AVATARA IN AKTION
At home with the Pfluger family
Markus and Kathrin Pfluger (36 and 38) had been planning their home together for a long time. They wanted it to look spacious, without visual breaks and at the same time be as natural as possible. Then the twins Leo and Annabell announced their arrival.
ter Hürne: Kathrin and Markus, we are really impressed with your house. What was the basic idea behind the construction and the interior furnishings?
Kathrin: We like the Bauhaus style and this straight-lined classic construction. We wanted our home to be open, calm and spacious, letting in lots of natural light and allowing the surfaces to work as a whole. I think we have succeeded very well.
Markus: We worked intensively on the architecture and functionality; Kathrin is a professional architect after all. Sustainable materials were particularly important for us. We checked the emission values of all of the materials we wanted to use. This process has gone on for several years. Since then, we have been building our house in our mind's eye.
Kathrin: We wanted to achieve a uniform, harmonious colour scheme for the furnishings in all rooms. White was going to be the dominant colour with a light-coloured, natural wood tone providing the counterpoint. We pictured ourselves with engineered hardwood flooring in all rooms, because of its high quality and naturalness. Solid wood, then. In my mind, I had traditional wide oak planks.
Markus: ... until Leo and Annabell surprised us. That threw all our meticulous planning into disarray.
Bright rooms, flooded with natural daylight, furnished in subtle colours and free of visual disruptions.
Solar radiation through tall windows is no problem for Avatara, as can be seen here.
They have set up an exceptionally spacious play area for their children – twins Annabell and Leo.
We have the ideas. How did you then go about choosing a floor?
Kathrin: We still wanted a floor that runs through all the rooms with a uniform colour and composition. Furthermore, it was clear it had to be a natural quality material with a warm appearance, as a counterpoint to the restrained architecture.
Markus: Shortly before the twins arrived, Kathrin had started her own business as a freelancer and she wanted to set up an office in the new house. It had to look quite prestigious. As soon as it was confirmed that we were expecting twins, we quickly put any ideas about an engineered hardwood floor to one side. We had serious concerns about whether a solid wood floor could withstand those sort of stresses.
How did you come up with the ter Hürne Avatara design floor?
Markus: We came across Avatara almost by accident. When planning with our local dealers, we constantly found ourselves fighting the corner for engineered hardwood flooring. We just didn’t want to say goodbye to wood. Among the selection of engineered hardwood floors, there was one that we both liked immediately. So we got into conversation with a sales adviser. When we told him we weren’t actually looking for engineered hardwood flooring, he said: "That’s not engineered hardwood flooring. That’s Avatara, it’s a design floor."
Kathrin: I knew the practical benefits of a design floor. Up to now, we always rejected the idea of a non-wood floor, on the basis that if it's not expensive it can't be beautiful. Seeing this floor in the ter Hürne showroom, we were both so immediately impressed by its appearance and charm that we decided to go for it there and then.
The Pflugers designed their home in the Bauhaus style. In choosing the materials, they attached a great deal of importance to the ecological aspects.
Avatara luxury vinyl flooring proves itself particularly in rooms subject to heavy wear, thanks to its robust and highly scratch-resistant character.
Your twins are now almost three years old and full of beans. What has been your experience of Avatara after just over two years of it in your home?
Markus: The floor puts up with a lot. It needs to as well, because our kids put a lot of strain on it when they race through the house with their Bobby cars, or when things don't quite go according to plan at mealtimes. This floor is very easy to care for. It’s no problem even when someone comes in from the garden with something on their shoes. The floor has been down quite a while now. And it still looks the same as when it was first laid.
Kathrin: What we experienced in the floor showroom, we experience every time guests come to our house for the first time. There is always some astonished comment like: "Oh, so it’s not engineered hardwood flooring?’ – to which I usually reply: "No, it’s better.’ Seriously though, we are really happy that we chose this floor. The appearance and appeal of genuine engineered hardwood flooring with the durability to take on our twins...
Avatara is also laid in the parents’ bedrooms...
...and in your dressing room...
...and in the children’s rooms.