Hints & Tips

Why Buy Flooring from a Local Business

August 21, 2023 By Broadlume Leave a Comment

In today’s globalized marketplace, it’s easy to get caught up in the convenience of large retailers or online giants when considering home improvement projects. However, when it comes to flooring, there’s something uniquely beneficial about turning to your local businesses. Here’s why choosing a local flooring store might be the best decision you can make for your home and your community.

Personalized Service: When you walk into a local flooring store, there’s a good chance you’ll be greeted by someone who truly understands the product and the needs of the local community. They can offer personalized advice tailored to your situation, whether you’re looking for something that can withstand heavy foot traffic, a pet-friendly option, or just something that fits the local climate.
Quality Assurance: Local businesses often rely heavily on word-of-mouth and local reputation. This means they have a vested interest in ensuring that the products they sell are of high quality and that their installation services meet or exceed expectations.
Supporting the Local Economy: Buying from a local flooring store ensures that your money stays within the community. This has a multiplier effect; local businesses often source goods and services locally, meaning your purchase can help boost other local enterprises as well.
Unique and Diverse Options: Unlike large chains, which might stock the same products country-wide, local stores often carry unique or region-specific flooring options. This gives you a chance to find something different and perhaps better suited to your particular needs or aesthetic desires.
Expert Installations: Many local flooring stores also offer installation services. By leveraging these services, you’re getting experts who are familiar with the products they sell and can ensure a perfect fit for your home.
Building Community Relationships: Building a relationship with local businesses fosters a sense of community. Over time, the business will remember your preferences, offering a more personalized shopping experience with each subsequent visit.
Responsive Customer Service: If there’s ever an issue with your flooring, having bought it from a local store makes resolutions quicker and more straightforward. Instead of calling a national hotline and navigating through automated prompts, you can often speak directly to someone you’ve met and who understands your purchase history.
Local Knowledge: The climate, popular home designs, and common issues faced by homeowners might be specific to a region. Local flooring stores will have a deep understanding of these nuances and can guide you accordingly.
Strengthening the Fabric of the Community: When local businesses thrive, they contribute to local events, sports teams, charities, and schools. By supporting them, you’re indirectly helping to enrich the fabric of your community.

While it’s tempting to gravitate towards the sometimes lower prices or vast selection of big-box retailers, the value offered by local flooring businesses is truly unparalleled. From expert advice to strengthening your local economy, the benefits are both tangible and deeply fulfilling. So, the next time you consider redoing your floors, remember the local businesses that might just offer everything you didn’t know you needed.

Expert Tips for Choosing Your New Floors

July 31, 2022 By Broadlume Leave a Comment

The time has come and you are ready to replace the floors in your home. After a lot of thought, you are prepared to transform your home. Before you begin, we recommend giving serious consideration to the rooms that you are going to be updated. Below, we have shared a few tips to help you get started. Let’s take a look!

Inspiration

Determine what style you love the most. Do you lean towards traditional, contemporary, transitional, industrial, eclectic, or maybe another design theme? If you are unsure, you can read design magazines, browse Pinterest, scroll through online boards and blogs, and attend home shows for inspiration. Also, consider visiting new home models that are open to the public. This is a great way to see everything new and current in today’s market.

Lifestyle and Function

Lifestyle and function are considerations that are most often overlooked! There are many factors to consider after…is it pretty? Are there children and pets in the home? Do you spend a lot of time outside? Do you have a pool? Is your yard grass, natural, sand, rock, or mulched areas? Think about the outside debris that is tracked inside of your home. Are you a clean freak or a hit and miss housekeeper? Does anyone in the home suffer from allergies or asthma? Once you gathered answers to these lifestyle questions, make sure you choose a floor that will withstand and last according to your household. If you are unfamiliar with the choices that match each type of lifestyle, no need to worry! We have an expert sales staff ready to answer any and all of your design questions.

Lighting

Lighting, natural and artificial, affects everything in the home from flooring to paint to fabric and even furnishings! The best advice for choosing your flooring regarding lighting is to take samples home and lay them out on your floors. Take a look at how the sample looks in daylight and in the evening with interior lights. This will help with not only color, but with surface finish, and the texture of the floor. You will be surprised how much lighting can affect the overall look of your home!

We hope these tips help you make a more informed decision when it comes to your next flooring project. Remember to lean on the pros. Share information about your style and how you live. Then, shop and buy with confidence that you will have floors you will love for years to come.

Best Flooring Options for Dogs & Cats

December 30, 2021 By Broadlume Leave a Comment

If you’re a pet-owner, you’re probably already all too familiar with the wear and tear that our furry friends can cause to your home over time. Scratches, stains, odors and dirt are all common pet-caused hassles that can be especially damaging to floors.

That’s why many pet-owners, whether they’re building or remodeling a home, are cautious about what type of flooring they choose to install in the areas in which their pets live with them.

Before you begin your search, there are 4 common concerns that pet owners should consider when searching for flooring for their next project.

Scratch resistance: How well does the floor resist scratches and other marks, commonly caused by dogs’ nails as they walk around?
Damage resistance: Does the floor have a natural resistance to damage from things like pet urine and other accidents?
Traction & comfort: Does the surface of the floor allow pets to move, walk, run, sit and lay safely and comfortably?
Durability & ease of cleaning: How easy is it to regularly clean the floor and return it to its original look?

So, with all of that in mind, which types of flooring are best for dogs and other pets? You may be pleasantly surprised to learn that you have a lot of options when it comes to pet-friendly flooring.

Modern innovations have led to pet-focused technologies and warranties across the entire spectrum of flooring categories. We’ll dive into each one and give you our top product recommendations.

