Best Open Concept Flooring Options For Your Home

Best Open Concept Flooring Options For Your Home

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An open concept room design is full of possibilities. From furniture options to room dividers to flooring, an open concept floor plan is really only limited by your imagination. Below we will examine some of the best open concept flooring options to help you better identify and design your space.

Best Open Concept Flooring Options For Your Home

Select Hard Flooring

Flooring can serve many design purposes, including defining an open space. However, with an open space, maintenance might be your key concern. Since so much of the room will be visible from multiple angles, it’ll be a bit easier to see dirt throughout. This is one reason why experts recommended hard flooring for an open concept design. Hard flooring is easy to clean, much easier than carpet, and easier to maintain than most other types of flooring.

Choose a Neutral Option

Another benefit of hard flooring is that it is typically in natural, neutral colors. Hardwood and tile offer a “blank canvas” to the room, giving you almost free rein when decorating the rest of the space. Additionally, choosing one type of neutral hard flooring and using it throughout the space expands the look and size of the room.

Look for Durability

Open concept flooring bears the brunt of your family’s activities. It’s important to ensure that you choose a durable floor as well as an attractive one. It’s also okay to use different flooring types for different defined spaces. For example, even in an open concept floor plan, certain areas will be offset from others. A key example is the kitchen. While you may enjoy the hard flooring for your living room, tile might be a better option for the kitchen.

Use Accent Floor Coverings Sparingly

There is nothing quite like a well-placed floor rug. They can add a pop of color to a room and also help to “warm” up any environment. Rugs are also great at dampening sound, which may be important depending on how open your floor plan truly is.

No matter what your open concept flooring needs are, Go Mobile Flooring has you covered. Our flooring experts are happy to bring our mobile showroom to your door, giving you an up-close-and-personal look at all of your flooring options. Contact us today for a free consultation.

Bathroom Hardwood Flooring

Bathroom Hardwood Flooring

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Hardwood is one of the most desirable of all flooring surfaces. But the obvious question is whether or not bathroom hardwood flooring is a good idea? The environment in a bathroom is much different than the rest of the home. Humidity, moisture, water splashes, and spills can do severe damage to wood.

Bathroom Hardwood Flooring

Some people in the industry would steer you away from bathroom hardwood flooring and recommend engineered wood.

Faux-hardwood surfaces – floors that imitate the look of real wood so well it’s nearly impossible to tell the difference – will work well. Many vinyl based floors can be matched to the look of hardwood quite nicely so that your faux-hardwood floor will appear nearly indistinguishable from the real wood

Remember that solid hardwood and engineered hardwood are still both consider to be REAL hardwood. Don’t let that word “faux” fool you.

The fact is that you absolutely can install hardwood flooring in bathrooms but there are common sense choices that need to be made:

Type of Wood for Bathroom Hardwood Flooring

Do NOT use:

  • Pine
  • Fir

These are woods that are very absorbent softwoods that are more likely to be damaged by exposure to water or moisture.

These are the woods you SHOULD use:

  • Oak
  • Cherry
  • Cedar
  • Maple
  • Ash
  • Hickory
  • Walnut

Using the right materials is always the best advice for any type of project.

Finishing for Bathroom Hardwood Flooring

Any of the above mentioned woods in their natural, unprotected condition are vulnerable to water damage. Application of a finishing agent is a necessary precaution to keep your floor beautiful and enduring.

The most common finish is polyurethane based sealers. It seals the wood and provides a protective coat. The ultimate type would be a marine grade sealant that is designed for outdoor exposure. It is critical to apply the coating several times and especially where joints or seams are present.

Maintenance for Bathroom Hardwood Flooring

Protective sealant can be re-applied as it ages, giving extended life. Mats and throw rugs can collect water after someone showers, but it is not good to allow a wet item to lay on the wood for lengthy periods of time.

Water under the sink can leak and spill onto the wood floor. This is not a problem unless you allow it to sit. Likewise splashing children getting out of the tub can quickly cover the entire floor. Again, the key is to not allow water to sit for a long time.

