiles are of particular interest. Ceramic tile flooring is much cheaper than its natural stone counterpart; and, nowadays you can hardly tell the difference between the two if you aren’t a flooring expert. Innovative new high-definition printing technology allows manufacturers to create ceramic tile designs that look confusingly similar to the real natural stone.
11. Black and White Ceramic Tile Flooring
Black and white décor is trending up; and to complement it, there’s revived interest in traditional black and white ceramic tile flooring.
12. Indoor-Outdoor Porcelain Tile Flooring / Vitrified (Porcelain) Tile Flooring
Vitrified porcelain tiles are made using hydraulic presses and are useful in both commercial and residential flooring applications. These tiles are made using multiple materials including dense, fine clay; quartz; silica; and feldspar.
A large part of this flooring’s appeal: You can use the same tile on both the interior and exterior of the home. This allows you to create a cohesive look between your patio, mudroom, kitchen and other tiled spaces — which is important to many homeowners who are embracing biophilic (natural) design principles and creating outdoor living spaces.
On a global basis, interest in vitrified porcelain flooring is increasing. As best I can determine, much of this flooring is currently being sold in the Asia-Pacific region. I haven’t been able to determine how much of it has been sold in North America in the recent past. As far as I can tell, it’s definitely a thing at the luxury end of the market in the United States, but I’m not sure whether this has caught on with the mainstream buying public yet. The folks over at the Las Vegas Review- Journal have noted that large-format porcelain tiles are one of the top luxury flooring trends right now; they specifically mention 36-inches-by-36-inches and 44-inches-by-48-inches as being popular tile sizes to look for right now.
13. Natural Stone Flooring
According to Statista, natural stone flooring accounted for 7% of all installations in remodeled US kitchens in 2022. They didn’t give us any more details than that, but presumably they meant natural stone tile flooring. I took a look around at several popular flooring retailers’ websites to see what kinds of natural stone tile are currently available for sale. There are numerous lovely choices including slate tile, travertine tile, marble tile, and others.
While 7% is not a huge market share, the high cost of these tiles suggests that stone tile flooring is a niche market trend happening at the high end.
14. Terrazzo Tile Flooring
Terrazzo is a speckled composite surface that can sort of resemble stone. It’s comprised of stone chips — possibly quartz, granite, or marble — embedded in concrete or epoxy resin. Alternately, the chips could be made of glass.
In some form or another, terrazzo has cycled in and out of popularity for thousands of years. It was popular during the roaring 20s and 1930s and was frequently incorporated into art deco style building projects.
Terrazzo flooring was last seen in widespread use in the 1970s as a low-budget option. Builders adored it for use in public spaces, schools and office buildings. Now it’s enjoying resurgence in popularity for residential interior use. This material has a retro look that could be suitable for both older home remodels and brand new building projects.
15. Large-Format Tile Flooring
Tiles as large as 48 x 48 inches and even larger are available in the marketplace, giving homeowners a wide selection of choices for large format tiles. A couple of other size options include 32 × 64-inch tiles and 32 × 96-inch tiles; both of these options make for stunning, dramatic effects if used correctly for flooring in large spaces.
16. Terra Cotta Tile Flooring
Terra cotta tile flooring first came to my attention as an up-and-coming item when our friends installed it in their trendy Ojai, California home; after that, we started noticing it being featured on bunches of design blogs and websites.
The State of the Floor Covering Industry as We Head into 2024
In the recent past, the North American floor covering industry as a whole has been in an incredibly strong position. In the course of the last few years, many flooring suppliers successfully navigated supply chain challenges. The end result has been an increasing push to source many of their materials and components here in North America and import less.
Floor Covering News reports that total floor covering industry sales broke record dollar amounts in 2022, reaching a whopping $27.995 billion. That was 4.85% more than 2021’s total intake of $26.701 billion. This is the total for wholesale costs, not retail costs, and it includes both residential and commercial flooring sales.
However, there was a 3.4% dip in the actual square footage amounts of flooring footage sold.
So there you have it: That’s the most important information I was able to find regarding the top residential interior flooring trends 2024. I hope this info is helpful to you if you’re installing new flooring or simply trying to keep on top of the flooring trends this year.
More 2024 Interior Design Trends You Need to Know About:
References
- At the National Association of Home Builders Website: Remodeling Market Sentiment Edged Down in Second Quarter
- At the Home Improvement Research Institute Website — How DIY Home Improvement Behaviors Are Changing With Financial Pressures
- At the Floor Covering News Website: Flooring Stats 2023: Dollars see gains, volume down
- At the Grand View Research Website: US Flooring Market Report
- At the Globe Newswire Website: Vitrified Tiles Market is Predicted to Top US$ 10 Billion Valuation by 2033
- At the Transparency Market Research Website: Ceramic and Porcelain Tiles Market
- At the EIN Presswire Website: The Growing Appeal of Vitrified Tiles: A Shining Trend to Reach $757.0 Bn in the Global Market by 2030
- At the Floor Covering News Website: Wood: State of the Industry 2023
- At the Statista Website: Leading materials for upgraded kitchen floors in the United States in 2022
- At the Las Vegas Review Journal: Moving away from gray: Luxury flooring trends have come a long way
- At the Time Website: ‘Big Carpet’ Is Betting This New Floor Covering Will Get Americans to End Their Love of Hardwood
- At the Remodeling.hw.net Website — Vinyl, Ceramic and Hardwood, Oh My! Today’s Popular Flooring Trends
- At the Farnsworth Group Website — “Healthy Home” Could Be the Next Big Housing Trend
- At the Remi Network Website — Tile Trends: Bigger Is Better
- At the Home Improvement Research Institute Website: How DIY Home Improvement Behaviors Are Changing With Financial Pressures
- At the Floor Covering Weekly Website: Tile’s Daring Design
- At Bob Vila’s Website: All You Need to Know About Terrazzo Floors
Posted By: Amy Solovay
This page was last updated on 2-19-2024.
