Stacey Solomon shows why dyeing carpets is a bad idea

Celebrity Stacey Solomon demonstrated why it's not a good idea to dye a worn carpet.

Solomon uploaded images to Instagram of her spraying a carpet with dye, saying:

"Thought I'd try and dye my carpets. They're so gross and beyond repair... so I thought before I buy new carpet I'd give this a go for £30."

Fans of Solomon watched as she sprayed her carpet dark grey late at night before going to bed, with a promise of an update the next morning.

The next day, she showed a picture of the completed dyeing job. Unfortunately, the colour was uneven and patchy.

If a carpet looks worn, it could simply be dirty. A deep clean using a carpet cleaning machine or hiring a professional carpet cleaner could restore its appearance.

If the carpet is clean and still looks worn, dyeing is an option. Compared to the cost of a new carpet, dyeing is cheap. However, as Solomon discovered, many carpets don't absorb dye evenly.

If a carpet looks great when it’s dyed, this is not the end of potential problems. The dye may transfer to socks and pets’ paws, which can then stain other rooms in the home. After a while, the dye often fades or the carpet looks patchy.

Homes with worn carpets in North Wales, Chester and Wrexham should replace them with quality carpets that will last a long time. If you want your rooms to look their best, don't be tempted to dye old carpets.

What is an ideal flooring solution for home gyms?

If lockdown is making getting out and about for exercise a little tricky, you may have considered hiring or buying some equipment to set up your own gym at home. Establishing a room around your house as a dedicated place to keep fit can be ideal for many reasons. Having your exercise bike ready and waiting whenever you’re in the mood can be far easier than clearing a space each time you want to do a workout, while the privacy offered by a home gym of your very own can be welcome if you don’t want an audience while getting in shape.

The floor you choose for your home gym must tick a lot of boxes. It must be able to take the pressure of both your exercise equipment and your activities, while also providing a surface that can cope with moisture when you perspire. You’ll also want your gym floor to be easy to maintain and have an attractive appearance if you’re going to encourage yourself to keep exercising.

To this end, the best option by far is a vinyl floor, and in the following sections, we’ll explore the merits of this option and why many owners of home gyms across the UK consider it a perfect choice.

Taking the strain

If you’re going to install heavier pieces of fitness equipment in your home gym, vinyl can provide staunch support. Incredibly durable, vinyl can cope with the weight of cross trainers and stationary bikes, although you should always rotate where equipment is placed to avoid excessive wear in one spot. For extra shock absorption and comfort during floor exercises, adding some underlay is also a wise idea.

High-quality vinyl flooring has been known to live well beyond its expected lifespan of 20 years, making it a sound investment for your new gym.

A wide array of styles

Exceptionally versatile, both vinyl and luxury vinyl tiles (LVT) are readily available in an unbeatable assortment of colours, shapes and styles, ensuring you can find a floor to suit your personal tastes with ease. Whether you’d like to recreate a traditional wooden gym floor with LVTs designed to resemble natural boards, or you want bright colours that really pop for a contemporary look, you can find an extensive array of options on offer.

Easy to clean

Vinyl is entirely waterproof, making it perfect for when you work up a sweat, unlike a hardwood option, which can suffer from warping when exposed to constant moisture over time. Extremely low maintenance, you can ensure your gym is always clean and ready for use, with only simple mopping required in between sessions for it to stay fresh.

To sum up, a vinyl floor will provide you with a stylish surface for your home gym that can handle your new fitness regime with ease. Far simpler to care for than carpet, this easily maintained option will ensure you have plenty of energy left for your exercises, making it a great choice to get your home gym up and running with.

Can you have a wooden floor with underfloor heating?

If you’ve had an underfloor heating system installed already or are planning to acquire one, you might be curious as to whether it’s compatible with the wood floor you’d like to fit. The combination of heat underfoot and the rich, warm appearance of natural wood may seem like a match made in heaven for those with an eye for interior design, but how do they match up in reality? In the next sections, we’ll discuss adding a wood floor to your home when you have an underfloor system installed already, or if are seeking to buy one soon.

A perfect fit

Welcome news to homeowners seeking a wooden floor and a heating system beneath it is that the two products are indeed an ideal match. Engineered wood floors are particularly well suited to underfloor heating systems. This type of wooden flooring is less expensive than a solid wood floor and comprises boards constructed using cheaper but robust wood, which are topped with a layer of finished hardwood.

