Designing With Hardwood Flooring

pic for designing with hardwood blog postHardwoods floors offer an unrivaled splendor that makes decorating with them seem a bit daunting. Hardwood flooring normally accounts for a significant portion of any decorating budget.  So, you will want to incorporate the flooring into the design while showcasing some of your existing pieces.  A few aspects should be considered when choosing a hardwood floor.

What is the design look that you picture for your room?  The species and finish of the hardwood you select can set the atmosphere for your whole room.  If you prefer a more traditional style for your space, oak and ash are popular picks.  Their grains are classic and timeless and they come in a variety of stains and finishes.  Those who gravitate toward modern or contemporary styles will appreciate the smooth, almost monochromatic look of maple or the unusual pattern of an exotic hardwood like tigerwood or sapele.  If your style is more cozy and rustic, you might want to consider hickory or cherry hardwoods.  Finally for a worldly approach to a space, walnut is a great wood-type to consider.  

Finish is the next aspect of design to consider.  Armstrong offers its hardwood floors in a huge array of finishes and stains.  If you prefer contrasts, then consider a dark finish on your floors with light furniture or vice versa.  You can also try to match your floors to other elements in your room.  For a modern look, think about an ultra-sleek, high gloss, dark stained floor.  Traditionalists will want rich colors like mahogany or honey hues.  Rustic lovers will be drawn towards antiqued or even hand-scraped hardwoods  in a variety of colors.

No matter what your design preferences, Armstrong has a selection of hardwood flooring that will match the look you are achieving.  

America’s Floor Source is a proud carrier of Armstrong products. Check out our Virtual Room Designer for more inspiration, browse hardwood products on our website, or come visit us at one of our Columbus locations.

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July 29, 2010 by America's Floor Source in Uncategorized

First Impressions: Creating an Entryway That Will WOW You!

foyer picDo you see your foyer as just a walkway? In reality, it sends a message about your home to every first-time visitor. With a little time and investment, you can take your entryway from a larger hall to an opportunity to create a strong first impression.

Take a few minutes to check out the medallions and listello options in our showroom. With the addition of a central medallion or inlaid border, a foyer becomes a little lovely room in itself. Add a small table or bench, and possibly a piece of art, and you’ve set the tone for the rest of your home.

If your home doesn’t have a defined foyer, you can still use flooring to set the opening apart. Consider a tile or stone rectangle set as you walk in your front door. If you are on a tight budget or want less of a break, how about a contrasting tile or stone incorporated into the entryway? Ask us for help to make your entryway dramatic and one to remember!

Experts estimate that people make decisions about other people based on first impressions within the first two seconds. What message does your home provide in that first two seconds? Step outside, open your door, and make sure your home sends the impression you want.

If you’re interested in shopping for new flooring for your foyer, visit our website or give us a call at 877.237.2317.

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July 22, 2010 by America's Floor Source in Ceramic/Porcelain
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America’s Floor Source – 10th Anniversary!

afs 10th anniversary ad
Whole House Installation for $10

In celebration of our 10th year of business, we are offering you the most amazing carpet installation deal in our history.

Whether you need carpet for one room or your entire home, we will install it for just $10.

Whether you buy the carpet from one of our showrooms or from our Mobile Floor Source in the comfort of your own home, we will install it for just $10.

Whether you buy our least or most expensive carpet, we will install it for just $10.

To learn more about our 10th Anniversary Sale click here. If you live in the Columbus area, come to one of our stores and celebrate with us! Or you can give us a call at 614.237.3181.

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July 8, 2010 by America's Floor Source in Promotion

How Often Should I Have My Carpets Professionally Cleaned?

Steam Carpet Cleaning ProcessEveryone knows that they need to have their carpets cleaned by a professional every once in a while but what exactly does “every once in a while” mean?

Well, it depends on who or what lives in your house and how many of these “whos” or “whats” are spending time on your carpet. The more kids and pets you have, the more cleanings your carpet will require. If you live in a household with members who have allergies or respiratory issues, then the necessity for cleanings is even greater. Then add smokers to the mix, and you might require cleanings every 3 to 6 months. In addition, most carpet manufacturers recommend having your carpet cleaned at least once a year in order for your warranty to remain valid.  

