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dining roomKitchensDesign Dilemma
heather_bailiff

flooring/furniture choice in south facing open plan living space

Heather
5 years ago
Looking for some advice on what sort of flooring material and furniture to put in the new open plan area for our extension.

It has 5m sliding doors and 2 veluxes and is completely south facing and would like to avoid fading of floor and furniture as much as possible. We’ll be having solar glass in the doors and windows as a start.

Piece of furniture I’m most worried is the dining table which will be parallel to the doors and under the veluxes so very exposed.

Would have dearly loved to have a solid wood dining table but I know they don’t like UV rays much. Am open to other options.

Flooring wise, we like wood or wood effect, don’t mind tiles either. There’ll be wet underfloor heating in the room and would like the flooring to be low maintenance.

The kitchen is towards the back of the room out of direct sunlight, going for a dark blue (probably Hague blue) for the doors and a light coloured quartz worktop.

Any advice welcome!
Featured Answer
  • Tani H-S
    5 years ago

    the solar glass per panel we got quoted around £200-250 so laminate was the cheaper option (we paid a few extra £100's for this) BUT I would just double check about the laminate and the UV filters. Solar glass would probably be more efficient and keep the heat in check whereas the laminate was just for the fading aspect.

    Comments (12)

    • minipie
      5 years ago

      We are building a similar room, also S facing and will have a wood look tiled floor (Rex Selection Oak) with ufh. Should be pretty much fadeproof and definitely low maintenance.


      Our table is wood but we’ve had it for years in a S facing room so it’s already faded. I quite like the look, unlike a floor it has faded evenly across the whole table without patches. It started off a greyed oak colour and is now just paler grey. So you could choose a wood which looks ok faded for the table? As long as the light on it is fairly even - just avoid eg a big light fitting that would cause a constant shadow.


      Another option would be a table with wood legs but a painted or zinc top, that way you get the feel of wood but avoid the worst of the fading.


      The real issue is upholstered furniture. There I think the only solution is to choose pale colours... with washable covers :)



    • rinked
      5 years ago

      Pick a 'ceramic wood', great for floor heating.

    • Carolina
      5 years ago

      Sorry, off topic, but hi Rinqreation. Good to see you again :-) Hope you're well.

    • rinked
      5 years ago

      Hey Carolina! Been a while! Yes I'm well. New job since 3 years, kitchen design+sale. Kid now 4 already. Still renovating (and adding) to our home. And back on Houzz. The itching never stops, right? ;)

    • Heather
      Original Author
      5 years ago
      So we are thinking porcelain tiles wood effect floor now, found a really nice one at the weekend and I gather porcelain won’t fade/is good with UFH and is hard wearing and easy to maintain.

      Re: the dining table, would a light-coloured acrylic topped dining table work or is that likely to fade?
    • PRO
      Carrie Cotton Design
      5 years ago

      Hello - I love Hague Blue and your renovation sounds really nice. We have a south facing conservatory and I opted for synthetic rattan (see pic) furniture. It's holding up really well and a distressed area rug that will handle fading well. Rugs and fabrics made with acrylic, polyester and nylon are less prone to fading. We use a white-washed dining table. It doesn't matter if the sun fades it a bit...as it will only add to the look of it. Good luck...sounds exciting! Carrie




    • Ally
      5 years ago
      Hi heather can understand your concerns I am building extension and have 5m door 2 x roof lights and really like the dark shade of navy for our kitchens. Be good for anyone to share their photos ? I have started looking at limestone tile as do many worrying stories on LVT and engineered oak. I think a concrete top table would work . Our dining table is oak and already faded so not too worried . Maybe a thermal glass could help with dining area ? Have you had any costs yet for you doors is it much higher to add thermal glass ? I will be looking into these costs so can share quotes with you ! Good luck with your extension
    • Tani H-S
      5 years ago

      We are just fitting our kitchen in a new 8 x 4m south facing extension with 2.4m high x 6m wide bi-folds and have 2 x skylights.

      I am worried about the fading so we had laminated glass put on the outside of the doors (rather than 2 x panes of toughened glass). It's supposed to block most of the UV rays that cause fading.

      The rooflights aren't directly over the kitchen furniture but there must be some sheer blinds you can fit that have a UV filter and won't block out the light? Thinking when it's super hot and sunny they would be used.


      My floor fitted said that as long as you buy a UV stable LVT (should say on the product) and it's fitted with a heat stable glue (to allow for contractions) then there shouldn't be an issue. Not saying it won't happen but will see how our dark kitchen lasts!



    • Heather
      Original Author
      5 years ago
      Hi ally thanks, yeah we’ve had a couple of quotes in for the sliding doors (3 panels) 5m x 2.3m, aluminium slim frame with solar glass to protect from uv rays, lowest quote was just under 7k and highest quote just under 8k. I have no idea if that’s overpriced or now as have never bought them before!

      Re: the velux, I can’t seem to find an option from the velux website for solar glass - so maybe as tani suggests getting a laminate on it to protect from uv rays?
    • PRO
      FAIRFAX FLOORING
      5 years ago

      I agree with the tiles for the floor. And regarding the table you can try Go Modern company. They have very hard wearing finishes for the tables' tops. Yet very nice in terms of design.

    • Årm ßåçk
      5 years ago

      hi


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