Keep Your Home Flooring Fresh Over The Holidays With These Tips
You might not have relatives visiting for the holidays who are as sloppy as Cousin Eddie in Christmas Vacation, but you could be bracing for more traffic through your front door this holiday season. Fear not. You can keep everything looking spectacular. Even if you let a Cousin Eddie in. You’ve thought long and hard about your home’s flooring, and rightfully so. It’s a major component of your home’s interior design scheme, the element that can pull it all together — the furniture, the wall colors, the art, the window treatments — helping to create your home’s tone. Whether you’ve chosen carpet, hardwood, laminate, luxury vinyl plank, vinyl sheet, or ceramic or porcelain tile, you want to keep it looking beautiful for as long as possible. That can be more challenging over the holidays if you’re entertaining family and friends, and they’re seeking refuge from frigid, wet weather when they step inside your warm home. You might also have young children home over holiday break, going in and out, all day long. Here are some tips that can help.
MATS OUTSIDE AND INSIDE THE FRONT DOOR
The first step toward keeping your home flooring looking fresh and clean, especially through winter’s snow, slush and salt, is placing absorbent mats on both sides of exterior doors. A “WELCOME” mat on your doorstep will do more than help prevent slips and falls. Hopefully your home’s occupants and guests will use it to kick the snow, ice and mud from their shoes or boots. If they missed any, they can kick and wipe some more once they step on the second mat inside the doorway. For the outdoor mat, durable materials that can withstand the elements are most popular, such as rubber or coir, the material made from coconut husks. Inside, we recommend something with a rubber backing to grip the hard-surface entryway flooring, with a more comfortable cloth top that matches your home's interior color scheme.
SHOES OFF AT THE DOOR
Regardless of the types of mats you place on both sides of exterior doors, people entering inevitably will miss some of the moisture. But don’t worry! They will immediately remove their shoes or boots upon entering because they’ll either see that others have done so, or you’ll politely ask them to. “No shoes” policies are quite common in today’s homes, so you have no reason to fear offending guests. Enforcing this rule imposes a requirement on you as well: You need a place for people to store their shoes. This can take the form of a big wicker basket next to the door if you’re looking to save space. However, that might quickly become a disorganized mess, especially if you have multiple children. Consider something with shelves or compartments that allows a person to neatly keep their shoes or boots together and visible for quick and easy retrieval when it’s time to leave. Of course, a long, narrow rubber mat rolled out along the wall can also suffice.
KEEP A TOWEL NEAR THE DOOR
While they might not like it, our dogs must go outside all winter to relieve themselves, which means they’ll be coming back in with snow, water and dirt stuck to their paws, bellies and tails. Snow quickly balls up into ice chucks that become embedded in their paw pads. Keep a clean towel near the door so that you can immediately wipe them off and clean them out after they enter. Even without pets, it’s smart to keep a second towel near the door to wipe any moisture or de-icing salt from flooring that escapes the interior doormat. Quickly sweep up salt. Its rocks can scratch the finish of laminate flooring, and salt powder can be ground into the floor surface’s indentations. Then clean the area with a solution of white vinegar and warm water. If you have hardwood, quickly dab the area with a damp cloth. Then squirt on some cleaner, being sure to use one that’s made for hardwood flooring. Cleaners with improper pH balances can dull the finish on your floor at best or strip it off completely at worse. While you’ll find it worth the money to pay for a good hardwood cleaning solution, the vinegar/water mix does work. We also recommend some homemade floor cleaner recipes for other types of flooring.
VISIT GOSHEN FLOOR MART
Once you have your plan ready to protect your new flooring, our experts are ready to help you find the right type that fits every room in your home. The professionals at Goshen Floor Mart have been matching families with the perfect flooring for their lifestyle for more than 25 years. Stop by the showroom at 65669 U.S. 33 to browse one of the largest flooring inventories in the area or call 574-642-4770 to talk with a flooring specialist today.
Trust the experts
The professionals at Goshen Floor Mart have more than 25 years of experience in flooring and they’re ready to share that knowledge with you. Call 574.642.4770 or contact us here CONTACT
If you're in the market for flooring feel free to contact Goshen Floor Mart. Remember, we are always happy to provide you with a free estimate. Call us today at 574.642.4770 or contact us here