All your needs undergo a change as you continue to age. The same is true for your flooring. You may need to consider replacing your old, possibly risky or high-maintenance flooring with something more suitable as you get older. Ideally, the flooring material should be soft so that it could protect your joints and bones in case of a fall or slip. Besides this, the cleaning and maintenance of the flooring should also be relatively easier. This is because a lot of elderly people have mobility problems and find it hard to keep up with house maintenance tasks.

Here is a list of some of the most suitable flooring options for the elderly:

Cork

Cork is considered to be among the safest flooring options for the elderly. Not only does it have a soft surface, but it is also quite simple to clean. An advantage of cork flooring is that it minimizes the risk of trips and slips because it naturally has a non-slip surface. Besides this, cork is an excellent insulator and helps in cutting cooling and heating costs too. You simply need to be careful about one thing when installing cork flooring: keep it as dry as you possibly can. This means all kinds of liquid spills would have to be cleaned immediately to prevent damage.

Carpet

Carpet is known to be a highly cushiony material and is extremely comfortable for the feet. It is also helpful in providing some amount of protection against injuries resulting from fall and trips. In addition to this, carpets lend a lot of warmth to a room and this is especially appreciated during the winter season. The dense material of a carpet can work as a brilliant insulator and retain greater heat thereby keeping the room nice and cozy.

Vinyl

Vinyl is among the easiest floors to have as far as maintenance is concerned. This flooring is highly resistant to water damage as well as stains. In order to clean vinyl flooring, you simple need to sweep it clean every other day. This makes vinyl a good flooring option for the elderly who may not have the required help or support to keep the house clean and need to do it themselves. It is also possible to add padding to your vinyl flooring with a cork or felt layer. This will lend the vinyl floor a nice and soft feel.

 

Do you live in a cold climate area? Are you looking for a flooring option that will make your home look warm and cozy? Extreme winters can make you want to stay in and curl up in the comfort of your home. Flooring plays a huge role in adding that much needed warmth to a house. There are certain flooring options which can work well with radiant heat systems and hence retain heat better. This means that your feet will not touch cold surface even when the temperature dips to a serious low!

Let’s have a look at some of the most suitable floors that could be installed in homes in cold climate areas:

Laminate flooring

Laminate flooring is quite inexpensive and is known to replicate the appearance of solid wooden flooring. It works extremely well with radiant heat systems in homes. Laminate material is composed of wood layers running in the opposite directions. It makes laminate a more durable material as compared to solid hardwood. Also, laminate does not expand or contract and is hence great for cold climates.

Engineered wood flooring

Wooden flooring has continued to be a key feature in both modern and old homes and among the most sought-after flooring options among homebuyers (highly recommended by interior designers as well). Engineered wood flooring is unlikely to expand or contract and is quite durable. With engineered wood flooring, you get real wood and that too at a very pocket-friendly price. A lot of the engineered woods available in the market have the advantage that they can float. This makes them a good flooring option for cold weather as they can work well with radiant heat systems.

Carpet flooring

There is no denying the fact that carpeted floors can lend a lot of warmth and coziness to a room. They are also effective in absorbing sounds. A carpet can offer quite a bit of thermal resistance. This means that you can conserve a lot of energy with a carpet floor during the winters. Another reason to consider carpet flooring in colder climates is that they are available in a range of different colors, shapes and styles. So you can brighten up your winter by selecting some bold carpet flooring options. On the other hand, if you prefer something more sober, neutral carpet styles and colors look evergreen.

Make your winters warm with these trendy flooring options!

If you own a home which is done up in the contemporary style, then you would naturally want flooring that can complement modern interiors. The good news is that you have plenty of options to choose from as far as modern flooring is concerned.

Those looking specifically for living room flooring, laminate, carpet, and vinyl are great options and would fit in perfectly with your décor.

Vinyl and laminate flooring for modern living rooms

Interior designers suggest that for laminate and vinyl floors, which have a hard texture, the wood effect looks stunning, especially in modern homes. You can combine this type of flooring with printed or solid colored rugs for additional depth and style.

