Eye-catching additions to laminate flooring Profiles and skirting boards set the trends

Transitional profiles and skirting boards add that personal touch to homes, giving laminate flooring an extra special attraction. Homeowners who are after a uniform look choose a film-coated variant to match the pattern of the laminate flooring. Those who want a contrast go for aluminium or stainless steel profiles which are now available in many different shades. Matt silver is currently all the rage but other shades look great too.

The preferred choice of material for profiles is aluminium, brass or stainless steel. While aluminium is usually the favourite solution, brass and stainless steel are used whenever a product has stringent stability and durability requirements. Cruise ships, for example, tend to use chrome-plated brass profiles with a matt or shimmering look. Classic aluminium profiles come in a whole range of different colours, such as polished aluminium, silver, matt gold or anodised bronze or the shade of the moment, stainless steel, which is also very popular for furniture fittings. For a real eyecatcher between the wall and floor, skirting boards are also available in aluminium or stainless steel although customers normally opt for a variant to suit the adjacent pattern.

Profiles are the small masterpieces of modern flooring technology. They can be stuck on, screwed on or clipped on and individually adapted to every floor covering. With laminate flooring, heights range from 7 to 18 mm and with modern profile systems, differences in height can be flexibly compensated for. Profile systems are the preferred choice for floating flooring such as laminate because they ensure a stable and solid floor construction yet leave sufficient room for manoeuvre. Skirting boards can be clicked or screwed into place too. Women tend to go for the click-in variant and men the screw-on systems. Not only do skirting boards look great, they can also be used to hide cables. Modern systems are designed so they can be folded up at any time to add new cables. By adding LEDs of various colours, you can customise them to add a designer touch to any floor.

Profile solutions in fantastic designs

Stair or window profiles edge the flooring in rooms or stairways. While most window profiles are white, people often like silver shades for their stairway profiles to contrast with the stair pattern and make the step edge safer. LEDs can be integrated in the profile board to make the stairway particularly attractive. Curved profiles are highly versatile and are often used as the border between laminate flooring patterns and to catch the eye. The area around a fireplace for example is one place you will often find curved profiles. Powder-coated profiles in black or other strong colours like pink, blue or purple, which provide a stark floor level contrast, are another new trend. And just like the flooring itself, profiles and skirting boards can also be printed digitally – with the same or a different pattern. Anything is possible.