Changing the Color of Your Hardwood Floors

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Changing the Color of Your Hardwood Floors: A Complete Guide

Are you thinking about giving your home a fresh new look? Changing the color of your hardwood floors can dramatically transform your space without the need for a complete flooring replacement. At Classic Floor Designs in Washington, DC, we specialize in refinishing and staining hardwood floors to help you achieve the aesthetic you desire.

Why Change the Color of Your Hardwood Floors?

Hardwood floors are a timeless feature in any home, but their color can feel outdated or clash with your evolving style. Here are some reasons to consider changing your floor color:

  • Modernize Your Space: Darker stains can create a sleek, contemporary feel, while lighter tones brighten your room.
  • Match New Decor: Changing your floor’s color allows you to harmonize it with freshly painted walls or updated furniture.
  • Increase Home Value: Updated floors with modern finishes appeal to potential buyers, enhancing your home’s resale value.

How to Change the Color of Your Hardwood Floors

The process of changing your floor’s color involves several steps. Here’s what you can expect:

  1. Consultation and Color Selection: At Classic Floor Designs, we help you choose from a range of stains to find the perfect match for your style.
  2. Sanding: We remove the existing finish and any imperfections on your floor to prepare it for staining.
  3. Staining: After sanding, your selected stain is applied evenly across the floor to achieve the desired color.
  4. Sealing: Finally, a protective sealant is applied to ensure durability and longevity.

Popular Hardwood Floor Colors in Washington, DC

  • Natural Light Tones: Perfect for a Scandinavian or minimalist aesthetic.
  • Rich Dark Stains: Ideal for adding depth and elegance to traditional or modern spaces.
  • Gray Finishes: A trendy option that pairs well with neutral palettes.

Why Choose Classic Floor Designs?

With decades of experience, Classic Floor Designs is the premier choice for hardwood floor refinishing in Washington, DC. Our team uses state-of-the-art equipment and eco-friendly finishes to deliver impeccable results every time. We’re committed to helping you achieve the perfect look for your home.

Get Started Today

Changing the color of your hardwood floors is an investment in your home’s beauty and value. Contact Classic Floor Designs in Washington, DC, today for a consultation and let us bring your vision to life.

Kitchen Flooring Ideas

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Kitchen Flooring Ideas

When it comes to laying down flooring in your kitchen, your first instincts may be to prioritize design and color. However, make sure that you aren’t overlooking other important qualities such as durability and ease of care! Here are some of our favorite ideas for long-lasting, aesthetically pleasing kitchen flooring:

  • With new advances in wood manufacturing and sealants, wood still reigns supreme in the household. Hardwoods are easy to clean, hard to permanently damage, and bring a sense of tradition and warmth to any household.
  • Cork flooring. This option is slowly becoming more and more popular in the American household, and it’s easy to see why. It feels great underfoot due to its slight cushioning, it is easy to clean, and can be purchased in a wide variety of patterns and colors. Simply seal it to prevent water damage and your kitchen it ready to go.
  • Natural stone. It doesn’t get more durable than this timeless flooring choice: stone is very resilient and isn’t going to need replacing every time you drop a dish on it nor a full cleaning if you spill food or liquid upon it. Similar to hardwood, stone gives any space a older, antique look that so many people find appealing. The only cons are its cost and the fact that you’ll need a strong subfloor to be able to handle its weight.
  • Bamboo. This choice gives you all of the benefits of a traditional hardwood floor with the added bonus of being environmentally friendly, as it comes from a highly renewable source. It is naturally water-resistant and durable, making it a prime choice for any kitchen.
  • Vinyl. There isn’t much to not like about this flooring option: it’s budget-friendly, one of the easiest floors to maintain, and is soft to the foot. You may consider this option if you’re not looking to break the bank, you cook a lot, or if you simply want a floor that doesn’t require much more cleanup than a simple sweeping and mopping at the end of the day.

Waterproof Basement Flooring Options

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waterproof basement

If your home has a basement below ground level, or if you are planning on purchasing a home with one, then it’s important that you put some thought into potential flooding risks. Being the lowest level of your home, your basement is ground zero for water damage from plumbing problems or rainfall. Luckily for you, there are several different options that you can consider to help make the floors waterproof, ensuring that your foundation doesn’t get eaten away over time.

  • A simple concrete sealer is not only a quick and easy solution, but it has the added benefit of being cost-effective. Most of these sealers are acrylic liquids that will flow easily and fill up cracks without giving you too much trouble. We recommend that you clean your concrete floors before applying the sealer so that you maximize its adhesive properties.
  • Another cheap and easy solution to waterproof flooring is an epoxy paint or coating. Epoxy is a simple polymer resin that will provide waterproofing qualities to the surface it is applied to. You can also get epoxy in multiple colors to correctly match the look of the room. If you want to go the extra mile with epoxy, you can also choose to go with an epoxy coat and hardener rather than a simple paint. Epoxy coating is more expensive, but it provides you with a larger range of coloring options.
  • You can even go all-out and get Place N’ Go waterproof basement flooring. This flooring option is an easy-to-install covering that can be placed directly over top of any existing basement flooring. The covering using interlocking mechanisms, meaning that there is no need for adhesives or moisture barriers. All that you need to do is snap it all together and your basement floor is waterproof and ready to roll.