Try selecting natural grains that have wood effects, for example, laminate with oak effect. There are also painted varieties such as those in white which are especially popular for putting in contemporary living rooms.

There isn’t a huge different between vinyl and laminate flooring except that vinyl is available in tiles or sheets. You can find plenty of style options in vinyl flooring such as tile effect, mosaic finish, wood effect, and so on. There is a lot of scope for experimentation with this type of flooring in a modern living room.

 

Carpet flooring for modern living rooms

Gone are the days when carpets were only available in basic colors of gray and beige. Carpets which are being installed in modern homes come in a variety of different textures, colors, and patterns. In fact, they have become a focal point of some of the contemporary living spaces.

If you’re planning to opt for carpet flooring in your living room, then block colors are more in line with modern design aesthetics as compared to traditional patterns. Try and select neutral tones as they go well with almost all kinds of furniture, curtains, and other decorative elements in the living room. However, this does not mean that you should not experiment with bold patterns and vibrant colors. These look great too, especially if you have a certain theme going for your modern living room.

It might be a good idea to consult an interior design professional if you wish to do something more innovative with your carpet flooring. He/she can tell you about the latest weaving styles in carpets which include bows, swirls, lattices, pin dots, plaids, and several others. Similarly, modern carpet manufacturers are also combining different textures to create trendy carpets fit for modern homes.

 

Despite your sincere efforts, your gorgeous carpet flooring will ultimately become a victim of spills and stains. However, by sparing a little of your time in the care and maintenance of your carpet, you can ensure that it stays fresh and as good as new for years to come. Let’s have a look at a few cleaning tips that might come in handy for the maintenance of your exotic carpet flooring.

Avoid rubbing in stains

It is always advisable to blot the liquid spills or drops on you carpet using a mild cleaning solution and a soft white cloth or sponge. Intense rubbing will make the stain worse, by making the soil particles permeate through the carpet fiber and get grounded within the weaves.

 

Always wipe your feet before entering the carpeted area

In order to minimize the mud and soil from coming in contact with the carpet, you must request your guests and family members to take off their shoes and wipe their feet before they enter the room. You may also place doormats at the entrance of your home, to reduce the amount of dirt being trekked into your house.

 

Vacuum your carpet regularly

No matter how diligently and proactively you try to protect your carpet from getting exposed to dirt, it will inevitably get dirty with environmental dust and will require frequent cleaning with a vacuum cleaner. Vacuum cleaning not only reduces the dullness of your carpetby getting rid of dust particles, but also minimizes allergens and dust mites in the atmosphere.

 

Use carpet protectors

Apart from regular vacuuming you must also make use of a good quality carpet protector spray that would minimize natural wear and tear on your carpet and preserve its sheen by reducing the dullness of its fibers. It is howeveradvisable to do a little test of your protectorspray on a small portion of your carpet before you apply it throughout your flooring, to ensure that it does not react with the fibers in anyway.

 

Contact professional cleaners

Nearly all carpet warranties instruct you to get your carpet cleaned by professionals at 18 month intervals. There are several methods that certified professional cleaners employ such as hot water extraction,chemical cleaning and thorough rinsing to remove harsh stains and buildups that could not be removed by regular methods.

 

Although, the care and maintenance of your carpet flooring might require considerable work, you will be amazed by its incredible payoff in the long term.

A house can be turned into a home once you add a few personal touches to the interior décor. As far as choosing the flooring for bedrooms is concerned, you can browse through the numerous options available in the market today. The most popular ones continue to be carpet and hardwood flooring. Both these flooring options have the ability to add an instant touch of warmth to a bedroom and make it look cozy, comfortable and welcoming.

Hardwood flooring

The reason why hardwood flooring continues to remain popular among homeowners is that it is extremely durable and lends a luxurious touch to your bedroom. Hardwood flooring is typically associated with richness, style and elegance and makes a space look warm almost instantly.

