Deciding between different types of flooring for your home is a more involved process than it seems. There’s no one answer for every room. Imagine putting carpeting in the kitchen or bathroom, it wouldn’t be a good idea. If you are wondering which floor would be the best for most of your home, though, there are a few standouts.

Hardwood Floors: Hardwood flooring is a classic and timeless approach to home decor. They are elegant, simple, and nice to walk on. The truth is, they aren’t as multifaceted as they might seem. While hardwood works in the dining room and living room, it would be out of place in the bathroom and kitchen due to potential water damage. Having hardwood floors in the bedroom is also hit or miss, as most people want a soft surface to stand on when they wake up.

Vinyl Plank Floors: This type of flooring can look like anything you want, and it works in wet areas. In fact, vinyl is ideal for bathrooms and kitchens and looks decent enough in the living room. If you have a formal dining room, though, vinyl might be a touch too tacky for your tastes, in which case an area rug over top works beautifully!

Tile: As they say, tile never goes out of style. Ceramic tiles are just as classy as hardwood and they won’t be damaged by water. You could have tile in every room. The major issues are price and comfort. Tile is a bit cooler, so if you like being barefoot at home, it is not great for the living room or bedroom, unless area rugs are too be included.

Laminate: Laminate flooring is a plank style wood look-alike that can last for 15 to 25 years. Pressboard makes up the core, and laminate plastic covers a printed image of several types of wood. Many laminate floors look fantastically like hardwood. They go well in the living room, bedroom, and even the dining room. As many are manufactured now to be more water-resistant than hardwood, you could also put them in the kitchen. The price for laminate makes it easier to do so.

None of the above options are the last word in versatility. Wood or laminate could cover the most space in your home, but you would want to buy area rugs for the bedrooms. Likewise, vinyl and tile could cover utility rooms, but you might want something more comfortable to walk on. In the end, the choice is all yours!

Bedrooms are supposed to be a cozy place that allows you to wind down and prepare for a relaxing and rejuvenating night of sleep. One of the contributing factors for the most comfortable bedroom is having a soft and cushy carpet. It’s no wonder, then, that 44% of homeowners prefer to have carpet in their bedroom. But what makes carpet so comfortable anyway?

1. Padding
   Both the most underestimated and most important factor for making a carpet comfortable is the padding underneath. If you get a padding that’s too thin from your local flooring store, it won’t matter what type of carpet you buy, it will feel hard on your feet. Get thicker padding and you’ll feel like you’re walking on pillows.
2. Material
   Most carpets are made of a synthetic poly blend. To circumvent this issue, carpet manufacturers are making thinner and thinner strands of synthetic carpeting fabrics.
3. Cut
   Loop carpets are uncut, making them more durable and tightly bunched. This makes them more rugged, but less soft. Always look for cut carpeting when comfort is on your mind. Also, the thinner the strand of carpeting yarn, the softer the carpet.
4. Cleanliness
   Another underestimated factor for carpet comfort is how clean you keep it. Dust and dirt accumulate over time, adding a granular texture to carpets that aren’t regularly vacuumed, something your feet will notice more than you think.
5. Scent
   Smell leaves a very strong impression. Even if your carpet doesn’t smell bad, you might be making a negative scent association with your room. Burn incense and light candles in your room occasionally and the fabric of your carpet will absorb those lovely scents. This will form a comforting association with your room.

Now, none of this needs to be terribly expensive either. Instead of getting a custom carpet installed, you can go to your local flooring store and talk to them about carpet remnants. These are the leftover cuts of carpet that aren’t long enough to custom cut to the size of someone’s room. More often than not, though, you’ll be able to find a carpet remnant that fits your room easily.

Comfort is important, though, so if you need the softest carpeting and the most comfortable padding, contact us today and start exploring your options.

When choosing a flooring style for your kitchen, there are two options most people prefer. For 90% of homeowners redoing their kitchen, the choice is between tile and hardwood. Now, while hardwood is a much-revered flooring style, tile is often much more versatile and decorative (not to mention practical).

Looking to make the most of your kitchen’s tile design? Here are some tile flooring design ideas for your new and improved kitchen.

