These light floors work well with contemporary and modern spaces in homes, apartments and lofts. This living room features very pale wood floors that perfectly suit the all white furniture scheme. The textured area rug helps break up the smooth surface of the floor.  Texture is important in monochrome or neutral spaces that don’t rely on colors for interest.  Sisal or jute would also bring texture to the floor without adding too much pattern or additional color.  Having just a pop of color in a throw on the sofa doesn’t take away from the white floors or furniture.

Lighter floors can be a bonus because they don’t show as much dirt as dark wood floors.  This is good if you have a pet or kids who track in dirt from outside.  With any flooring choice, wall colors and other features in the room should be taken into consideration to make the best choice.

Red cabinets grab and hold the eye when you first look at this kitchen, but there’s more happening than red. White, silver and green with touches of yellow also help this kitchen to stand out.

The extensive use of white keeps the red cabinets from overwhelming the space. White and silver are the only other tones that play permanent roles in the space, and silver is the unifying element. If you count, there are nine stainless features in this kitchen, scattered throughout, particularly around the boundaries.

Ebony wood flooring always works well with a contemporary environment. Its rich dark tones support the other color choices while grounding the room. This choice will also work well in the rest of the living space due to its versatility and automatic style.

The plant styles and positions are cleverly planned to add another color and also as a connecting feature. At first glance, the vases of greens above the sink appear to be an image or perhaps a tile backsplash. In reality, they are real plants set in an opening over the sink. The consistency of size, material and spacing turn houseplants into art. You can do the same thing if you use the same vases or pots and space them evenly.

Altogether, this kitchen invites you to cook, despite its small space. What can you do to your own kitchen – of any size – to add to its warmth and charm?

The Nordic Light Collection focuses on light floors that recall summer days.  Paired with strong, fresh colors or blues and whites favored by Scandinavian design, these floors can feel modern or traditional. We love the birch floors with their natural, dark flecks.

The Natural Feeling Collection features warm, golden toned floors. A golden toned floor works well with natural colors, earth tones, stone, leather and natural linens for a relaxed, inviting space. The Doussie wood floors, from Africa, are a light brown mixed with a pale straw color with well defined pattern from the heartwood.

Beautiful Shade Collection offers dark wood floors which are a hot trend in design. Boen offers a range of warm tones to ebonies to fit traditional to very contemporary designs. The Smoked Oak is one of our favorites. It is created by exposing oak timber to ammonia vapor, which turns it black throughout the wood.

My Dreams Collection has four groups: Stonewashed, Patterned Floors, Boen Chalet and Solid Oak Plank. We love the reclaimed wood feeling of the Stonewashed floors.

Maritime World Collection was inspired by the Scandinavian boat building tradition which gives these floors a distinct maritime feeling. You can even opt to have the wood pegs at every joint. Love this look!

As the flooring sponsor, the kitchen will feature Shaw’s Grand Canyon, a hardwood style made from 100% post-industrial wood byproducts.

The design reflects Tyler Florence’s vision of the kitchen as “the new American living room,” incorporating his concepts of family, cooking, entertaining, comfort, design and heritage.

This year’s Kitchen of the Year will be held in conjunction with “Tastes of Summer,” an outdoor food festival that features samples from Rockefeller Center’s most popular restaurants.

Thanks for FloorDaily.net for supplying this article!

About House Beautiful

House Beautiful (www.housebeautiful.com) is a leading authority on American home design and decoration, reaching more than seven million readers every month. Founded in 1896, House Beautiful is the oldest continuously published shelter magazine in the United States. Readers can also interact with the brand on the digital front, with House Beautiful mobile (m.housebeautiful.com). In addition to its U.S. flagship, House Beautiful publishes two editions around the world. Hearst Magazines is a unit of Hearst Corporation (www.hearst.com), one of the nation’s largest diversified communications companies with interests in magazines, newspapers, digital media, business media and television.

About Shaw

Shaw Industries Group, Inc., a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., is the world’s largest carpet manufacturer and a leading floor covering provider with more than $5 billion in annual sales and approximately 31,000 associates. Headquartered in Dalton, Ga., the company manufactures and distributes carpeting, rugs, hardwood, laminate and ceramic tile for residential and commercial applications worldwide. A recognized leader in environmental stewardship, Shaw has implemented hundreds of sustainability initiatives and cradle to cradle design solutions, collectively termed the Shaw Green Edge. For more information, visit www.shawfloors.com.

If you are a homeowner and thinking of renovating your home, using “green” flooring alternatives would be a good start in contributing to save the environment. Hardwood flooring is a common way to go green. Hardwood flooring is not only elegant and beautiful, but especially durable, standing the test of time.

More and more manufacturers are producing eco friendly hardwood floorings to attract their environment conscious customers and one of them is Terra Verde. Terra Verde is an online pioneer in green and eco-friendly flooring goods. Their name translates to “Green Earth” and with good reason. Their collection has a wide range of planet healthy options from domestically engineered hardwood, exotic hardwood flooring, solid exotic flooring and many more. Hardwood floors are commonly made from red oak, white oak, and cherry oak which give hardwood floors its elegant look.

