Choosing a carpet color sounds relatively simple, yet most shoppers find themselves overwhelmed when faced with the hundreds of possible options to choose from.

A carpet is a huge investment for your home or business premises, and it is important that you make choices you can live with years down the line. While it is important that you select trendy colors, it is also necessary that you balance trendiness with timelessness, otherwise you might have to keep changing carpets which of course is costly.

There are usually several considerations you should make when selecting the color of your carpet. For instance, you want to ensure that the carpet works well with the overall theme of the house. You might also be interested in mix and matching your carpet with the sofa, in which case you first need to determine what color your sofa will be. That being said, there are several simple steps you can take to ensure that you arrive at the right choice. These are:

Eliminate all the colors that you hate

Everyone has colors they would never consider choosing for anything, be it clothes, or carpet or even nail polish color. Note which colors these are, and eliminate these from the running. The rest of the colors which you don’t dislike will remain as potential choices.

Understand why carpet color matters

Lighter carpet colors make a room seem bigger, while darker ones make a room feel tight and snug. It is the same way that darker clothing tends to make people seem smaller than they really are. If you have a small room and want to create the illusion that it is bigger than it really is, you want to choose a lightly colored carpet.

Depending on the composition of your household (read pets and babies) you might want to go for a solid dark colored carpet to hide those stains that will be a regular occurrence in your house.

While this is not necessarily an advisable thing to do, some people will want carpets that can hide dirt easily. For instance, you probably experience a lot of traffic in your premises and do not want it to be obvious that your carpet needs cleaning. In such cases, a multi-colored or flecked carpet will be the best choice. You will still need to hire carpet cleaners each year though. Learn why carpet cleaning is important here.

Studies have shown that different colors inspire different people differently. For instance, red is shown to stimulate while blue is soothing and orange makes you feel warm. If you want to leverage on the psychology about colors, you can choose a color that works well with the feelings you are hoping to evoke.

What about the walls?

It is a genuine concern of course-how well your wall color will go with the carpet color. A simple way to go about this is to contrast your wall color with the various options that you have for carpet color. You can use a shirt and tie test-with the shirt standing in for your walls.

To put it in summary, when choosing carpet color, you need to consider the usage of the carpet, the overall theme of the home and of course, your personal preference and taste.

In 2017, hardwood floor is by far the most popular choice when it comes to residential flooring. Laminate is also popular too but almost anyone who can afford hardwood almost always chooses hardwood.

So, what about carpet? In the ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s, everyone loved carpet. There were various cuts, fibers, colors and styles to choose from and some homeowners even carpeted their bathroom (gross!).

But now, in 2017, carpet isn’t very popular anymore. I’m not sure why, because I LOVE CARPET and I chose it for my home despite the fact that I had the budget for hardwood floor if I would have wanted it.

I know. I’m crazy. Similar to how I love leather furniture. Anyways …

HERE’S WHY I CHOSE CARPET:

#1. COMFORT

I love interior decorating. This is obvious because I write my own blog about decorating, home design, remodeling, etc … but there is something even more important to me about my home than its style or how it is decorated and that is if it is comfortable or not. I want to feel 100% comfortable at all times in my home and I think carpet is much more comfortable than hardwood floor.

Plush carpet fibers cushion every step and provide warmth on cool days and evenings. In fact, there is even a $$$ benefit too because carpet will better insulate a room or home than hardwood floor will which will help to reduce heating costs for a home.

#2. COLOR

There is always a lot of color in all of my rooms and décor. I love bold and bright colors and if you choose carpet for your home you will be able to create a colorful foundation for an entire room depending on whatever color carpet you choose.

Hardwood floor is either dark or light or tan. The color options are minimal and while you can spice it up a bit with an area rug or two, there still is nowhere near as much color as wall-to-wall carpet.

#3. COST

I could afford hardwood floor but because I love carpet, I didn’t and because I chose carpet, I had more money left over to invest in stainless steel appliances for my kitchen and other décor upgrades throughout my home that I couldn’t have afforded if I had chosen to install hardwood floor in each room.

There are several other benefits to carpet too. These benefits aren’t the main reason I chose carpet but they’re worth considering if any are important to you:

• You will experience better noise reduction in your home if you choose carpet. The carpet fibers will trap reverberations of sound instead of allowing them to continue to bounce off the floor and walls.
• You will experience allergy benefits as allergens and dust are trapped into the carpet instead of recirculating onto the floor and then into the air again.
• You will only need to vacuum 2-3 times a week and hire a carpet cleaner each year* instead of having to scrub hardwood on your hands and knees.

One thing which you are confident when you invest in wooden floors for your house is the timeless elegance which it would offer for a long period of time. But every type of flooring requires adequate care and maintenance.

After a certain point of time, wooden floors start to squeak because the sub-floors begin to separate from base wood floor. Since the nails slide in and out of joists, they make an irritating squeaking sound whenever you cross it.

This post is to guide as to how you can repair such squeaky wooden floors without calling for professional help. It is simple, easy and quick to make such repairs.

Figure out the point of squeaking: The first step is to identify where exactly the floor is squeaking. If you have access to the wooden floors or stairs from underneath, then you can have someone walk on the floor while you are down. This will help you identify the spot which you have to fix.

