Designer Confessions: Torn Between Wood Floors

This may surprise you, but a lot of people struggle with choosing a wood floor color. Most men and women inherit the flooring that come with the houses they buy, so they aren’t confronted with this decision. And when working on remodels and improvements, I advise my clients to match any present wood floors to keep the flow and integrity of the home.

But what to do when you are starting from scratch? I am finding myself at this very position at precisely the same time I am helping a client choose a wood floor, too. I seriously contemplated painted white flooring, and as much as I want that look, I have a golden retriever I love, and if it’s between the dog and the flooring, the dog is going to win. So while my clients are debating between wide-plank natural white oak and reclaimed, slightly stained oak, I am debating between natural white oak herringbone flooring and possibly adding a little bit of stain to bring out the variant. I’m sure you are shocked, but my spouse and I can not seem to agree to this! Have a look at these instances, and let me know what you believe.

Boor Bridges Architecture

Unstained white oak plank: White bamboo flooring in their natural state make a space feel really calm and serene. There’s a casual and unfussy feel to this room that I respond to, and of course, the mild flooring make this space look lighter.

Rebekah Zaveloff | KitchenLab

I am leaning the path of unstained floors due to the light and airy feel they produce in a space. Since we are dealing with a smaller, urban home and light is at a premium, there’s a good argument for milder flooring.

Chelsea Atelier Architect, PC

White walnut flooring work good if you want to do black doors and windows.

Ken Levenson Architect P.C.

Unstained herringbone. That is what we want our flooring to look like someday… but it takes time, unless you can afford reclaimed white oak from the gate. I love the natural variation of the planks, but it’s still unstained and raw looking.

Elad Gonen

The thing about unstained light timber is that it may take on the colour of the clear coat. Plus it goes more gold toned when you utilize oil-based polyurethane or tung oil. Additionally, wood is a natural substance: It’s going to age, weather and change colour due to sunlight exposure and usage. These are all things to consider when choosing the colour of your floors. It’s not just about exactly what colour it is now, but what colour it will be in 5 or 10 decades.

Glenvale Kitchens

The wide-plank alternative: These white bamboo flooring almost seem to possess a white-wash or sun-bleached look. When choosing a floor, it’s important to take into account the other wood and brown tones throughout the home, whether furniture or architectural components. Here, the door in the back corner is a much warmer tone, and the backsplash is more of a walnut-brown colored marble. I would be interested to know what bar stools they ended up choosing for this kitchen as well!

Chelsea Atelier Architect, PC

Unstained white oak with gray: Organic white oak and gray are natural partners. This combination works well in a contemporary space or in a classic application where the gray is your wall color or painted cabinetry. Unstained white oak may have nearly ashy tone which complements the grays when used together.

Valerie pasquiou interiors + design, inc

Here’s a more traditional application of white walnut flooring mixed with gray trim. I love the choice of painting all the areas of the stair gray. I’ve a feeling this particular picture is going to help a client of mine make a determination.

Unstained white oak with black: When going with natural bamboo flooring, other decisions are critical as well — you have stair treads, risers, railings, doors and casings to take into account. I love the play of the black railing of this one. In my home, I am going to do black white and doors casing throughout, so it’s another argument for unstained white oak floors.

Whether you go for painted risers and stained treads or move with painted, the black handrail takes the staircase from sweet to a little bit edgy. The black newel posts make a strong statement also.

usona

Stained oak herringbone: I love the grayish tone of these white bamboo flooring.

Tip: Beware of choosing wood colors based on photographs only! The lighting of a photo can radically alter the real colour of a floor (of everything for that matter). Be sure to see a sample in person, and be sure to receive a present sample. In this picture, the left side of the room resembles the oak was stained a gray tone, but at the far back right corner, you can view the flooring are stained a brownish color.

Carson Poetzl, Inc..

I am thinking that these gorgeous chevron-pattern flooring are something aside from oak, but that colour can be achieved with blot. I love the way the brown isn’t too orange or gold, and the blot is mild enough to allow you to see the wood grain.

