FloorTalk – for all the latest flooring fashions

My question to each of the vendors was “What is your most popular product or what are you seeing as current trends?”

Here’s what I found:

Cabinetry - Colors like cherry nutmeg with onyx or coffee glazes, truffle and chestnut

Hardwood - Hand distressed boards

Tile - Neutral tiles with decorative accents

Walls – large scale and oversized patterns and texture

New vs. Replacement vs. Refurbish – Instead of spending the money or the expense on the environment, people are looking to refurbish rather than replace

Colors - warm and rich, darker finishes especially with floors and cabinetry

Personalization – a lot of the vendors commented on people wanting something unique and different such as wall coatings and tile

It was refreshing to see all of the color and custom products currently on the market. The vendors were all very enthusiastic despite the state of the economy!

Living in Denver, this was my first opportunity to attend the Colorado Home Decorating and Remodeling Show. There I met Jozette and Michael Griffin who are professional wall art contractors for a company called iF Walls Could Talk. They have a whole new take on reduce, reuse and recycle. Their specialty is faux finishes for walls, cabinets, furniture, floors and countertops. Other services they offer are wall glazing and plastering, stenciling and European finishes, murals, metallic paint and patinas, faux tin ceiling tiles, consultations and training classes.

The goal is for you to be able to change products like cabinets, countertops, floors, etc in your home while not having to remove the existing product that will end up in a landfill or not able to be recycled. They use decorative concrete to accomplish this. This versatile medium can be applied over laminate, tile, subflooring, shower surrounds, garages, existing slab patios, ceramic sinks, sidewalks and more – interior or exterior!

The product is very durable yet can be customized to fit any design scheme.

If you have a product in your home that is tired, worn, dated or was just a poor choice from the start you can remedy the problem without the expense on the environment or your checkbook. At the same time, you can have a completely custom design that is unique to you and your home.

Another company at the show called Architectural Laser Designs also had something unique to offer. They offer the ability to take any image and place it onto ceramic tile. This application can be used on floors, walls, murals or whatever your desire is to create. They also offer custom mosaic designs, custom mosaic pool designs, custom mosaic blends from glass or porcelain. In addition to ceramic tile, they offer a series called Laser Glass to create a glass wallpaper with detailed designs repeated throughout. The designs etch in shades of gray with 20 background color choices on 4″ and 6″ tiles. You can choose designs from their collections or create something custom of your own. For another look, they offer natural stone etchings. Any picture, design or work of art can be etched into granite, marble or slate tiles. The can etch murals, borders, photos, custom artwork, logos or designs into your choice of natural stone.

At Safecoat®, protecting personal health has always been the companies first priority. That’s why for over 25 years they’ve been working to develop the safest, highest quality and least toxic paints and building products. Today AFM safecoat is the leading provider of environmentally responsible, sustainable and non-polluting paints, stains, wood finishes, sealers and related green building products.

The Safecoat® difference is their products don’t just advertise that they are “No VOC’s”, they take steps that go much further to protect your health. How do they do this?  In addition to meeting the highest standards of environmental responsibility, they also eliminate toxic ingredients such as solvents, heavy metals, chemical residuals, formaldehyde and other harmful preservatives. A “safe coat” is actually created for products from wood to metal to concrete, carpets, and much more to reduce toxic emissions into the air you breathe.

One of the products in the AFM Safecoat®  line is The Ayurveda Essesnce Color System.

The Ayurveda Essence color system consists of 108 carefully chosen colors in 3 groups of 36 creating a very distinctive pallet. To keep the format simple, they created three micro palettes that correspond to the three major constitutional types of East Indian medicine: vata, pitta, and kapha. The colors are separated energetically. That means whether the colors are hot or cold, warm or cool, calming or stimulating, uplifting or grounding, moist or dry, etc. For example, deeper, darker colors suggestive of moisture can create balance.

For each micro palette, the starting place on the color wheel was chosen for the strongest balancing effect: violet for the vata palette, green for the pitta palette, red for the kapha palette. Each palette is skewed accordingly to maximize balance. Vata is balanced by earthy colors that subdue hot and cold, pitta is balanced by cooling, complex colors, and kapha is balanced by stimulating and warming colors.

Click here to see examples of the color system. Its colors are striking and well balanced.

Safecoat® offers other products such as : paints and primers, stains and sealers, clear finishes, natural penetrating oil, natural oil wax finishes, natural thinners and cleaners and carpet care.

For a dealer in your area – click here.

It was only a matter of time before bamboo was used for other building materials than flooring. New to the market are bamboo cabinets and countertops.

Some features of bamboo countertops and cabinets:

• Bamboo is currently a popular choice due to its green properties and eco-friendliness
• Same durability as bamboo flooring – built to high standards of craftsmanship
• Cost effective
• Bamboo is a grass and not wood, it regenerates quickly
• Variety of colors offered
• Unique and original look your friends and neighbors are unlikely to have
• Offer more options for modern, contemporary and transitional styles
• Contributes to a healthier indoor air quality

Before you make a decision about what cabinets or countertops to choose, consider bamboo if it fits your design style. These can be a unique alternative that you can enjoy for years to come!

For more posts on bamboo – click here.

 Coventry, UK, Oct. 9, 2008–Resilient flooring manufacturer Amtico International has supplied flooring for the new James Bond movie Quantum of Solace, according to the Birmingham Post.
Eon Productions, the production company behind the Bond blockbusters, commissioned Amtico to provide flooring for sets used in the latest thriller, which goes on worldwide release next month.
The company was asked to provide 120 square meters of flooring from one of its stone-effect products to recreate the look of a marble floor for a scene filmed in an Italian art gallery.
The film’s supervising art director, Chris Lowe said: “The floor was pre-laid by a flooring contractor off site, then carried on set over the course of a day. The floor was struck for the main set on 007 stage and then re-laid for the re-shoots.
“I have to say, we noted at the time that we were very relieved that we chose to use Amtico flooring, as other flooring methods would never have lasted the duration of the shoot. It stood up remarkably well and we were delighted by the results.”