Choosing the Right Window Covering

Photo: Graber Blinds

Choosing the right window treatment to complement your interiors can be overwhelming. But when you consider a few important factors, you’re sure to find the solution that works best for you.

CONSIDER THE PURPOSE OF THE ROOM

By taking a fresh look at your space and the way you use it, you can identify the best design style for your window treatments.

A spacious room used for entertaining can be elevated with uniquely patterned drapery. Enhance the elegance by layering the drape over a blind, shade or shutter.

Simple yet sophisticated, Roman shades may be just the right look for your home office.

A more contemplative room might welcome a view to the outdoors. Bottom up/top down shades may do the trick, while still allowing for privacy.

Because bathrooms have a higher humidity level, consider blinds made of faux wood or a composite material—both of which withstand moisture.

Natural shade materials bring the outdoors in, adding a textural element to a room that is a showpiece in your home. Similarly, wood shutters give a room true distinction—whether your style is traditional or modern or something in between.

CHECK EXPOSURE TO THE ELEMENTS

Exposure to sunlight or heat/cold can cause uncomfortable temperature fluctuation, as well as damage to textiles, flooring and furniture. Windows facing south or west can suffer the most. High humidity rooms require special consideration as well.

INCREASE SAFETY

With motorized treatments, you enjoy total control at the touch of a button, and you also increase safety in your home by eliminating cords at your windows.

Source: Graber Blinds

An Ounce of Prevention

Photo: Shaw Floors

To avoid scratches, put floor protector pads on the bottoms of the legs of any furniture that comes in direct contact with your floors. Avoid walking on floors with sports cleats or high-heeled shoes. But even if despite your best efforts, the floor becomes a toy car racetrack or dance floor, issues can usually be repaired.

When the floor begins to look a little dull, only use products recommended by your contractor, flooring manufacturer or finish manufacturer. Using the wrong type of cleaning product could damage the finish and possibly the wood.

Wood is a natural product that responds to its environment. During winter months when heating systems are running, wood floors will shrink, resulting in gaps between the boards. When humidity is higher in the summer, wood floors swell. This is a normal reaction that occurs from season to season, but it can be minimized by keeping your home between 60-80 degrees Fahrenheit and 30-50 percent humidity all year.

Maintenance Tip

Ask a professional if your wood floors could use a new coat of finish. Most scratches in wood flooring will occur in the finish, not the wood itself. A professional may be able to lightly abrade the finish and apply a new coat to restore the floor. Give MODA Floors & Interiors a call to learn more.

Source: National Wood Flooring Association

Tips To Help You Select The Flooring That Works For You

Photo: Shaw Floors

Your new flooring should reflect how you live. One size (or one color, for that matter) doesn’t fit all. Here are four tips to help you navigate the selection process.

1. Budget

Before you begin, you should know how much you want to spend. Also factor in cost for installation as well. Once you have identified your product for the square footage of space, your professional installer can provide you estimated installation fees.

2. Performance

Think about what you really need. What are your non-negotiables? Is this a space that is prone to spills and might benefit from a waterproof flooring option? Do you want this space to be beautiful, or is comfort your main objective? Whether it’s one or all of the above, there are solutions to fit your lifestyle.

3. Options

No matter if you base your decision on practicality or style and design, know there are suitable options available in multiple colors, textures and visuals across all product categories. Truly, there is something for everyone.

4. Color

Color makes the room. Pay attention to furniture and décor in your space and keep wall color and the overall color scheme of your home in mind as you select style and color options for your new flooring. Nothing is better than the feeling of a cohesive space – so pay attention to the details!

Source: MUSE magazine – Shaw Floors

Rug Layering: A Hot Trend

Rug layering works with any type of design and provides a palette that can be used for choosing furniture and accessories. Watch this brief video to learn more.

https://www.modafloorsandinteriors.com/rug-layering

 

 

Dining With Style

Do you want to dine in style without the hassle? This video offers tips on selecting dishes, silverware, napkins and placemats as well as something special for the center of the table. Did you know napkin rings are staging a comeback?

Watch Video

MODA Partners With Agape Youth and Family Center

From May 1-30, MODA Floors & Interiors will make a contribution from sales to the Agape Youth and Family Center’s COVID-19 Emergency Assistance Fund. Agape is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides academic-based after-school programming, day programming for seniors and disabled adults, family emergency assistance, ESOL in schools and athletic-based health and wellness enrichment camps for girls and boys during the summer. Agape serves a community that includes more than 2,000 school-age children who live in an impoverished area of northwest Atlanta.

