If you want to run away from the dull and grey colours of your everyday surroundings and monotonous routine, adding some glitter to your floor might be a way to achieve it. There are several approaches to accomplish this depending on how much sparkle you would like to have – from glitter all over the place to a fashionable accent here and there. We will focus just on three options of how to make your floor brighter and shinier depending on the level of glitter you would like to add and let you make the choice.
Epoxy Flooring Options
The decorative epoxy floor coating offers an opportunity to create your own personal style in any room of your home. This flooring option is suitable both for private and public buildings and is also featured in many DIY projects. One of the biggest advantages of epoxy is that it allows you to play with colour and patterns and create an unique design. This type of floor coating is quite shiny in itself as the finishing usually reflects the light perfectly. In some cases it is even the preferred type of coating for darker premises, such as the garage for example, as it makes the space much lighter.
Graphite epoxy coat floor combined with smoke green marble walls
If the shiny surface, however, is not enough then you can choose metallic epoxy coating for shimmering effect or opt for a glitter epoxy cover. Imagine having a sparkling gold floor in your sitting room that turns it into a dance floor at night – in case you feel like partying. Or decorating the nursery in silver so that it can resemble a night sky or an ocean – depending on the rest of the decoration in the room and the preferences of your kid.
Gold glitter epoxy flooring
Installing epoxy flooring has many advantages that include its appearance, resistance, durability and affordability as an example. Naturally, it has its drawbacks of course, such as being quite slippery, especially when wet. It also takes time to prepare the surface for installing the epoxy coating but at the same time it is good that it can be done directly on concrete or almost any other surface. Since this flooring is a temporary solution and needs to be replaced eventually, another disadvantage is also that it is quite hard work to remove it. Nevertheless, this can be a perfect solution for those, who would like glitter all over the place.
Sparkle Vinyl Tiles
Modern vinyl floor tiles have been around since the 1980s and were initially very popular for industrial and commercial use. However, this type of flooring, nowadays, is extensively used for residential purposes. The luxury vinyl tiles are a preferred option by many due to their numerous colours and patterns and the ability to mimic almost anything – from pebbles, to wood and natural stone tiles. The combination of their aesthetic features with excellent qualities such as flexibility, durability and toughness makes them a welcomed flooring option for every room in the house.
Black vinyl flooring with sparkle effect
They are also the perfect decision for those, who would like to have a sparkle floor. Some of the vinyl tiles have a metallic shimmer that brightens the entire room, however here we are talking about those that have glitter in themselves that you will need for your sparkling floor project. There are several companies that offer special sparkle tiles in different colours that will surely have the effect you are looking for. Unlike the epoxy flooring where you have to cover the entire room with the same glitter colour you have chosen, with the vinyl tiles you have more freedom to play with patterns and combinations. You can combine black and white sparkle tiles for achieving the eternal play of these prime colours. Or if you feel that covering the enter floor in glitter is a bit too much you can combine the sparkle tiles with other vinyl tiles in softer or neutral nuances and leave the glitter only as accent tiles here and there.
Variety of sparkle vinyl flooring tiles by Harvey Maria
The overall benefits of installing vinyl tiles is that they are durable, softer to the foot, easy to maintain, come in an amazing variety of colours and shades and are quite resilient, which makes them good for floors with cracks or extensive movement. As any material, they have their drawbacks as well, the main one being that they will emit volatile organic compounds (VOC) especially when new because of the PVC content. The good news here is that since 2010 the percent of PVC contained in vinyl tiles is getting lower and lower and they become safer. Another disadvantage is that a sharp object can damage the tile and that they cannot be used for exterior surfaces. However, they can be the perfect match for completing successfully your sparkle floor project.
GlitterwithStyle and Natural Stone
If you want to play with design and patterns but you are not willing to make a compromise with the quality of tiles you use, then coloured grout can come handy. It will help you create stylish décor while following your personal design and ideas. And if you want to add a sparkle to your flooring then glitter grout is the ultimate solution. Gold glitter will enhance the qualities of any beige or tanned natural stone tile such as Al Fresco classic tumbled travertine, Jura gold polished limestone or Emperador mixed polished marble. The variety of glitter colours offered on the market allows you to make all sorts of bold combinations. You can choose simple grey granite tiles, for example, and add silver or red glitter for more dramatic effect.
Combination of natural grey tiles with glitter grout (Image by Groutglitter.com)
For the more daring we suggest combining different types and colours of natural stone with glitter grout to help you create the ultimate sparkle floor for your home.
Combination of tiles of different colour with red glitter grout (Image by Groutglitter.com)
The benefits of using natural stone tiles for your sparkle floor are numerous. The natural beauty, warm colours, various finishes of the stone, their durability, resistance and longevity are just a few to mention. A slight disadvantage is that they are a bit expensive, especially for those on a tight budget, however the investment is worth since they will serve you for a lifetime if properly cared for. They combine easily with other materials and the conclusion we can draw here is that glitter grout can be an excellent supplement to the supreme quality of the natural stone tiles and add value for those who would like to add a bit more of a sparkle to their flooring. We strongly recommend that you first test any coloured or glitter grout prior to applying it especially on natural stone tiles, since they are porous and might absorb the colour. It is advisable to have the tiles sealed prior to applying grout in any occasion but a must in this case.
Just remember that no matter what type of flooring you have, that includes concrete, wood, ceramic tiles, natural stone, etc. if you want to have it sparkle you need to take proper care of it.
