FloorTalk – for all the latest flooring fashions

By Annette M. Callari, ASID; CMG                                       

Sometimes combining two classics brings to life an amazing new entity.  Chocolate and peanut butter certainly hit the jackpot as a combo in the candy world.  Wine and cheese seemed to produce a great marriage of tastes as well.  And now I’m seeing home goods manufacturers pairing up to help you with your interior decorating.  It was inevitable that creative forces would merge their talents and products to give consumers a fresh new take on design.

That’s exactly why Robert Allen fabrics and Sherwin-Williams Paints teamed up.  The Robert Allen group is a leading designer and marketer of decorative fabrics to the design trade.  As of May of this year, they are featuring a suggested palette of wall colors (from Sherwin-Williams) to be included in their fabric collection sample books. What a brilliant, useful combination of products!  Individually, these companies are leaders in color trends.  Together, their collaboration on trends and colors is going to be a great asset for designers as well as consumers.  For professional designers, it’s a time saver to have two key elements of a potential design specified together.  For consumers, it takes some of the guesswork out of matching and coordinating color.  Designers make color coordination look like an easy task, but it takes a well-trained professional to put colors and patterns together successfully.  Having some of the color coordination already done is a great benefit.  You can have a sneak peek at these beautiful color and fabric combo cards at sherwin-williams.com/robertallen.

Wouldn’t it be nice if floor covering manufacturers would offer a similar collaboration on interior products?  Well they have.  Shaw/Tuftex and Anderson Hardwood have announced the launch of a novel dual-display system—the Color Coordinates display. The concept is brilliant as consumers are able to visualize carpet and hardwood floor coordinates side-by-side, all put together by professional designers. Choosing floor coverings is important.  It’s the foundation for your whole design and a big investment as well.  So many consumers put off new floor covering choices because they don’t want to make a mistake.  They can’t afford to make a mistake in this area, so sometimes years go by and they still haven’t gotten the new floor coverings they really want.  Well now some of the guesswork is taken out of the equation for you.  Remember, these carpet and hardwood combinations were put together by designers, so you know they work–not only in the showroom–but in your home!  Look for a Shaw Design Center Retailer in your area to see this very helpful selection system. 

Well that’s the scoop on some pretty interesting new “marriages”.  These intriguing collaborations are just the start of more to come.  Manufacturers want to showcase their products in the best way possible, and make coordination and selection easier for the consumer.  I believe we will see a multitude of product manufacturers merging their creative talents to bring the best of product and color harmonies directly to you in the future.

For more information on flooring visit the World Floor Covering Association’s Consumer Carpet & Flooring Guide.

By Steve Cooper

Exotic hardwood is a hot choice in flooring. With the amazing colors and rich natural character seen in so many species, it’s easy to see why. Choose carefully and you can have a floor that doesn’t look just like your neighbors’. In fact, it will wow them.

Names of the species are as exotic as the look. Jatoba, merbau, zebrawood, and ipe are a few. But these are sometimes sold under more American-friendly names. These coined names include Brazilian Cherry, Brazilian Maple, African Walnut, and Patagonian Pecan.

But a word of caution: How you approach shopping may impact your long-term satisfaction with the performance of the wood you choose. The look that you are so excited about at purchase time may not be as stable as you think.

A lot of cutting, shaping and finishing is done to transform wood into flooring, but the foundational material remains a product of nature. That’s why we love it! As a forest product, wood is subject to natural processes, including its response to humidity and sunlight.

When shopping, make certain that you see enough of a species to understand the variations in its look. Ask the seller if they guarantee that the samples you see are what your new flooring will look like as it matures. Will colors and textures remain as they are or will they change? The look of some exotics may change substantially as they darken over time. Better, name-brand manufacturers adjust for these variations. However, websites selling imported flooring on price alone may not. They may be purchasing products that go quickly from harvest to milling to finishing without letting the wood settle into what it will become. Even shipment via freight ships can have an impact on the quality of the product.

Beware the dot-coms that seem to offer too-good-to-be-true prices. There’s a reason they can do it. Their exotic flooring may change from the light and bright you thought you were getting—taking on a shadowy cast that later obscures original grain patterns and appealing colors.

For more information on flooring visit the World Floor Covering Association’s Consumer Carpet & Flooring Guide.