Whether you have hardwood floors, laminate, or even ceramic tile in your favorite room, an area rug can bring added warmth and personal design to reflect your style of living.
There is a noticeable trend in flooring where consumers are using hardwoods, laminates, bamboo, and ceramic tile more and more as a solution to meet their floor covering needs.
Reasons that can range from having allergies, to bringing a more natural and aesthetically pleasing look to a room, to the practicality of wear in heavier traffic areas are some of the influences behind this trend.
Area rugs can be both practical as well as decorative. They add a level of protection to high traffic areas, as well as an element of safety to a slippery floor.
When choosing an area rug, I usually begin by thinking about shape first, size second, and then color and design elements.
Let’s look at shape first. Take a look around your room and ask yourself questions like:
- Do I have a lot of geometrically linear objects
- Do I have lots of free flowing curves
- Do I want to keep traffic from walking on the rug
- Do I want to accent a particular area
- What is the style of my room modern, contemporary, southwestern…
These elements give clues as to the look that you want to create. For instance, an elongated rectangular rug with all the corners removed creating a six sided rug, might be perfect in a room to fit perfectly under the same shaped table which is the focal point of the room.
Once you decide on the shape of the area rug, then size is the next aspect to determine. Size is a matter of taste and practicality.
Lets first take a look at practicality. I have learned that when designing an area rug for underneath a dining room table, for instance, it is important to understand the chair’s position on the rug when pulling the chair out and sitting down.
There are two ways to decide the size. The first way is to make sure the area rug is big enough to stay under the chair legs when it is pulled out fully from under the table just prior to sitting down. This keeps the legs of the chair from catching on the edge of the area rug when it is pulled back under the table.
The other way is to make sure that the rear legs don’t hit the edge of the rug when the chair is pulled up to the table after sitting. When the chair is in the resting position just under the table prior to anyone sitting, the rear legs should just be on the rug so that when someone pulls the chair out, sits down, and pulls the chair up to the table, the rear legs don’t catch on the rug.
The choice is yours depending on the size of the room and your taste. Sometimes the room is small and you might not want to cover up too much of the floor.
Another thing to consider when determining the size of the area rug would be to keep the edge of the rug from being walked on in a traffic area. For example, take note of the natural walk patterns of someone passing through the room, and think about the corner of a rug being in the walkway and the possible trip hazard it might create.
Last but not least, choosing the color and pattern of the area rug. There are a couple of ways to determine the color and pattern of a rug. The first way is to design the room around the area rug if you are starting from scratch or secondly, design the area rug to fit the existing scheme of the room.
I like to think of an area rug as an accessory for the room. Like a pillow or lamp, try to accent the base color of your room with the main color in the area rug and then add contrasting but complimentary colors using design elements within the rug.
For example you have earth tones throughout the room. The wall color is a very light mocha with a slightly darker glaze sponged over it. The lamps might be a cream color with contrasting colors in the bases sitting on end tables next to the couch being black leather. The floor is walnut.
I would suggest that the main color in the area rug match the overall wall color and then find the contrasting colors within the furniture or accessories in the room. In this example you might want to use black accents or accents that match the darker glaze in the wall. Look at patterns in the accessories that are in the room and look for complimenting patterns when choosing your area rug.
If you get stuck trying to figure out what looks best, ask a friend or family member what they think. Bounce some ideas off them.
At this point, I have found out by watching people deliberate, that it usually doesn’t take too long to figure out what they truly want. They just needed to talk it through.
Designing or finding the right area rug for your room should be fun. By keeping the three elements in mind when choosing… starting with shape first, then size, then color and design elements, it won’t be long before your personal style is reflected in the comfort of your room.
Tags: area carpets, area rugs, carpets, custom rugs, rugs
Recently, I received an e-mail asking me how much a hardwood floor installation would cost if it was professionally installed and if there was something to watch out for when contracting a professional hardwood installer for their project?
Because this particular question has been asked frequently, I felt that the answer was worth posting.
The cost of having a hardwood floor installed depends upon the area you live in and the going rates. Here in Binghamton NY, the rate is competitive between $2.50/ sq ft. and $3.50/sq.ft. for the average hardwood floor installation.
Factors that can influence price would be the type, width of the boards, lengths, layout, job site conditions and custom work to name a few.
The best way to find out what an average competitive rate for your particular hardwood floor installation would be, is to call a local hardwood floor retailer and tell them that you have already purchased your hardwood floor and are looking for a quality installer. Most likely they will give you a name or two.
Repeat this process again at a few more retailers and you should begin to see common names surface.