Michael A. Menn

That can be a richer, deeper blot, but it’s still translucent enough to reveal the wood grain and plank variant. If we end up staining our flooring, I don’t think we will go this gold… but I love how the stain brings out the herringbone pattern.

Glenn Gissler Design

Think about the furniture colors and wood tones when choosing a wood floor color. Ideally, you would like to create depth and contrast, and if everything is exactly the same colour, that will not happen.

Tip: If your dining table and floor is a comparable timber tone, area rugs can divide the space, or create a transition between floor color and table colour if need be.

McKay Flooring Ltd

Engineered wood flooring. Reclaimed natural pine can occasionally seem as though it’s stained when it’s not. All that gorgeous patina add immediate age and charm to any area. Who would want to put down an area rug on these gorgeous floors?

Tracery Interiors

Reclaimed and stained. So now I am feeling tortured. Clearly warm stained wood flooring work good with black windows and whitened casing, too. There’s no question that stained wood flooring have a warmer feel, whereas the natural unstained floors are a bit more austere and serene. I believe my split personality is having a tough time picking, and I am positive I am not alone!

Webber + Studio, Architects

These wide-plank reclaimed wood flooring are exactly what I’d die for — they’re warm, warm and rustic, without being overly rustic. They still work well in a contemporary area.

LKM Design

Reclaimed wood flooring, with that gorgeous variation from the blot, make this kitchen look like it’s been there forever. Who knows, maybe the flooring are original.

Searl Lamaster Howe Architects

When going with a stained wood floor, it’s essential to take into account the table wood tone a as well.

Tip: Don’t forget contrast. This table is much more brown than the flooring, but the white chairs break it up a bit. Wood chairs would have been too much.

Next: More ways to design with timber

What is your verdict? What flooring style would you use?

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9 TOP TRENDS IN BASEMENT DESIGN FOR 2018

In the past, homeowners didn’t use their basement a lot. But things have now started to change as more and more people are realizing how much they can do with this space after a couple of handyman South Bend indiana. Some of the popular things that homeowners do with this space is to make it an extra bedroom, use it for storage or a play area for kids.

As more homeowners look to revamp this space, here are the hottest 2018 trends of what you can do with your basement.

Open Concept

In this concept, walls and barriers are torn down in order to create an open space. If you have a small basement, then you will be able to maximize the space by going for this option. It’s also a great way to encourage community, as the different spaces freely flow into each other. This is a great idea if you want to create multi-purpose spaces in the basement.

Make It an Extension of Your Home

With handyman South Bend, this space can serve as an extra living space and can be an extension of your house instead of lying vacant. You can decorate it as the rest of your house or you can come up with a personal style that’s bold. This can increase the resale value of your house.

Home Theater Experience

Create your own media room where you can have an enclosed theater experience or an open space TV room. If you can afford it, add in all the accessories too to create a rich viewing experience. That is, a bar area, reclining seats, screen projector or even LED lighting.

In-Law Suite

If your in-laws tend to visit you a lot, you can create an extra bedroom for them that’s all en-suite. If you have a big space, you can even include a kitchenette, living room and extra bedrooms.

Walkout Basements

Your basement doesn’t have to be all dark and scary. If your basement is not fully sunk to the ground, think about adding doors and a window to it so you can allow more natural light in. You might need some building permits before doing handyman South Bend in.

Music Auditoriums

If you love music, transform this space into a music room. Soundproof it and you can spend many hours there practicing with your musical instruments. You can even invite friends and relatives over for jam sessions.

Sports Room

Create a sports room with multiple TV screens. This space will allow you to be as loud and rowdy as you want without disturbing others. You can even invite a large crowd over to enjoy the sporting action with you.

Mini Pub

Create your own brewery or mini-pub. Create the right ambiance, so that it feels like being in a real pub. Invite your friends over and enjoy with them.

Home Gym and Spa

Its large open space makes the basement a good idea for a home gym. You can take things even further and create a spa. You can set up as many machines as your space allows.

