Infloormation

Do you find yourself walking into a store and realizing that you wish your home could reflect the same style and mood? It’s not hard to find ways to recreate that feeling.

If you could feel that way about this antique shop in Yangon, Myanmar, it’s possible to capture some of the highlights to add interest and personality to any room in your home.

Start with the flooring. This wood parquet floor has an antique flavor, but you can reach a similar feeling with today’s wood choices. Parquet is available, or you can choose a wide or varied plank style to create the mood with more traditional flooring. The honey tone of the wood finish matches today’s mid-tone warm flooring options.

This lush large Oriental rug brings the entire room together with additional touches of red carried throughout the space. The style matches the rest of the merchandise. Notice also the rich cream of the walls. This tone helps the dark carvings and furniture look even more intriguing. Adding the black screen to one side gives extra highlighting to a collection of older oil paintings.

If you start with a wood floor, then add a rug in an Oriental style and cream walls, you’re well on your way. Remember, unlike this antique shop, your home will do best with a balance of old and new. Choose a handful of your favorite Asian elements and fill in with comfortable furniture in coordinating colors and you will have a space that is both exotic and inviting.

This photo shows a rug, ottoman coffee table and a few accessories in a neutral sepia tone. It gives you the chance to see how texture affects the look of this arrangement.

Start with the warm wood floors. They provide just the right backdrop to the dramatic Oriental rug. The complex design and tonal shifts add much of this image’s interest. You can tell that this rug is authentic by looking at the fringe. In true Orientals, the fringe on one side is about twice as long as the fringe on the other. That’s because what you perceive as fringe is actually the trimmed ends of the rug weaving.

The smooth leather of the ottoman benefits from buttons that show off its texture and personality. On top a tray and folded throw add additional texture and tonal contrasts.

Now let’s look at the same arrangement in the context of the room and in color. Any surprises? Notice the unexpected color of the throw? Also, did you expect the rug to be in reds rather than blue and brown?

One interesting feature of the ottoman/rug area in context is the change in approach. Most of the rest of the space is black and white with a few splashes of red. However, there is just enough brown to bring everything together.

Color always has a tendency to distract from texture and tone. To get a better sense of both, head to a quilting shop and pick up a red plastic square used to look for tonal matches in fabric. You can do the same thing these two photos did – look at the same vignette in color and with the color removed.

Wood flooring never goes out of fashion. Wood is elegant, beautiful, and instills calmness into the room.  Wood flooring can be a very wise investment in the long run because of the low maintenance required. There are many options for shades, types of wood and colors to choose from, and therefore wood floors can be perfect for any room. Depending upon the room you are installing the flooring in, you can select a variety of different shades; for example, a darker shade for a more intense look in a formal setting, and lighter shades for casual, family rooms and kids room.

Although wood floors are suitable for every room, they still need to be kept moisture and water free. They are not very good against water and easily absorb moisture. Wood floors, therefore, are not advised for bathrooms. Some kinds of wood floors do have a high degree of moisture resistance; they still can’t be exposed to water for long periods.

Since wood flooring easily blends with almost every room décor, it is perfect to be installed in every room of your house. Wood exudes a sense of warmth and calmness. Also, it’s a delight to walk on because it does provide effective heat insulation, and stays warm during winters. It is perfect for installation in kitchens too.

Many wood flooring styles are in practice. For example, strip flooring makes your room look bigger, whereas Herringbone pattern does the opposite. For a more traditional and country look, opt for the plank flooring. All in all, it’s safe to say that there is a wood floor for every room.

Presently, some homeowners are giving more preference to slate tile over other flooring materials. There are various reasons for this preference of slate tile for the modern home and its increasing popularity. One of the major reasons is the fact that slate tiles blend every area of your home, whether it is the kitchen, the outdoor spaces or even the living room, it brings a natural look to the decor.

The beauty of slate is undeniable, however, it is important that you know that slate tile is also porous and needs maintenance. Another feature that makes people prefer this tile is the fact that it maintains a very natural look even after it has begun to age.

Slate is known for its rough and uneven surfaces, unlike the granite and smooth tile surfaces you are used to. This goes a long way to make it one of the safest flooring options, especially in the kitchen and bathroom since it is never slippery no matter how wet it might be.

Another great feature is the fact that a professional tile installer can easily replace any of the tiles that get damaged. This is not the case with many other types of tile.

You will also reap the benefit of variations in the shade and texture of slate tile. Slate lends itself to many styles and decors including modern, contemporary and country. Come by one of our convenient locations and choose the slate tile for your home and enjoy its many benefits.

If you want to update your outdoor living space and would like to take a more environmentally-responsible approach, there are many issues to consider. The good news is that when you look out for the environment, you also create a yard that is easier to take care of with fewer problems.

One option is choosing plants and trees native to your area. This protects your region from invasive species that can wreak havoc on local flora and fauna. The good news for you is that native plants will thrive with minimal care because they’ve survived in the wild.

