Designer recommends bold carpets

Designer and artist Luke Edward Hall has recommended ditching bland carpets in favour of bold designs.

Hall says that bold patterned, wall-to-wall carpets make homes more fun, with his rule being to “go big”. For inspiration, Hall suggests looking at past designers, such as David Hick, who revolutionised flooring with geometric carpets that are bold and sharp with vibrant colours. Alternatively, carpets by the late French designer Madeleine Casting featured geometrics, leafy motifs and leopard prints.

Though many bold carpet designs from the past are no longer available, they can be viewed online for inspiration. Many bold designs are available from UK carpet manufacturers.

Hall says that bold-patterned wallpapers are common, but it’s now time to attend to floors. For people that are uncertain, he suggests starting with a small area, such as a dressing room, before carpeting the main living rooms. For those who don’t want to go the whole way with a bold pattern, he recommends considering a plain colour carpet in a vibrant shade.

Speaking to the Financial Times and describing a sitting room featured on Instagram that had a deep red carpet, Hall said:

“Its walls are white, the furniture cream and grey and black. On top of the red carpet is a large black circular rug. The effect is sublime.”

Whether homeowners install neutral or bold-patterned carpets in their North Wales or Chester homes, they should ensure that the quality is good, so that it will last for a long time, even in busy households.

What areas of the home suit luxury vinyl tiles?

It’s fair to say that vinyl flooring has come a long way since it was first manufactured as a product. While vinyl was discovered by a German chemist in the 1800s, its first use in flooring took place in the 1930s in Ohio, in the USA. In the 1950s and 60s, it became a popular and affordable floor solution, but the forerunner for today’s luxury vinyl tiles, or LVT for short, came in the 1970s, with the first ever vinyl plank flooring.

When professionally installed, modern LVT offers homeowners a wealth of benefits, from easy maintenance and affordability to a scratch and water-resistant surface. Its versatility involves it being able to recreate the look and feel of natural wood and stone, or to match any colour and pattern present for a cohesive look.

In the next sections, we’ll examine how LVT works with different living spaces around properties, providing guidance on its suitability as a flooring choice.

Living rooms

Used for recreation, living rooms typically enjoy low moisture levels, a stable temperature and minimal footfall. These conditions are exceptionally easy for LVT to cope with, making it an ideal option.

Even when central heating is used extensively in winter months, LVT is resistant to heat, ensuring it never buckles or warps in higher temperatures. This makes it a perfect partner for underfloor heating systems.

Kitchens

Today’s LVT flooring can resist leaks from washing machines and spills from sinks, providing sealed waterproof protection. With a durable surface, it’s also able to defend against dents and scratches when kitchen equipment falls to the floor. Finally, it’s exceptionally easy to clean. All these reasons allow LVT to provide a hardwearing and hygienic environment that still looks high-end.

Bedrooms

While many people prefer carpeting in the rooms they sleep in, LVT can appear like real wood or authentic stone, creating stylish bedroom designs. LVT is also an excellent solution when you suffer from dust allergies, as it’s easier to keep free of unwanted particles, offering a more restful sleep. Those seeking a little extra warmth underfoot can consider installing an underfloor heating system, or simply adding some soft rugs.

Bathrooms

Along with being impermeable to water splashed from sinks, showers and baths, LVT can be cleaned with water-based methods and products, making high levels of sanitation simple. It’s also offered in an impressive array of styles, colours, textures and tones, providing plenty of design possibilities.

Conservatories

The increased sunlight in conservatories can lead to sun fading on many floor types, but high-quality LVT is typically UV protected. Its waterproof quality also makes it suitable for watering plants and easy cleaning.

Basements

Vinyl flooring is perfect for basements, whether they are being used for storage or are converted into recreation areas. Basements experience a wide range of temperature changes, which can damage certain styles of flooring, however, LVT can easily cope with any fluctuations.

LVT is a versatile option suited to many rooms of the house, and it’s also perfect for outbuildings of all types, from sheds and greenhouses to outdoor gyms and home offices.

Clean carpets improve confidence in businesses

A recent Harris Poll has discovered that a well-maintained carpet influences how much confidence 83% of respondents have in an organisation.

A stained carpet that shows signs of wear and discolouration negatively impacts how people perceive an organisation. The importance of clean carpets in an establishment has increased since the pandemic, which has focused attention on hygiene. Clean carpets in hotels and restaurants make customers feel confident about the cleanliness of the kitchens and other facilities.

Over a third of the people who took part in the Harris Poll survey said that clean carpets in shops, offices, schools and care homes show that an organisation has a commitment to cleanliness.

High-quality carpets in Chester and North Wales premises will last a long time and will continue to look attractive, provided they are cleaned regularly. In commercial premises, daily vacuuming is recommended, with regular deep cleaning to remove stains and bacteria that gets trapped in the pile.

The Harris Poll was conducted for Whittaker, the organisation that owns the brand Smart Care, a commercial carpet cleaning system. According to CleanLink, a cleaning expert at Whittaker, Joe Bshero, recommended hiring a professional carpet cleaning service, and he added:

“A strategic carpet care program incorporates high-quality chemistry formulated for various types of stains and soils, as well as reliable equipment that keeps carpet looking its best.”

