The Flooring Guru

Area rugs can be hand knotted and costly collectibles, or inexpensive and simple cotton throw rugs.  They can be handcrafted Persian carpets or fluffy chenille.  You can choose between styles that are Asian, contemporary, country, Native American, traditional…the list goes on.

Patterns can be almost anything you could imagine or desire.  Solids, stripes, florals, plaids, outdoor scenes, animal prints, winter prints, and holiday designs are available for your pleasure. There are all kinds of ways to use an area rug.  Place it under a table, outline a furniture grouping, place in front of the sink, the tub or shower, in front of your doors, next to your bed, or hung as a wall hanging to draw colors up visually.

Discount  area rugs are an exceptional value. If you can get  the rug to you directly from the manufacturer, and skip the middle man, you can find amazing deals for fine quality area rugs. All you have to do is decide whether you want Persian, traditional, or contemporary design.

An area rug is a quick and easy way to change the look of a room or to outline a  furniture grouping.   Place an area rug on your floor and transform your look at once.   If you use more than one rug in a room, make sure they coordinate both in style and color.  Discount area rugs can uplift your decorating and your spirit!

Usually a carpet installation starts with removing the old carpet first. I am frequently asked, “How do you remove carpeting that has been glued down? ”

Depending on how long the carpet has been installed and the type of glue that was used, determines how it comes up.

If the carpet is coming up too hard in large pieces you will have to cut it into smaller strips. Generally 12″ strips like you see in the picture work very well.  Tip: If you cut slots in the strip of carpet that you are pulling up , it creates hand holes for an easier grip :0)

Ok. The carpet isn’t coming up off the floor in 12″ strips very easy. That means you will have to cut them into even smaller strips. The fact is that the harder the carpet comes up, the smaller the strips will have to be.

The strips are now 4″ and the carpet is coming up REALLY hard, now what? You will have to rent a floor stripper. This becomes a two man operation at this point because one person has to pull while the other scrapes with the machine.

Just a little technical advice. When using the floor stripper, the blade has one edge that is beveled. The bevel side goes up when the subfloor underneath the carpet is concrete and bevel side down when it is wood :0)

I have been asked if it would be easier to soak the carpet with water and then remove it. My answer would be no. It is really messy and it could cause problems with the existing sub floor.

After methodically removing all the old carpet, you are ready for your new flooring. The question at this point would be , “Do I have to remove all the old adhesive residue that is left on the floor?”

My answer to that is . . . in an upcoming post.

Wall to wall carpeting brings comfort to your home and with the newest styles available, carpeting is always improving in performance.

The green movement is ushering in a new era offering fiber solutions with less impact to the environment that actually feel softer and wear better than the traditional nylons.

Built in stain resistance is constantly being improved to decrease the chances of a spill absolutely ruining your carpet. As you probably know, a stain that doesn’t come out can absolutely ruin the comfort in your room.

Worse than that, a bad carpet installation really compromises your intended wall to wall comfort. Choosing the right professional is a must when spending hundreds… even thousands of dollars!

When choosing carpet at your local retailer, find out which installer will be coming to your home for your carpet installation. Many times you aren’t told who is coming to your home. Once you find out, ask for references. You can even call him or her to talk to them prior to your installation to get a feel for how they treat you on the phone.

Doing a little research can go a long way. Protecting your investment is just plain wise. A professional carpet installation is the first step when bringing wall to wall comfort home.

The holidays are almost here. You have cleaned the house and are beginning preparation for the holidays. Although things seem ready, something isn’t quite right.

In the northeast, it is time to move inside for the winter months. That means you will be spending more time inside.

You need something different, something to cheer you up for the time you are going to spend indoors. Let me make a suggestion.

Whatever your budget might be, change the way your flooring looks. Try a new modern area rug for the living room. Go bold with a new hardwood floor. Spend a lot of time in the kitchen? A new floor is a great way to remodel without tearing out the entire kitchen.

Go ahead… Cheer yourself up throughout the up and coming season and give your flooring a fresh new look!

Kind of an odd title for a post don’t ya think. That might be true, but that’s the point. In this post I want to draw your attention to the flight of stairs in your home that you might soon be carpeting.

If you have an unusually steep or narrow staircase, it may seem like a good idea to use a thick pad and carpet just in case someone were to fall, but the truth be told, using thick carpet and pad could actually cause a fall.

Using thicker carpeting and/or pad can cause a narrow step to become even narrower and can also create a false nosing that gives too much underfoot when traveling up or down, causing you to fall.

To avoid this potentially dangerous situation, switch to a commercial type carpet and pad such as felt or a thin rubber.

Using a commercial carpet without a pad is also common when performing a carpet installation on steps.

There are different ways to solve a steep step downfall. Recognizing this potentially dangerous situation is the first step. Solving it is all down hill from there!

Area rugs serve a wide variety of purposes in home décor. They can be used to bring the look of a room together by matching them to the color of the upholstery, paint, and accessories such as pillows and curtains. They can help define separate spaces within a larger room or add a touch of warmth and color to a hardwood or tile floor. Using area rugs to tie the color from one room to the other is a great way to bring continuity to your home. The possibilities are limited only to your imagination!

Because they can serve such a wide variety of purposes, area rugs come in all shapes, colors, sizes, and themes to express your own personal style. From conservative to extravagant, subtle to absolutely crazy, area rugs can be the very fabric that turns a room into a conversation piece or the very spot you choose to sprawl out on for a romantic evening!

