Refinishing Your New Home’s Hardwood Floors

May 8th, 2012 by jan

Whether you have bought yourself an older home or are looking to sell your older home with hardwood floors, it can be a great investment to take the time and refinish those floors to restore their natural beauty.

Hardwood floors are a desired feature in homes all across the country, but in older homes they are often in not very good condition. The wood floors often used in homes being built currently is often an engineered flooring constructed with layers of thin wood sandwiched together with an adhesive and finished with a hardy baked-on finish; these types of engineered floors tend to withstand quite a bit of abuse.

Older homes more often have a solid wood plank type of hardwood flooring that might not hold up as well as an engineered type of flooring but it can be refinished very successfully. The keys to refinishing a hardwood floor are dust containment and sanding.

Before you start, remove everything from the room that you’ll be working in and hang plastic sheets in the doorways to help keep the entire rest of your home from getting dusty. Rent a sander from a home improvement center that is appropriate for the task at hand. Starting with courser grits of sandpaper, sand your flooring to remove the old finish and improve the appearance of the wood. Talk to an expert at your local home improvement facility about the particular grits of sandpaper that your floor will require for best results. Progress from course sandpaper down to a fine paper to ensure a smooth luxurious finish to your floor.

After your floor is sanded, vacuum up the dust with a shop vac; your regular household vacuum can become clogged by the fine dust created by the sanding process. Wipe down the floor with a tack cloth to remove all traces of dust before adding the finish to ensure that it goes on satin smooth. Apply your chosen finish as directed on the product.

Once the finish is dry, buff the floor smooth and then vacuum and wipe down the floor again so that you’ll not just be sticking the dust to the floor with the next coat of finish. Some types of finish require two or three coats for best results.

Most types of finish will require you to let them cure for a few days before you start to use the area again; make sure that you let the finish have at least this long to harden completely so that your hard word isn’t ruined by furniture feet on the floor. A refinished hardwood floor can look beautiful for years to come if it’s treated properly and can be a great selling point to prospective buyers as well.

For professional Calgary real estate services and listings, visit CalgaryRealEstate.pro – the site is clean and informative, with details about every corner of Calgary including Country Hills Calgary real estate.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/interior-design-articles/refinishing-your-new-homes-hardwood-floors-1504659.html

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Bath Mats – What Material is Best?

May 7th, 2012 by jan

There are many reasons to choosing a teak bath mat over a traditional cloth or rubber bath mat. In fact, after looking over all of the advantages teak offers over other materials, it is hard to image why anyone would willing choose another option!

Appearance of Teak

For starters, teak is a beautiful hardwood that is pleasing to the eye and adds a touch of luxury to just about any bathroom. Teak offers a mild, subtle tone that blends and matches practically any decor. Just adding a teak bath mat to your bathroom can greatly improve the visual appeal and overall look.

While teak is now commonly used worldwide, it still carries its root influence of the southeastern Asian countries most commonly known to use teak for buildings and furniture. If your home or bathroom is centered around a southeast Asian design, teak is definitely the wood to go with when choosing a bath mat!

Resilience of Teak

Teak wood contains silica and natural oils that make it an obvious choice for use in exposed applications. It is naturally termite and pest proof, and has a very high natural resilience to water damage. Because of these features, teak is often seen in use as outdoor furniture or flooring.

These features are also a plus in bath mat applications. Because teak is to naturally resistant to water, you will never have to worry about the wood molding or rotting. It is also a plus not having to worry about attracting pests into your home.

Strength of Teak

Teak is a very dense hardwood that is often used in flooring applications. Since the wood itself is so dense and so resistant to natural decay, a teak bath mat has the potential to last you a lifetime. This factor alone makes the material worth the slightly higher investment required over a cloth bath mat.

The tight, dense grain of teak also offers a smooth, comfortable feel. The comfort and solidarity offered by teak is certainly a large step up from cloth, and is a comparable difference to the luxury offered by hardwood floors over carpet.

Consider the advantages, and you will clearly see that a teak bath mat is a solid, reliable choice.

M. Holland

Teak Bath Mat

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/interior-design-articles/bath-mats-what-material-is-best-1543131.html

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Cooking Can Be an Experience on Kitchen Worktops

May 2nd, 2012 by jan

Kitchen worktops are widely used today by maximum number of people for making their kitchen area look good and highly functional. It give us many choices with respect to worktops interiors, which are very helpful in designing and decorating according to our convenience. There are a variety of kitchen worktops available in the market which can entirely change the scenario of your old and unpleasant kitchen and gives you a warm and fresh feeling while cooking and working in the kitchen. Through celebrity chefs various cookery shows cooking has become interesting, availability of fresh produce and organic ingredients from all different cultures and an increased interest in the pleasures of cooking.

