Our friend Janis was recently blessed with the birth of a baby boy who is only one month older than our son which means we've already got the perfect playmate. She lives down the street from us in a one-bedroom condo and shares her apartment with her dog Sake.
Janis keeps a very clean home but she knew that with the arrival of her little one she needed to make a few changes, one of which was new carpet. Her current carpet was relatively clean but was worn in the high-traffic areas and had accumulated dirt and hair from her dog that was difficult to remove. When shopping for new carpet, Janis wanted stain resistance and easy cleanup as well as a color choice that complimented her style.
We suggested she check out Lowe's which she already shops at and to look at the new Solarmax carpet from Stainmaster. It's got a lifetime warranty on stain and soil, 25 years on fade and 15 years on abrasive wear. A great warranty was a big plus as Janis didn't want to be concerned with hassle of replacing the carpet anytime soon and shopping at Lowe's she could pick out the carpet color and setup installation the same day.
Janis went with the white/beige style which complimented the honey colored wood floors that she had in her dining and living area. She setup the install and we followed along to take some photos of the process.
All furniture had to be removed and with a baby in tow Janis was in no condition to do that. Fortunately Lowe's install offers this service and they gently moved everything out to her balcony and promptly started tearing up the old carpet.
They quickly tacked down the carpet padding and within two hours they had finished carpeting the three rooms.
They gently put all the furniture back in place and cleared out all of the old padding and carpet.
The piece of mind that knowing her son could safely play on new clean floors that would also stand up to his inevitable spills was well worth the effort to upgrade her carpet.
Janis is extremely pleased with the way the carpet turned out and she couldn't say enough about how pleasant the installers were to work with. As any new mom knows, dealing with getting the house ready for baby can be stressful but Lowe's made it as easy as possible.
Disclosure: Lowe's works with online media such as myself to conduct product reviews. They do not tell us what to say about their products or how to say it. Lowe's fundamentally believes that people should be free to form their own opinions and share them in their own words. Lowe's policies align with WOMMA Ethics Code, FTC guidelines and social media engagement recommendations.
With a new baby in the house and a need to have our home thoroughly clean, we started from the ground up. We've got hardwood floors and use carpets throughout our home. We've rented the Rug-Doctor cleaners which worked okay but the results were never that great and the effort involved was time consuming. With the baby, time is our most valuable commodity.
We were seeking a carpet cleaning option that required little effort but maximum results and we found it with Chem-Dry carpet cleaning from Home Depot.
We scheduled a pickup of our three rugs and we didn't have to do anything as they rolled them up and took them in their truck. Five weeks later we got the rugs back and they were completely dry and as clean as they have ever been.
Instead of steam cleaning which uses a lot of water and takes days to fully dry, Chem-Dry uses a hot carbonating extraction process which lifts the dirt to the surface where it is then removed. This avoids issues such as mold or mildew that wet carpets can get after cleaning.
The only drawback was it took a few weeks to get our carpets back but we're so glad we turned to the pros for this job.
Chem-Dry is a full service cleaner and will clean all types of carpets but we were happy to know they also did rugs. Call or visit your local Home Depot for more details about Chem-Dry.
Disclosure: The Home Depot works with bloggers such as myself to conduct product reviews. They do not tell bloggers what to say about their products or how to say it. THD fundamentally believes that people should be free to form their own opinions and share them in their own words. The Home Depot often provides product - free of charge - to bloggers for review as they did for this post. The Home Depot's policies align with WOMMA Ethics Code, FTC guidelines and social media engagement recommendations.
File this one under "simply amazing."
Artist Jonathan Brechignac has undertaken an incredibly ambitious project. He's spent more than a year creating carpet for his home using a Biro pencil.
That's right -- a pencil!
I learned about the project thanks to a post on Bit Rebels by Richard Darell, who writes, "With just a few (quite a few) Biro pencils he's managed to create one of the most intricate patterns I have ever seen to date. The insane carpet, yes they say it is sort of a prayer carpet, has details that you can't even dream about."
2011 is slowly winding down (eeeekkk!!), so that means we'll start to see more trend forecasts emerge for 2012.
If you're considering a flooring purchase within the next several months, we've got a sneak peek at next year's flooring trends thanks to Shelley Pond's post on the official SURFACES/StonExpo Blog. A full look at 2012 trends will be available at the SURFACES Trends Hub, a new concept that debuted at the 2011 show (pictured below.)
Love color? Get ready to see some vivid flooring choices inspired by color palettes of Eco Carnival (rhythmic patterns, bright botanicals and tribal geometrics), Colour Capital (angular shapes, bolts of color, clashing patterns) and The Abyss (illumination, shadowy lighting, wave patterns and surface textures inspired by sea creatures).
Prefer a cleaner, more streamlined aesthetic? Shelley highlights Majestic Minimalism as "the perfect marriage of tradition and modernity" inspired by the Baroque and Rococo periods. Muted hues like plaster of Paris come alive with accents of royal red, Princess blue and tuxedo black.
