Looking to furnish your home gym with just the right flooring?

Having home gym can be a great way to save time & money – it’s always open when you want it to be, and it’s a space to work on your fitness in private.

If you’re considering designing a home gym of your own, or simply looking to spruce up your current gym with new flooring, then you’ll want to choose floors that are just the right combination of safe and functional.

There are many options for gym floors, each with pros and cons.  You can tile a gym floor, put down industrial carpet, or even lay hardwood.  Your decision should be based on your space, the type of equipment you use, and how you want your space to fit into the overall design of your home.

Before you make a decision, consider the safety, durability, functionality & maintenance of different gym flooring options so you don’t have to take a leap of faith with your decision.

Safety

When you think about safety, consider the types of exercises are you going to be doing, how experienced you are, and the type of equipment that will be going into your space.

Carpet is one option. A rubber-soled cross-trainer shoe will have a sufficient amount of traction on a carpet surface, greatly lowering your chances of a tumble. Furthermore, the natural cushion of carpeting provides just enough of a barrier between your equipment and the ground to prevent damage.

Be sure to choose a carpet with a lower pile – too much cushion could also result in injury. Commercial or industrial carpet would be your best bet.

There are various hard surface flooring types that we also recommend. Hardwood, laminate & luxury vinyl all  offers a bit of give and can be easier to keep clean. They also feature an attractive, inviting look. You can pair wood flooring with rubber-soled rugs & mats that will grip the floor and give certain areas in your home gym a bit more cushion.

Durability

When considering the durability factor, you have options.

Carpeting provides just enough give in case a piece of heavy equipment is dropped, making it a solid choice. Tile, though durable as well, is also hard and rigid. One slip can cause a serious crack in the flooring, it may not be suited for spaces where you’ll be doing heavier weight training.

Typically your best option is a type of flooring that holds up to lots of movement and deals well with stains. A carpet with a thicker yarn construction will be able to hold up against the pounding and accumulation of sweat that’s inevitable when you’re getting your fitness on! You can also choose from a variety of luxury vinyl tile and laminate options that are designed specifically to resist stains of all kinds!

Both vinyl & laminate flooring are available in attractive wood looks that will give your home gym the warm and welcoming vibe you need to get motivated to sweat!

Functionality

Whether your exercise routine consists of cardio, weight training or calisthenics, you need to consider the functionality of your flooring. Carpet, unlike tile, is inviting. If your program requires you to get down onto the floor it has just enough cushion and support to provide some comfort.

Traditional ceramic can be cold, it is most certainly hard, and is generally much less inviting. A gym space should be a welcoming space to encourage you to work out often. Instead, opt for a softer laminate or luxury vinyl tile in the warm look of natural stone or hardwood.

You may also see real hardwood in your fitness center for aerobics classes, but this type of surface tends to wear easily and could require a special sub-flooring for safety, which adds to your overall cost.

Maintenance

After you have made your choice in flooring, maintaining the cleanliness will ensure an enjoyable fitness space.

To keep bacteria buildup to a minimum, start with a quality dust mop & vacuum cleaner. Weekly cleaning will stave off the accumulation of dust, especially if your routine includes exercises performed on the floor. Be sure to address the nooks and crannies in and around gym equipment as these hard to reach areas tend to accumulate the most amount of dust.

If you go with carpet, shampooing is a less frequent but equally important option. This will also keep any unwanted smells and stains from taking away from the overall experience of working out at home.

Conclusion

When it comes to furnishing your home gym, a carpet with a very short pile is definitely our top recommendation flooring for you. It is safe, durable, functional and relatively easy to maintain. If you’d prefer a hard surface, try a laminate, vinyl or hardwood paired with mats & rugs throughout the room. We carry all types of carpet, hardwood & area rug options to suit your fitness needs!

Bringing the outdoors in is what a home at the beach is all about, isn’t it?  A beach house is for family and friends to relax and enjoy, especially in summer, when life moves at a slower pace.  How do you draw the line between encouraging vacationers to enjoy themselves and entering into the spirit of summer, versus becoming the “enforcer” spoiling other’s summer fun?    No one likes to clean up messes at the beach!  Here’s a few tips to help make summer at the beach a little easier, and keep your beach house in great shape for future vacations:

• Scatter floor mats at multiple locations on the way in and out of the house – as many as possible.  Multiple mats provide more opportunities to collect sand BEFORE it gets in the house, especially for kids who may be tempted to walk inside with sandy feet!