Watch for an uneven floor that may collect water at one side. This is not usually the case if the bathroom was correctly built, but a very small grade in the pitch of the floor, unnoticed to people, can collect hidden water behind toilets, etc.

Soaps, shampoos, and other cleansing chemicals can damage wood. Keeping them off the wood is the safest option.

The biggest advantage of hardwood is that it can be really beautiful. It lends a sense of nature and wonder to a space, while also providing an environment with a unique personality, that can be seen in the one of a kind features found in every plank.

Enjoy your magnificent bathroom hardwood flooring project. It’s worth the cost and effort, and it will certainly increase the value of your home.

How to Organize Your Pantry with Cabinets

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Oftentimes a pantry can become the great abyss. Deep shelves with stacked cans and open bags of different (or the same) food can quickly become just a jumbled mess. However, there is hope. Organizing your pantry kitchen cabinets and taking stock of what you have, will help you better utilize the space so it’s more user friendly. Here are a few key ways to get your pantry under control:

Choose and Use Your Cabinets

If you’re starting from scratch, i.e. building or remodeling your kitchen, this is the perfect time to really take stock of the cabinets you need. Based on the design and layout of your kitchen, cabinets mounted to the wall or underneath the counter might be your best option. If you’re lucky enough to have a nook or built-in pantry, even better. Consider how deep and tall the shelving is in relation to your family. You’ll want to be sure that your shelves aren’t so deep that items will get lost. If possible, you’ll also want shelves that are different heights to accommodate various products.

Even if you’re working with installed pantry kitchen cabinets, you can modify them to meet your needs. Shelving inserts and dividers are a great way to better utilize the space.

Hidden Features

Many newer cabinet companies now offer the ability to add on a variety of organizational elements when installing your cabinets. At Go Mobile Flooring, we are proud to help our customers design the kitchen of their dreams, and that includes making it as user-friendly as possible. Some of the newer features to include are:

  • Hidden Hamper with Slide-Out Drawer: This not only gets the hamper off the floor, but keeps that unsightly pile of dirty clothes hidden.
  • Over the Fridge Slide-Out Shelf: This is a terrific option to finally use the normally wasted space above the fridge.
  • Slim Shelves for Waster Space: You know that little crevice between the stove and the counter? Turn that into useful space with a slim cabinet that can fit spices or a built-in utensil caddy.

However you use your kitchen, Go Mobile Flooring can design cabinets that will meet all your needs. Go Mobile Flooring is happy to meet with you, in your home, to offer you a free consultation. Our team installs pantry kitchen cabinets that fit different aesthetics and uses. Check out our product selection here or contact us today.

GMF-Blog-Media Room

Now Hear This: The Best Flooring For A Media Room

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GMF-Blog-Media Room

There are a few essential elements for a great in-home media room: an awesome high-definition screen, comfortable seating, and a rocking sound system. If you’re thinking of adding a media room to your home, here’s one aspect you may not have considered – flooring. The right flooring can enhance the media room experience by insulating the sound and effecting the acoustics. Here are a few things to keep in mind when choosing the best flooring for a media room.

Reducing Reverb

A hardwood or laminate floor is often people’s first choice for an in-home media room – it won’t deaden the sound like carpet might. However, hardwood floors create a surface that will reverberate the sound throughout the room. If you’ve spent any significant money on a sound system, this might lead to issues with audio clarity. If you like the look of hardwood, consider adding area rugs. Strategically placed, they can deaden the sound in the right ways and keep your sound system clear as crystal.

Ceramic tile is another option; however, reverb could pose an issue. Area rugs and strategically placed wall panels can help to trap the sound and stop the reverberations. This will help to keep your sound clear and clean.

Comfy Carpet

Aside from the delight of sinking your bare feet into soft carpeting, carpet is the best flooring for a media room. An added benefit of carpet is its close proximity to bass speakers which means they absorb more of those deep booming noises. This greatly helps with the clarity of your sound system.

Suitable and Stylish

Regardless of the choice you make, the best flooring for a media room is one that fits within your personal aesthetic, as well as your budget. It’s just important not to overlook the flooring as a key component in your design. Making the right choice will lead to years of in-home media enjoyment and getting even more out of your investment.

