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Why We Love Laminate Flooring For The Kitchen

August 28, 2020 By creatingyourspace Leave a Comment

Laminate flooring is small slice of genius when it comes to kitchen flooring. Its best attributes are all ideal for a kitchen that is a busy central hub in the home. It is the space where adults, kids, guests, and pets all converge and inevitably make some kind of mess. Children pour milk into the cereal bowl too fast and splash it all over the floor. Pets dance around excitedly hoping for a treat and add a lot of wear to the floor in the process. Dinner party guests accidentally tip their appetizer plate and the sauce creeps underfoot.  If this sounds like your kitchen and you’re getting ready to remodel we recommend you take a serious look at a laminate flooring option. Why?

To begin with, modern laminate flooring is designed to resemble real wood or tile and the effect is convincing. So if the cost to replace carpet with hardwood is too high, laminate can offer a great faux wood flooring alternative. But using laminate doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice style and good taste. Next, a huge benefit of laminate is that it is very easy to clean. To care for it just be sure to quickly clean up any spills, sweep it regularly, and use a damp mop to maintain the luster of the surface. If you do this consistently, upkeep of the floor over time will be a piece of cake because laminate flooring is resistant to stains and scratches.

It happens to be exceptionally durable because of the way it is constructed. It is comprised of layers that achieve both strength and aesthetics. There is one detrimental substance that compromises the integrity of the flooring and that is dirt/sand. It is very abrasive and if it is on the floor for extended lengths of time it will scratch it.

Another benefit of laminate flooring is the ease with which it can be installed! It’s amazingly simple.  Both glue-free and glue options are available.

The last reason we’ll share, although there are certainly more, is the fact that there are so many options. Once you start exploring the details of this type of flooring you’ll find that it’s available in a wide variety of colors, textures, shapes, and finishes. All things considered, it’s an excellent choice for a household where function is the number one priority in the kitchen!

Leave us a comment if you have any questions about the process or how to get started with this amazing option for your home!

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Filed Under: Hardwood / Laminate Tagged With: laminate, laminate and kids, laminate and pets, laminate care, laminate flooring, laminate maintenance

Putting the Family in Family Room

May 31, 2013 By creatingyourspace Leave a Comment

7596084_SOne of the best ways to create family time is to create a family room that is warm and inviting for the entire family.  Furniture and flooring can go a long way to making the family room a place the entire family will want to hang out.

Starting on the floor, choose flooring that works for your family’s lifestyle.  Super high traffic areas like family rooms mean you’ll want a durable and stain resistant material. Given some activities like gaming and play in the family room mean sitting on the floor, you’ll want flooring that is also comfortable.  Stain-resistant carpet could be a good choice. So could wood floors or laminate flooring with the addition of an area rug in the seating area.  If you have pets, a wood or laminate floor might be the better choice than carpet.

Ample seating for watching movies, the big game or playing games is also key for a family friendly room. A mix of seating options is always a good idea. Sectional sofas or a pair of sofas in an L-shape creates a nice cozy arrangement for conversation and television watching. Portable seating like poufs, ottomans or stools can be moved around the room as needed, or stored out of the way.

Family photos on the walls and good storage to hide clutter are also good additions to a family room. Make the room inviting and you’ll find yourself and your family hanging out there more.

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Filed Under: Carpet, Hardwood / Laminate, Hints & Tips Tagged With: Carpet, couch, family, family game night, family hang out, family night, family room, family room floor options, family room flooring, family room furniture, flooring, floors, hardwood, high traffic rooms, inviting room, L-shaped sofa, laminate, living room, movie night, ottoman, pouf, sectional sofas, sectionals, sofa, stools

Wilsonart Gets 3rd Party Certification for Laminate

November 4, 2009 By creatingyourspace 1 Comment

Through the use of materials from well-managed forests and recycled sources, Wilsonart offers High Pressure Laminate (HPL) products manufactured in the USA that provide a responsible solution for green building projects. Now the company’s key products have been certified by Scientific Certification Systems (SCS), the global leader in third-party evaluation of environmental and sustainability claims.

Wilsonart enlisted SCS for certification services based on the requirements of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Chain of Custody standard (certification number SCS-COC-002415). FSC is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organization whose mission is to support environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial and economically viable management of the world’s forests. Wilsonart is the first HPL manufacturer to earn FSC chain of custody certification, ensuring that products marked with the recognizable FSC “checkmark and tree” ecologo were sourced from responsibly managed forests.

Because the majority of the company’s laminate business lies in the commercial sector, Wilsonart understands the importance of working with customers to achieve their necessary LEED qualification requirements. “This certification can contribute to our customers’ LEED Certified projects under MR Credit 7: Certified Wood and MR 4: Recycled Content,” said Rajesh Ramamurthy, Wilsonart’s Director of Sustainability.

