Found some laminate flooring for cheap to finish up our laundry room at our basement and you can find it any cheaper than a yard sale.  They had 10 boxes of these for sale – and we went to buy them immediately.  So I look forward to doing my laundry floor and finally, the kids can play while I do my laundry.

I’ve started Christmas decorating already this year – and it might seems early to you – but I figured – if I had to decorate I might as well have more days to enjoy the decorations and lights right?  I hope this year – I can really get the house all geared up before the kids come home from college – and I’m also getting a few more personalized things for the home just like the doormat above.  I chose a reindeer one – where I can place all the family member names on it hanging on the ornament balls.  So if you like personalized things – or doormats for a special friend or family member – click here for their christmas doormats and other personalized things.  Every year friends and family who visits asked me where I get them from – so this year – I’m sharing them early with everyone – so that they can order them now – and get them before Christmas comes.

Fixing the basement floors can get expensive – if you count the workmanship as well as the material – but a friend showed us this Espresso 10mm press & lock & vinyl plank flooring which will cost us about $3 a square ft without needing to put an underlay would definitely save us some money.  We figured with the space we want to put flooring on – it would cost us close to only $600 – alot cheaper than we had expected.  I’m really pleased with the finding – because it’s as easy to lay down as laminate.  I hear it’s so easy – to put it together – it’s just a click and a push.  The best part is – they are water proof and you can mop it – and it wouldn’t collect dust like carpet.  When my basement floors are re-done this Spring/summer – I will upload the pictures for all to see.

]]> http://www.trenduk.org/2011/03/lock-vinyl-plank/feed/ 0 http://www.trenduk.org/2010/07/treating-old-rugs/ http://www.trenduk.org/2010/07/treating-old-rugs/#comments Mon, 26 Jul 2010 15:56:42 +0000 Trendy Chick http://www.trenduk.org/?p=1209

You don’t see me buying lots of rugs for our home – why?  because i don’t like the dust in the first place and they get old and their color fades – badly.  I find it such a waste to throw them out but it’s worst to try and clean it.  I remember when we first got married and bought our own home – our first home – it was kinda hard on us – because we were young and didn’t know better. A friend told us about po finance for the spouse’s business and that definitely helped us into putting our finances in a much better shape and then we were able to do more for our home and for our kids.

Anyhow, I found out more about how one can bring your old rug back to live and I was ecstatic and just had to share it with you. You don’t even need to spend a lot of money on it either.  Some hot water and salt in equal parts and then apply it to your rug with a damp cloth – now how hard is that right?  The salt is said to help brighten the color of your rug and the hot water helps to keep it that way.  But hang on a min – before you plunge into the project – give your rug a spot test in case yours cannot take the hot water.   Some said to use a dry towl to place over the areas to help blot out any excess moisture – you can just get the kids to walk on it and that’s all you need to do.

Another tip you may find handy is if you wanna clean your old rug – try bringing it to a car wash – give it a good scrubbing there with some salt – and you don’t have to dirty your bath tub – woohoo!

Love the flooring found on Apartment Therapy – home belonging to Sarah and Alex in Missouri – very unique and very bold – yet it doesn’t come off as too bold but definitely unique.  I loveeeee it!!!  I can definitely live with this color for a long, long time.

Laminate flooring is my favorite !  it’s easy to clean and definitely cheaper than carpeting or any kind of flooring.  I also love the warm color of laminates – you can choose from dark brown right up to the lightest brown.  I also heard that there are different colors now with laminate – click here to check it out.

Alas, I am not able to get laminate for our home.  Why?  the weather is so cold here – we would either have to keep the heat on – just not to freeze our toes  and we all know that heating cost a bomb during winter.  It’s already April and we still have to keep the heat on when we are home – so it’s cheaper to use carpet in the long run.  But for those – who lives in a country that is not as cold – i can say that laminate is the best way to go.  It’s easy to clean and you just feel the warmth and coziness in your home with laminates – what is your take on it?

Since I will be needing natural cure for hair loss as my hair is still dropping like no one’s business – I’ve decided to invest in the new addition from the iRobot family.  It is said that the Dirt Dog is a heavy duty cleaning robot unlike the others that were from the same line.  This one can clean your workshop, basment and even garage and has industrial cleaning power.

Compared to the Roomba, the Dirt Dog has a 40% larger capacity waste bin and high-speed 1000 RPM counter-rotating brushes. It has enough power to easily sweep up nuts, bolts, small nails, sawdust, dirt and other small debris (not sure about rodents) and is meant primarily for hard surfaces and shop carpets, not your nice shag. So iRobot now has cleaning bots all over the home.

I have been dying to buy a i-robot for our rugs!  Why..?? because i really don’t have the time to clean my rugs and the entire house.  I wasn’t asking for a lot but just the vacuuming of the place.  But as you all know kids are so demanding these days, that we must spend time with them, therefore, I just wanted to make sure that i works before paying a good $200 for them.

Every winter, we think of ways to save on heating bills and one of the things that really bug me is our open kitchen and open tv room.  So in order to heat our tv room, we have to heat up our kitchen as well.  So a few years ago, we installed a glass door to keep the  heat in and the cold out.  But you see, the carpenter didn’t do a good job because at the bottom of the glass door, there was draft coming in all the time, thus when the kid is playing on the floor, she would still feel cold.  So while i was out getting the best diet supplement i also went out to get some cloth to make my own draft blocker, it wasn’t so hard either.  I just followed what i found online and a very inexpensive way too.  Normally, one can buy a draft blocker for as much as $40, but doing it oneself, all you need is – the fabric, rice and needles and thread.  Of course, if you can sew a bit it would be very handy.  Try it yourself, we saved lots on heat bills at home during last winter.

I gave up on shopping for the perfect rugs at the local mall for the different rooms in our home.  I can’t find the ones that I like, and when I do find a nice design the color may not be right or vice versa.  And if I find the rug with the right design and color the shape wouldn’t be right *sigh*.   Custom rugs is the only way for one like myself, decorating the entire house one room at a time. To do it right the first time and every time.  Why? Because you can choose the designs you want, the colors you want, the shapes and the sizes you want, to fit in different rooms. After all, every room needs its signature design right?  Thank God for custom rugs…!