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Before cleaning your carpets, you need to decide whether you want to use steam or dry cleaning. Then you need to decide whether to do it on your own or engage a professional. Steam cleaning, when it is done properly is probably the best choice. It is also the method most often recommended by carpet manufacturers. “Done properly” means that the technician has training appropriate to your type of carpet, the water is hot enough and the equipment is in good working order. The vacuum is especially important; when operating correctly, a truck-mounted vacuum will remove up to 95% of the ...
Making design decisions for your home can be challenging. You have to take a small sample and visualize a complete floor, countertop or backsplash. One simple trick can take your samples a bit further along the path to the final product and make your decisions easier. Position your samples at the height and angle they will be when installed. The most valuable use of this technique is for choosing flooring. Put a sample of carpet, wood or tile on the floor and it can look completely different than it does on a table or a sample display. Once you’ve narrowed your choices, take a few minut...
Reader Question: Whats the best way to remove grout and replace? We remodeled our shower, but due to foundation movement, the corners have cracked and now water seeps in. I am assuming i need to remove the old grout and redo. Anysuggestions or insight? – Daniel Answer: Grout replacement is one of the methods that can be used to correct minor moisture issues in a shower depending on the leak’s physical location within the shower itself. If there is grout cracking on the walls or in the vertical corners at a level of 4 foot or higher, a small hand sized grout saw can be used to caref...
Many people find that they can make the broad brush decisions on their home design options, but get stumped when they get to the final choices. What can you do to shake off the confusion and really be sure you are selecting the right option for you? Let’s take a look at two approaches that can help you with your decisions. What do you do if you can’t narrow your choices far enough to really compare them easily? If you are sitting on more than five or six options, it’s almost impossible to really evaluate each one. This is the time to use the divide and decide approach. Group ...
Are you ready to jump into making flooring choices but aren’t sure where to start? The process can be fun or frustrating, depending on how you approach it. Let’s consider a couple of tactics to make your selection process more straightforward. First, if possible narrow your choices before you start shopping. Do you feel you have enough information to decide whether you want tile, wood or carpet in the various areas of your home? If so, make those choices and determine a preliminary budget before you start shopping. Just like shopping for a pair of black pants rather than just wande...
Are you an HGTV addict? If you are not a fan, Home & Garden Television offers programs on decorating, home improvement and design. “Design Star,” is HGTV’s reality program that pits 12 designers in a contest to win an opportunity to develop their own show. After watching the first episode from this season, it made sense that you could use one of their concepts to make choosing flooring easier. Are you ready to take a chance and consider a dramatic shift in your home but don’t know where to start? Well, it’s difficult to make a change when faced with all...
Shopping for flooring can be intimidating. One helpful idea is to grab a friend to take with you. This can be a great idea, or it can backfire. Here are some tips to make shopping with a friend an asset rather than a liability. Choose carefully. The friend that is so fun to run around with may not be your best choice when making a flooring decision. Does your friend have taste in home décor you admire? Will he/she help you make a good decision or want to take over the decision-making process? Do they help you make decisions or are they more likely to distract you? Set ground rule...
At Big Bob’s, we want you to be in the know with what’s new and changing in the world of carpet. Shaw Floors has introduced a product called Tigressá. This new carpet has advanced engineered yarn that produces a stong, durable and soft new carpet. The difference between Tigressá and other carpets is its unique fiber shape. This unique fiber shape helps maintain a smoother appearance and an ultra-soft texture. It also makes it stronger than ordinary carpet. Other advantages of Tigressá carpet: Dense, resilient super-strong fibers show less mattin...
There is great confusion these days about polyester fiber for carpets. When you talk about polyester carpet, do you mean just plain polyester, PET or PTT? Most of today’s polyester carpets are made from PET fibers, which are manufactured primarily from used plastic soda bottles. PET is an improved fiber over the older, original polyester, but it still comes with some of the performance baggage about which you may have heard stories. The main positives about PET carpets are that when new, they have a great “hand,” which means a particularly soft and luxurious feel. Pr...
60 years ago, the United States was in a wartime economy. Military fabrics producers were running out of the silk they needed to make parachutes – and the scramble was on to produce a synthetic replacement for silk. The result, originally created by DuPont’s chemical and textile engineers is the nylon we now utilize in myriad industries. Because of nylon’s incredible strength and durability, it made its way into both the commercial and residential carpet manufacturing markets. Since its debut all those years ago, very little has changed in the essential chemical const...