Pet-friendly carpet

Many people prefer soft, warm carpet in their bedrooms, but it’s probably not your first thought when you’re trying to pick flooring for a home with pets.

Carpet feels good for your pets to lie down, but it can be tough to clean and is prone to easy wear and tear. If you do opt for carpet, consider keeping it in low-traffic areas (such as bedrooms) where your pets don’t spend much time playing and running around.

Pet-friendly tile

Tile is well-suited to homes with pets in the family. Its hard surface and dense makeup make tile extremely durable and resistant to scratches from toenails.

Tile is also very easy to clean, as soil and pet hair sits on the surface. A routine sweeping, dusting or gentle vacuuming will pick up most solid debris. Wet mop as soon as spills or accidents occur, and you’ll be able to keep your tile looking and smelling as fresh and clean as the day you bought it.

The only significant drawback to having tile in a home with pets is that the surface is relatively cold and hard in comparison to most other types of flooring. You can solve this by laying down area rugs throughout your space, or a soft dog or cat bed or cushion.

Pet-friendly vinyl flooring

Luxury vinyl is arguably the ideal choice for pet-friendly flooring. The list of benefits is long. For example, vinyl flooring:

Is extremely affordable compared to other flooring options
Can be installed anywhere in the home, on, above or below grade
Offers great traction with realistic wood textures
Comes in a variety of beautiful, natural designs that mimic wood and tile
Is easy to clean and resistant to scratches and stains
Does not trap or release allergens into the air
Is comfortable and quiet underfoot

You may be considering LifeProof Vinyl Flooring. Be sure to educate yourself on the pros and cons before making your decision.

The main potential drawback to vinyl flooring is that it can be susceptible to water or other liquid damage. However, modern innovation has led to a number of waterproof vinyl options that are well-suited to homes with pets.

Pet-friendly laminate flooring

Laminate is similar to vinyl in many ways. It looks like hardwood, is easy to clean, and it resists water and scratches well.

You’ll want to familiarize yourself with the difference between vinyl plank vs. laminate before you start the decision making process.

One drawback to laminate are that it often has a slippery surface that isn’t great for soft paws. You can avoid this by choosing a laminate with a textured surface. These floors are beautiful and are especially good for active or older dogs.

Show Your Floors Some Love!

September 29, 2020 By Broadlume Leave a Comment

Spending time at home due to Covid and got some time on your hands? We’ve got some tips to help you show your floors some love. You’ll be surprised at what showing your floors some love can do for how you feel about your floors and the room they are in!

Give your floors a good clean.

Properly and thoroughly cleaning your floors can change the look and feel of an entire room. If you’ve got a stubborn stain that has become an eyesore, removing the stain can visually make the room feel completely different because the focus is no longer on the stain.

If the stain is too old to be removed and the room is a high traffic area or common place for stains, you might want to consider newer floors that are either lower maintenance or a different color that hides stains better.

Click here to see how to properly clean most any stain our of all types of flooring.

Rotate your area rugs.

Rotating your area rugs will help the rug wear and age evenly. Area rugs should be rotated annually unless they are in a heavy traffic area. In this case, they should be rotated twice a year. Rotating your area rugs will help hardwood floors that receive sunlight fade evenly. You’ll thank us later when it’s time to move or change the room and you’ve done the work to avoid uneven fading.

Add an area rug.

Don’t have an area rug? Adding an area rug can completely change the look of a room. Consider adding an area rug that introduces color to the room or a pattern that helps the room feel larger. Adding an area rug and a few decorative items can refresh a room and breathe new life into it!

Read this post on to get more ideas on decorating with area rugs.

Clear out the clutter from your door mats.

Dirt and other aggregates can collect in your doormats. Once enough dirt and debris collect in your mats, they no longer serve their purpose. The dirt and debris on top just gets carried into your home via your shoes as if you didn’t have one at all. If your doormats are work or too hard to clean, consider replacing them. Doormats have come a long way! There are doormats with cute and clever sayings on them as well as classy and decorative looks that are easy to maintain.

We hope these tips help you fall in love with your floors or your room again or at least give them a fresh feel!

Simple Guide to Cleaning Out Your Closet

September 14, 2020 By Broadlume Leave a Comment

Part 1

Women are notorious for closets that are bursting with apparel, but in most cases, they are only wearing about half of it on a regular basis. We’re all guilty of saying, “I don’t have anything to wear,” while staring at a closet chock-full of clothing. The problem lies, in part, with not knowing what needs to replaced or filled in.

If you were to get rid of all of the garments you don’t actually wear you’d have a much better idea of what you need to buy on your next shopping trip. Here’s a handy list of questions to help you clean out your closet fast, so you can create an immediate excuse for saying, “I simply must go shopping! I don’t have a thing to wear!” What woman doesn’t want to be able to say THAT in good conscience?

Does it fit? If it’s within one size either direction you can keep it because our weight fluctuates all of the time. For example, if you’re a size 8, and you have things you like and will wear when a size 6 or 10, go ahead and keep them. But get rid of anything that’s off size more than that.

Do you feel amazing in it? If you don’t feel amazing make room for something that makes you feel good about yourself.

Have you worn it within the last 12-18 months? A lot of organization experts recommend making this judgment based on just the past year. However, there are events and occasions that happen less frequently and they often require a specialty garment. So give yourself and 18-month window, but then be strict with getting rid of everything you haven’t worn for longer than that.

Does it have sentimental value? If so, but you don’t actually wear it you can still keep it. However, it now belongs in a box with your other keepsakes. Not clogging up your closet and brain when you’re trying to get dressed for the day.

Stay tuned for more closet tips in Part 2!

Why Buy Flooring from a Local Business