Carpets that are cleaned regularly are safe and hygienic, and therefore won’t spread the Covid-19 virus to staff and members of the public.

How can you protect laminate floors?

Able to appear like hardwood, but far more affordable and easier to install, laminate flooring has become an increasingly popular selection for both commercial and residential buildings. It’s worth noting, however, that along with resembling a wood floor, laminate also shares many of the same weaknesses.

To help homeowners and enterprises with laminate flooring meet these challenges head on, we’ve compiled some important points on how to keep this type of floor in tip-top condition.

What is laminate flooring?

A hybrid floor material, typical laminate is made using a wood board core, an image layer that looks like real wood and a protective wear layer. Invented in Sweden back in 1977 by a company called Perstorp, it was originally designed to put waste wood to good use to create a durable flooring solution. Today, numerous enterprises supply laminate, and it can be found in a wide variety of applications, like living areas, bedrooms, hallways and office receptions.

Protecting laminate flooring from water

Just like wooden floors, the number one enemy of laminate is water. Laminate floorboards contain medium-density fibreboard substrates that absorb water. This process can happen gradually, which means that water damage is not always immediately apparent. However, once the boards have soaked up the liquid, they will swell up, causing them to buckle and bend. Not only does this ruin the appearance of your floor, but it renders them susceptible to damage. Cracks and splinters can occur and raised corners will chip, making them look even worse.

To prevent this happening, first and foremost, tackle spills instantly. Ensure any standing water is quickly dried up to avoid damage. It is particularly critical that any spilled water is not allowed to enter between the joints. When you’re cleaning your floor, remember never to use water, but instead a dedicated cleaner designed for laminate flooring.

Among the best approaches to defend your flooring against water is adding a topcoat of polyurethane. However, this is often a job best left to the professionals, as it can be a tricky task. Most laminate has a resin layer that rejects any coating processes, so you must build up layers of protection gradually, adding a coat and letting it dry before applying another one.

After laminate is installed, the joints between planks should be sealed to stop unwanted moisture seeping in. Floor sealant is ideal, as it won’t glue gaps too tightly, which can make it impossible to remove them when repairs are necessary.

Protecting against scuffs and scratches

Add soft coverings to the feet of heavy furnishings like sofas and tables to prevent scratches on your floor when you move them. If you have pets, keep their claws clipped or well-worn with walks to avoid more marks. It’s also worth using a soft brush attachment on your vacuum cleaner to stop small particles being pushed into the laminate, causing unwanted scoring, and you could place mats and rug in areas that see more traffic.

Providing you follow these easy-to-remember rules, you can get the most value from an investment in laminate flooring and you can enjoy a lower maintenance and far more affordable solution than real wood.

What is the best season to replace home flooring?

While buying high-quality floor coverings can ensure you enjoy carpets, engineered boards, luxury vinyl tile (LVT) and other flooring types for longer, there will likely come a time when your flooring choice requires replacing. Hiring professionals to install new flooring can have numerous benefits. Not only do professional fittings tend to last longer and look better, but they also usually include the added service of removing and disposing of your old carpet or tiles, which can be both convenient and cost-effective.

However, whether you’re tackling the task of an installation yourself or hiring expert floor fitters, you’ll still want to schedule the work for the optimum time of year. For the most part, homeowners find that spring and autumn are among the most suitable times for home floor replacement. In the following sections, we’ll examine the top three reasons why this is so often the case.

Having doors open causes less discomfort

Whether you’re putting LVT in the kitchen or carpeting your living room, the process of having floor coverings fitted will involve the doors to your home being open for extended periods. Old coverings are carried out, and then new flooring solutions are brought in. Furthermore, if you use a professional team for the installation, they may be in and out of your home getting equipment and tools periodically.

In the summer months, this can result in a home full of freshly hatched insects, while in winter, it means your house will get incredibly cold. Spring and autumn provide more even temperatures for the floors to be fitted in, so when doors are open, you won’t be quite so uncomfortable.

Easier to ventilate your home

Similarly, selecting spring or autumn is also ideal when you want to get fresh air into your home. Different types of flooring demand different kinds of installation materials, and some of them can give of unpleasant odours that you’ll want to remove from your property. Floor adhesives, wood stains, sealers, carpet tape and adhesive removers can all give off scents you’ll want to alleviate via ventilation as soon as you can, and keeping the windows open in spring and autumn will be more pleasant.

Moderate humidity and temperatures

Finally, most kinds of flooring, especially those that involve wood, will require acclimatisation to an indoor environment prior to installation. They must take on the temperature and humidity level found inside, or problems can occur.

Wood can absorb moisture in humid temperatures, and if it isn’t acclimatised properly, it will dry out after it’s been installed. In the winter months with the heating on, and over the summer when temperatures are higher, homes can get very dry, causing the wood to shrink, crack and pull apart.

Autumn and spring offer the quickest acclimation times with the lowest risk of issues as homes are unlikely to have extreme temperatures and humidity levels. So, for best results, it can be a wise move to schedule in your flooring installations for the most opportune times of the year.