Flooring for Living Room

Your living room is a high traffic area as it is where family and friends gather so the flooring in this room must be durable and comfortable. If you have small children you must consider safety first; stone or stained concrete is trendy but is it practical for young children who sit on the floor, in the winter the stone is cold. Your flooring for your living room should appeal to the needs of your family. Here are some floor options for living room.

Consider radiant heated floors in your living room. The radiant heated floors will provide you with comfortable heat without the dust that occurs with forced-air furnaces. Your family will be warm and comfortable during the winter months.

Another practical floor for the living room would be vinyl floor tiles. The tile is easy to install as most of them interlock and are peel and stick. Shop for a textured tile for your flooring and prevent your children from slipping and or falling. Vinyl tile is easy to keep clean; hot soapy water will enable you to wipe the stains off.

For high traffic living rooms you may want to consider carpet tiles. Carpet tiles are really easy to install as they interlock, plus if one tile is damaged or stained you can remove the tile and replace it with another. Carpet tiles are available in many designs and textures. The Berber tile is quite nice, I found one I liked at Lowes.com You can also shop for carpet tiles at Walmart.com Look for home improvement 18 x 18 carpet tile.  I like this tile because it is a good neutral and the cost for 16 tiles is reasonable.

Another flooring for your living room would be laminated wood. This floor type is good for high traffic rooms. The wood plank flooring interlocks and is easy to install. The laminated protects the wood floors from stains and scuff marks. Wood floors will add timeless beauty to your living room.

Wall to wall, carpeting is a good way to control the noise level in the living room. There are many types and textures of carpet, however the most durable carpet is the Berber. This carpet is woven that's soft to the touch and has a soft woolly texture; Berber carpet is a good choice for living rooms because this hard-wearing carpet will hold up and look good as new after years of foot, including paw traffic.

Radiant Heated Flooring Remodeling Tips

Radiant heated floors are steam pipes that are filled with hot water from your water heater. These electric coils are then used to heat the floors. The radiant heated floors will allow you and your family to feel the warmth when you step out of the shower or sit on the floor. Know that heat rises and these heated floors are a good way to keep your home warm.

I learned about heated floors while visiting friends in Colorado. Where they resided the winters were very cold however they heated their entire home with radiant heat in the flooring and walls. I assumed that I would be cold but will tell you the home was warm and cozy. So when it came time for our bathroom remodel my husband and I decided to install radiant flooring.

View this video to learn more about the benefits of radiant heat.

If you are interested in learning more about radiant flooring, then I would recommend that before you choose your  flooring look at the variety of products that are available for this type of floor. You can choose from Pergo laminated, ceramic, porcelain, stone, marble, granite, concrete and slate floors make good choices for  radiant heated floors because they are great conductors of heat.

Choose the flooring color and style that complements your home décor and also appeals to your needs. Heated flooring is a onetime installation and it is wise to choose a product that you will not grow tired of.

Know that shopping for flooring is like going to a candy store.  We all want what we cannot afford.  So before you shop for flooring it is best to know your budget for the remodel. Plus you will need to determine if you will be installing the heated flooring yourself or will you need to hire a contractor? If you are knowledgeable about this type of remodel then you may be able to install the heated floors otherwise I would recommend a contractor.

When it came time to update our bathroom my husband hired a contractor to install radiant heated concrete slaps that were then stained. We loved the look of the modern floors plus they are easy to maintain. I noticed that there is no dust buildup. Unlike forced air from a furnace that is a carrier for dust, radiant heated floors are cleaner, no dust bunnies.

Learn more about radiant heated flooring by reading this article EnergyGOV/ energy saving radiant heating 

Cosmetic Bathroom Remodeling Ideas

My husband showed me a bathroom set up that he liked in a magazine. It certainly was manly or masculine and I saw that the colors were different but did not mind. Then he showed me the modern black cabinetry that he liked along with gray, black and white pattern granite in the shower stall and I knew that his BIG idea was to gut the bathroom with a sledge hammer.

Here are some photographs of bathroom designs that appeal to many men including my husband. Note the style is modern and the colors are black, white and gray with nickle or shiny chrome accents, along with neutral stone floor.

I would prefer that he would find another way to express his personal style because gutting the bathroom to make it ultra modern, uncluttered with a streamline appearance bathroom would not work with our finances or the design of our southwest adobe home.

I decided to try and compromise with my husband.

Since he likes the colors; black, white and gray. I told him that I thought it would be better if he did a cosmetic remodeling of the bathroom rather then gutting it. I suggested that he make a list of what he wants and then I would do a design board to show him the cosmetic changes.

I shopped at home improvement stores to get ideas, took photographs of products I thought he would like and then presented the paint colors for the walls, hardware update for shower door, faucets, and towel brackets. There was enough money for a black double door cabinetry, plus a new sink with granite top. I shopped online at Wayfair.com and found some bath towels that would look really nice in husbands bathroom and also found bath accessories.

Lucky me my husband agreed that the cosmetic improvements will appeal to his needs and agrees that it is better to not put all of remodeling budget into one project.

Know that when it comes to a man it is best to draw out or do a design board to show them your design ideas. Many times when they see that men see the cosmetic remodel l that is all the need to put down the sledge hammer and forget about taking out an interior wall.

Remodeling Idea for Laundry Room

I want to create a space for my washer and drying that enable me to close the door and keep this area private. So I have been studying my pantry and think I have up with an idea that will make me happy.

Know that this space was never a pantry, it was at one time the landing to the steps to the basement but the owner of the house before me removed the steps and closed off this area. He turned into a storage closet, then my husband turned it into a pantry and now I am going to turn it into a laundry room.

Presently when you enter my home using the side door you have to come in through the mudroom, this is where I have my washer and dryer. This entrance means my laundry has to be perfect all the time and that everybody sees my hamper of dirty clothes. So the pantry would be ideal laundry room because there is enough space for a stacked washer and dryer and there is a door.

Once the washer and dryer is installed I then can redecorate the mudroom. This area would be more appealing if there were lovely oak cabinets on the wall with eye appealing décor on top.

I can install cabinets for storage and decorate the top of the cabinets with silk ivy plant and woven baskets, decorative jars, and farm accents. I think the new cabinets and the home decorations will open this area and the mudroom would be more welcoming to guests.

Here is a video that shares some good tips on how to organize your laundry room.