Behind Every Great Piece of Carpet is a Great Carpet Installer – Or You Hope!

Barbara | March 5, 2010 | Comments Comments

Carpet that is not installed properly may look good for a short while, but over time, will begin to have problems, including wrinkles or waves that become trip hazards. It can pull away from the walls and have seams that unravel and open up.
Good installation is key to the performance of every carpet. [...]

Accessorizing From The Floor Up

Barbara | January 26, 2010 | Comments Comments

Hard surfaces (tile, hardwood, laminate) are very popular flooring choices, but many homeowners remark that the room can feel cold and sounds echo throughout their house.
A great way to counter this is to use an area rug over your hard surface flooring. Area rugs can add warmth, soften sound and create a [...]

Maintaining Your Floors

Barbara | January 15, 2010 | Comments Comments

Sand and dirt particles that may appear small, can slowly wear down and dull the surface layers of your floors. The particles are a natural abrasive that can cause hardwood to scratch over time and carpet fibers to lose their texture.
The best defense against sand and dirt in general on flooring is the [...]

What’s Under Your Carpet May Surprise You

Barbara | December 9, 2009 | Comments Comments

Choosing the right carpet for your home is a big project. Just as you breathe a sigh of relief that you’ve made the perfect choice, you are told about the pad options. More decisions! And, while you don’t see the pad, don’t think it doesn’t matter what is underneath your carpet – the right pad [...]

Choosing the Right Tile

Barbara | September 21, 2009 | Comments Comments

Ceramic and Porcelain tile are very popular flooring solutions in Florida.  Sand, dirt and other substances tracked in by people and pets clean up fairly easily. Tile can feel cool to walk on in the heat of summer. Pets often like to lounge on tile for that reason. There are so many sizes and patterns [...]

This Is Not Your Mother’s Vinyl

Barbara | September 8, 2009 | Comments Comments

Vinyl flooring is resilient – meaning that it has some cushion or give. Standing on it for hours at a time will not make your legs ache as other hard surface products will, and not everything dropped on it will break compared to ceramic or porcelain. Unlike the original patterns from the 60s, the new [...]

HARDWOOD vs LAMINATE

Barbara | June 9, 2009 | Comments Comments

Whether you are building a new home or remodeling your existing one, deciding on which product to use is more than choosing the color.
Thinking about hardwood?  Should you choose a solid floor or an engineered?  Exotic or standard wood?  Narrow planks or wide?  Matte finish, piano finish, handscraped or distressed?  Glue-down, staple, nail or click [...]

How Green Are Your Floors

Barbara | May 29, 2009 | Comments Comments

I’m not talking about the color, although green is certainly a popular earthy color that blends almost anywhere, just like the green in nature.
The green I am referring to is the environmentally conscious, green flooring alternatives that are widely available from almost every manufacturer. From hardwood to laminate to carpet and cleaners, recycled and reclaimed [...]

Sign of the Times

Barbara | February 25, 2009 | Comments Comments

See the picture of our beautiful awning.  It’s not there anymore.  The City of Sanford made us take it down because it didn’t fit the new code.  It will cost us $2,000 to get it remade to code, but we can’t have it in green and white which have been our colors for 14 years. [...]

Treating Your Customers Right

Barbara | February 18, 2009 | Comments Comments

My good friend and business coach Lisbeth Callandrino posted on her blog http://lisbethcalandrino.typepad.com recently about doing something nice for someone. I couldn’t agree more! We recently added a new technology to our flooring store business, Sanford Carpet, called video e-mail. This state-of-the-art technology allows me to send a video e-mail to my customers THANKING them [...]