Choosing the Perfect Flooring for Your Home
You walked into the hardware store, chose the most beautiful shade of burgundy carpet you had ever seen, paid for it, went to work the next day and came home to the most hideous shade of burgundy ever; firmly installed as the new carpet for your home.
This happens to hundreds of people who never fully understand the repercussions of an impulse buy for the flooring in their home. Don't be mistaken, though. This doesn't only happen with carpet. It can also happen with wood flooring, laminates and other flooring materials. That's why, when you decide to purchase new flooring for your home, it's imperative to go to the store only after you have done thorough preparation and have readied your home for the change.
- Take pictures - You should always take pictures of your current room. Unless you plan to buy all new furniture and artwork, along with painting the walls and changing your knick knacks, you should always have pictures with you when you're attempting to purchase flooring. You may think you know what your furniture looks like, but you really don't. this is also especially important if you want your furniture to go back to where it was before the carpet was laid down. You may not be able to remember where everything was and a picture can help you bring the balance back.
- Collect swatches - Carpet samples, laminate flooring samples and wood flooring samples are easy enough to get ahold of at hardware stores and flooring shops, so you should never purchase carpet without first taking a sample home to try out next to furniture. Pictures are great for helping you to narrow down your options, but there's nothing like actually seeing the texture against your permanent furniture.
- Draw pictures - If you intend to move your furniture around, you should draw pictures ahead of time depicting where you think you'd like the furniture to end up once the new flooring has been laid. Make one or two possible layouts-the reasoning for this is that not every layout with go with the carpet you choose and you don't want to be pushing furniture around forever.
- Coordinate a back up plan - If you know you're about to purchase a flooring that will not go immaculately well with your furniture; but you know you won't be getting rid of your furniture either, then you need to coordinate. The best way to do this is to purchase an area rug that has at least one major color that coordinates with everything else in the room as well as the carpet. This will help your area rug act as the mediator between your flooring and your furniture. Additionally, a modern area rug can help you cover up your flooring if you realize you made a horrendous mistake that you can't afford to fix.
Remember, flooring is an extremely important part of your home and is one of the most noticeable parts of your interior decorating. Be prepared and avoid the mistakes that you'll be regretting for the length of your warranty.