• Outdoor hoses and showers:  Encourage guests and family members to get in the habit of rinsing off feet and flip flops before entering the house.  Besides, it’s fun to spray cold water on your feet after a hot day at the beach!

• Provide separate “indoor” versus  “outdoor” towels and beach blankets.

• Offer an area either immediately outside, or directly inside the front door for beach shoes to be left before entering the main living area.  Remind guests to leave clean indoor footwear to be retrieved and worn upon entering the home.

• Vacuum carpeted areas and shake out area rugs frequently…even with all of the above precautions, it’s amazing how much sand still gets tracked in.

• Make outdoor porch areas as appealing as possible.  When guests eat, drink and play in outdoor living areas, that means more sand stays outside and there’s less work for you!

Teen girls can change their style as often as they change their outfits—and that can be a lot. Decorating a room that will keep our teenage daughters happy can be tricky but isn’t mission impossible. Getting input from the teen is important but you have input, too. After all, it is still your house.  Working together on decorating your teenage daughter’s room will make you both happy.

Keeping the major things neutral and timeless will help the room to grow and change as your teenager grows.  If you are investing in new furniture and flooring be sure to select pieces that can work for several different styles.  Wood floors will never go out of style and can be topped with area rugs that suit this year’s color scheme.  Wall color is a great way for your daughter to express herself. Paint is less expensive and can change as she continues to mature and grow up.

Forcing your modern loving daughter into a traditional room won’t work for either of you.  Start by having your daughter pull together images from blogs or magazines of rooms she likes. Create a dialog about what will be possible.  Set a budget and allow her to make some of the design decisions. Bedding and accessories are great for adding a certain style and look.  Keeping furniture to classic forms means you can have more fun in the fabrics and colors of the room.

Big, bold patterns can bring life to a room when used as accents.  Like a boldly patterned top and the perfect jeans, bold patterns are best when paired with neutrals to help balance the color and pattern.  This is why designers often recommend getting the big investment pieces like sofas in neutral upholstery.  You can always add color and pattern in accessories.

Bold patterned accents can be used around the room, including the floor.  Pattern on the floor can be created with a checkerboard of white and colored tiles, multi-colored linoleum squares, patterned cement tiles, carpet tiles and area rugs. Area rugs are the classic way to bring pattern to the floor, with infinite options from Persian to contemporary styles in every color imaginable. The bigger the pattern—the bigger the statement.  Lattice and geometric patterns like stripes are current designer favorites.

Adding bold pattern in textiles is another option that is also low cost.  A few accent pillows in a big pattern can change the feeling of a room and a piece of furniture. These neutral gray chairs stand out with the addition of patterned pillows.

Pattern can be added to walls with stencils and wallpaper.  Again, keep furnishings neutral against a big, bold pattern.  It gives the eye a place to rest.

With pattern you can add a little or a lot, depending on how bold you want to be. From small accessories to area rugs, bold pattern adds a big kick of design to a room.

This living room is a wonderful example of how accents can warm up a room. The stone on the floors and fireplace wall have a warm color, but stone is typically considered a cool material because it is cool to the touch. All the hard lines of stone and grout need softer accents to balance them. This room successfully brings in the softer accents to create a harmonious design.

The largest accent in the room is the area rug that centers the seating area in front of the fireplace. The rug doesn’t add a lot of color with its neutral tan and black palette. It does add a softer texture and a subtle pattern that breaks up the dominate design element in the room: the stone.

On the cream colored sofas are more soft accents that warm up the cool space. A plush throw in deep chocolate brown relates to the deep chocolate accent wall. Small brown pillows on the other sofa tie in with both the accent wall and the throw. Green accent pillows on the sofa add a rich pop of color without being too bold. Brown trim helps the green pillows relate to the accent wall and other earth tone accessories. Pillows are an inexpensive way to soften straight lines on furniture. They can also add color and texture to the room. Because a pillow is an easy accent to change out, you can switch them out seasonally. Throws are the same; change them from heavy to light as the seasons change

There’s no hiding how this store perceives itself. Check your wallet before you walk in – if it’s too thin, walk on by.

Most of us would not be drawn to a store that promotes itself as expensive. High prices are not the same as high quality, and the focus should be on quality and value, not just the “bottom line.”

When it comes to flooring, often people perceive many choices as expensive. In reality, there is almost as wide a variety in flooring materials, construction and workmanship as there is in clothing. When you’re making purchasing decisions, it’s important to look beyond price to find the quality and style you want and determine the true value of your choice.