Fixing the problematic area

Using a shim- if the gap is tiny

If the squeaking is caused because of the gap between the sub floor and the joist as mentioned above (one of the common reasons) then all you have to do is to try and cover this gap. Whenever someone walks on that part of the floor, due to this gap the floor makes noise. You can simply take up a shim, apply some wooden glue on it and make it fill that gap. You need to slide it softly into the gap so that it doesn’t widen up. After applying the shim, you can also fasten the gap between floor and sub-floor with screw so as to provide extra layer of support.

Using a block of wood- if the gap is huge

If the gap is quite long and running along the entire joist then shim won’t work. Applying multiple shims would also not prove to be a good idea. Hence you should apply construction adhesive in the gaps and then push the lower half to clamp to the upper half. Let it dry for some time and then nail a block of wood alongside the loose joist. The adhesive only will not work and thus you need a strong support. You would also have to fix this from the upper area of the floor by driving a long finish nail directly into the joist. This would act as a joint among the sub floor, joist and the floor nullifying the squeaking.

Using lubricant

If you don’t have access to the underneath area and can’t really fix the joists or sub-floors then you would have to fix the squeak from upside only. You should add a lubricant powder to the area which is making noise and then place a cloth over it. This lubricant powder can be powdered graphite or soap stone. After you put on the cloth, walk over it for some time so that the lubricant fills up the cracks. This lubricant will reduce the rubbing of wood and thus lower down the squeaking noise!

Everyone loves to hang large artworks on walls at home. They create a unique impact on interior décor and always attract guests towards your skills to maintain the beauty of the house.

But the fact is that an artwork looks appealing only if it is installed well. If you make mistakes in installation, they will be noticed by everyone right before they notice the real beauty of your paintings.

So, it is important to pay more attention to the tricks to hang large artwork accurately on your room walls.

First of all, you have to collect few essential tools to initiate the project. It is good to collect pencil for marking; measuring tape, hammer, and ladder if you wish to hang it high and painter’s tape may also be useful to finish it well.

Now follow the steps as below hang your artwork in the most appealing way:

Mark the area:

When you have large artwork then it is important to stay careful about its placement. The frame must be well aligned on the wall and it should not catch viewers attention to notice errors in dimension rather it must attract everyone towards its beauty.

Take your measuring tape and pencil to locate the central position on the wall and then mark the area needed by your artwork. Note that it is not good to hang it on height because viewer’s eyes cannot identify its beauty from such a big distance.

Measure the hanging hardware:

The next task is to move the painting towards its backside and then measure the distance between hanging hardware and the top end of the frame.

In case if you are taking help from hanging wire then it must be pulled tight to get an accurate measurement. Locate the point with a pencil where the hanger will be placed.

Fix the hanger on the wall:

Now you know that right place to put the hanger; the next task is to take your hammer and hanger and tap it on the wall. Note that these hangers often come in a variety of size and they also vary by the capacity of weight they can carry.

The best idea is to choose the higher rating so that your hanger can carry the extra weight with ease.

Fit your artwork:

Finally, all the arrangements are done and now you can hang your beautiful collection of artwork on your room’s wall. Place it carefully and ensure that it is well centered on the hanger.

Balance it well and your room is ultimately ready with its awesome décor.

Once you hang your larger painting in the area, the next task is to complement the other décor ideas as per this painting. Some homeowners also prefer to install multiple paintings on walls but to do this it is good to follow an eye-catching pattern.

It is the right time to collect few beautiful artworks from the market and in case if you are an artist then design a customized painting for your living and let it impress everyone around.

I know many single ladies might disagree with me on this but I love leather furniture. Leather is sometimes considered too masculine for a single woman’s apartment or home but I disagree.

My leather sofa is the focal point of the living room in my apartment and it’s probably my favorite piece of furniture in my apartment.

For some reason, leather gets a bad reputation and I want to correct that. I think there are some myths about leather furniture that prevents people from buying leather instead of fabric and upholstery and I’m going to dispel those myths today.

MYTH 1: COST

It is true that leather furniture is often more expensive than upholstered furniture. But that is only true for the initial purchase.

You will save a couple hundred dollars during the initial purchase if you buy fabric furniture but you will lose some money in the long run. Here is why …

First, fabric furniture wears down faster than leather furniture does. Fabric furniture might only last 3-4 years before it wears down and you’ll start to want new furniture again. Leather furniture can last 10-20 years if cared for properly and leather even improves in quality over time.

Second, you need to clean fabric furniture one time every 12 months or so. You need to remove soils and stains trapped in the fabric fibers. This isn’t necessary for leather furniture.

MYTH 2: TEMPERATURE

Another myth I have to dispel is that leather is either “too hot” when the weather is hot outside or “too cold” when weather is too cold outside.

I admit, this would be a problem if you plan on placing your leather furniture in your front yard or on the sidewalk in front of your apartment, but if you plan on leaving your leather furniture indoors (as most homeowners do), this is not a problem at all.

MYTH 3: DURABILITY

I mentioned above that leather is very durable but not everyone believes this. Leather withstands much more wear and tear than fabric does and it is the most durable choice of cushioned furniture you can buy.

Don’t let your children scratch it and don’t eat on it often if you don’t have to and your leather furniture will turn out to be one of the best investments in your home and décor you ever make.

Do you have leather furniture in your home or apartment? Do you love it? Let me know in the comments!

Welcome to Share My Space. This is where I share stories about my little space on this Earth, my apartment! Learn how I decorate, DIY projects, minor repairs and more. Can’t wait for you to stop by again!