Getting Started Buying Flooring

Anxious to get started on that new floor and your home’s interior design?

Take a tip from the pros… professional designers including those who shop at Olson Rug.

Before you do ANYTHING …. STOP!

Interior designers who shop all the time for floors and who help design them for customers like you say there are 5 Basic Steps to help get and stay organized as you shop for your new floor. (Same goes for window treatments, by the way.)

As you do your planning, remember two things:

• Whatever you select for your floors reflects on the rest of your décor.
• Each room has six surfaces (four walls, ceiling and floor) plus windows, all of which need to be coordinated. (Include those window treatments, too!)

Step One

Write down every decorative change you’re considering…the whole house, even if you won’t do everything right away. You’ll effectively be designing an overall project. This saves time in the long run, making yours a cohesive makeover. (Plus, it’s easier and less costly to make changes on paper.)

Step Two

Collect pictures of rooms and items you like: custom floors, window treatments, furnishings, architectural details. Make notes of what you like and don’t like about your current space, your favorite colors, etc. Put them in your design folder.

Step Three

Make to-do lists room-by-room. Which rooms get a new floor? Get paint, paper, window treatments, etc.? This creates a design flow and establishes your core "project management document."

Step four

Make a "master floor plan" for each room: a rough layout including doors, windows, furniture placement, etc.) Note favored flooring types, colors, patterns, textures, trim and accessories (see Step 2). Include paint chips, wallpaper and fabric samples. Keep them in one place, a project folder. This becomes your color palette and "designer’s board."

Step Five

Take approximate measurements of your entire floor plan. (We’ll do the final, exact measures, optimizing your purchase and maximizing your installation possibilities.) Use square foot measurements. Sketch all rooms in one floor plan, showing how they connect and how traffic flows. Make notes where trim pieces and transitions are needed.