From the Floors Up

Entertaining Design

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iStock_000007027728XSmallThe difference between entertaining and entertaining well is taking a bit of time to include design concepts in your party plans. By thinking about how your space looks and making some special design gestures for your party, you tell your guests that you value them.

Fresh flowers provide an easy and effective first step. Placed strategically around your home, flowers create a mood and a design theme.

These days adding fresh flowers cost less than the appetizers. Your local grocery or warehouse store offers a great selection at reasonable prices. Pick up one or two bouquets with the same flowers and colors – or even the same type of flower for a consistent look.

Many people get nervous about arranging flowers, but if you stay simple you can create a design-rich arrangement with nice lines in a few minutes. Let the flowers help you decide on your approach. Try different vase shapes and sizes and don’t be afraid to trim stems if you need to. This arrangement is both simple and cost effective. A couple of long stems added to a vase with oranges to hold them in place and you’re done.

Place flowers on the main table, a few side tables, and in the guest bathroom to create a sense of welcome for your guests and help turn your party into a well-designed event.

Tile Wainscoting – Reader Question

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Reader Question:

I was with a friend last night walking through their new house. They are getting ready to install the marble and stone in the bathrooms. They are doing stone wainscot on all walls and then on the floors. She asked me if she should use her baseboard at the bottom of the wall. Hmm. I thought. In doing a little research this morning I see in most bathrooms where there is wall tile and floor tile that no baseboard is used. Is there a right or wrong way?

Imogene – Denver, CO

Answer:

Great question! There is no right or wrong way, only personal preference and what’s needed for your particular situation. My advice would be to let stone floors meet stone walls and don’t introduce wood into an area that you could keep completely protected from water. If your friend wanted the look, she could do marble base and it would be a win win, but not necessary. Also, it would only slow down the  installation process by adding a trim contractor and a painter into the mix. Note how the picture here shows a clean and smooth transition from the stone wall to the stone floor. Adding base here would only be distracting.

Hope this helps! – Shannon

CARE Releases Annual Report, Diverts 311M lbs. of Carpet from Landfills

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CARE-honors-Shaw-sikorski-at-meeting-fullCARE Releases Annual Report, Diverts 311M lbs. of Carpet from Landfills

The CARE Board of Directors released its Annual Report that showed that in 2009, CARE members diverted more than 311 million pounds of post- consumer carpet from landfills. Of that amount, 246 million pounds – nearly 80 percent of the total – was recycled back into carpet and other consumer products. The industry also added 561 jobs directly linked to carpet recycling.

According to CARE Chairman Frank Hurd, the new jobs, plus a six percent increase in carpet diversion is especially heartening, given the state of the economy and its effects on the carpet industry.

“Before the last two years, you had to go back to 1975 and1976 to find two consecutive years of declining sales,” Hurd said, noting that, in 2008, carpet recycling experienced its first-ever decline in carpet diversion. “We are proud of the turnaround we experienced in 2009 and the return to year-over-year increases in both carpet diversion and recycling.”

Featured Designer: Beryn Hammil

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We’d like to introduce a new type of post you will be seeing on From the Floors Up – Featured Designers. After seeing the overwhelming popularity of design related posts, we thought you might like to learn what other designers across the country are doing and how they are helping people just like you. Our first featured designer is Beryn Hammil of Beryn Hammil Designs. She is a San Francisco Bay Area Interior Designer who is creating spaces people love coming home to every day.

This Pacific Heights apartment was devoid of any color or personality when Beryn’s client purchased it. To make this new space feel like home for her client, Beryn addressed his preference for traditional elegance by adding color, ornate traditional style architectural details, lots of fabric, and custom made furniture. To keep the feeling intimate, we used a soft “hand” with these strong colors.

Ornate, gold painted chair rail moulding above Lincrusta wallpaper created a wainscot effect on the walls. Then all the surfaces, including the ceiling, were faux painted. Old-world style window treatments used layers of fabric and trim to give the room the feeling of intimacy it needed. Complementary fabric was used on the chairs, and gleaming wax polish on the dining table added the finishing touch.
CLIENT ENDORSEMENT:
“Beryn listened carefully to what I wanted in my new home and got it exactly right. Her use of color and texture makes it feel like it?s been here for years even though it?s all new.”

To find out more about how Beryn can transform any house into a home, please call her at 415 924 5509, or visit her web site , Facebook or Twitter . For more examples: www.BerynHammil.com.

Surfaces 2010 Convention

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Next week starts this years Surfaces Flooring Convention in Las Vegas. Thousands of industry retailers, distributors, architects, designers, installers and builders and  manufacturers will come to SURFACES to see the latest trends in floor covering, including ME! Product categories include: carpet, tile, hardwood, vinyl, rugs, laminate, marble, stone, tools, sundries, anything that has to do with SURFACES!

So tell me what you want me to check out, learn about, scope out, take pictures of, locate or report on! I will be there from Monday until Thursday and what YOU want to know or see if what I am there to check out. Don’t be shy. I am always looking for the new, trendy, unique and environmentally friendly, but if there’s more that you are interested in – let me know!

I’ll be back next week to let you know what I discover.

– Shannon

From the Floors Up

From the Floors Up blog was created with the goal of providing a destination for consumers, designers and those interested in the flooring, design, and kitchen and bath industries. Here you’ll find, current, accurate and informative information that is always just a click away!

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