1. 1. Classic Kitchen
      If you like the classic big black and white alternating tile design, but are looking for a modern finish, try stone grey and off-white instead.

1. 1. Marble Subtleties
      Marble is a fantastic and classy tile material. Big blocks of uninterrupted white and grey marble that have small black marble tiles in the corner can create an imposingly brilliant flooring image.

1. 1. Accent Floor
      Create an artistic focal point for your floor by arranging tiles in such a way that beauty appears in tight, controlled bursts, drawing the eyes of your guests to the intricate styling below their feet.

1. 1. Mosaic Designs
      One type of accent floor uses tiles that are only a square inch in size. Mosaic tiles can be used to create complex pictures, swirling bursts of color, and geometric patterns. Speaking of which…

1. 1. Geometric Patterns
      Using a tile the right size for the room, arrange it so it forms complicated and symmetrical geometric shapes.

1. 1. Big Tiles
      If you have a huge kitchen and can’t possibly make an accent design large enough, use large tiles. This will make the room feel even more vast while providing a deceptively simple and easy flooring solution.

1. Bricks
   If you want a rustic and relaxed feeling in your kitchen, brick flooring will be right up your alley. Of course, brick isn’t the most practical flooring material for the 21st century. However, you can find great brick tiles that mimic the classic look of rust-colored or stone gray bricks without any of the drawbacks. Brick tiles can give even the most simple kitchen a striking upgrade.

Even though hardwood flooring is a fantastic way to express class and tasteful design preferences, it’s a high maintenance flooring option that’s often more trouble than it’s worth in a heavily trafficked room like the kitchen. It can also be really boring for individuals with a more creative mind. If having nearly endless design options is important to you, tile is definitely the way to go for kitchen flooring. Should any of these ideas captivate you, or if you have any interesting design ideas of your own, feel free to stop by our Arlington flooring store today and begin designing your personalized kitchen floor.

Having the right style of flooring in the right place is an often underestimated aspect of interior design. For every room in the house, there are specific qualities that lend the flooring space more to one flooring type than another. This guide will help you decide where you should install which types of flooring.

Kitchen

In your kitchen, you need a flooring that is utilitarian and stylish at the same time. Something stain and water resistant that also makes an aesthetic statement. There are really only two, maybe three options to choose from. The third option is hardwood flooring. Though they are certainly bespoke, water and scratches tend to damage hardwood fairly easily.

You are left with the decision between ceramic floor tiles and vinyl. Tile is more aesthetic, while vinyl shows marginally higher durability and much lower cost. The decision is really up to you, but always consider durability and aesthetics in the kitchen.

Dining Room

A formal dining room also only has two choices, but one is the clear winner. Marble or hardwood?

Marble commands presence, thoughts of affluence, and beautiful attention-grabbing imagery. It also costs an arm and a leg.

Hardwood isn’t cheap by any means, but it certainly costs less than marble. Besides, you can think of it as an investment. The National Wood Flooring Association has data that shows 99% of realtors believe homes with hardwood floors are easier to sell. Considering the traffic of the kitchen and the informality of other areas, hardwood flooring is an excellent investment for your dining room.

Living Room

This is the domain of carpeting. Living rooms are meant to be comfortable, cozy, and welcoming. No flooring says comfort like a soft carpet under your feet. As a side note, if your living room is attached to your dining room, you could install hardwood floors in both rooms, but get a plush area rug for your living room.

Choosing the right flooring for each room in your home can be tricky. The right decision can depend on the layout of your home, or on simple personal preference. The only way to know for sure is by visiting your local flooring store and seeing for yourself. Stop by our flooring store today to see our selection of carpet, hardwood, tiles, and more.

There are many reasons to choose carpets for your home flooring. Besides being the coziest flooring option, studies have shown that carpets reduce allergens. After carpet usage in Sweden dropped by 70%, allergic reactions in the population increased by 30%. Choosing a carpet is a different matter. There are many types to choose from, all with different properties better suited for different situations. Here is how to choose the softest flooring for your bedroom.