For information regarding the best flooring for a media room, as well as the other spaces in your home, contact Go Flooring Mobile for a free quote today. We’re also happy to bring our mobile showroom to your doorstep for a more personalized shopping experience.

Steam Floor Mops - Do's and Don'ts

Steam Floor Mops – Do’s and Don’ts

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Steam Floor Mops - Do's and Don'ts

Steam floor mops are a terrific in-home tool to use in fighting grime. For just a few hundred dollars, you can use one of these super-powered mops to provide your hardwood, tile or linoleum floors with a deep clean. However, using steam floor mops requires a bit more care than a standard mop. The addition of steam means the mops can get very hot and cause problems if not handled correctly. Below are some guidelines for how to use a steam floor mop correctly:

What To Do:

  • Prep the floor first.
    A mop that uses steam to clean isn’t meant to treat heavily soiled floors. If this is your first time using one, make sure to clean your floors as you normally would and then use the steam mop for maintenance. By cleaning the floors more frequently, you’ll have less build up of dirt and grime and be able to use the mop to its fullest potential.
  • Invest in mop pads.
    The mop pad will absorb dirt. However,  reusing a dirty mop head with steam might result in the dirt smearing across other surfaces. The good news is steam mop pads are generally washable and hold up nicely. A few good mop pads should last you for a while.

What Not To Do

  • Don’t allow the mop to idle.
    Once the mop has been plugged in, it’s really best to keep it moving. The heat generated from a steam mop can  build up quickly and cause damage to flooring if left in one place for too long.
  • Don’t use on unsealed floors.
    Steam floor mops are great for a variety of surfaces, but can easily warp an unsealed floor. If you’ve been advised not to use hot water on the floor or if the tiles are adhesive and appear to be lifting, don’t use a steam mop.
  • Don’t plug it in before attaching the mop head.
    Most steam mops heat up fast. So, if you wait to attach the mop head, chances are it’ll be too hot to handle.

For more information about steam floor mop do’s and don’ts, check out this article. And if you’re looking to upgrade the floors in your home, contact Tampa Flooring Company today.

Financing Is Now Available Through Go Mobile Flooring

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We are pleased to announce to our customers that financing is now available at zero percent through Go Mobile Flooring! This is good news for your flooring plans. You can now decide when you upgrade your flooring. There’s no reason to wait because we will finance your project today.

You will be issued your own credit card that you can . . .

  • USE
    Pay for your flooring and also qualify for special promotions.
  • VIEW
    Your information can be reviewed and managed online. Detailed billing statement are at your fingertips and on your screen.
  • MANAGE
    You have 24/7 access to control your account at your own discretion. If you enroll in eBill, you are allowed to view statements at any time.
  • SAFE
    For your protection, all personal information will be encrypted with Transport Layer Security (TLS) technology.
  • WHAT’S NEXT?
    You can also use your card at other merchant outlets that accept it.

As always, the team here at Go Mobile Flooring put the interests of our customers FIRST. We truly want you to enjoy the comfort and beauty of amazing floors. And we want you to increase the value of your home in the process.

If you would like to apply, click her and you will go to our simple application form.

Please call us today at (813) 605-1849 for more information. Our specialists would love to help you make your dream home a reality.

Pre-finished Solid and Engineered Hardwood

Pre-finished Solid and Engineered Hardwood

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As you consider upgrading your home, flooring should be at the top of your list. It is the silent component that is the most used and most visible in your home or office. In any room or space, the flooring is the foundation. Upgrading the flooring improves the look and feel of the space. Both pre-finished solid and engineered hardwood are excellent options, but they have features that differ.

Pre-finished Solid and Engineered Hardwood

For the sake of clarity in this article, we will refer to pre-finished solid hardwood as simply solid hardwood. There is such a thing as hardwood that is not pre-finished, but that is for another discussion.

If you’re looking to add warmth and beauty to your home, nothing compares to genuine hardwood flooring. Engineered and solid hardwood floors are both made from 100% real wood, but there are significant differences in their overall construction.  Hardwood Flooring 101

What is the difference between Pre-finished Solid and Engineered Hardwood?

