Choosing the right hardwood floors for your space

Hardwood floors are among the best and most practical of flooring options. They’re innately hard, hence the name “hard” wood. This makes them a practical choice for children and pets since they can take a beating. Besides being practical, wood floors
add warmth and a homey feeling wherever they are installed. Hardwood floors are often the first thing guests and potential buyers notice when visiting your home. Here’s what you need to consider when installing and decorating with hardwood floors:

Design element
Because hardwood floors are a design element all on their own, choose flooring to compliment the other design elements in the room such as furniture, paint color and decor.

Dark woods
If the room that you are working with has a lot of light, a darker wood floor might be a great option. Dark colors in exotic woods add a look of luxury to any room and are best complimented by light furniture.

Light woods
When working with a room sans a lot of natural light, a lighter wood floor can do a great job of lightening the room up. Lighter woods also allow for a larger range of color options when it comes to furniture and decor.

Board width
When choosing a board width, it’s important to consider the size and scale of the room in which you are working. Wider boards tend to make rooms that are large look smaller and cozier, while thinner boards tend to make small rooms look larger and more spacious.

Hardwood floors add such beauty and value to your home. Take the time to do your research and follow the above tips before making this well-worth-it investment.

The 3 crimes of carpet care

Stop in the name of the law! You are suspected of committing one of the top three crimes of carpet care. Look below carefully; are you guilty of one of these heinous acts? Better shape up, or the only floor you’ll be seeing is a concrete jail cell when the carpet police catch you!

Using the wrong cleaner

Back away from that rug, buster, and put your hands in the air! Many cleaners contain bleach or other chemicals that are fine for some carpets, but can ruin others. We’ll let you off with a warning this time, but any more transgressions, and it’s off to the pokey with you!

Forgoing a professional cleaning

This may only be a misdemeanor, but know that even the most powerful vacuum is no replacement for having your carpets washed by a pro. Once a year should be enough to extend their life and keep them looking their best.

Procrastinating stain removal

So you spilled some wine on the carpet—no big deal, right? You can always treat the stain later, or get it professionally cleaned.

This is definitely a carpet care felony. The longer you wait to address a stain, the less likely it is to come out. This is true whether you’re bent over it with a wet paper towel or are having every carpet in your house steamed.

Your extremely quick guide to kid-friendly flooring

Seeing your baby take his or her first steps is one of the most exciting events for a parent. Unfortunately, those steps come with consequences – both for your infant and the toddler or teenager they’ll grow up to be. Check out our choices for the most kid-friendly flooring to last throughout the years!

Carpet

When your child is small, the biggest flooring concern you likely will have is that they’ll fall on it. To reduce the risk of injury, carpet works well. It’s soft on hands, knees, and other parts just learning to walk (which pretty much includes your entire child).

Vinyl

If your child is a little older and you’re trying to pay for after-school activities, braces,  college, etc. (yeah, the list is pretty much never-ending), you’ll want an economical flooring choice. Enter vinyl. Available in a wide variety of colors and patterns, it’s also moisture resistant—good for when your kids try to turn the bathtub into their own personal pool.

Laminate

Oh teenagers! Although little kids can be messy too, there’s nothing like a celebration after a soccer game to track dirt, mud, and heaven-knows what else onto your floors. At this stage, you’ll want to go with laminate, which is durable and easy to clean. As for the other aggravations they cause, well, we’re afraid we can’t help you there!