If you have any questions regarding waterproofing your basement, don’t hesitate to give our professional installers a call!

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Asbestos Floor Tiles: What You Should Know

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asbestos tiles

Asbestos flooring was a popular installation of choice up until the 1980s, with it being used most predominantly from the 1920 to the 1960s. Therefore, on many older models of home, it is still fairly common. Now, having asbestos tiles in your own home is no cause for alarm, but it definitely does pay to be able to identify and remove them if necessary. As is the case in many situations such as this, your number one choice is to have a professional remove them for you, but if you wish to take them out yourself, here’s how to do it safely.

Firstly, you need to know how to identify asbestos tiles. There are a few handy tips you can use:

  • If the building was made between 1920 and 1960, you have a higher chance of finding asbestos tiles. Take a look into your home’s history.
  • Asbestos tiles came in three sizes: 9”x9”, 12”x12”, and 18”x18”. Measure the tiles and see if they fall within this range.
  • Make sure that you handle disintegrating tiles with care. Intact tiles shouldn’t be an issue and can even be left in place if they are covered with other flooring materials.
  • Asphalt was a primary ingredient in asbestos tile manufacturing, and the oil from it can discolor floor tiles. If your tiles show discoloration, they might contain asbestos.

If you have successfully identified asbestos tiles in your home, you have two options: cover them up or take them out. Concrete and rubber-backed carpeting is the way to go If you wish to cover them. If you want to pull them up, follow these steps:

  • Seal off the work area by closing doors, windows, and air vents.
  • Always wear a respirator, safety goggles, and thick clothing including boots.
  • Try to keep the floor space wet to minimize airborne asbestos particles.
  • Use either a floor scraper or a flat shovel to pry the tiles out of the floor.
  • Place the removed tiles in specially-made asbestos bags and make sure that the bag is properly sealed shut.
  • Upon completion, mop the area where you were working.
  • Dispose of the bags in an appropriate landfill. Keep in mind that not all landfills are equipped to handle asbestos, so check with them ahead of time before driving out there.

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Refinishing Hardwood Floors: DIY or Professional Help?

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The great things about hardwood floors: they’re pleasing to the eye and very durable, meaning that if they start getting worn out, they probably don’t need to be replaced. All you need to do is refinish them in order to make them “pop” once more.

Now, we say “all you need to do”, but that should be taken with a word of caution. While it is possible to refinish your floors by yourself, experience is key here. A professional will know how to handle the process from start to finish, whereas someone who is inexperienced may skip some steps or do them improperly. A poor refinish can devalue your home rather than improve it!

A pro can take anywhere from two to five days to complete the task, adding time for complex jobs or poor weather that interferes with drying times. They will typically do one of two things: 1) they will rebuff the finish, or 2) they will sand and finish the floor. The downside to hiring a professional is, of course, the cost. Either of these two jobs can cost you anywhere between $1 and $4 per square foot of floor that needs to be done.

If you don’t want to shell out the money for a pro and you are supremely confident in your DIY ability, here’s what you can do to save some cash.

First of all, make sure you’ve purchased some high-quality dust masks or respirators. You will also need eye and ear protection (this process is messy and loud!). You can seal off doors and other rooms with plastic sheeting to prevent dust from escaping to other parts of the home.

If you’re going to buff the floor, you will need to rent a buffer and purchase about a gallon of floor finish. Make sure you test the buffer and the finish before committing to doing the whole area! Find a small, inconspicuous spot, buff out the old finish, then apply the new one. If it sticks, you’re in good shape.

If your intention is to sand and refinish the floor yourself, you’ll need to rent a drum sander and buy sandpaper, wood filler, and floor finish. We do not recommend using a drum sander unless you know what you’re doing with it, due to its tendency to gouge the floor if left in one spot for too long. Use progressively smaller grains of sandpaper as you go to get a nice, smooth surface.

Be smart about this process! We can’t emphasize enough that this is a job for somebody that at least has experience, if not formal job training. If you aren’t certain of your own ability, it is a lot cheaper to hire a pro than it is to have to redo everything after a mistake. Good luck!

-Kelly Dillon

Rearranging Furniture 101

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Occasionally, a given living space will need a change of some kind. Perhaps the walls need to be painted a different color, or those drapes need to come down and be replaced with blinds, or maybe all you need to do is rearrange things a little bit. Moving the furniture in a room can be a daunting task, but if done properly, it can make your space look new and exciting without having to spend money on paint or blinds.

The great thing about furniture rearrangement is that there is no set-in-stone rule for how it’s supposed to be done, so you can afford to be a little adventurous. There are only a few tips that you need to get started:

1) Find the focal point of the room and build around that. This is likely either a television or a fireplace. All you need to do is orient everything so that it draws the eyes towards that centerpiece.

