Feature flooring – flooring that has a decorative element strong enough to carry a whole room – is big news right now. We’ve already covered lots of exciting geometric tiles on the blog, plus the inventive ways you can use black and white tiles to create an op-art look. But at the affordable end of the market flooring has tended to be pretty samey and beige.

I recently got a quote for carpeting and flooring a flat, and when it came to choices for the kitchen and bathroom – both small rooms that could do with something distinctive – all I was offered were stone-look or mosaic-effect vinyls. I would have loved to have been shown this! It looks like salvaged wine crates sourced from a 90 year old, Gauloise-smoking wine maker in the Dordogne. But it is in fact a laminate floor from CarpetRight. I know, right…

It’s great to see some creative design that offers an affordable flooring solution. It’s part of a very broad range of laminate flooring by the company, all of which is a long way from the creaky yellow stuff you will remember from your rented student flat. I think the wine crate design – called Chateau White Rustic – would look great in a utility room too. If only I had such a thing. For bathrooms, where a laminate may not be ideal, CarpetRight have also got a directional range of vinyls too called Mardi Gras, including sharp black-and-white geometrics, honeycomb mosaics and even some pretty Moroccan-tile-effects. Love.

This is a post written by My Friend’s House in collaboration with CarpetRight.