  • Pre-finished solid hardware is traditional hardwood. It is a piece of solid wood.
  • Engineered hardwood is layered on top of other materials.
  • Both are considered “real hardwood.”

To help you decide which to choose, here are a few basic comparisons:

THE STRUCTURAL FEATURES
Between Pre-finished Solid and Engineered Hardwood

Solid hardwood is usually pre-finished to improve durability and strength.

These wood strips and planks are typically coated with multiple layers of an aluminum-oxide-infused polyurethane and cured under UV lights; this process creates an exceptionally hard finish…  This Old House

Engineered hardwood has multiple layers.

Engineered wood flooring is made of plywood with a veneer of fine hardwood on top… engineered wood is most closely aligned to solid hardwood… Resale value is high; home buyers love it.

Do not confuse engineered wood with laminate. It is real wood.

THE DURABILITY FEATURES
Between Pre-finished Solid and Engineered Hardwood

Solid wood planks are milled from a single piece of hardwood and covered with a thin, clear protective layer that often consists of aluminum oxide, ceramic or an acrylic substance.

Solid hardwood planks are generally 3/4 inch thick. It is recommended for ground level floors and above but not in basements because of moisture. The protective layer is good for most areas except below ground, bathrooms, and shower areas.

Engineered wood can be installed in basements and moist areas because of the design of it’s multiple layers.

In summary, both types rate high for durability.

THE COST CONSIDERATION
Between Pre-finished Solid and Engineered Hardwood

Solid hardwood will cost more depending on the type of wood. But some top-end engineered woods will cost about the same. Either way, when you do your budget, consider flooring as an investment that adds value to your home.

Beautiful wood floors of either kind will always increase the warmth and beauty of your home. As a bonus, when you decide to sell, the value is much higher. You will be rewarded with a higher equity and a bigger resale profit.

Flooring Adds Value When Building A New Home

Flooring Adds Value When Building A New Home

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The flooring in your home or business is very important. Of all features or structural components in a building, flooring adds value and ranks at the top for the beauty, durability, and functionality it provides.

Ed MacDonald, on the Quora research site, said:

The floors of a house take the brunt of our everyday activities and are usually the first surfaces to reflect wear and tear. It’s important to invest in floors which will keep pace with your daily life and add value while simultaneously infusing your home with a touch of class.

Flooring Adds Value When Building A New Home

Why Flooring Adds Value To Your Home

For a kitchen area, you need to consider how the room is used. Obviously, it is where food is prepared and served so you need to think through the daily routine. There is no question that the flooring adds value to kitchens. Some people rarely use the kitchen while others practically never leave it. Hardwood or laminate are great choices that stand up to the challenges.

When shopping for your kitchen flooring, there are two aspects you need to pay attention to:

Durability: because there will be a lot of walking in the kitchen at all times of day (and even night)
Ease of cleaning: because out of all the rooms in your house, the kitchen floors are the most prone to get messy

For a bathroom, the usage is different. With water constantly on the floor, plus high traffic, it is important to select the appropriate materials.

Alicia Garceau of HGTV says it best,

The bathroom, with its wet surfaces, high temperatures and even higher humidity, demands a lot from a floor. While most people are drawn to a material based on looks, it’s important to choose flooring for its ability to weather the room’s harsh conditions.

She goes on to recommend five options: tile, wood, green (cork or bamboo), laminate, and vinyl. Any of these choices will work, but be sure to verify the quality. Again, flooring adds value to bathrooms. Tile is considered the best whether it is ceramic, stone, slate, or marble. Certain materials will cost more, but installing the best kitchen floors is always a good idea.

Why Flooring Adds Beauty To Your Home

The flooring in your home creates beautiful spaces. If it’s damaged or of low quality, the room will seem gloomy and low class. It will seem cheap, and that’s not what you want.

On the other hand, quality flooring enhances the home and increases the value. A beautiful entryway with a gorgeous stone tile floor will impress visitors and greatly improve the looks of the home.

Why Flooring Adds Longevity To Your Home

Most people would not put this as the top priority until they decide to sell. But when considering the over-all value of a home, it is crucial.  Hence, flooring must last. It must endure. Cheap or poorly manufactured materials will not last, and it lowers the value of the home.