The maintenance for hardwood flooring isn’t over the top. Hence, if your bedroom has high traffic, this is a good flooring option since it is more resistant to wear and tear as compared to other flooring options.

Wooden flooring can also be cleaned quite easily and absorbs all kinds of smells quickly. In addition to this, if you suffer from allergies, hardwood flooring is great for your bedroom because it does not harbor allergens such as dust mites.

Carpet flooring

Carpets could easily stand out as statement pieces in your home space. If you’re looking to venture out and get something more interesting than traditional hardwood flooring for your bedroom, then carpets are a great option to consider. With this kind of flooring, you can get as creative as you would like to be. If your bedroom is designed in neutral shades, you can jazz it up by adding a brighter carpet. This contrast can make your bedroom look very stylish.

Another advantage of getting carpet flooring for your bedroom is that it can be installed quickly and is quite inexpensive in comparison to other floorings.

Carpets are also a good flooring to put in bedrooms for the simple reason that they can absorb sound. Hence, all loud noises coming from the TV or the children’s bedroom are minimized to a great extent. Of course, carpets are known for adding warmth and coziness to bedrooms and also offer additional thermal insulation.

As you can see, there is no right or wrong as far as choosing between hardwood flooring and carpet flooring is concerned. You simply need to consider your personal taste and requirements in order to make a choice!

If you’re a woodworker, or someone who receives tons of packages that use sawdust as a part of the packaging, and have a carpeted floor…well, you see where this is going don’t you?

Wood shavings - ranging from large curls of wood to microscopic dust—can be difficult to get out of carpeting.

Not only does it take hours to clean them up properly, but they also possess the seemingly magical ability to transport themselves to multiple surfaces, including your couch or your dining table chairs.

For a house-proud home owner, wood shavings in your carpet can be distressing, to say the very least.

So, what can be done about this problem?

Well, the first, and obvious solution is to try and keep wood shavings off your carpeting.

Lay out a thin cotton bedsheet over your carpet before you embark on a woodworking project. Turn off any fans and make sure no breeze disturbs the wood shavings that are not collecting on an easily-cleaned cotton sheet.

If you’re opening furniture or unpacking things and expect wood shavings, follow the same drill - cover carpeted areas with a bedsheet to gather any wood dust before you begin an opening mission.

Of course, it’s not always possible to prevent wood-shavings mishaps, and sometimes, they just happen.

When you have got wood shavings on your carpet, your first priority should be to make sure that it doesn’t spread everywhere. If you’re wearing socks, switch them out for crocs or plastic footwear that won’t drag wood shavings with them to the rest of the house.

If you, your family, or your pets are also covered with wood shavings, carefully spread a bedsheet on the carpet, stand on it, and shake off as much of the wood as possible.

The sheet helps you capture shavings and dispose of them, and getting dusted off now means that no wood shavings travel across your house. A lint roller can be especially useful in these situations.

Once you’ve contained the spread of wood shavings, it’s time to get out the vacuum.

Vacuuming your carpet is the only effective way to get wood shavings out properly. You could, and should, pick up or sweep away bigger pieces, but vacuuming is your best option.

Go over the carpet around four times with your vacuum set on high, paying more attention to the areas that have the most shavings. After you’re relatively certain you’ve taken care of your carpet, run your vacuum over other nearby surfaces that may have collected wood shavings, like a couch or other seating options.

While this will get most of the wood out, some might still be in there. However, you’ll hardly notice it. The best thing to do in this scenario is arrange to have your carpet cleaned once or twice a year. Regular cleaning by professionals can help thoroughly tidy up spots that you’ve missed, with very little effort on your part.

Don’t let wood shavings ruin carpets any more! If occasional wood shavings don’t scare you, and you want some beautiful carpeting in your house, check out the options available at Busenbark Flooring here.

If your room is small, choosing a wrong kind of flooring will make you feel that the walls are closing in on you. There are a number of decorating tricks you can adopt to make the room bigger than it actually is. These visual tricks start with selecting the right kind of carpet.