With the use of such innovative and eyecathing worktops, people want to amaze their friends when entertaining their kitchen area for the evening dinner, thats why every one wants a crisp, modern, comfortable kitchen which includes well designed lighting, shiny chrome, brushed aluminum, a multiple cooking utensils, wooden shelfs, granite flooring, stylish chimneys and stainless steel, clean, crisp and sleek lines, with luxurious stools and an incorporated dining area People want the kitchen area to be the hub of their house and it looks great as ever.

Vibrant selection of a perfect design of worktops for your kitchen is a perfect way in getting a elegent look for your kitchen. The choice of color, style and more importantly what material do you wish to use for your kitchen worktops that will fit within your budget. All these above factors are very useful in designing and decorating the kitchen with suitable, affordable and durable kitchen worktops. The best possible kitchen worktops nowadays are wodden which is geeting very much preference as it is back in fashion and are becoming increasingly popular amongst the users, for a various number of reasons like; Wooden worktops will never look outdated a out of fashion if you choose the right wood – walnut, oak and maple hardwoods that are always in demand. The seductive dark lines of the grain can give your kitchen that smooth finish and a delightful feeling to your friends and relatives. Costly granite or limestone Kitchen worktops are now not very much in fashion as more and more people are going for wooden worktops to give their kitchen a unique look.

The diverse quality of beauty which every one wants in their kitchen are easily accessible by the users from their nearest worktops accessory’s shops, the concept of designing and decorating the kitchen area are getting more and more advance. People are now a days are focusing not only in decotrating their kithchen area but also the other part of thier homes like living area, hall, dinning area with latest and trendy worktop, stones like; limestone, slate tiles and onyx tiles.

You can select from the new and trendy collection of the kitchen worktop and foolring stone in various on line shopping portals, and you also can research these portals before opting for any particular worktops and give your kitchen a customised look as per your style and flavour.

Jason Colling is a renowned writer who has written articles on various interior designing techniques related to floor decor. His articles focus on various uses of porcelain tiles, Kitchen worktops and Bathroom tiles.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/interior-design-articles/cooking-can-be-an-experience-on-kitchen-worktops-1588669.html

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Installing Bamboo Floors is a Tough Job

May 2nd, 2012 by jan

Bamboo flooring gives a different look to your home. It is now being preferred by many people. Several species of bamboo are harvested all through the year, but only a few of them can be used as flooring material. Moso is a type of bamboo that grows up to a height of 40-50 feet and is the most commonly used for flooring. After harvesting, it is left to dry in the sun. It is then cut into strips which are then given shape. By laminating and staining these strips bamboo flooring is made. It is available in two main colors-one is the natural, light, woody color and the other is the carbonized amber shade. Other colors are dependent on the staining method.

Bamboo floors are competing with wooden ones. They are as hard as maple, and harder and more durable than red oak. These can stand up to any type of maintenance, be it vacuuming, and spray cleaning or even mopping. Another major advantage of installing them is that it would reduce deforestation. It grows quickly and abundantly unlike red oak and maple that require decades to mature.

How to install

Installing bamboo planks is quite similar to installing hardwood ones. The initial step for a proper installation is buying the best material available in the market. Try to find out a dealer who is well informed about its processing and is willing to back his product with a warranty. Next, ensure that the subfloor on which you want to install it is absolutely dry, clean and level. Dirt can prevent bonding in between the subfloor and the planks. Wet subfloors will result in rotting. If the subfloor is not level then the planks will squeak when you walk on it. You may not be competent enough to carry out this process on your own; hence, it is advisable that you hire professional help.

Bamboo planks can be glued with the help of a moisture barrier flooring adhesive. Once the adhesive is applied to the subfloor the planks must be immediately placed. Then it must be left to dry before use. It can also be installed with the help of a nail gun over plywood or particle board.

Bamboo floors need to be selected very carefully. Not all of them is equal and neither their processing is the same. Wholesale products are usually of bad quality and won’t last long. Hence, you must find the best dealer who can give you quality product.