You should check out this handy chart from the Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration Certification (I.I.C.R.C.). They’re the official carpet and upholstery cleaning experts on this side of the universe. 

Traffic Soil Rating Carpet Owner/Maintainer Professional Carpet Cleaner/Restorer
Vacuuming Spot Cleaning Heavy-Use Area Cleaning Restorative Cleaning
Light Soil 1x per week Daily or as soon as spots are noticed Traffic areas every 12 to 18 months Every 2 years or per manufacturer warranty
Normal Soil
(families with children, elderly)		 1 to 2 x per week Daily or as soon as spots are noticed Traffic areas every
6 to 12 months		 Annually
Heavy Soil (families with pets, smoking) 2 to 4 x per week Daily or as soon as spots are noticed Traffic areas every
3 to 6 months		 Semi-annually (2x annually)
Extreme Conditions (large families, multiple pets) Daily Daily or as soon as spots are noticed Traffic lanes every
2 to 3 months		 Quarterly (4x annually)

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After reading this post, you’re probably feeling a bit self-conscious about your carpet. That’s okay, just contact the nearest certified IICRC cleaner in your area. As a matter of fact, we have an IICRC Master Cleaner on our payroll, and he knows EVERYTHING about carpet cleaning. If you live in Columbus, Ohio, schedule a cleaning with us by calling 614.237.3181.

*Chart provided by the IICRC

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July 1, 2010 by America's Floor Source in Care and Maintenance, Carpet, Uncategorized, Warranty/Maintenance
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Rubber Flooring – Flooring of the Future

AE Playroom (2)I’m sure when you’re contemplating purchasing new flooring for your home, rubber probably is not one of the first types to come to mind. Rubber flooring reminds most people of gyms or health care institutions. However, you may be surprised to know that rubber flooring is becoming an increasingly popular residential flooring option.

 Why consider rubber flooring you ask? Well, it has its fair share of benefits.

 Rubber floors are:

  • Durable
  • Easy to clean
  • Flexible and comfortable – Great for children and elderly adults as they can minimize injuries as well as joint aches and pains
  • Sound absorbent
  • Slip resistant
  • Resistant to mold, fungi and bacteria
  • Fire retardant
  • Safe for people with allergies (hypoallergenic)
  • Environmentally friendly and recyclable

 They also come in a variety of colors and patterns, and solid -colored, speckled, and marbleized floors are popping up in homes all over the country. 

 Where should you install it? Rubber floors are most commonly installed in play rooms, garages, home gyms, kitchens, bathrooms, and laundry rooms, but they can work just about anywhere. They can add a little extra flair to your living space.

 Now, I must warn you. Rubber is not the cheapest flooring option, but its durability and long life will more than make up for the extra cost. 

 To learn more about rubber flooring check out FindAnyFloor or TheFlooringGuide. American Essentials is a great rubber flooring manufacturer, and we’re proud to sell their products. If you’d like to purchase American Essentials brand rubber flooring for your home or explore any other flooring options, call us at 1.877.237.2317.

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June 24, 2010 by America's Floor Source in Green Flooring, Kitchen and Bath, Uncategorized
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How to Remove Charcoal Stains from Carpet

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Summer time is barbecue time. You’ve been firing up the grill most weekends, inviting your friends over, and cooking up tons of burgers, hot dogs, or anything else that’s “grillable”. Unfortunately, after everyone has headed home and you’ve started cleaning up the mess, you begin to notice some terrible stains in your carpet. And they’re not just any stains, they’re charcoal stains!

Well lucky for you, we’ve got some tips straight from Stainmaster on how to get rid of those icky spots on your carpet.

Charcoal –

1) Vacuum thoroughly to remove as much of the dry particles as possible. Use vacuum with beater bar and good suction.

2) Prepare a sudsy foam solution :

  1. Mix ¼ cup of liquid dish detergent in 1 cup of warm water.
  2. Using wisk or beater whip the solution until you’ve created a sudsy foam.
  3. Use only the foam on the carpet.
  4. It may be necessary to increase the amount of detergent to get enough suds to create a foam.

