Real or fake, which to choose, interior decorating

A problematic decision for home-developers is, do I choose the “real-deal” material or go for something fake, a replica, in a more inexpensive material?

In the past, going back ten years, the real material was always better. Replicas looked fake, felt cheap and did not hold any correlation to the desired material. Nowadays however, replicas of certain materials are so good a copy of the real deal that spotting the difference in some cases is close to impossible.

This article will try and make you decide what to choose when developing your home. When going fake, the benefits begin with the cost. Going fake, the price can be a fraction of what you decide to pay if you were to buy the real deal. Take wood flooring. Laminate and vinyl are now good enough that the difference from real wood is hard to see.

Porcelain timber-looking floor tiles can be bought and used in wet rooms for example. They have become very popular due to their effectiveness with underfloor heating and low maintenance.

A very similar situation is shown when looking at marble work surfaces. Porcelain worktops have become so popular because they look just like marble, especially the darker stones. The veining printed onto the porcelain varies enough, and prints sharply enough, to read as stone.

Authentic wood flooring can cost up to thousands of pounds, whereas laminate and vinyl will cost a fraction of the price. The exact same goes for stone. For home developers, a lot of the decision comes down to your living situation. If you have young children or excitable dogs, and the floor is going to get covered in scrapes and receive a lot of wear and tear, vinyl will carry you until you are ready to lay wood. If you are improving the house to sell, hardwood is what most buyers are looking for.

Another ‘fakey’ that is becoming big is fake leather. Becoming so much more realistic and in no way plasticky like it was, trying to know the difference between real-leather and fake is becoming impossible. Not only is it more ethical, it is cheaper too, as well as being able to be produced in multiple sizes. Hides are size restricted due to the size of the animal, but with fake leather, there are no size boundaries. This means that with big pieces of leather, wall panels for example, seams are not an issue.

Artificial plants are another category that has moved on. They now look convincing enough to work in a room, and they suit anybody who wants greenery without keeping it alive. They do not carry the air quality benefits of real plants.

Artificial grass is being chosen over turf by a lot of our clients. It survives a dog, and in a small London garden there is often nowhere to keep a lawnmower anyway.

If choosing the real deal, it is true that you cannot purchase the authenticity and feeling that you receive from the true material. There is another element that you get from the real, that is just not replicable from a fake.

If the budget is tight, or you are not improving the house to sell, the replica is usually the sensible choice. Where it is not, it is worth knowing before you order.

Our interior designers specify both, room by room. Tell us what you are choosing between.