OK, enough of what you might already know about them, what you might not know is that you can have an area rug custom designed and carved to your liking. Imagination is the key to this one. If you can imagine it, an area rug can be made into it. I have seen custom rugs that look like Marilyn Monroe. I have made custom rugs that have borders around them with designs inset into them that pick up the very same patterns in the furniture.

Custom area rugs are unique in design and individuality. Think outside the box on this one and let your imagination create your next area rug possibility.

One of the most frequented rooms in any house is the kitchen. People are constantly coming in to grab a snack and hang around the kitchen table, not to mention the time spent cooking and doing dishes. The constant foot traffic can wreak havoc on your hardwood flooring.

Kitchen area rugs are a great way to protect your floors while adding aesthetic appeal. Area rugs are available in a variety of designs that will complement any kitchen décor. They are easy to clean and-in my experience-people are more likely to take off their shoes when they see area rugs on the floor.

When selecting carpeting for your home it may seem like a monumental task ahead of you when it comes to choosing the right carpet for your needs. Carpets come in a vast array of colors and styles, textures, and fibers and there are many different qualities of carpets to choose from.

The two most popular types of carpeting today are loop pile and cut pile. Loop pile has individual strands of yarn pulled through the carpet backing twice, creating a loop. Cut pile has the loop cut at the top, leaving tufts of yarn that stand straight up. Cut pile carpets come in a variety of styles such as shag, textured, saxony, frieze, or plush. Loop pile carpets would be a berber, cable or sisal. Loop pile carpets are a good choice for high traffic areas.

There will be the decision on the type of carpet fiber you choose. One of the factors here is cost. While there is nothing quite as luxurious as having wool carpeting in your home most cannot afford wool. If you are able to afford wool carpeting you will find that although it cost more at the time of installation, your wool carpet will prove itself to be far superior to other types of carpeting. No man made carpet fiber can come close to the durability, rich look or feel of wool. Your wool carpet can last upwards of thirty years. Some say the drawback of wool is that you will get tired of it before you wear it out. Styles change rather quickly and what was popular 30 years ago might not be popular today. So, if you choose wool, pick a carpet that can accept the changes that will be made to the room around it in later years.

If cost is a factor, then you will need to know what other fibers are used for making carpet.

Acrylic carpeting is very similar to wool (wool is considered the best carpeting available) and is sometimes called man-made wool. It resists moisture, fading, mildew, staining and dries quickly, but is not recommended for high traffic areas in the home. Acrylic carpeting was popular at one time but is a dying fiber type for carpeting due to the number one complaint of it wearing out too quickly. You can still find acrylic carpeting and with its stronger characteristics can be used in the bathroom area of your home.

Nylon carpeting is popular due to it’s durability. It resists mildew, staining and soiling. Nylon carpet is recommended for all traffic areas. It is one of the most expensive of the synthetic fibers but cheaper than wool.

Olefin is a very low cost easy care material that is often used in indoor/outdoor carpeting. Olefin is colorfast and strong and easy to clean. One drawback to olefin is that crushes easily. A loop construction is not so easily crushed and is popular to the indoor outdoor carpets. Another drawback to Olefin is that it “burns” quite easily as well. Sliding furniture across it too quickly can leave a frazzled trail behind. Basically Olefin is sometimes referred to as plastic carpet. The all familiar grass carpeting is a great example of this type.

Polyester is luxurious and durable however is not as good in high traffic areas in the home as nylon is, although, yarn construction in certain polyesters are becoming more and more competitive to the nylons. Polyesters are exceptional to taking dye and therefore are very vibrant in color. This type of fiber cleans very well and is stain and fade resistant. Polyesters are easy on the wallet and can be replaced more often in certain situations. ( Like puppy training! )

Make sure you ask to see the manufacturers performance rating for each carpet.

The next consideration would be color and/or pattern of carpeting. Light carpeting colors create a spacious effect, making a room seem larger. Light color carpets of course show soil much more easily than dark. However, most stain and soil treatments put on carpeting today do help to prevent this problem.

Dark or dull carpet colors will absorb light giving the room what some call a “cozy” feeling. Rugs with larger patterns will make a space seem smaller, smaller patterns seemingly larger.

Your color choice could be based on the paint color used on your walls. It is suggested that if you do this, the color of the carpet be darker than the color on the walls.

Also, when choosing your carpet remember that the carpet installed on your floor will appear different in color and tone than the small sample you see in the store. Ask to take carpet samples home so that you can see how they actually appear in daylight and at night.

Whether you are thinking about buying wall to wall carpeting or even area rugs, knowing the fiber types and a little bit about colors and patterns you have the basics to your next purchase.

Designing or finding the right area rug for your room should be fun. By keeping these three elements in mind when choosing… starting with shape first, then size, then color and design elements, defining your space should be a breeze.

Create a focal point to your favorite setting. Using an area rug to define your favorite sitting area within your room is a great way to break up a large spacious room into smaller cozier sections.

Be creative, with area rug designs being more diverse than ever, there is a wide variety to choose from including sculpted rugs, far eastern designs, animal prints,(which by the way are becoming increasingly more popular) and nature scape. Bordered rugs can frame an area perfectly.

Imagine your sun room with bamboo furniture accented with a patterned leopard skin rug, bamboo rug, or even sisal to create the perfect tropical paradise in your home.

How about a custom made sculpted rug that creates a three dimensional graphic in your modern living room.

The possibilities are endless. Simply changing an area rug, painting the walls, rearranging the furniture and adding a few new accents can give your space a brand new look. Its a great way to remodel without the expense, especially if you find a great deal when searching for discount area rugs.