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Get expert decorating advice from Rose Bennett Gilbert, co-author of "Hampton Style" and nationally syndicated newspaper columnist. |
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Have your own home decorating question?
Submit it to Rose by clicking here.
Hardwood floors will work well in a laundry room
Neutral colors do not need to be light
Hardwood is a good choice for a playroom.
I am determined to bring the laundry area up from the basement. It always makes me feel like the scullery maid, down there in the gloom. There's a butler's pantry off the kitchen where I'm thinking of relocating the washer-dryer because the plumbing is already there. I'm a little worried because it has beautiful old oak floors (they're in the kitchen, too) – Allison
Photo: Shenandoah Cabinetry
Wash day blues? Hardwood cabinets and flooring warms up the working environment.Worry not, dear Allison. Unless you plan to scrub clothes by hand, splashing soapy water in all directions, your old oak floors should be more than equal to work-room duties. True, wood and water don't mix, but standing water is the only real wet-threat. If you're quick to jump on spills and splashes, no harm's done to hardwood.
Besides, you'll be glad to have wood's company in a hardworking area. It's softer underfoot than so many other flooring materials, especially hard-surfaces like ceramic tile. And warmer, too, as you can see from the inviting laundry room we show here. Built-in cabinets (these are from Shenandoah Cabinetry, www.shenandoahcabinetry.com and a real hardwood floor combine to make the laundry room as appealing as any other room in the home. If her work space had been this attractive, Cinderella might even have opted to stay home from the ball!
I want to paint my house with neutral colors but my furniture is light-colored and I'm afraid it will not stand out. What colors would you recommend?-Emerald
Answer 2:Where is it written that all neutrals have to be light in value? How about a dark, warm gray, a handsome neutral that was all over the most recent Furniture Market in High Point, N.C. Other deep neutrals that would make your light wood furniture pop include chocolate brown, deep raisin, even black, glossy or matte.
In addition - what a thought! – many professional designers are using purple as today's "new neutral."
I want to take the carpet out of a kids' play/exercise room. I don't know what to replace it with. In the surrounding rooms, there's red oak flooring. There's tile in the bath and laundry close by. Must I stick with the same hardwood? I'd like to be cost-effective. Could I choose a laminate that's a different color/pattern, like cherry? What about tile of a different color? For resale in the future, I want it to look good-Tracey
Answer 3:Just how far in the future is that resale likely to be? Because, if you are going to stay in this house for at least a year, common sense says that you should make it attractive, not for some unknown family to come, but for yours right now.
When it comes to choosing a flooring material, don't be inhibited by what's already in place. We just toured the Gamble House in Pasadena, where the fabled Greene and Greene Brothers created a masterpiece of Craftsman architecture in which they mixed many different kinds of hardwoods with discreet abandon.
Besides, ceramic tile is hard and cold, probably not the kind of play surface you want for your kids. And laminates, well, they are relatively inexpensive copies of other flooring materials, including hardwoods, but in the long run, you'll still be putting plastic on your floors.
And have you ever read a For Sale ad that touted "faux flooring?"