3) Pretest the sudsy foam on an inconspicuous spot of carpet to ensure it doesn’t discolor or damage the carpet.

4) Using only the foam, apply to surface of carpet where stain is.

5) Allow the cleaning solution to remain on the spill for at least five minutes. Do not rub foam into carpet.

6) Vacuum area thoroughly using a wet vacuum.

7) Rinse with cold water.

8) If you can still see the stain, repeat the process until stain is removed or it no longer transfers to the cloth.

9) Once the stain is removed, place layers of white paper towel on the site to absorb any moisture. Weight down the towels with a non-staining glass or ceramic object. You can let them sit overnight.

10) When the carpet is dry, vacuum to restore the texture.

11) If the stain remains, contact a professional cleaner.

For more carpet cleaning tips check out the Stainmaster Stain Removal Guide, or the Carpet Care and Maintenance section of our website.

If you need a professional cleaner to take care of the stain, you can call our Floor Care Service at 1.877.237.2317 or visit the Floor Care section of our website for more information.

Now, back to grilling!

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June 17, 2010 by America's Floor Source in Care and Maintenance, Carpet, Hints and Tips

Ideas for Choosing Colors

dining-room-(3)Ready to take a chance on color? Here are some tactics for increasing your likelihood of success.

One of the biggest challenges once you decide to add color to a room is choosing the colors. Your best resource for deciding what colors will work well is your closet. Take a look at your wardrobe and you will discover the colors you like best, and also look best wearing. Colors that work for your clothes can easily translate into colors that work in your space.

Start by choosing four or five pieces in your favorite colors. Bring them into the room you plan to decorate, and decide which ones work best in the space. Don’t be afraid to move them around the room and drape them on the furniture or over a picture. Out of your selections, one, two or even three colors may stand out.

The next step is putting together your color palette for the room. Run over to your closest paint store with those clothes items, and find paint chips that match your color choices. Now you don’t have to drag a sweater along when making color choices for furniture, drapes or accessories. Just tuck your chips into your purse or pocket and you’re ready to go.

Start by visiting your favorite furniture and accessory stores and see what you can discover that works with your colors. Don’t hesitate to choose darker or lighter versions. Be flexible. You may need to experiment to find the perfect combination of colors. At any point during this process, feel free to call on us for assistance!

Dropping color into a room feels risky, but by sticking with less expensive options such as accessories and paint, you can test out a more colorful palette without spending a lot of money or making decisions that are hard to change. Have fun with it – color makes a space shine!

Anxious to start decorating? If you’d like to mix and match wall colors, flooring, fixtures, etc. before you re-do your space, try our Virtual Room Designer. In addition, our in-house designers would also be more than happy to offer color coordination advice. Call us at 1.877.237.2317.

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June 10, 2010 by America's Floor Source in Hints and Tips

America’s Floor Source – Floor Care Services

Shag Rug with Carpet Cleaning Equipment

America’s Floor Source is proud to announce that it is now offering Floor Care Services to all customers.

When you invest in quality carpeting, you should also invest in taking proper care of it. Every day, soil is deposited into your carpet’s fibers, and over time it will build up and ruin the look and feel of your carpet. Dust mites and other allergens collect in your carpeting as well which can cause health problems for those with allergies.

Regular vacuuming and spot cleaning are great for everyday carpet maintenance, but these processes can only do so much to remove long-standing dirt and stains. Periodically, a thorough cleaning is necessary, and most carpet manufacturers recommend having your carpets cleaned by professionals in order for your warranty to remain valid. America’s Floor Source now offers professional carpet cleaning to restore your carpet and keep it looking, feeling, and smelling brand-new.

Our qualified experts use a hot water extraction method to lift and remove stains that are deeply embedded into your carpet’s fibers. This restorative deep cleaning process has been approved by the International Institute of Carpet and Rug Cleaning (I.I.C.R.C) and is most recommended by carpet manufacturers. In addition, all of our products are environmentally safe and approved for use around children, pets, and the elderly, and we only employ the most skilled and knowledgeable carpet cleaning technicians. In fact, our head technician holds the I.I.C.R.C Master Cleaner title, the highest level carpet cleaning certification.