20 years may have come and gone, but carpet fiber options remain essentially the same! Nylon and polyester have continued to remain solid choices as they’ve evolved to higher performance, quality and appearance levels. But wool retains its position as the fiber of choice for a unique, luxurious look and feel. In upcoming entries, each of the fibers will star in it’s own post. Nylon products have continued to lead the residential market. Today’s nylon carpets are attractive, stain resistant, and high-performing at reasonable prices. Installed over a quality cushion an...
Understanding Color: Color Blending from Room to Room One of the challenges faced with a great room design is determining how to separate the spaces while still keeping the room cohesive. Color provides one of your best tools for accomplishing that goal. Planning your color palette ahead of time will keep you from taking the safe but rather dull one-color approach, but also protect you from too much color. For the three spaces, choose three colors that work well together. You may already have color that will be part of the room through furniture, your flooring, rugs, paint or curtain...
Steps to Selecting the Right Area Rug Part Two: Shopping for the Right Rug Are you ready to shop for a new rug? Taking the time now to determine the size, type and colors of your new rug will make the shopping process both easier and more fun (see Steps to Selecting the Right Area Rug Part One). Where do you plan to shop? The best guarantee of getting a good rug is to start with a reputable flooring store, like us! The rug industry has a broad mix of quality, price and reliability. Unless you are a rug expert, the only way you can ensure a good rug at a fair price is through a retail o...
Part One: Before You Start Shopping If you’ve never shopped for an area rug before, the process can seem more than a little confusing. The good news is that with a little planning, you can start your shopping with a plan to make the whole process easier. Although there are many decisions involved, the following three factors will help you narrow your search right from the beginning. What will you be demanding from your rug? If it is going to live in a high-traffic area, look at sturdy material choices such as nylon or wool. One of the interesting new options to consider is indoor...
One of our favorite posts on our blog is to examine room scenes and talk about what works and what could be improved. Let’s dive into this room scene and talk about what works and what can be improved! What works: Note the dark walls and light floors. Great contrast! The way the floor extends from the dining room into the foyer helps both rooms appear larger. The installation direction of the laminate elongates the room. Oak is used on the floor and the dining furniture is a similar stain color. Nice blend. The white trim around the doors and windows compliment the window treatmen...
Well, the first thing you should know about vinyl floor covering is that it’s also called resilient flooring. That’s because these floors have resilience or “give” to them when walked on. And they give you plenty of reasons to consider them for your home. Vinyl floors the others in versatility. Want choice? You got it. No other floor covering offers the spectrum of styles, colors, textures and patterns as vinyl sheet flooring and luxury vinyl tile (LVT). Today’s manufacturing methods can even replicate the look of ceramic tile, stone and wood grains. Vinyl...
It’s almost Easter! If you love to dye Easter eggs, but hate the worry of wondering what to do if you spill the dye on the carpet, stop worrying! Below are simple and easy guidelines to follow if you have a spill with Easter egg dye. You always want to treat spills as soon as possible and follow the instructions closely. Detergent Solution – Mix one fourth (1/4) teaspoon of a liquid dishwashing detergent per one (1) cup of lukewarm water. NEVER USE A STRONGER CONCENTRATION! Thorough rinsing is necessary to remove detergent residues that may cause rapid soiling. It may be ...
Are you familiar with our Virtual Room Designer tool on our website? It is a fantastic tool to help you visualize different products in different room scenes. You can even upload a photo from one of your rooms in order to “try on” different floors, walls and even area rugs. With our virtual room designer, you can look at different size tiles in a room, different installation directions, dark floors or walls versus light floors or walls, you can look at hardwood installed in different directions. When it comes to choosing flooring, it’s nice to have a “crystal ball&rdqu...
This kitchen is a good example of how to use multiple granites in one room. It also shows how you can use contrasting accents of the same material. Let's dive in and talk more about what's happening in this room that's worth noting from a design perspective! The colors in the room blend and compliment each other very well together. The silver and black flecks in the granite on the countertop and the floors subtly tie the plumbing and appliances together. The use of a slab of granite on the countertops, the granite backsplash and the same granite cut into tiles on the floor shows how you can us...
Are you planning on giving chocolate this Valentines Day? Hoping to receive chocolate for Valentines? Either way, we've got you covered in the event that some of the chocolate ends up on your carpet. We hope you have a Happy Valentine's Day and that you are the recipient of some very fine chocolate! Easy tips on how to remove chocolate stains: Solvent - A non-flammable spot removal solution, or dry cleaning type solvent, is preferred. Exercise caution when using a solvent. Never pour it directly onto the carpet or allow it to reach the backing, because it can damage the latex that holds the p...