Lots of Homeowners Tend to Think of Carpet as a Comfortable Type of Floor Covering

A lot of homeowners – especially long-time homeowners – tend to think of carpet as a comfortable and familiar type of floor covering. It's been around forever. It's what they've always had and what they're used to. I ran into this carpet fixation when we lived in North Carolina. My husband and I planned to rip up the carpet to install hardwoods in the living room. Some of our family members couldn't understand why we didn't want replace the old carpet with more carpet. These same relatives had the same reaction when we installed laminate flooring in our new house in PA. So, I decided to educate them on why I prefer hard surface flooring. We have pets – a dog and a cat. Carpets are famous for holding pet dander, as well as dust mites, mold spores and other allergy-causing substances that get caught within the fibers. In fact, carpet can contain 100 times more allergens than hard surface floors. Hard surface flooring allows me to keep the pet dander to a minimum. Armstrong has the leading pet-friendly floor with its line of Alterna and Alterna Reserve luxury vinyl floors. I have Alterna in my kitchen, and besides all the great benefits of this floor like its easy care and softness under foot, I love the pitter-patter of my dog's feet when he walks across it. Hard surface floors like laminates, hardwoods and vinyls are easy to clean. Personally, I like hard surface floors so I can see when they get dirty. I can't hide it or worse yet, it can't hide from me. I also don't need to call in professionals when I want to do a deep cleaning, like I would with carpet. I like the versatility of hard surface flooring. You can find a wide variety of looks, textures and colors, like hand-scrapes, distressed wood, metal looks, stone looks and lots of other visuals with hard surface flooring. Carpet doesn't offer that kind of variety. It's easy to decorate with hard surface flooring. For example, you can add colorful rugs that complement (or contrast with) your flooring style. Rugs offer the option to introduce bold colors to a room, but in small amounts. You can also integrate colors from your rugs into other furnishings, such as throw pillows, curtain treatments, lamp shades or other elements that strike your fancy. Hard surface flooring allows me to create a look that is as unique as I am. I'm happy to forget the carpet and find comfort in hard surface floors that are warm and welcoming. Oh – and I think I've finally got my relatives persuaded too. Source: armstrong