If you want to clean more than just your carpets, we offer upholstery cleaning too!

To learn more about our Floor Care Services, call us at 1.877.237.2371 or visit our website.

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June 3, 2010 by America's Floor Source in Uncategorized

Carpet Care iPhone App

Spilled wine

A few weeks ago, if someone told me that iPhone would soon have an app that provides carpet care tips, I would’ve said they were crazy. Well now there is such an app, and Shaw Floors are the ones behind it.

The Shaw Floors Carpet Stain Center created by Interactive Technologies, Inc. is a carpet cleaning iPhone owner’s dream.  It gives you Shaw-approved step by step instructions on how to remove common household stains, and you can “search by stain” to quickly find the procedure you need. For unknown stains, you can hold your iPhone next to the affected area, and the application will tell you what the stain is and how to get rid of it.  With a list of techniques to handle 300 stains, you should definitely be able to find the stain removal information you need. Since its May 5th release, the app has received rave reviews by some very satisfied customers. Shaw Floors is the world’s leading carpet manufacturer today, so this app seems like an appropriate addition to its arsenal of carpet related tools. Just remember that these techniques are meant to be used on Shaw flooring products, so they might not work on every carpet.

If this sounds like the app for you, download it from iTunes and join Shaw in its on-going battle against carpet stains. If you don’t own an iPhone and are in need of some carpet care tips, America’s Floor Source can help. Check out our past blog posts or visit the Carpet Care and Maintenance section of our website. To purchase new carpet (and yes we carry Shaw), visit our website or call us at 1.877.237.2317.

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May 24, 2010 by America's Floor Source in Care and Maintenance, Carpet, Hints and Tips
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How to Remove Pet Stains from Hardwood Floors

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Imagine this: You’ve just bought an old fixer-upper with really atrocious carpeting (I’m talking 70’s purple shag), and when you pull up the carpet, you are delighted to find beautiful hardwood floors. However, in the living room, you’ve noticed some terrible pet stains in the wood, and you don’t know what to do. You’ve been having trouble sleeping at night just thinking about what your friends are going to say when they see (and maybe even smell) those stains. OH NO!!

Well, all is not lost. There are actually several different ways to mask pet stains in hardwood flooring.

For smaller stains:

Cover it up – If the stain takes up a small amount of space and doesn’t have a foul odor, you should consider covering it with a tasteful area rug or a piece of furniture. This is probably the cheapest way to resolve this problem. If it smells, search for a product that removes pet urine odors, then cover it up. Otherwise, you’re going to have some pretty stinky area rugs on your hands.

Partial Replacement- In instances where the stains are in a room that isn’t in plain view (a laundry room or closet), you can remove the flooring in that area and replace it with a wood (or another flooring product) that seems to be an appropriate match to what you currently have. Installing a patch of tile in the middle of your living room is not recommended – remember this works for rooms that are out of plain view.

 For larger stains:

Sand it – By sanding your floors, you can sometimes remove a good portion of the stain and significantly decrease the stain’s appearance. Sanding helps to improve the discoloration caused by years of soaking.

Stain it- No, I don’t mean get another pet and let them do some more damage. I’m talking about wood stains. Staining your floors a darker color can also help hide pet stains. However, if it can’t be sanded it away, staining usually won’t make much more of a difference.

Paint it – You could also paint your floors a darker color. Darker shades of brown can really help cover any discoloration or stains in the wood.

Full Replacement – If you can’t sand, stain, or paint away the stain, perhaps you should consider removing and replacing the flooring. When you want to replace your floor, America’s Floor Source is the place to go for your next flooring purchase. We have an extensive flooring inventory of hardwood, carpet, ceramic, stone, laminate, LVT and more. Stop by any of our locations and one of our qualified sales people will help you find the flooring you need. If you want to know more about hardwood flooring or any other flooring options, feel free to call us at 1-877-237-2317.

(Information provided by Hardwood Installer.com, http://www.hardwoodinstaller.com/hardwoodinstaller/repairs-remove-pet-stains.htm)

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May 13, 2010 by America's Floor Source in Care and Maintenance, Hardwood / Laminate, Hints and Tips
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