Terra Verde carries all of the classic wood choices as well as newer sustainable materials such as cork, bamboo and lyptus. These three choices are quickly replenished providing an unending supply of materials from which beautiful floors can be made.

We only have one planet to live in and building green helps us do our share in saving planet earth. So if you are a homeowner who is thinking of renovating, doing your part and using environment-friendly flooring like Terra Verde is a great start.

Did you know? A whisky cask, once it has reached the end of its natural life, normally ends up adorning a garden lawn or, worse, at the foot of a landfill.

Now however there is a new more worthy final destination for the humble cask once it has matured its last drop of whisky thanks to the efforts of a Glasgow-based flooring firm.

McKay flooring have engineered a method that enables the oak planks of barrels to be straightened out so that they be used as sheet flooring.

The flooring, according to  its makers, retains a mild aroma of vanilla with many of the barrels still displaying distillery markings.

The company has received orders from orders from the bar and restaurant trade with interest also coming from whisky enthusiasts from around the world.

For more information visit www.mckayflooring.co.uk. This news originated from TalkFloor.com

Mohawk’s strand woven styles have been tested to be twice as hard as domestic oak.  The Mohawk products are manufactured using all parts of the bamboo stalk for optimum green benefits, and they meet European E-1 Standards for low formaldehyde emissions.  They can also contribute LEED points to an installation.

“Bamboo regenerates naturally, and can be harvested every five to seven years,” said Roger Farabee, Senior Vice President of Marketing for Mohawk.  “That makes it a LEED recognized rapidly renewable resource.  But the softness of traditional bamboo has been a limitation.  Mohawk’s new strand woven bamboo is sturdy enough to allow the species to be used in both residential and commercial applications.”

Mohawk is introducing two new bamboo lines, Hilea in its Rarity Collection and Kahala in the Artiquity Collection.

Both bamboo lines will be available with Mohawk’s popular Uniclic® glueless installation system.   This patented method allows for fast, easy angled or sliding installation on the sides of the plank. Even when space is tight, Uniclic will ensure a secure locking action. End joints feature a drop-lock that allows for an easy install.

Hilea offers environmentally friendly strand bamboo in natural and baked natural. Natural features Uniclic technology for easy, glueless installation. Baked natural also features Uniclic, but also is available with tongue and groove joints for nail or glue-down installation. Both feature a 25-year residential warranty and a 3-year medium commercial warranty.  The product is either 3 ¾” wide (tongue and groove styles) or nominal 5” wide (Uniclic styles).

The Kahala line features unique handscraped visuals in an elegant nominal 5-inch plank width, showcasing bamboo’s new design options.  Kahala features the Uniclic locking system of installation and has a 25-year residential warranty and a 3-year medium commercial warranty.  Products come in five colors: Chestnut, Rustic Baked Natural, Light Ebony, Warm Cherry, and Warm Chocolate.

“This creates entirely new styling options and applications with bamboo,” Farabee said.  “Bamboo now has fresh looks, new uses, and a powerful green story.  Strand woven bamboo is having a major impact on this category.”

Strand woven bamboo’s sustainability and environmental benefits are another step in Mohawk’s GreenWorks, Mohawk’s umbrella program for environmental and sustainable initiatives.  Mohawk is the leader in recycled and renewable flooring, and one of the largest recyclers in the flooring industry.  Mohawk’s goal is to develop processes and products that allow the company to focus on the five “Rs” of the GreenWorks platform:  reduce, recover, reuse, renew, and recycle.  Strand woven bamboo reduces waste and utilizes a rapidly renewable resource.  Learn more about Mohawk Greenworks at www.mohawkgreenworks.com.

The second-generation label follows the Greenguard Indoor Air Quality Certification already received by Wilsonart.

Products receiving the latest certification include Estate Plus, Red Label, Professional Studio, Contract and
BlueFusion Flooring Seam Adhesive.

Wilsonart products are also California Air Resources Board Phase I Compliant (Classic) and California 93120 NAF Compliant (Estate Plus, Red Label, Professional Studio, Contract).

Wilsonart also said it is the first North American laminate flooring manufacturer to receive Forest Stewardship Council Certification Registration.

Shaw Floors

FSC provides third-party certification confirming that materials used are harvested from well-managed forest operations.

The plant began operations in 2006 and exclusively manufactures the company’s Epic engineered hardwood flooring brand.  Veneers used in Epic are obtained from North American managed forests deemed sustainable by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and all styles are in compliance with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) requirements.

Shaw manufactures FSC-certified Epic hardwood products by special request only. Lead time and minimum quantities will be regulated, the company said.

Shaw

Branded ScufResist Platinum, Shaw said the finish increases the product’s durability while keeping aesthetics intact and resists scuffs up to six times better than the competition.

According to Anderson President and CEO Don Finkell, the finish is one of the first innovations to come out of Shaw’s new Hardwood Research & Development Group.

The Group formed in September 2009 as part of Shaw’s hardwood reorganization plan.

The finish is now being used to improve Shaw’s Epic products and will be used in the future to on all of Shaw’s hardwood products. By April 1, all Epic products will be shipped with new finish.

Thanks to Floor Daily for the breaking news!