Wilsonart can now provide FSC solutions for its customers who require it. Laminate applications include countertops and case goods (retail fixtures, cabinets, work surfaces, wainscoting, walls, doors, signage and partitions). “FSC certification allows Wilsonart(R) Laminate to compete with other FSC products such as wood/veneer and exotic wood species, along with the enhanced performance characteristics of laminate: durability, design flexibility and longevity,” said Ramamurthy. For more information on Wilsonart’s FSC solutions, contact your local Wilsonart representative.

For over eight years, Wilsonart’s research and development team has been driving increased quality standards into the recycled paper industry, incorporating it into the company’s products without compromising quality or performance.

SCS has acknowledged the company’s efforts by certifying that Wilsonart Laminate is comprised of 20% post-consumer waste paper for its wood fiber content. “This recognition assures our customers that our environmental labels are authentic and have been verified by a third party,” said Ramamurthy.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Municipal Waste Data shows that 33.9% of total waste generated in the U.S. is comprised of paper — a staggering 251 million tons per year.

This independent recognition is the latest indication of the laminate leader’s ongoing sustainability focus. Under the direction of Ramamurthy, appointed last year as Director of Sustainability, Wilsonart has worked closely with all aspects of the company’s business, from maintenance and manufacturing to marketing, to identify and monitor sustainability programs, many of which were already in place, and to develop a plan for continuous improvement in incorporating all aspects in Wilsonart’s products and processes.

In addition, 21 Wilsonart employees from multiple disciplines have earned LEED-CI Accredited Professional status, working closely with the design and architecture communities to integrate the company’s laminate products through highly evolved technical knowledge of United States Green Building Council (USGBC) specification standards.

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Filed Under: Hard Flooring, Hardwood / Laminate, News Tagged With: forest stewardsh, FSC, green laminate, laminate, wilsonart

Question 3 In the Series Top 10 Most Frequently Asked Questions About Flooring

October 9, 2009 By creatingyourspace Leave a Comment

Today we are answering the third question in the 1o part series: Top 10 Most Frequently Asked Questions About Flooring.

Question: Is laminate a good choice for homes with kids and pets?

Answer: Laminate flooring is an excellent choice for homes with children and pets. Laminate is a manufactured product that simulates the look of hardwood, ceramic tile, natural stone and many other types of flooring. In the past, laminate floors have been easy to spot, but today’s technology allows manufacturers to create realistic visuals and textures for an elegant and quality floor.

Laminate characteristics:

  • Extremely durable
  • Moisture resistant
  • Scratch resistant
  • Easy to maintain
  • Many color ranges to choose from (more grain and movement hide dirt!)
  • Less likely to fade in sunlight
  • Great impact and indentation resistance
  • Easy to replace if damaged or desired

Considerations:

  • Some styles can be slippery for children in sock feet – use area rugs here
  • Pet urine needs to be removed as quickly as possible
  • Walk off mats should be used at every entrance to minimize dirt that can scratch the floor
  • Using area rugs will reduce the noise of children playing

Do you have a home with children or pets where you have used laminate flooring? What have your experiences been?

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Filed Under: Hardwood / Laminate, Q & A Tagged With: children, kids, laminate, laminate flooring, pets

10 Most Frequently Asked Questions About Flooring

October 6, 2009 By creatingyourspace 2 Comments

I began writing today’s post to talk about dark floors and whether or not they make a room feel smaller and I began by saying that I get this question almost  as often as I get the question “What type of floors should I use?”. So, I thought it would be fun to do a series on the top 10 most frequently asked flooring questions. Below is a list of questions that we will be posting answers to over the next 2 weeks. Your job is to tell me if you’ve had this same question or if I didn’t include a question that you would like the answer to!

10 Most Frequently Asked Questions About Flooring and Design

1. Will dark floors make my room look smaller?

2. What type of floors should I use?

3. Is laminate a good choice for homes with kids and pets?

4. Will small tiles help a small room appear larger?

5. Can I pick out the pieces of travertine or slate that I want to use so that they all look like the sample?

6. Does carpet cushion really matter?

7.  How can I tell what my flooring will look like when it’s installed in my home?

8. Is carpet a bad choice if I have allergies?

9. Should I use the same floor that my mother/neighbor/best friend used because it sure looks good in her house?

10. Won’t it be cheaper if I buy my floors and install them myself?

There are dozens more questions out there and we will address those in future posts, but for now, enjoy learning the answers to those questions that you and many others have had!

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Filed Under: Q & A Tagged With: allergies, Carpet, floor FAQ, hardwood, laminate, tile, travertine, types of floors

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