MODA Floors & Interiors, an Atlanta-based flooring and window coverings resource, has worked closely with Agape for 10 years on its Extreme Bedroom Makeover and Great Backpack Giveaway projects.

“Agape does an excellent job empowering and supporting under-served families in its community,” said Dean Howell, president of MODA. “The COVID-19 Emergency Assistance Fund will be used to help struggling families pay their rent as well as utility and grocery bills.”

MODA will donate $50 for any sale of $1,000 – $4,999 or $100 for any sale of $5,000 or more. Tax deductible contributions also can be made on the Agape website, https://agapeatlanta.org/emergency-assistance-fund/

MODA Introduces Virtual Shopping Experience

Life’s simple pleasures begin at home. Find your new floors from the comfort of your home using our new virtual shopping tools. See which type of flooring and color might work best in your room. View the video to learn how simple the tools are to use.

20 Ways to Help Fight Boredom

Has cabin fever set in yet for you? Are you struggling to find things to do for you and your family? Here are 20 suggestions.

1. Take a virtual tour of five historic homes.
2. Enjoy virtual tours of botanical gardens throughout the South.
3. Catch up on your reading.
4. FaceTime with family and friends.
5. Change up your décor scheme.
6. Take a power nap.
7. Complete a crossword puzzle.
8. Call an old friend.
9. Teach your children how to cook.
10. Plant an indoor herb garden.
11. Make lists (work lists, home lists and even your life goals).
12. Look through your old photos and share them digitally with family members.
13. Learn a new language.
14. Support your local restaurants by buying gift cards for future use.
15. Organize your computer files.
16. Clean out your closets.
17. Go on a walk while practicing social distancing.
18. Plan a future trip or party.
19. Check out the exercise videos on YouTube.
20. Sit back, relax and savor the feeling of having nothing to do.

What other ideas do you have?

 

Maintaining and Changing the Look of Wood Floors

Photo: Bona

How should I maintain my wood floors?

Routine maintenance for wood flooring is really very easy. Simply sweep, dust mop or vacuum with the beater bar turned off to remove dirt and grit from between the floor boards. Wet mops and steam mops should be avoided because excessive water and steam can dull the finish or even damage the wood. When spills occur, clean the area immediately with a dry or slightly damp cloth.

If the floor begins to look a little dull, using a wood flooring cleaner recommended by the installer or manufacturer will help renew luster. Avoid mass-market rejuvenators, polishes or restorers. If you are not sure which cleaner to use, visit a reputable flooring store like MODA Floors & Interiors for a recommendation.

Will I be able to change the look of my wood floors?

One of the advantages of wood floors is that they can be refinished, which makes them a great long-term value. A wood flooring professional will clean the floors to remove all contaminants and then lightly abrade the floor and apply a new coat of finish. If scratches are deep in the wood, or if there are large dents or damaged boards, trained refinishers will be able to repair the damage without affecting the rest of the floor.

The numbers of times a floor can be refinished will depend on the floor itself, the degree of repair needed and the skill of the refinisher. A professional refinisher will remove very little of the wood to make repair – generally 1/32” or less – while those without proper training or equipment might remove much more wood than that, which generally reduces the life of the floor.

Source: National Wood Flooring Association

What are the Benefits of Wood Floors?

Wood floors offer great long-term value, are easy to maintain and add value to your home. When properly installed and maintained, wood floors can last for hundreds of years. Other flooring options that won’t last as long will need to be replaced more often at additional expense both financially and to the environment.

Routine maintenance requires nothing more than a broom or dust mop. Periodically, using a wood flooring cleaner made for the floor will help remove surface dirt.

Wood floors also add value to your home. Real estate agents report that properties with wood floors sell faster and for more money than properties without wood floors.

Wood as a building material has excellent insulation properties. It has 10 times more insulating capacity than steel or aluminum and five times more insulating capacity than concrete or cinder blocks. As a flooring material, wood retains warmth from heating systems, both from HVAC systems and radiant heat systems, increasing the overall physical warmth of the room.

Source: National Wood Flooring Association