Interior design question

[frankcastle]

Okay seems everytime I come up with some question about stuff around the house or regarding clothes and what not someone has some great advice.

I'm sure a number of you guys have had your floors redone and I'm planning on replacing some carpet with laminate.

So is it better to get a dark or light wood colour for the laminate if the room has dark furniture?

 

[goodtime]

So is it better to get a dark or light wood colour for the laminate if the room has dark furniture?

Depends on the colour of her skin & hair.

 

[frankcastle]

YEah I know it's tough without seeing I was hoping for some sort of general rule of interior design.

I wonder if dark furniture/dark floors tends to have a different effect on the room than say dark furniture/light floors.

Would the latter be less gloomy or seem more spacious? I dunno these are the kinds of things I'm wondering at 2 am?

 

[frankcastle]

Depends on the colour of her skin & hair.

She's blonde and fair skinned.

 

[raven@mirage]

I have a bachelor , and It's seems impossible to come up with a layout for furniture and assceries without making it seem cluttered.

 

[frankcastle]

BTW I just noticed/remembered SB I've got 8 months on you.... WTF is up with those post counts?

Nah just kidding.... I tell ya though I sometimes find myself thinking about those introspective posts you write every now and again.

 

[frankcastle]

I have a bachelor , and It's seems impossible to come up with a layout for furniture and assceries without making it seem cluttered.

Dual purposed furniture is great.... e.g. tables with leaves, couches that can transform..... apparently having things of different height can help make the place seem more spacious e.g. a high table with high chairs for your dining table. At least that's what someone told me once don't know if it's true.

High shelves to maximize storage space.

A bed that folds upwards..... forget what they are called.

 

[frankcastle]

How practical.

 

[Galahad]

It really depends on the colour of your furniture. In general, you try not to mix shades of blue, red, green and grey with earth tones. If your furniture is black, a light wood colour floor will offer a nice contrast.

If your furniture is an earth tone such as brown, both light and dark wood colour should work well.

You also need to keep in mind that if your room is small, dark furniture and dark flooring will make the room look smaller. In that case, if you wanted to room to appear more spacious, you'll need extra light to brighten the room. Otherwise, the room will feel smaller or if you wish, more cozy.

It really is up to you what type of feel you want to give the room.

 

[frankcastle]

Hmmmm tough call really it's the master bedroom and it's 9.7' x 17.5' with a king sized bed in it. There's a big walk in closet so I don't think I'll get a dresser/wardrobe. Probably I will throw in some end tables on either side of the bed. I'm thinking a small area rug at the base of the bed that matches the covers/sheets.

If there's room I'd love to throw in a love seat and my old 27" CRT TV/stereo. Eventually the CRT will be replaced with a flat screen but that's low on the list of home improvements.

 

[tboy]

First of all, I would not only stay away from laminate wood floors I would run as fast as possible in the opposite direction.

Why?:
1) They are fucking ugly IMHO. Have you ever seen an entire floor done with it? It is supposed to look like hardwood but with the BS patterns set into the "planks" it just looks cheap
2) Sound: every one of them sounds hollow when you walk on it.
3) They also tend to lift off the vapour barrier and are very springy. When you look across the floor it looks like a calm day on lake ontario with all the waves up and down (this is because they are not glued down so they tend to move more than real hardwood
4) The cheap quickstyle type floors are highly susceptible to sunlight. I've seen floors near exterior doors and windows where within a couple of months the top wear layer starts to lift due to the heat build up.

If you can't lay down hardwood due to location (basement) I'd go with an engineered floating floor. Looks like a million bucks and you will get 100% ROI.

As a cheap alternative I recently installed about 3000 sq ft of imitation vinyl plank floor. Believe it or not it looks 1000x better than laminate, goes down twice as fast, you have no expansion problems, lasts forever and install is a snap because you don't need any power tools because they can be cut with tin snips or a sharp utility knife.... Go to the arteca website for info....

http://www.amtico.com/selector

BTW: when I saw this stuff I thought, man what BS but after it was down, about 20 people came to me and said how amazing the wood floor looked.....and it did, I've done thousands of square feet of real hardwood and this stuff looked just as good if not better

 

[Svend]

I'll second tboy's comment about laminate flooring, go for the real thing if you plan on living there for more than a few years.
As for light or dark, each goes well with other wood tones - it depends on the mood you want to convey.

 

[rick dickulous]

If you have a small space like a bachelor, then you can find an end lot of REAL 3/4 inch hardwood for around $2 to $2.50 a sq ft. So there's no excuse for using shitty laminate.

 

[IggyP]

Went from light to dark on my hardwood floors (not laminate) and it really warmed up the house giving it a classic feel. But I did have to replace some lighter furniture that badly clashed.

 

[raven@mirage]

Dual purposed furniture is great.... e.g. tables with leaves, couches that can transform..... apparently having things of different height can help make the place seem more spacious e.g. a high table with high chairs for your dining table. At least that's what someone told me once don't know if it's true.

High shelves to maximize storage space.

A bed that folds upwards..... forget what they are called.

Thanks for the tip, I was thinking of doing that, but first I need to get rid of my hand-me-down stuff, I have in the place, I have to call 1800 junk and hall it away, I don't see them being sold as fast as I would like them to be, and I do not have enough man power to hall them out to the curb and have a giant free sign on them.

I want to make over my whole "bachelorette palace" , and from now officially starting as an SP I see that dream a bit more possible now.

 

[LancsLad]

Looking at this thread from a different angle lets think for a moment about what has happened. First he quits the hobby, then he asks interior decorating questions. I am concerned about frank.

Of course I'm a lot more worried about SB as he was the first to jump in with an answer. This PHNINE based metrosexualism is starting to get worrisome.

 

[Sasha Jones]

A bed that folds upwards..... forget what they are called.

They are called Murphy beds

BTW I have seen that vinyl 'wood' flooring in one of the hospitals downtown and OMG it looked awesome. You obviously have to get the right stuff though they are not all the same.
I second the comment about the sound of laminate, I don't mind the look so much and I have found it is quite durable but the hollow/echo sound is quite annoying at times, especially when the dogs have long nails. Thank god we only have it in our home office.

 

[LancsLad]

You obviously missed my Mai-Ly review that turned into a discussion of the merits of antique Spanish pine furniture. If this sensitivity thing works for David Beckham, hey, it should work for us too.

Good point.

 

[frankcastle]

Missed the updates on this thread.

There's a number of reasons why I'm going laminate instead of hardwood....
1) save money.... rather spend it on other things
2) how long I'm staying is unknown
3) it's a good compromise between the current carpet and hardwood
4) the main floor was done in laminate before I moved in so I'd rather it be consistant

And Lancslad,

The whole metrosexual term to me is silly why is taking care of yourself a gay thing?

I mean skin care, face washing, excercise, decent clothes, and taking care of the home helps with the appearances.

I'm no stud so I need every advantage I can get

 

[Svend]

Skin care??

Damn, I thought the chicks dug that rugged weatherbeaten Ernest Hemingway look I've been cultivating.