Sometimes a silk shirt is the right choice, and for other purposes, cotton may be better. Silk is more expensive than cotton in general but it might be just right with the outfit you’re planning so you’re willing to pay more. In the same way, one flooring material may be more expensive but worth the price for your purposes.

When you’re debating about the right flooring for you, how about taking the cost difference between the two options and dividing it by the number of years you plan to live in your home. Are you willing to pay that much more a year for the more expensive flooring? If you plan to move in a few years, take a look at resale issues. For example, homes with wood floors sell faster than homes with any other type of flooring.

When you’re choosing flooring, don’t discard price issues, but be sure to look beyond cost when you make your final choice.

Don’t let rainy weather spoil all of your camping plans. You can have almost as much fun with an indoor camping night.

Start by clearing space in the family room or any other larger room in your home. Tents that don’t require posts to set up can work on any flooring without doing any damage. You may want to add one or even several area rugs underneath it to cushion the floor for sleeping.

Cushions in a circle can mimic a campfire for ghost stories. You may want to lay down a blanket or towels for munchies to protect the floor and carpets. Hot dogs, hamburgers, beans and other camping food help keep the mood in place. Then clean-up is as easy as folding the towels together and taking them to the washing machine.

Ghost stories, camp songs from your childhood and other games can make the evening fun. No lights – just safe LED candles and flashlights. While your children are young enough to enjoy it, these events can help bring your family together, spark imaginations and creativity, and help them learn to make their own fun. If it works out well, how about making it an annual event?

Remember, you’re providing your children with the opportunity to build new family traditions and create memories that could last for the rest of their lives.

If you have the kind of family that spends almost as much time on the floor as they do in a chair, maybe it’s time to look for comfy flooring. A nice area rug covering a key floor-sitting area in the family room could do much toward making your children and their friends more comfortable.

When you start shopping for an area rug, look for a carpet pad that is designed to go over whatever type of flooring you have. Choose a good quality pad because that is the first step to creating comfort with an area rug.

As you look at rugs, be sure to touch as well as admire. The texture of a rug can make it more comfortable. In the case of the rug shown, long thick yarn creates a nice cushiony place for your children. However, don’t dismiss lower nap rugs. Depending upon their construction, they can be very soft. Finally, check the materials. Some people are allergic to wool, for example, and soft doesn’t matter if a rug makes you itch!

Once you’ve found the right rug for your family, pick up a few large floor pillows. They will give everyone another layer of comfort and help you convert your floor to preferred seating for your children and their friends, and maybe even for you and your friends too.

From size to color to design, this area rug is the perfect selection for this room. If you’re thinking of buying an area rug, some of the decisions that led to this choice may be helpful.

To begin with, the homeowners chose a rug that allowed their lovely wood floors to show. Some area rugs are selected to completely encompass a seating area, with a size that positions all of the furniture on top of the rug. This smaller rug pulls all of the room elements together without getting in the way of the wood floor.

The colors in this room are both warm and cool. This rug has a warm brown border as well as the cream in the design, but the cooler colors in the room such as the grey sofa and loveseat and the black lamp bases are echoed in the rug’s colors. This helps the rug integrate the room through its color palette.

This rug has a central design. With this particular coffee table, the central pattern shows well. If the table’s style covered the base, any central design would disappear. In that case, either a border design or an overall pattern would work better.

Finally, the simple contemporary style works with the design of the furnishings. At its best, a rug should enhance a room’s design, pulling disparate elements together.

Are you ready for an area rug? Well, if you take your time, measure your space and figure out what colors and design will contribute to the room’s style, you should be able to find one that works well for you.

We spend a lot of time talking about how to use design to make our homes more beautiful or functional. With school starting soon, let’s spend a minute thinking about how designing the right space can encourage our children to keep their school work organized.

If you can find a corner that can be turned into a homework station for your child, it can help create a focus for school projects and reading. Just a few ideas can make the space work well:

• Choose a quiet space with few distractions – no TV, games or phones.
• The space should be used only for schoolwork, with separate spaces for each child if at all possible.
• Have your children help with the planning and design – it will make them more likely to use the space.
• If you have hard surfaces floors, add an area rug to make the room quieter.
• Use bright colors and whimsical touches to make the space inviting. (area rugs can do this, too)
• Include a bookshelf for reference books and book report possibilities.
• Include storage space for old homework papers and class notes and a bulletin board with a calendar to keep track of assignments and appointments.

With a dedicated spot for school-related projects and assignments, you have taken the first step to help your child or children find ways to organize their lives and responsibilities.