The holiday season can be tough on your flooring. Friends and relatives visiting, exchanging gifts. Celebrating, spilling the occasional hors d’oeuvre here or there. Scuffing up the hardwood while dancing. Tramping in moisture or mud from a rainy day. Maybe Aunt Tilly keeps tipping her champagne flute a little too much. Relax. She’s having a good time. We’ve all been there. To keep your holiday spirits up and your flooring looking new, here are some helpful tips on protecting all your flooring surfaces.
Slip Off Your Shoes
If you don’t want to be constantly cleaning and polishing your hardwood or tile flooring, or spending unnecessary money shampooing your carpets, especially during the rainier winter months in Southern California, then consider simply slipping off your shoes. Have your kids remove their shoes and ask your guests to do the same. If you’re not comfortable doing that, consider placing fresh doormats on your porch and on your patio.
Also, consider tossing a small area rug in the entry or foyer of your home and near any other doors leading outside to help soak up moisture from wet shoes and boots. Given the season of giving, we can create a custom area rug for your home with a holiday color scheme to match some of your other holiday décor. Did you know we have remnants of many of our most attractive and popular carpets that can be cut and finished to any size or shape you need?
Make Life Easier for Your Hard Flooring
Spills and scuffmarks are bound to happen this holiday season, especially if you’re entertaining. There are ways to go easy on your hardwood or tile surfaces even if you’re guests aren’t so inclined or concerned to do so; after all, they’re enjoying themselves. Of course, it always helps to be prepared with a moist paper towel or wipe to quickly attend to a spill of food or red wine that could, in time, stain natural wood or more porous stone surfaces.
For hard-surface flooring, consider using a long area rug especially for high traffic areas or if it has been raining to avoid some unnecessary slipping.
Fortunately, we make beautiful area rugs in custom shapes and sizes for entryways, hallways, underneath dining room tables and more. These beautiful rugs are made from the high-quality carpet remnants we have in stock throughout the year. Area rugs from our remnants can be quickly made from any of our Karastan® or Anderson Tuftex® or other quality brands, most of which are part of the Stainmaster® Deluxe Collection because it’s always better to plan for spills.
Keep Your Dance Floor Scratch-Free
There may be one area in your home, typically with hard-surface flooring like hardwood, laminate, or tile that’s ideal for that time in the evening at your holiday party when your guests want to dance. Sometimes in order to make room, you’ll need to move some furniture out of the way, especially if you really like to shake it. It helps if the legs of the chairs, sideboards, tables or other furniture that typically inhabits that room have adhesive-backed felt pads on their legs, so when they’re being moved out of the way, they won’t scratch the flooring. Felt pads are very inexpensive and you can find them at most hardware stores.
Give Yourself Time to Get Your Carpets Cleaned
It’s always a great idea to have your carpets professionally steam cleaned and if possible treated with anti-stain protectant before you have a houseful of guests tramping all over them with food, drink, and appetizers. Just make sure you give yourself at least a week, or longer if the weather has turned cold and damp, to make sure the carpet is fully dry before your guests arrive.
That Area That You’d Like to Change
Of course, sometimes there’s one area that you really want to update because it has endured a lot of wear and tear – an entryway, the kitchen floor, or the guest bathroom – before you host. Consider one of our fine, sturdy and moisture-repellent vinyl’s, like Pergo Extreme®, that is made in a wide variety of surface textures and colors – to look like real natural wood, distressed wood, tile and more. It’s quick to install and is meant for a lot of traffic and hard treatment while still looking as new as the day it was installed.
Visit Our Showroom in Anaheim
For more holiday ideas, cleaning tips, or to see or order some custom-made area rugs stop by our beautiful showroom and a New York Carpets & Flooring representative will be happy to help you transform your home and get it ready for the holidays.
1225 South State College Blvd.
Anaheim, CA 92806
(714) 778-3585