The ideas shared in this article are common-sense but often overlooked by homeowners. Our purpose is to help you make the best decision as you build your home FROM THE FLOOR UP! Please give us a call, and one of our specialists at (813) 605-1188 will gladly answer any of your questions.

Flooring equals big investment, so you want to make sure you choose a long lasting, high quality product. Your flooring choice means combining your personal style with your needs, thus creating a warm atmosphere in the entire house.

 

3 Things to Consider When Selecting New Floors

3 Things to Consider When Selecting New Floors

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Few aspects of your home will make more of an impression than your floors. Often, it’s the first thing people see when entering a home. The right type of flooring can easily set the tone of an interior space. Wood flooring often infuses a room with warmth, while carpet color can make an impression, and tile can be selected to fulfill a design aesthetic. Consider some of the points below when selecting new floors for your home.

3 Things to Consider When Selecting New Floors

Durability

Flooring is the one aspect of your home that will receive the most use. Especially in high foot traffic areas, like entryways, mudrooms, stairs and hallways, you want to be sure you use durable materials. Tile, carpet tiles and wood are all good options for more durable choices. Cork and bamboo are newer choices known for their durability and are also considered sustainable and eco-friendly.

Cost

Obviously, different types of flooring are available at different price points. Your choice of floor materials, when in the midst of home building or redecorating, will probably depend more on cost than any other factor. Unless of course, you have a bottomless piggy bank. There’s nothing wrong with choosing a more expensive floor type, especially if it will have less traffic, increasing the chances of it lasting longer. Selecting new floors is fun and cost efficient.

Flooring Design

Whether you’re looking for a bold color, a bold design or the ability to change either one, there is a type of flooring that fits your design aesthetic. However, it’s important to remember that flooring is fairly permanent. You want to be sure it’s something you can live with for at least a decade. You might find the novelty of a bright color wears off quickly. So think long-term.

Flooring is a huge investment whether its part of a remodel or a new home build. Don’t hesitate to ask for samples so that you can try out the look of hardwood, carpet or tile before making a final decision.

Go Mobile Flooring, serving the Tampa Bay area, brings all types of flooring to your doorstep.

Contact us today for a free measurement, and start your journey to new flooring.

Carpet Trends 2017

Carpet Trends 2017

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Design trends in home decor seem to change with the seasons. It’s certainly true that every year there is a new color scheme, texture or element that is the rage of the year. Carpet is one of those interior design elements that has come in and out of fashion as textiles and design aesthetics have changed.

For 2016-2017, carpet trends are once again changing. Below is an overview of some of the more common trends that homeowners and decorators should consider for their own interiors.Carpet Trends 2017

Growing Carpet Trends

  1. Area rugs and carpet runners: As hardwood floors have become more preferred among homeowners, area rugs and carpet runners have also grown in popularity. Relatively inexpensive area rugs can be easily changed for a new look, color scheme, or design.
  2. Natural fibers: The trend of garishly colored manufactured carpet has long been out of vogue. In recent years, the desire for natural fibers and muted colors has grown even more popular, as well as sustainability. Many of these fibers tend toward more neutral colors which is another growing trend.
  3. Carpet tiles: Easy to install and easy to replace if dirty or damaged, carpet tiles are great for areas that receive a lot of foot traffic. They are also very popular in commercial settings.
  4. Softer textures: While whole house carpeting is no longer a trend, luxury textures in personal spaces, such as bedrooms, are very common. Advancements in materials have made carpet softer than ever before.
  5. Protective finishes: In an effort to keep carpet looking better longer, there has been an increase in the application of stain protection options, such as water resistance and pet resistance.

Trending for 2017

If you’re a new homeowner and looking to refresh your interiors, switching up your carpeting is one of the quickest and least inexpensive ways to make maximum impact. At Go Mobile Flooring, our flooring experts work with the newest carpet and flooring materials on the market. Serving Tampa Bay and the surrounding areas, contact Go Mobile Flooring today for an in-home measurement and a free consultation. Give your home a fresh look this year by following one of the emerging carpet trends.