One new area of concern involves the challenges of dealing with rainfall and drainage given the extent of hard surfaces in our neighborhoods. Streets, driveways, sidewalks and patios all limit rain’s access to the soil. The new solution to this does not require you to limit your outdoor living areas. Instead, the goal is to design permeability into your solid surfaces.

This photo of a spa in Bali shows one solution. The stones allow rain to drain through while the stepping stones provide a solid surface for walking. If you want more substantive solid areas one choice is to reverse the percentage of stones and pavers. If you use three or four foot square blocks of pavers, tile, stone or concrete interspersed with bands of stone or gravel, you provide places for the rainfall to reach the soil.

Another option that has been developed recently involves specially-developed permeable pavers and patio surfaces. These operate and appear the same as solid non-permeable surfaces, but allow rainfall to pass through them to the soil below. In addition to being better for the environment, you reduce the chance of drainage problems.

You can create an environmentally caring landscape that works well for you both functionally and in appearance. All it takes is factoring these issues into your plans. You’ll be glad you did.

Do you wish you could create a room with this much color? On the surface the process seems hard, but with a little work you can get a similar colorful and well-designed effect.

First, pay attention to the neutrals in the room. The flooring is ebony wood with the dark tones that allow colors to show off vividly. The brown wood table also plays as a neutral, as do the metallic gold chargers and white dishware. Even the gold curtain feels like a light neutral contrasting with the chairs’ colors.

Now, imagine those chairs in a room with much more color. They would lose their special place and blend in with the background, minimizing their color impact and making the room more confusing in its approach to color. Be sure to let your colors hold their own in the space.

Take a closer look at the chairs themselves. Although they display at least five colors, the two patterns actually carry the same colors within them. Also, the solid color chairs and pillows have hues pulled from the patterns. By staying with the exact same colors everything feels connected. Chances are the chairs on the other side of the table will also coordinate well.

This dining room invites people to sit down and enjoy a meal and an evening together. The comfortable chairs – each individual but complementing each other – and the cozy pillows let every guest feel special.

When you’re planning a room redo, don’t limit your vision to photos of home interiors. Sometimes a completely unrelated image can provide the inspiration for a beautiful room.

Take a look at this photo of a street in Greece. The brilliant white stucco and doors and railings in rich blues and turquoises are classic to Greece. One couple that wanted to keep their memories of the country alive decided to create a kitchen that captured the feeling of this street scene.

The grey stones that make up the street surface with the white concrete may seem hard to reproduce, but don’t assume flooring that matches your goals isn’t available in one way or another. The flooring chosen – a high-quality vinyl – actually mirrors the look of the travel photo. The smaller size stone pattern works better in a kitchen than a larger-scale because of the much smaller proportions of the room. This functional flooring still manages to recreate some of the feel of Greece.

The white clean-lined cabinets are a good choice to echo the brilliant stucco of the buildings, and the rich blues are almost a perfect match for the blues of doors and railings: the cobalt blue of the wall, the lighter blue of the countertops and the turquoise vase are visible in the photo of Greece also.

If you have a favorite image, vacation spot, or memory, how about creating a room that will remind you of it? This couple can recall their fond memories of a magical Mediterranean journey every time they walk into their kitchen!

Wouldn’t you love to be part of this scene, with the perfect day and the lovely table ready for congenial people to eat delicious food?

Let’s find a way to create this same inviting mood using a more practical approach. First, instead of straw, how about placing a sisal rug over tile or wood flooring in your home or patio? You can capture the same warmth as the straw in the photo. Any table can work for this. If your table feels too dark or formal, use a white or blue/white tablecloth to cover it.

Flowers make a real difference so be sure to choose blooms that coordinate with your table linens and dishes.  Add one more color, like the purple in the photo, to add interest and group them in casual arrangements on the table and around the room.

Search your home for fabrics and accessories that coordinate with your table. Do you have a blue and white ceramic chicken in your kitchen or a throw pillow in the guest room? Well, grab everything and use it to set the scene. With a little imagination you can recreate the feeling of this picnic without the problems that will develop if you’re all sitting in a field.

 Most people think of floor patterns such as medallions as something that was only possible in the past with custom craftspeople to create special features for homes.

Thanks to today’s sophisticated manufacturing capabilities, pre-cut medallions are available to add style and interest to your home.

Whether you are looking for a stone medallion such as the one in this photo or a wood medallion using pre-cut inlay patterns, your choices are better than ever before. Medallions work at the center of an entryway as an immediate statement when people enter your home. In your great room, a medallion can be used to transition from one area to another, as a feature in the center of the space, or in front of a fireplace or doorway to create a strong focal point.

The medallion in this photo is made of marble, which highlights the stone’s variations to create a brown, gold and ivory pattern that mimics a traditional compass. The lines are clean enough to enable this piece to work in either a traditional or modern setting. The simple rectangles of limestone get a new burst of personality from this addition.

If you want a medallion to play a more subtle role in your home, look for one with less contrast that coordinates well with your flooring choice. Take the time to determine just the right location and your decorating goal for the medallion to ensure that it makes a positive and inviting addition to your home.

For more medallion patterns and ideas, visit our showroom. We look forward to helping you make just the right choice for your home.