2) Don’t place too many items in the room. This creates a cluttered, overloaded look and can appear uninviting. If a piece isn’t being used for comfort, utility, or storage space, consider moving it elsewhere.

3) Try to avoid placing too much along the walls of a room. This looks very stagnant and leaves a lot of open space in the middle of the area. Obviously, entertainment centers and couches can go on the perimeter, but try and break things up with some armchairs, a coffee table, or an ottoman.

4) Think about the function of the space and how you intend to use it. One of the key things you can do in any room, regardless of its intent, is to encourage conversation. For a living room, point two chairs at one another. For a kitchen, add some bar stools to the counter so you can talk while you cook.

5) Last but not least, take accurate measurements before you start going to town on this project. You don’t want to move your couch and then discover that it doesn’t fit where you wanted it to go! Try taping out the dimensions of your furniture to get a better idea of how everything fits together. Keep in mind that you’ll need walking room and space to pull out chairs.

-Kelly Dillon

Preventing Scratches in Hardwood Floors

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When you compare it to any other type of flooring material, hardwood is unfortunately the most susceptible to scratches from moving furniture such as chairs and tables. If you intend on keeping your hardwood floor for any considerable length of time, it’s important to keep it properly maintained and for potential damage to be minimized. Here are some simple solutions to prevent the majority of scratches in your flooring:

The first and most obvious solution is to just not move any furniture. This is likely for large fixtures like dining tables and heavy coffee tables. Pick out the spot where you want the table to go, place it there, and then don’t shift its position. Of course, there is always the possibility that someone will bump into the furniture at some point and leave scratches anyway, so keep that in mind. If you are worried that an accident will move the furniture, place some kind of barrier between the legs of it and the floor. Felt, cork, or rubber pads will protect your floor while allowing you to move the table if necessary. If you are confident that the furniture will not have to move, you can go so far as to add carpet tape or velcro to the bottom of the legs to secure it in place.

We understand that never moving a piece of furniture is unrealistic, especially if you have chairs that need to be pulled out and pushed back in. Luckily, the same rubber pads that can be used for tables can work just as well on a chair! You can also look into either adding wheels to the bottom of chairs and tables if they’re going to have to move, or buying furniture that already has wheels.

What if you have a piece of furniture that needs to move around the house, but you had never intended to move it after setting it down the first time? Not a problem: if you’re moving anything heavy across hardwood, you can prevent scratches in the floor by folding up a cotton towel and slipping it under the legs of the furniture. Just make sure that you have a helper to tip the furniture for you so that you don’t risk getting your fingers caught under something heavy!

– Kelly Dillon

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Unconventional Floor Options: Cork

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If you own a home, chances are that you have either carpet or hardwood flooring. To the layman, it might even seem as if these are the only two options available to any homeowner. At Classic Floor Designs, however, we offer a host of other choices, one of them being cork floors. What is a cork floor, and what is it good for?

Cork has a very soft and warm appearance that is pleasing to the eye. On top of that, it is incredibly soft and yields easily to the touch, making it feel great underneath your feet. This makes it a popular option for areas where people do a lot of standing, such as the kitchen. The softness also acts as a cushion if your family has children who like to play and are prone to falling down!

The interior of a cork consists largely of air-filled chambers that not only retain warmth, but noise as well. This makes cork a great insulator and will keep noise levels down (useful for upper floors). This can help save you precious money on energy bills!

The one cautionary word that we have on cork floors is that they aren’t the most durable option that is available. Pets can easily scratch it up, furniture and dropped objects can cause punctures and tears, and heavy set pieces will leave dents in it over time. However, cork is very easy to maintain and refinish if necessary. A correctly installed cork floor should only require a regular vacuuming to get rid of dust and small particles, and any spills that occur are easy to clean up since the cork is sealed on installation. Just like a hardwood floor, all that a cork floor needs for refinishing is a good sanding and either staining or resealing.

So what are your thoughts? Does a cork floor sound like something that you could use in your own home? Give Classic Floor Designs a call today to schedule a consultation!

-Kelly Dillon

 

Vacuuming 101

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Classic Floor Designs on Saturday, November 28th, 2015

Plug it in. Turn it on. Vacuuming is really that easy, right?

Well, there might be just a bit more finesse to this routine chore including how, exactly, to vacuum those tricky shag rugs and how to get the perfect W cutline.

Check out this video to give you the inside scoop and become a vacuuming pro!

Ceilings: The Fifth Wall

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Traditionally, homes come standard with white ceilings. Utilitarian. Nondescript. But consider for a moment that the surface of the ceiling is a wonderful place to make a statement. Doing something different, even drastic, allows for an opportunity to showcase your style in a completely new way.

  • Go bold with a dramatic color. Or punch it up just a notch with a pastel.
  • Paper it! Adding pattern to the ceiling brings it to a whole new level.
  • Invest in a mural: clouds, trees, geometrics… the sky is the limit!
  • Include gorgeous light fixtures. They feel like art on the ceiling!

While the floor grounds the room, give your guests the chance to be intrigued by looking up!

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