When it comes to flooring, we often tend to be conservative in our choices – it is usually the usual ceramic floor tiles or granite or marble floors. Interesting flooring adds to the personality of the space, leading the eyes further across the house. So, if you would like to take the decor of your home up a notch, bring in a striking floor design.

Here is a collection of Indian homes perked up with vibrant floors. Pick up design goals and give your feet something different to walk on.

Pattern paradigm

Patterned floors are trending again for all the good reasons. In this Delhi home, Shreya Krishnan Design stuck to a neutral palette and let the patterned floor take all the limelight in the dining and kitchen spaces. I like the way the patterns run up the wall and backsplash, tailoring a unified design.

Leading the eye

I - Design Studios uses geometric inlay work in Italian marble on the floor to complement the Colonial decor style. Laid like a runner, this floor inlay design sports big patterns in the sumptuous passageways and corridors of this Lucknow home.

The terrace floor could have easily been left plain, but the designers chose decorative tiles to impart a Mediterranean edge to this space. The curvy transition between the two floor materials gives a softer seam to the tiles, creating a dynamic look.

 Scaling done right

Purple Backyard employs geometric shapes to create striking, peppy effects in the bathroom, closet and terrace of this Mumbai home. See how black-and-white floor tiles add an element of interest to the otherwise neutral spaces.

Notice how the scale of the patterns changes according to the size of the area? Smaller patterns make sense in narrow areas (like the bathroom and closet) and large patterns suit expansive zones (like the terrace).

 Assorted mixtures

This Bengaluru bedroom features monochromatic patchwork tiles on the floor to complement (rather than to contrast) the space’s white-grey-cream colour palette. Fadd Studio makes sure the shapes and tones of the whole room come together in a muted yet effective manner.

 A subtle earth

There is nothing quite like letting a warm, earthy colour create a homely feel in a contemporary space. Unpolished brown tiles with Moroccan mosaic inlays provide a soft fringe to the clean-lined, solid-tone kitchen of this Mumbai home. Ingenious thinking by Violet design!

 Enhance, enchant

This bedroom in a Mumbai residence by MuseLAB sports a chevron parquet floor that gives it a sophisticated feel, enhanced by the wood’s varying tones. The floor blends unobtrusively in the decor, allowing the pattern on the headboard to do the talking. The grey-framed glass partition in this sitting space partners a grey-and-white geometric pattern on the floor, keeping the spirit of the corner area alive.

Avant-garde

See how the scale of the rectangular pattern adds character to the duo-toned entry room here. The use of contrasting bands in a large format gives the illusion of more space, enlarging the volume visually. The bold floor is offset by the dark walls, allowing it to remain the focal point. Extending the wall tiles down onto the borders of the floor makes the bathroom of this Bengaluru home memorable. Fadd Studio cleverly uses playful colours and patchwork hexagonal tiles to take the eye away from the narrowness of the space.

Repeating the patterned tiles on the floor and walls of the bath in select spots creates a clean, modern look in this bathroom. The graphic black-and-white prints in a small format keep the look subtle and calming. This is a good way to bring in floor tile patterns in small bathrooms.

Tricky triangles

With its clean palette of white, grey and black, the geometric pattern of these outdoor tiles fits nicely in the contemporary balcony. The lack of pattern anywhere else allows the floor to be the hero, without overwhelming the space.

Black and blue

There’s something about natural materials that instantly adds warmth, whether it is an ultra-modern home or an ancestral property. This Ahmedabad house, an Ace Associates design, features unpolished black Kadappa stone floors in the living and dining spaces. The staircase landings and treads are topped with striking blue mosaic.