Flooring Color Trends for 2021

By Tess Shelton – Intertech Product Consultant

As a commercial flooring product consultant to Intertech’s customers, I get asked all the time about trends, especially color trends. Here’s some of the most recent trends I am seeing in colors, and products.

The Comfort of Home

After so many people worked from home so long, there’s a definite trend toward replicating a sense of home as workers return to the office. End users are looking to create a soft, welcoming workplace that promotes comfort and soothing feelings. For that reason, I see a lot of interest in neutral colors for offices’ soft surface selections. Pastel and muted colors are replacing the high energy “branding” color accents that used to be so popular.

Patterns and Textures

For soft surface, manufacturers are utilizing textures to give colors even more depth. New color point machines are now a standard with every manufacturer. Pattern stories, released with new products, describe how the designer created the pattern with inspirations from natural features or everyday objects. Along with the pattern inspiration, new flooring colors also are being inspired from these.

For a feature space, you see bold patterns supported by soft colors. These convey a feeling of uniqueness, without going into the “tacky” realm.

Matching Palettes

Analogous colors are a popular trend with interior designers. We’re seeing many carpet manufacturers now offering designers the ability to precisely match paint colors to carpet selections. They will even send paint swatches with the carpet samples. For instance, Shaw Contract and Benjamin Moore Paints have collaborated to pair curated paint selections with specific carpet colors and designs.

What about Hard Surfaces?

Many manufacturers continue to evolve and release wood and stone-look luxury vinyl tile, but with a greater focus on maintenance and cleaning. Rather than going for ultra-realistic super-textured (in other words, difficult to clean) products, they recognize that cleanability is now more important than ever. “Registered and Embossed” products are dirt and germ catchers, whereas the matte/ flat nontextured products are being utilized in as many areas as possible.

LVT is also becoming the flooring of choice in schools. As many schools move away from VCT because of its long-term maintenance costs, LVT manufacturers are introducing more school-acceptable products. Most of the large manufacturers now have product lines that include primary colors popular with the K-12 customer base. They typically offer a carpet tile that coordinates, as well.

Color for Space Definition

One more color trend we are seeing doesn’t necessarily have to do with the tone or type of colors, but rather with HOW the color is used. We’re still living in the days of COVID-19, and have all had to adapt. This includes buildings and design. Wayfinding and personal space areas are being drawn out using floor finishes. We are seeing this in high traffic areas, waiting lines, small office spaces, and other areas where social distancing needs to be enforced. Rather than placing duct tape or cones throughout brand new spaces, designers are using color palettes to smoothly layout designed areas.

Check Out Our Library for More Ideas

If you’re looking for the latest color trends and flooring products, take advantage of the showroom library in our San Antonio and new Austin locations. Our showroom library is an invaluable resource to interior designers, end users, property managers, and contractors. Our office is a one-stop-shop for brainstorming and choosing selections across dozens of commercial flooring manufacturers and product lines.

We are here to help answer questions, gather samples, help with budget numbers or brainstorm product solutions to your projects. Intertech Flooring has been in business for over 30 years, we have an incredible team of flooring experts who know how to deal with any flooring situation. Email me, and let’s talk about the needs of your latest project. If you haven’t already stopped by, please visit me at 11827 Tech Com Rd., Suite 100m San Antonio, TX 78233 OR go check out our brand-new Austin location at 8015 Burleson Road, Bldg 1, Suite 500, Austin TX 78744. We also have an office with an incredible team in Mission, TX.