Engineered wood provides a highly stable flooring solution. The strong layers beneath the hardwood surface can effectively contract and expand in line with the underfloor heating system’s changing temperatures, ensuring no unwanted buckling or displacement occurs.

Advantages of an engineered floor

As mentioned previously, engineered wooden boards present the same natural warmth of a solid wood floor at a fraction of the cost. However, they are also incredibly hardwearing and can offer a more luxury look and feel than laminate and vinyl, which can also impersonate real wood.

Engineered wood can be a suitable solution when you want a cohesive look for the interior design of your home, as it can be used on any level of a building. In contrast, hardwood floors are not an advisable option in basement levels of properties, as humidity levels can negatively impact them, causing damage.

Solid wood floor and underfloor heating

Don’t worry if you had your heart set on a solid wood floor for your home. If you want solid, timber-planked flooring, use a wood choice that has been kiln-dried and possesses a minimal moisture content of between six and nine percent.

Excessive moisture can be an enemy to wood flooring, as boards can become warped and change shape overtime. This can lead them to lift or be ill-fitting, ruining your floor’s appearance. While solid wood floors can be compatible with underfloor heating, the narrower the boards, the better, and installation in homes that require high levels of heat is not recommended. Always follow your wood floor supplier’s advice on acclimatising your boards prior to installation.

To sum up, you can definitely enjoy the warm appearance of a wood floor in your home combined with an underfloor heating system. However, for the best results, you might find that an engineered wooden floor can be an easier option, with more variety available than when choosing a solid timber solution. It will also cost far less, while still looking just like a real wood floor.

Las Vegas casino sells pieces of its famous British carpet

The El Cortez Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas impresses its visitors with its brightly coloured floral carpet on the casino floor, which was created by British carpet manufacturer Brintons. This replaced a previous Brintons carpet – the pieces of which are now being sold by the hotel.

The hotel is one of Las Vegas’ oldest, having been built in 1941. The first Brintons carpet was installed in 2007 and was famous for its so-called “kitsch” design. After being walked on by thousands of people every week, it was removed in 2020 and replaced by a new woven carpet from Brintons. Alike its predecessor, the new carpet has a large, colourful pattern of leaves and flowers, but it is much brighter.

The old carpet has been cut into 16-inch by 16-inch squares, which are now on sale in the hotel gift shop for $19, so that hotel visitors can own a piece of casino history.

The marketing manager of Brintons, Lisa Conway, told the Kidderminster Shuttle that:

"The longevity of the carpet in situ is a testament to the quality of both the design and the carpet itself, and we continue to take immense pride in our British wool made export.”

Conway added that the news provided a positive story during the hard times of the pandemic.

Large, vividly coloured floral patterns suit large spaces, but often, when choosing carpets in Chester and North Wales homes, homeowners opt for more subtle designs.

Patterned carpets to be popular again in 2021

According to Megan Slack, writing for the website Livingetc, 2021 is the year of the patterned carpet.

Many people are working from home during the coronavirus lockdown, and they are looking at ways of livening up their home during the cold months of winter, when outside it’s dreary and grey. Rooms are also becoming multi-purpose, functioning as office spaces, home bars, cinemas, dining areas and disco rooms.

Room decoration is a way to express personality and to cheer the household up with vibrant colours and patterns. This is one reason why many people are turning away from hard floors and are buying brightly coloured rugs and carpets.

Carpet design expert Claire Kimble told Livingetc that:

"Bringing colour and pattern within carpet and rugs into our homes uses the floor as a decorative platform that reflects feelings and who we are."

Carpet manufacturers have reported that sales of patterned carpets have risen by more than 10% compared to 2019, and they expect demand to grow more during 2021. There is a wide range of patterned carpets available. For a special, luxury carpet, a bespoke design can be created.

Many consumers are also wanting to buy British carpets, and they are choosing UK manufactured patterned wool carpets, which are a sustainable, natural product.

There is no shortage of patterned carpet options for Chester, Wrexham and North Wales rooms. Carpet retailers and fitters offer a variety of carpet patterns to suit all tastes and room styles.