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Flooring Is Always The Base

March 23, 2012 By

If you’re redesigning a room or even a whole house, then you should always start with flooring as the base. Sorry for the obvious pun, but it’s true. With a smart but plain floor – preferably one of good quality whatever the material you use – the rest of the place looks smart even with cheap furniture.

But it’s important not to skimp on the flooring. If there’s one area above all others where it really does pay you to pay for look you’ll achieve and, generally, the longevity of that look – then it’s on the floor.

It doesn’t need to cost a fortune, though. Just be careful in your choice that you pick a colour and a hardness (with wooden flooring) that is durable.

For example, with carpets – a slightly darker, closely dappled colour scheme will still achieve an overall plain look, but will also happily take those glasses of red wine you might spill from time to time. Also, many carpets are highly stain resistant these days – but be careful here as the ones which take powerful cleaners like bleach, quite happily, can also look and feel a little cheap. Just choose carefully.

With wooden flooring, the engineered real wood finishes undoubtedly look the smartest, but they don’t take injury well. So pick the best and thickest you can afford, preferably in not too plain a shade that it won’t stand the odd knock here and there. Alternatively, go for one of the thicker solid wood floors that can be sanded and refinished if they take a bad knock anywhere. These should last you decades.

The beauty of this approach is, well, its beauty! There’s nothing quite like a real wood floor as the material is warm in the winter and cool in the summer – quite naturally. It’s particularly good in a small flat or studio apartment; a great floor, a great TV, a sofa bed from the sofa bed sale, a well-stocked fridge, and you’re all set!

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Getting the Hang of Doors

January 26, 2012 By

There’s no need to call out a tradesman if you need to fit doors in your home; it’s a job that most DIY-ers won’t find too challenging and you’ll save money on labour costs too. Follow these simple steps and you can get the hang of how to hang a door.

The following method is the same for internal or external doors, although it is much easier to try out a few lightweight internal doors first before you tackle fitting the expensive, heavier front door. In addition to the door and door furniture, you will need a plane, chisels, mallet and a pencil.

Firstly select your door from a reputable firm which produces high quality Flooringanddoors. Then hold the door in place, inside the doorframe, and see how much will need to be trimmed off, in order to create a 2mm gap all the way round. Plane until you are happy with the fit. A two pence coin is a useful thickness gauge. Bear in mind that you’ll need to leave space for your floor coverings, especially if you have thick carpet fitted. With the door firmly held in place, mark the hinges on the door, using the existing doorframe’s rebates. Chisel out the shallow mortise for the hinge leaf and screw the hinge on to the door.

Next, fix the hinge which is attached to the door onto the doorframe and check that the door closes cleanly without catching anywhere. Make sure you only fix the door to the frame with one screw at this stage as you’ll probably have to remove it to make further adjustments. Once you’re happy with the fit, cut out a mortise for the latch, the lock, or whatever closing mechanism you have chosen. Fit your door-handles and any other attachments such as a letter plate, spy-hole or door number. Lastly, make sure your door is fully weatherproofed if it is going to be out in the elements.

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Match Your Floors To Your Budget

October 1, 2011 By

 

When it comes to interior design one of the chief criteria for many savvy clients is to stick to their budget. We may have aspirations to decorate like Ivana Trump but our wallets might say otherwise and getting the look we want for the price we can afford is key. Start by building up a picture of the ideal room and then cost the individual elements. If it is beyond your means then start to make changes: can you substitute a cheaper sofa or table and chairs for example? There are often high street copies of designer originals to be had so shop around with your eyes peeled for a bargain.

If you have the budget to go for luxurious floors for your home then you might select solid hardwood flooring for your room, and may even go so far as to engage a bespoke supplier who will hand craft your floor. Other types of high-end floor coverings include uniquely crafted rugs, pure wool carpets and solid stone, granite or marble tiles. All of these have cheaper alternatives for the mere mortal so if you need to then find the style you like and do your best to match it from a cheaper range.

Engineered wood flooring is a great alternative to solid wood flooring if you have a finite budget to consider. You still have the option of a great range of colours and finishes to choose from, it can often be easier to fit – especially for an amateur DIY-er rather than a professional joiner – and it will last for years. Wood flooring is a popular choice these days for every room in the house, and the best bit is – by installing a wood floor you are adding value to your home so consider the purchase as an investment.

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Be creative when choosing your kitchen floor

September 9, 2011 By

If you’re thinking of carrying out a complete overhaul of your kitchen and you’re willing to start from scratch, you’ll have to start out by choosing the right floor for your newly designed room. There are plenty of different options out there and with a bit of creativity and imagination, you’ll find a fantastic style which will suit the kitchen perfectly.

