Floored By Design Trends

Trends come and go, but they may well leave some good home designs along the way.

Dark Timber Flooring Sydney

Near black or dark chocolate can work well will light walls and furnishings; it is contrast that works here. Everything dark looks like a horror film. Stark contrasts look vivid and clean. Th

Almost any wood can be stained dark, but you would want to start with a good quality products.

If you do have dark flooring any decor options must fit in with this look. Else, floors can be partially covered with a lighter rug.

Dark Tiles Flooring Sydney

Alterantly, tiles and vinyl work well with dark colours.

Dark colours do hide imperfections well, but some scuff marks and scratches are occasionally an issue.

Gray Laminate Flooring Sydney

Gray is being recognized as the great new neutral colour. If you want the floor to be a pleasant background so that the furnishings and wall décor stand out, then gray proves extemelty versatile.

Gray laminate floors are neat and reliable, and look quite open and spacious. But you will need the décor to have a certain something lest the whole effect be dull.

Bamboo Flooring Sydney

Bamboo floors are not a new trend, but there are an increasing number of options with bamboo. Engineered bamboo planks make installation easier than ever before, and planks can be made far wider than previously, which gives a different décor look.

As always, bamboo has many colour options, and can look very much like traditional timber.

Environmentally Friendly Floors and Wood

It is too simple to believe that cutting down trees is bad for the environment. A growing tree does absorb a lot of CO2 gas; but a fully grown tree neither adds nor takes much CO2 to the atmosphere. The best option if to constantly grown new trees, replacing them when they are fully grown.

If we arrange to grow trees that produce suitable building timber, and constantly replace these trees as they mature and are harvested, then we are helping to take a lot of CO2 out of the environment. We are taking considerably more Co2 out by this method than by just letting the trees stay idle. Using the trees productively, as a building material, prevents any significant CO2 loss. As long as the timber is not burnt the CO2 remains stored and does not impact the environment.

Timber flooring Perth

Using timber is more environmentally sound, provided that the harvested trees are constantly replaced. Other building materials, such as metals and plastics, use a lot of energy in production. As such they are far more harmful to the environmental that responsibly harvested wood.

Bamboo flooring Perth

One other useful and environmentally friendly building material is bamboo. Bamboo is a grass rather than a tree, and is much faster growing. It only takes about 5- 7 years for bamboo to reach maximum hardness, and sometime the material can be used before this time if optimal hardness is not required. Bamboo might be seen as timber’s similar cousin.

Laminate flooring Perth

Laminate floor has the appearance of wood or stone, but is an artificially manufactured product. It is quite cheap, and can be made in an environmentally sound manner.

Tiles flooring Perth

Tiles are by far the most popular floor material for areas that get wet. They are extremely durable, and the range of design styles means there are always many suitable options.

Super Gloss Mirror Finish

Painters Sydney

A high gloss mirror finish is found on a few wooden items like grand pianos, musical instruments, and some sculptures and fine furnishings. This type of finish requires more than the standard painting technique, which required a fair amount of skill in its own right. But the effort required can be justified for a few expensive items.

A mirror finish requires an extremely smooth surface. This smoothness is a combination of physically flattening the wood and then filling in the inherent gaps and imperfections. The filling in is done with a primer/filler, a more specialized version of normal wood primer that simply give a very flat surface.

The wooden surface need to be sanded flat, or to the required shape, and then primed. The surface should be left to dry for a least 24 hours. Check for any surface imperfections.

Paint the surface with super high gloss enamel. Avoid brush strokes.

Once dry, wait an additional 24 hours and very lightly roughen the painted surface with a green scouring pad. Be a light a possible, and avoid taking the paint off the edges.

Repeat the process and give several layers of enamel paint.

Do not use a scouring pad on the last coat. Instead use a cutting compound to give a satin finish. Porcelain cutting compounds (Kitchen Scrub) can work well for this. Do not polish! The cutting compound should give a slightly rough surface for the next step.

Make sure the surface is clean and spray with a high gloss clear coat. Use short, even, light strokes.

When dry, the result should have a deep mirror finish.

Painting Services Sydney

Painting services can recommend the best type of prime, paint and clear coat. Hardware stores are also a good source of advice. While we recommend professional house painting we realize that home have many furnishings that need painting too. Live in a home that make your life a better experience.

Bamboo Flooring Perth

Bamboo has only been used as flooring in the recent past, quickly becoming popular because of its appearance, durability and environmental potential. But as with all new products there has been some trial and error involved, with some developments working better than others. It helps to know what to look for.

Bamboo looks and feels a lot like wood, even as it is a grass. Its great advantage is that it can grow to a useable product in just a few years. Quality hardwood takes 30 to 60 years before it is useable as timber. This, along with the ability to grow in areas not likely to interfere with wildlife, makes it an environmentally sound option.

But good quality bamboo needs at least 6 years to obtain its full strength. At this full strength it is comparable to hardwood. Any bamboo harvested after only 3 years is soft, and prone to damage. Insist on bamboo of the proper age, at least for flooring.

Bamboo flooring can be divided into three types:

Vertical Grain – Strips of bamboo stacked on edge and bonded together.
Flat Grain – Horizontal strips of bamboo laminated together
Strand bamboo – Consists of fibres bonded together.

Like many housing products Bamboo may be made with formaldehyde. Check with the manufacturer; it may be necessary to air the rooms for several days.

Timber Floors Perth

Flooring is a long term investment, and something you want to get right. For engineered, bamboo, solid or any other timber flooring Perth based Knock Out Flooring are highly recommended.

Laminate flooring Perth

Those who do not want a wooden finish there is also laminate flooring, made to resemble any stone, tiles or artificial surface.

TAURUS FLOORING – Cleaning Advice

Sydney Bamboo Flooring

Sweep floor regularity with a fine broom. Any dirt on the floor will cause abrasion, mostly on the bamboo’s finish. Having people remove shoes at the front door is greatly beneficial.
After sweeping, mop the floor with a solution that is one part vinegar and 4 parts water, or use a hardwood cleaning solution. Use a damp mop rather than a soaking wet one, and dry as quickly as possible. Use towels for drying if possible. Many people find a microfiber mop is the best thing for damp cleaning bamboo.
Has a bottle of vinegar solution (4 part water to 1 part vinegar) for cleaning any spills on the bamboo floor. Clean with a sponge, and then dry with a towel.
Avoid oil based cleaners which often leave streaks on bamboo.
Put coasters or felt pads under furniture. Coasters can sometime be fixed to chair legs with bluetak. Else, use rugs under furniture.
Ultraviolet light from the Sun will cause fading to furniture and Bamboo flooring. Use heavier curtains or UV film on windows.

Sydney Laminate Flooring

Brush the surface with a light broom.
Mop with hot water. The mop should be damp and not soaking wet.
Let the surface air dry.
A very small amount of baby shampoo or mild detergent can be added to the hot water if the floor is dirtier than expected.
Some scuff marks can be removed with a pencil eraser, or melamine.
Any hard to remove stains can be cleaned with very dilute vinegar. Mop the floor afterward to remove any traces of vinegar.
Window cleaner can be used for very stubborn stains. Uses sparingly, and wash with hot water.

Sydney Engineered Flooring

Engineered floors have a thin veneer of quality wood over a base material. Avoid anything that will compromise the thin layer of veneer. Otherwise sweep and mop like a normal wooden floor.

Sydney loose lay vinyl flooring

This can be cleaned as vinyl flooring. To be covered in a future blog.