Bamboo Floors Austin – Floor King offers an outstanding selection of carpet, wood, tile, vinyl and laminate flooring in Austin, Texas at unbeatable prices. Order online or call 512.931.2555.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/interior-design-articles/installing-bamboo-floors-is-a-tough-job-1560562.html

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Avoid These Three Deadly Mistakes When Installing Your Flat Screen TV!

May 2nd, 2012 by jan

If you just bought a flat screen TV chances are you can’t wait to install it and watch some movies or sports on it. Not to mention showcase it to all your friends! To save time and money you might decide to install it yourself. Mounting a flat screen TV isn’t that complicated, but there are a few things you need to know. Beside the question of what type of mount you want to use, there are 3 other deadly mistakes you want to avoid wheninstalling your flat screen TV.

1) How much weight can a mount support? Watching your brand new (and rather expansive) 50 inch plasma TV fall down because you bought a mount that only supports 33 pounds (for the 15 inch flat screens) is about as un fun as it gets. Avoid this mistake by making sure that your mount of choice can support the weight of your TV.

2) The wall you are mounting it onto… what is it made of? Choosing a wrong mount is not the only way to watch your TV get smashed when it falls. You can also achieve this nerve wrecking result by mounting it on a wall that does not support that weight! If a wall is made of sheetrock it will need to be reinforced or you can build a bracket that will support the weight of your TV. If the wall is made of bricks or concrete you need to make sure you use the right nails for such types of walls.

3) Don’t forget about cable management. A lot less dramatic than the first two, but still very annoying mistake. There are quite a few cables and wires that connect to a flat screen TV, from cable to sound system to power supply. Make sure you know exactly how all this cables will be managed (some TV mounts have a built in space for cable management for example) before you start mounting your TV only to realize that there will be lots of ugly cables all over the place.

Hope I didn’t scare you with this article! Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that hard to install a flat screen TV, but there are a few things like the above that, if you don’t think about could cost you dearly. Avoid those and other mistakes when it comes to installing your Flat Screen TV!

You can learn more great tips on how to choose the right wall mount and what mistakes to avoid during installation by following this link: Flat Screen TV Mounts

Jone writes on a a large variety of topics, from home cleaning tips: How to Get Rid of Bad Smells to reviews about popular diet pills: Acai Berry Products Reviews

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Beautiful Modern San Francisco Home Built on a Steep Hill

April 28th, 2012 by jan

Featured in this year’s American Institute of Architects Home Tour the other weekend, hundreds of people walked through Strachan Forgan’s San Francisco, but few of them probably realized that the double-height living room, the dramatic open staircase and the luxurious Italian kitchen with quartz countertops could all be theirs – should they be in the market for a rather stunning modern home priced at around $1,479,000 price.

The two-bedroom residence at 1223 Bosworth St. was designed and built by Forgan, an architect at Sasaki, for him and his wife Melissa in 2007. Forgan said after buying the snug, nonconforming lot overlooking Glen Canyon Park in 2004, the site was “a gaping tooth on the neighborhood block” – but it represented just the sort of challenge he relished: how to create a sunlit, stylish home on a steep infill lot only 25 feet wide.

And for his efforts, the home won Forgan a Custom Home Design Award this year that described it as “a compact jewel of a house that packs a ton of sophisticated living on its speck of urban real estate.” This modern interpretation of a San Francisco row house with a multitude of green features also earned Forgan the respect of his neighbors. In order to ensure one neighbor retained his view, for example, he carved a corner out of the home’s facade with its dramatic double-height bay window.

The house has been designed on four stories. The lowest level comprises a generous garage, a built-in wine cellar and storage space. The first floor combines the living and dining areas as well as the kitchen with its Arclinea cabinets, CaesarStone countertops and Italian Graniti Fiandre tile underfoot. Folding Nana-Wall doors open onto a small, beautifully designed rear garden with Ipe hardwood decking, tiled planters, natural gas barbecue and water fountain.

Much consideration has been given to making the home as energy efficient as possible with its high-performance envelope, radiant heating under edge-grain amber bamboo floors, nonporous quartz countertops and Energy Star appliances.

The owners, who are moving on in order to build their next home – they already are scouting another infill site in the city on which to work their magic – say they have loved living in the Glen Park neighborhood with its library, restaurants and markets. Forgan added he will miss the “ping” of balls being hit in the baseball diamond across the street. “There’s something very soothing about that sound,” he said.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgibin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/09/27/RE0G19RLLP.DTL#ixzz0SXJ5XkLP

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