News
New Product Showcase – Part I
By Annette M. Callari, ASID; CMG It’s always a pleasure to bring exceptional new products to your attention. Floor coverings continue to push the boundaries of creativity, and here are just a few examples: MULLICAN-FLOORS_300Mullican Floors has introduced a high-contrast wood grain in their Chatelaine hand-sculpted hardwoods collection. Hickory Natural planks have distinctive light to mid-tone graining that suits both contemporary and traditional interiors. What I particularly like about the character of this floor is how well the...
read moreNew Product Showcase – Part 2
As I promised, here is Part 2 of some of the stellar new products the floor covering industry has brought to market in the first quarter of 2013: FONTENAY-PROVENANCE_300FONTENAY FLOORS – I love floors with a legacy, especially floors that are destined to capture wine enthusiasts’ attention. Fontenay Floors’ Cooperage Collection successfully does both. Fontenay has a singular claim to fame—they are the only provider of reclaimed wine barrel flooring. They painstakingly collect barrel heads from California wineries and mill them...
read moreOptions-Options-Options in Luxury Vinyl Tile
By Annette M. Callari, Allied ASID; Chair Holder CMG You will be seeing new entries in Designer’s Corner over the next two months presenting a two-part series on LVT. I thought this might be just the right time to blog about some of the “secret” design options you can create for your floors using luxury vinyl tile. All it takes is a bit of ingenuity, and some “insider” information of what’s available to you. Anything you can do with porcelain tile or natural stone, you can do with LVT. Anything you can accomplish with...
read moreSoft Surfaces Supersede Expectations
By Annette M. Callari, Allied ASID; Chair Holder CMG I have been on a search for some trendsetting residential carpet styles to share with you. Looking for the best, most innovative styles has been great fun, and I think these next few paragraphs may surprise you. The question is: are styles trending bolder and brighter or more subtle and subdued? The answer to that is: both! Manufacturers have balanced their product ranges with carpets to meet just about every taste from traditional to contemporary. If I had to identify a key trend...
read moreArt Inspired Carpet Tile Wins Gold
Commercial grade carpet has exceeded expectations as to design innovation. Actually, they had no choice—the world of architects and designers not only expect innovation, but demand it. The “been there”, “done that” styles of a decade ago weren’t going to satisfy A & D with simple color palette updates. And as a result, manufacturers researched, surveyed, collaborated, and truly “listened” to what A & D needed. Think about the types of projects that commercial designers and architects are executing: high-end...
read moreFloor Finishes: Hardwax Oils and Water-Based Lacquers
Wooden floors are one of the easiest of all floor surfaces to keep clean and looking good. Unlike carpeted floors that show age regardless of care, wooden floors can be kept looking like new with minimum care. Why not have a look at our Chauncey’s YouTube channel where we have information films on finishes for wooden floors and top tips on how to maintain your wooden floor? Water-based lacquers will normally keep the wood a slightly lighter hue (useful for light woods such as ash or maple), whereas Hardwax Oils will give a...
read moreFloor Fashions: A Foundation for Vintage Design
Vintage design, in every way possible, is a hot commodity right now—and the momentum is growing. My daughter will be getting married this Fall and from the very start she wanted an elegant, rustic, vintage wedding. Those adjectives may sound like an oxymoron, but they really do work together. Picture the backdrop of a charming, rustic barn–and in the foreground, linen-draped tables dressed with burlap runners and colorful silk ribbons. Each long table, set on a carpet of lush grass, will sparkle with crystal goblets and champagne flutes,...
read moreHigh Style – Crossover Design
An interesting development is transpiring in the world of design. This is something I predicted early in the year, and now it is becoming reality. Commercial carpet design is not only influencing residential carpet design—it is actually taking some of the residential market share! Working with a broad base of commercial designers in Southern California helps me identify new design directions. We have seen residential carpet offer everything from silky, long shags, to beautifully sculpted patterns. So why are designers borrowing from their...
read moreBroadway Added To Emser Portfolio
Just the word “Broadway” conjures up some lively images: busy thoroughfares bustling with sophisticated pedestrians, colorful jumbo-trons advertising the latest and greatest products, brightly lit theaters hosting cutting-edge entertainment. So as Emser Tile’s latest product introduction is called “Broadway”, you would correctly expect it to be something special. Broadway is a highly-polished glazed porcelain that echoes the beauty of real marble. Emser is quite proud of their HD Technology, and that is the technology that...
read moreAacer Residential Floors
I have discovered an ‘ace’ of a floor covering manufacturer (pardon the pun please), tucked away in Peshtigo, Wisconsin. Aacer flooring has a long-standing reputation in providing high quality commercial sports floors. They have three specialty floor systems: Aacerchannel™ a patented fixed floating performance system. Aacer Flex, a shock absorbing performance floor, and lastly, Aacer ScissorLoc™ a flexible performance system that incorporates their patented PowerVent™ System. But let’s switch gears here because I really want to...
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