Design Dilemma: Nix Knotty Pine or Keep?

To keep your home looking and feeling refreshing, it is frequently necessary to enliven the room even if you’re satisfied with the decor. For Houzz consumer tinad, it is about creating a cohesive dining room and living room area, and so it is time to paint. Click here to find the rest of the question and join the dialogue.

Houzz Design Dilemmas

“My issue is what to do with the walnut — paint it or replace it,” starts tinad. “My husband wants to tear down it, but that may be expensive since all the molding would need to be replaced about windows, plate railing. It is a real old house so we could be opening a can of worms” What do you think, Houzzers? Click here to share your thoughts.

Houzz Design Dilemmas

“While I enjoy the crimson walls in my living space, I have been living with them a very long time and it is time for a change,” continues tinad.

Houzz Design Dilemmas

She’s considering an espresso color for fireplace, and a walnut color to replace the crimson walls. What paint colors do you think would do the job for her home?

Click this link to answer this design issue.

Houzz Design Dilemmas

Click here to see more Houzz design issues.

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Take the Harry Potter Design Quiz!

The epic Harry Potter adventure wraps up this weekend because countless fans take in the last movie. On one hand, I am ridiculously excited to see it. On the other, I almost do not need to … can it really be over?

Fortunately, we could lessen the withdrawal pangs by reliving the play of the wizarding world by seeing enthusiast sites, rereading the books and also taking our quiz. If you believe yourself the Muggle-born style expert on the Harry Potter series, then reveal your eye for detail by answering 7 questions (in honor of these 7 books, obviously) on a number of those not-so-obvious design components from the final publication.

harrypotter.warnerbros.com

Ready to begin? Answer the following questions as best you can (no cheating), and check your answers against those underneath the last two pictures. It’s worth getting off your high hippogriff and giving it a try:

harrypotter.warnerbros.com

1. Which are the official colors of all the four student homes at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?

2. Harry’s Aunt, Petunia Dursley, made the entire inside of their over-the-top house on Privet Drive. Judging from the look of her house, what’s Petunia Dursley’s favorite colour?

3. What’s the exterior of Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour’s cottage Made from?

harrypotter.warnerbros.com

4. Which will be the columns and columns in Gringotts Wizarding Bank made out of?

5. What architectural attribute hides the entrance to the Headmaster’s office in Hogwarts?

6. How many doors and windows does the Shrieking Shack have?

harrypotter.warnerbros.com

7. What type of decorative creatures roam about the grounds of Malfoy Manor?

Bonus query: What type of stones are in the hilt of Godric Gryffindor’s Sword?

Next: Check your answers

harrypotter.warnerbros.com

1. Slytherin’s colors are silver and green, Gryffindor’s are scarlet and gold, Hufflepuff’s are yellow and black, Ravenclaw’s are bronze and blue.

2. Pink! With plenty of lacey accents.

3. True to its title, Shell Cottage (located right on the beach) is coated with overlapping shells.

4. The impressive principal floor of Gringotts (although less impressive as the huge caverns beneath it) is lined with stately marble columns and a tasteful marble flooring.

5. The Headmaster’s workplace is slyly hidden behind a stone gargoyle in one of Hogwarts’s hallways.

6. Gotcha! Trick question. The Shrieking Shack really has no functioning doors or windows. The only entrance is through a tunnel under the Whomping Willow on Hogwarts’s grounds.

7. A sort of tribute to the white hair that appears to operate in the household, Malfoy Manor has several albino peacocks wandering the expansive estate.

harrypotter.warnerbros.com

Bonus query: Rubies — reddish stones in a gold hilt for the scarlet and gold colors of Gryffindor!

If you scored…
0-2: Time to study up, Muggle. Crabbe and Goyle could do better!
3-5: Not too bad, but it seems like you have got a little bit of Luna Lovegood in you — smart, but with your head in the clouds.
6-7: You are quite the Hermione Granger, are not you? Did you ace your N.E.W.T.s too?

All photographs courtesy of Warner Bros.. Pictures

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