Carpet patterns

When you are in a small room, the busy patterns in the carpet need sufficient quantities of visual processing. The brain's consequent visual activity makes the room appear smaller. The good choice of a carpet is to choose one with a clear unobtrusive pattern. An example of these is the tone-on-tone carpeting. Such patterns have subtle shading methods which are not too busy and do not distract from the room's other features.

You can also select a cut-loop and structured grid pattern. This involves the selective cuts of a few of the loops without changing the color. Texture variation in carpeting has the result of visual interest which enhances the appearance of small spaces.

Enlarging a space

Subdued carpets are ideal for smaller rooms. These kinds of carpets blend seamlessly with the furnishings and the walls so that a feeling of larger space is created. Subdued carpets make an excellent choice for home offices and small dens which receive a large amount of foot traffic. If you have a tiny bedroom, go for a textured and plush carpet. These kinds of carpets are known in the trade as cut and pile and can be laid all over the house. Use identical carpeting to make the space look larger and coordinated too.

Carpeting colors

After you have selected the carpeting style for the concerned room, it is now time to select a color. Choose neutral or light colors for small rooms. Unlike dark colors, light colored carpets do not soak in light, but reflect it. This results in the appearance of bigger space. The carpet selected must match the wall covering or paint. This will make the room appear much bigger. Lighter shades of blue or green make for relaxing colors- making them perfect for bedrooms. When it comes to living rooms, choose neutral tones like sandstone, beige or light gray colors. They will make the space seem larger than it actually is.

Another trick to install carpets without seams. The seams cause eyes to divide space whereas the seamless carpeting makes the flooring surface to appear like one big space unit.

You can check out the various options in carpets at Busenbark Flooring.

Remodeling your home or building it from scratch can be exciting. You can change everything round and make it exactly the way you want. One of the most common additions people make to homes when remodeling is carpeting to their floors. Carpets give your home a plush lavish look, while helping keep your feet warm and preventing slippery floors. Carpeting is especially helpful if you have small kids or old people in the house. 


What should you look for when choosing a carpet?


It is, however, not easy when it comes to picking the right carpet for your home. There are many things to consider before you finalize what you want to carpet your home with. Here are a few things you should consider when choosing carpets and accessories for your home:

• Type of fiber used in weaving the carpet can make a huge difference to how it feels, how long it lasts and how long it stays looking good without fraying, fading or thinning in places. 
• Weight and style of the carpet will be determined by where in your home they are going to be used. 
• Picking the right padding for carpets is also determined by usage, along with your budget and the feel you are looking at. 
• Budget for carpeting should be decided before you go shopping. Have a range in mind and stick to it when choosing and buying carpets. 
• Allergies and other information is important as this will help you pick the right fibers and fabrics for your carpets at home. 

Different areas of the home require different carpets, so choose wisely if you wish to avoid continual expenses of repairing, replacing and maintaining carpets. Take into account things like kids at home, spillages, dust in the area, time required for maintenance and such other factors when choosing carpets based on the above basics. 


Maintaining a carpet and making it last longer 

• Get a vacuum cleaner if you do not have one. 
• Vacuum your carpet regularly. The frequency depends on the usage, dust, and other factors in different areas of your home. 
• Get professional cleaners to clean your carpets every once a while to get rid of tough stains, and dust that sticks despite vacuuming. 
• Avoid walking on the carpets wearing dirty shoes or with dirty feet. 
• Clean up spillages, dirt and other things from the carpet immediately to keep the carpet from trapping too much of dirt or getting spoiled quickly. 

Take a look at our Carpeting section to get ideas for carpeting your home. 

When it comes to flooring, very few options can rival the soft and comfortable feeling that a carpet provides. Carpets manage to make your house look luxurious and cozy at the same time. Added to that, carpet is also easy to install, cost-effective, fairly easy to maintain and versatile. Plus, it's great for sound insulation.