In short, no, you shouldn’t try to match hardwood floors to laminate. Understanding which flooring material you can and can’t mix is important to achieving your best-designed home.

Repairs

If you have existing laminate flooring and need to repair a small section, it is not wise to try and patch it up with hardwood flooring. Instead, it would be best to replace that section with the same material as the rest of the floor. Using hardwood instead of the original laminate can leave you with an uneven surface and mismatched design.

Room Transitions

If you have an open concept or two spaces close together and try to match an existing hardwood floor with laminate, the room will look choppy and disjointed. If you find a laminate product you like, we recommend a stone-look option instead of going with a wood-look option. This will allow you to separate the two spaces without the two flooring materials looking slightly off. If you are transitioning between rooms, make sure to use end molding, so it feels smooth going from one space to the next.

Match Undertones

If you are in a situation where you must mix flooring materials, we recommend matching the undertones of the different floorings. This will allow the materials to blend more easily and give the space more cohesion.

Accessories

If your home or apartment has two different flooring materials and installing new floors isn’t an option, you can use area rugs, art, wall colors, and décor items to cohesively tie together your space.