Once you get some names, call them directly and tell them you are thinking about having hardwood installed in your home and ask how much they charge.
The reason to ask an installer directly instead of asking the retailer for a price is often times the retailer charges more and makes money on the installer.When asking the hardwood installer for a price let them know you might possibly have 500 sq. ft. or more.
( If you have a small quantity, sometimes you won’t get a competitive price because installers may charge more for smaller areas to make it worth the trip.)
Also, check the phone book for an independent hardwood installer. If they have been around for a while, they will be able to quickly quote the average going price for your area.
When looking for a quality hardwood installer ask for references! You want to be careful of the lowest priced installer as well, there could be a reason that they are out of the main stream pricing.
One more thing. Once you get prices and are deciding on the best price, usually a quality installer won’t come down more than .25/sq.ft.or so on their price depending how detailed the job is.
Of course, the most effective way to get an accurate price is to have an in home estimate performed by a reputable installer or two. This way they can assess your job site conditions … leaving no surprises. Most retailers and installers will give you a free estimate.
The New Website has arrived! Located @ http://www.binghamtonfloorspecialists.com, the new site has been designed to accommodate your flooring needs.
Certain sections of the site are still under construction, so pardon the dust. Updates will soon be finished!
You can expect to find everything from installation services, certifications, references, flooring products, to our portfolio.
On the right hand side of this blog you will find a subscription box which, when subscribed to, will keep you updated with Floor Specialist news and specials. Go ahead and enter your name and e-mail address to stay updated. We will not sell or rent this list cause we hate spam too!
At this time I would like to thank everyone who has done business with us. We are looking forward to serving you again in the future.
With warm regards,
David Decker Owner
Nostalgia still sells. We call it the old “Battleship Linoleum” and back in the days of old (in the early to late 1900’s) our grandfathers installed it on kitchen floors making them virtually indestructable. Today, more than being nostalgic, it’s all about going green. Marmoleum by Forbo, is the real deal when it comes to linoleum flooring. Made from all natural products including pine resin, wood flour, linseed oil, and jute, linoleum sales are on the rise, bringing back the flooring of the yesteryears.
Universities, libraries, medical centers, and other commercial type areas that are going green are turning to marmoleum not only because of it’s environmental qualities, but also because of its well known characteristics for durability and ease of maintenance. Due to the fact that the manufacturing process hasn’t changed much over the years, the quality still remains unchallenged.
Unlike the earlier years when linoleum came in only about three colors (the main colors being battleship grey, black, and olive green), designing with Marmoleum nowadays is a snap! with the new, vibrant, exciting colors and styles, designers are taking advantage of them to create floor art that is keeping up with the trends of today.
Well, in short, if you decide to go green and are looking to create an exciting floor design that will out last the next generation, than linoleum is your answer.
If you are considering the idea of installing your own hardwood floor, I suspect it is for one of two reasons, to save money or you simply enjoy a good do-it-yourself project.
But before you do, a bit of professional advice always helps to keep you from turning the project into a disaster, after all this should be fun!
When deciding whether or not you really want to install your own hardwood floor, there are a few things you need to consider.
First, before you even buy your floor, you will need to assess the area where it will be going and answer these questions:
- Is the floor above, on, or below grade (ground level)?
- Is the floor I am going over wood or concrete?
- Is moisture going to be a problem?
- Does the floor have radiant heat?
The reason that you need to ask these questions is that it determines the type of hardwood and which installation procedure that you will need to use.
You will also need to determine if installing a hardwood floor is possible in certain situations by checking factors such as flatness, and water content.
Sometimes a high floor joist in the wrong area of your floor or too much water content in a concrete slab prevents you from doing hardwood at all.
At this point you might be thinking NO WAY do I want to try this, but it is not as bad as it might seem. If you are armed with the right knowledge you can do anything!
By the way, now you know enough about what to check for before you go shopping, even if you do choose not to do it yourself!
Anyway,as with any project that you do, there is usually more to it than meets the eye and the same goes for installing your own hardwood floor.
So, if you are truly up to the challenge and you still want to install your own hardwood, you can go to http://www.howtoinstall-hardwoodfloors.com and get all the professional advice you need to handle your hardwood floor installation.
The Floor Specialist, David Decker
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The Floor Specialists of Binghamton is proud to announce it’s upcoming presence to the world wide web! The Floor Specialists have been in buisness since 1985 and is owned and operated by the Decker brothers. We are a premier floorcovering service providing the Southern Tier of Broome County with quality floorcovering products and professional flooring installations. We look forward to serving you and invite you to become part of the Floor Specialist’s family!
See you soon!