Softness Is King

When you begin your carpet choosing venture, you’ll likely encounter two terms early on. Cut Pile refers to a carpet where the fabric fibers are stuck into the base of the carpet and are cut at the top. This makes them stick out like thick hairs from the base of the carpet. Loop Pile refers to the yarn that is stuck through the base, then back down through the base to create a loop.

Cut Pile is more comfortable, and Loop Pile is more durable. For the bedroom, you will likely want the more comfortable option. To further improve comfort, examine the following two fabrics.

• Nylon is the most popular yarn fabric. It is fairly durable but will fade in the sunlight. It is also a conductor of static electricity.
• Polyester is less expensive than other fabrics, but also less durable than nylon. That said, it doesn’t fade in sunlight, and it can be quite soft when used for Cut Pile units.

A Cut Pile carpet is promising as far as comfort goes. The only way to find the carpet of your feets’ dreams, though, is to visit a few flooring stores and feel some fabrics.

Carpet Tile

Instead of getting big rolls of carpets and having it installed for you, carpet tiles are an inexpensive and easy alternative to paying hundreds in labor. All you do is clean off the floor they will be installed on, peel the protective layer off the back, then stick them to the floor. It’s that easy. If you want more padding under the carpet, however, you might want to consider a more traditional installation method.

Whatever carpet you decide to install, make sure you test it out at a flooring store. You might think that ultra soft is exactly what you want, but until you get a feel for it, you won’t know for sure. So come in today and find the right carpet for your bedroom renovation.

The following are what we feel are the ideal flooring options for every type of room in your home:

Entryway:

Any type of floor covering will work in this area, since most people wipe their feet off on a mat before entering the house. Hardwood’s still a good look for many homes, as well as ceramic tiles and LVT’s (Luxury Vinyl Tiles).

Kid’s Playroom:

Safety and sound issues are foremost in this room, and carpet emerges as the best choice. It cushions kids’ falls and takes the noise level down a notch. Some carpet is made from yarn that’s virtually nonabsorbent, which allows spills to be cleaned easily.

Bedroom:

The most private room in the house is still the domain of carpet, which dampens sound and feels softer underfoot than other floor coverings. The construction of the fiber itself dictates how it performs underfoot. Choosing plush pile versus Berber is a cosmetic choice. Someone older, who’s more tentative on their feet, wants a firm feel underneath, so a harder finished carpet is best to avoid slippage.

Dining Room:

In most cases, the dining room is attached to the kitchen, so it makes sense to simply extend the flooring from one room to the next, whether you choose wood flooring, tile or LVT.

Guest Bedroom:

While carpet is a popular choice for the bedroom, wood flooring, whether hardwood, engineered or LVT, can be a great alternative for a guest bedroom if you’re looking to add style. Choose a warm color and a defined texture to up the coziness factor. Add a premium underlayment for maximum sound reduction.

Library or Study:

A study or reading room should exude a sense of elegance and formal serenity. Wood floors in dark, rich colors help make that statement. If you’re on a budget, laminate or LVT is an affordable alternative to the real thing.

Living Room:

The flooring options for living rooms are many and should match the style of the house. Hardwood is timeless, and LVT, laminate and carpet are also good choices.

Bathroom:

Water splashed from the tub or shower and the high humidity in this room require flooring that won’t be affected by moisture. Laminates and hardwood floors, which absorb moisture, aren’t recommended, but ceramic tile, porcelain, or waterproof LVT is a good choice.

Media Room:

When watching television and movies or listening to music, the acoustics of a room are a factor. You don’t want to disturb others in adjoining rooms, and at the same time you want to enjoy hearing what you’re listening to. Carpet is a good choice where acoustics count. Avoid hardwood.

Basement and Below Grade:

Before installing any flooring option, make sure there are no moisture issues with the concrete slab. If there are, laminate and wood wouldn’t be good choices, because they tend to absorb water. Luxury vinyl tile, or LVT, is often used in basements because vinyl is unaffected by moisture and is low maintenance. Engineered wood or laminate flooring, above a moisture barrier, will also work. If moisture isn’t an issue, carpet will help keep the room warm.

Kitchen:

Wood flooring, tile, and waterproof LVT are popular choices for the kitchen, which may be affected by liquids hitting the floor during cooking.

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