 

You might want to decide if you want the floor to be a similar material or colour to your kitchen worktops, as this may be quite difficult to achieve and may take you a bit longer to find the right design. If you are happy to have a dark-coloured floor, you could go for a granite-tiling finish, which will complement any granite work surfaces you may have gone for.

 

Another option will be laminate or wooden flooring in your kitchen, which is a great idea if your kitchen cabinets are in a similar material.

If you’ve gone for an all-white design in your kitchen, sandy tones could warm up the colour scheme, adding a small injection of colour. And for those who have gone for dark hues throughout, a porcelain flooring finish could be a great option to lighten up the room. People who would love to add a splash of colour to their kitchen – say, for example, if they’ve gone for a black or white colour scheme in the room – could go for non-slip rubber flooring which comes in a variety of different shades. You can choose anything from baby blue to fuchsia pink, depending on what hue you think suits your kitchen design best.

 

Whatever flooring you choose for your kitchen, there are a few things worth bearing in mind. You aren’t going to want cold floor under foot early in the mornings and there’s bound to be bits and pieces dropped on the floor, as well as chairs dragged about on it, so it will have to be a fairly sturdy material to cope with the wear and tear of everyday life.

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Make sure your bedroom flooring matches the rest of the room

September 9, 2011 By

When you’re redoing your bedroom, it’s important for you to have thought of everything which you’ll need to update and refurbish along the way. Whether you go for lime green walls or beige wallpaper, it’s vital the bedroom furniture and flooring you choose goes well with the shades you’ve already got in the space.

 

If you’re currently at the stage of deciding which flooring to put in your newly refurbished room, you should remember to find things which complement the colour scheme you have opted for. There are numerous different types of flooring out there, from wooden floorboards or laminate, to carpets or a lino finish. Whatever you decide to install, you’ll also find there are a multitude of different designs and colours to choose from as well, which can turn it into a rather time-consuming decision process.

 

You’ll obviously need to clear out your mattresses and all the other furniture from the room before you get started on the floor and, depending on what surface you decide on, it could take anything from hours to days to fit. If you’re a bit of a DIY buff, you should be able to do these tasks on your own. But if you don’t have an eye for this kind of thing, it’s easy enough to find someone to do it for you.

 

You want to remember you’re likely to spend most of your time barefoot in your bedroom, so you want to find a material for your flooring which will feel nice underfoot. As well as this, you probably want to look for a colour which isn’t too garish – the floor is bound to cover a big area in your room, so you want to avoid an overkill of bright hues if possible. Whatever you decide in the end, so long as it complements the décor you’ve gone for throughout the space, the flooring will add a great finishing touch to your bedroom.

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Carpet Backing

June 28, 2011 By

Carpet backing is precisely what it sounds like : the back of a carpet. It’s the section of a carpet which doesn’t face up, so clients seldom engage with it. Nevertheless carpet backing is crucial, providing shape, structural stableness, and protection to the carpet it backs. There are a selection of different fashions of carpet backing, and it can be made of a selection of materials, from natural fibers to polyurethane.

There are 2 main parts to carpet backing, which can fluctuate from carpet to carpet. The 1st is first backing, which forms a structural part of the carpet. It’s the coarse material thru which the fibrous material of the carpet are woven or tufted. Secondary backing isn’t structural, it provides support to the final carpet, and it may help to insulate the carpet from moisture, bacteria, and mould which could flow up from the floor below ; it has a tendency to be less coarse, since it isn’t a substrate for tufted material.

There are several points to consider when purchasing carpet, and backing material is a vital one. Many corporations make carpets with backing that it meant to resist mould, mould, rot, and other issues which can plague carpeting, and some also also pride themselves on using ecologically friendly backing, which can on occasion be made of recycled carpets or natural substances.

Organisations which promote carpet recycling point at the millions of tons of carpeting which are dropped worldwide yearly as a potential environmental issue which ought really to be addressed ; clients can help inspire recycling by asking for recycled materials. As well as carpet backing which is built into the carpet, many firms offer carpet padding which they may call “carpet backing,” since it is installed under a carpet.

Usually carpet padding is meant to pad the carpet, provide more insulation, and stop mould and mold from setting in. It could be treated with diverse substances to reach these goals ; some carpet padding can offgas with weird smoke, and is the reason why folk like to permit carpet to accept 1 or 2 days before employing a space. On a throw rug, you might need to take a quick look at the carpet backing before purchase. You can see that only the first backing is present, in which scenario you can obviously see the strategies used to build up the carpet. If the carpet has a secondary backing, you may want to ask what it is made out of and how to take care of it together with the carpet itself.

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