Household Color to Go with Hardwood

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Unless you’re going with a completely eclectic design, decorating your interior living space is all about adhering to a theme (and indeed, eclectic designs can be considered a theme in of themselves). Many times, a theme has a lot to do with color: the floors, the paintings, the furniture, and so on. So with that in mind, what are the best color options to match your hardwood flooring with your walls? In this article, we will talk about the easiest and best ways to make your living space really mesh between the walls and floors.

The great thing about wood, other than its elegance and its ease of maintenance, is that there is a wide abundance of colors to choose from. There is no such thing as a “standard” color of wood floor: you can pick from a wide variety of tree species, undertones, and stains. Indeed, there are so many options that it can even be overwhelming when trying to match a floor to a wall, but that’s what we’re here for!

The simplest thing you can do to coordinate color between the floor and wall is to pick a neutral tone of paint for the walls. Virtually any color of wood pairs nicely with a neutral wall (white is a very popular option). Even mixed wood floors will do well when put against a neutral background, allowing you a bit of creative freedom when it comes to installation. If you’re worried about the space not having enough personality, throw in some colorful furniture and/or rugs to make it vibrant.

For some people, however, neutral colors are boring. So many people have white or similarly-colored walls, so perhaps you want to break the mold and do something off-kilter. Perhaps you should consider choosing a wall shade comparable to your floorboards. If your wood has golden or reddish undertones going for it, paint your walls a warm color as a complement. Orange flooring pairs nicely with rust-colored or terracotta walls, and rich, red woods look gorgeous next to a wine or burgundy paint. Pair gray or ashen woods with cool colors like blue or green.

Now, what if you want to take it one step farther and go for an off-the-wall, bold look? That’s simple, as well: play up the contrast. Find out what shade of wood you have, look opposite the color wheel, and bam, there’s the color of your walls. As an example, if your wood has a warm color like orange or gold, paint the walls a cool blue or gray. Both surfaces end up popping when you go with such a paint scheme, so don’t be afraid to experiment!

What colors do you like on your walls?

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Flooring for Stairs

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We talk a lot about the various points in your house that are covered with flooring: the kitchen, living room, bedroom, bathroom, and so on. Have you ever thought about the flooring options that are available for your stairs, however? It isn’t something that is often covered, so without further ado, here are some suggestions for your staircases regarding safety and design.

First of all, let’s talk about that safety aspect. No one likes to think too hard about it, but the cold hard facts show that falls on stairs are one of the leading reasons that Americans have to visit emergency rooms. That is why it is critically important to consider the overall safety of any flooring option you decide to go with, especially if you have children or elderly people living in the home that may have to go up and down stairs.

Now let’s talk about the various types and styles of flooring that you have at your disposal. We’ll talk not only about the visuals, but the safety concerns as well. There are two very common options that homeowners will go with when flooring their staircases:

1) Hardwood flooring. Everybody loves the idea of hardwood: it’s elegant and lends a fine aesthetic to any household. It can be installed in any variety of patterns and colors, further modified by stains. It is easy to clean and hard to mess up, ensuring that it will last for a long time with a minimum of upkeep. On the con side of things, it is often slippery, especially when one is wearing socks. It is important to make sure that your stairs are not too tall when considering hardwood. For added safety, think about installing safety strips every couple of steps.

2) Carpeting. This is especially great if you can get it to match whatever carpet you have on the adjoining levels and adjacent rooms. It does require a bit more maintenance and cleaning than a floor such as hardwood, but it has the benefits of being quiet underfoot, feeling nice on the soles of your feet, and serving as a cushion in the event of a spill down the steps. Another note: you can combine carpeting over hard wood if your bottom or top floors do involve wood; a strip of wood on either side of carpeting will make sure that your stairs don’t look out of place!

For more information regarding other types of flooring such as tile, laminate, or cork, give us a call!

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Flooring 101: History of Floors, Pt. 2

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The last time we talked about flooring, we dug all the way back through human history to the days when a floor was little more than a simple patch of dirt. Over time, humans developed the technology and know-how to turn these dirt surfaces into something more, going from primitive straw-and-cow-dung cement to wood planks to heated stone floors within a few millennia. Carpets and rugs began to pop up around the known world in Asia and the Middle East, eventually being brought back to Europe and beyond. But where did we go from there?

Interestingly, a lot of the flooring options other than stone and hard wood came to us largely by accident. You likely either have or know someone who has linoleum flooring in their kitchen. This material was developed in England by a man named Frederick Walton in the mid-1800s. At the time, rubber floors had fallen out of favor and had been so for two centuries. Walton was a rubber manufacturer and noticed that linseed oil formed a flexible skin when it solidified, not unlike rubber. Once he perfected the process of manufacturing sheets of this skin, we had our first linoleum flooring.

Along with Walton’s linoleum, materials such as cork and asphalt became popular in tiled floors in the late 1800s and continued to be so until the early 20th century. It was at this time that an American inventor named Waldo Semon accidentally created what we now call PVC, or vinyl. He was attempting to bond metal with rubber in the year 1926 and in the process, invented PVC. At first, his material was used in shock absorbers, synthetic tires, and wire insulation. After the end of World War II, however, it became a popular flooring material that you can still buy and install to this day.

The truly remarkable thing about floors these days is that nobody is limited to a single type of floor, and indeed, I’m willing to bet that you have multiple materials in your own home. What kind(s) of flooring materials are you interested in or do you already own?

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Flooring 101: History of Floors, Pt. 1

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If you have a computer, possess an internet connection, and are reading this article right now, chances are very high that you have some type of flooring that isn’t just a bunch of dirt. You may have carpet, hardwood, tile, vinyl, linoleum, cork, or any combination of the above. It’s no surprise that we have an abundance of options that are available for use in our home flooring designs. However, this was not always the case. Where do floors even come from? Who had the idea to actually put floors down in their homes? In this article, we go way back to explore the foundations (pun intended) of flooring throughout world history.

In early human civilization, a floor was usually just the dirt contained within the walls and ceilings of a residence. The most advanced humans got for a good long while was to strew hay, straw, and cow dung across the surface. This would get packed down after use, solidifying into a cement-like material. In early European, some peasants would actually spread mint across these dirt floors to make the room smell more pleasant.

The ancient Egyptians are the first people we can pinpoint that used stone floors. It wasn’t long before they were using the stone not only as a practical flooring surface, but also an artistic medium. This is where we got such artwork as tiles and mosaics. Stone flooring continued into the modern day, with the Greeks using oblong stones and pebbles in their work and the Romans learning how to use stone floors to heat their living spaces by lighting fires under the rooms.

During the middle ages, we saw the rise of wooden flooring. To begin with, the planks were rough and asymmetrical. Over time, the planks were sanded and smoothed. Varnishes and stains were created to add to the floors’ longevity. Carpets and rugs began to spring up across the globe, with rugs being developed by the Romans and perfected by the Persians (modern-day Iran). Carpets can be traced back to the Chinese Sung Dynasty throughout the 10th to 13th centuries. These wonders found their way back to Europe, due in no small part to explorers such as Marco Polo’s adventures eastward.

Stay tuned for our next installment in the history of floors!

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