Hardwood Floors

By Andrei Zaretski

Whether you are selling your home

and hoping to increase its value, or

simply trying to impress your fashionconscious

friends, keeping up with the latest trends

is a worthwhile task.

Your floor is a good start, being the first thing

people see when they enter your home.

Frank D'Urzo, sales manager for Ontario

Flooring, says that while high-risers choose to go

with high-end laminates, traditional hardwood

floors are still the popular choice when it comes to

low-rise flooring.

"A lot of people are going towards the hardwood,"

he said. "It's the fashion, it's a nicer look. Hardwood

is always going to last the test of time."

Hardwood floors not only look nice, but also

contribute towards the resale value of the home. A

nice hardwood floor will hike up the price of your property's a lot more than a nice carpet.

The hand-scraped look is today's trend, along with

wider planks. Darker shades, such as dark

walnut or graphite, are the popular choice in terms of

colour, although D'Urzo believes that traditional

browns are always going to last in the long run.

Something to keep in mind when buying

hardwood floors is the humidity. D'Urzo cautioned that

since wood is a natural product, it will expand and

contract with moisture. The humidity in your

home must be controlled and maintained in order to

minimize the expansion and contraction of your

hardwood floors.

Although hardwood floors are the trend, carpets can still

be spotted in some homeowners' bedrooms.

"People still like that comfort in their bedrooms,"

D'Urzo said. "But living room or dining room type

areas is always going to be hardwood."

He explained that carpets will always be a bit more

comfortable and a bit warmer. However, buyers

have to keep in mind that the wear and tear on the

hardwood floor is a lot more durable.

For those who like to keep their feet warm, berber

carpets are today's top fashion pick. The nylon berber

will give you a softer feel when you roll out of bed on

Monday morning.

"Your traditional beiges have stood

the test of time," said D'Urzo

in reference to colour.

"Nobody's really

going crazy

w i t h

colours."

Today's tiles

have a vast

selection of popular

choices. Anything with

slate, marble or some kind

of stone look will get you

the nod of approval from that

fashion-conscious visitor.

If you plan to stay on top of the

trends and yet keep your home for a long

while, it is important not to get carried away.

According to D'Urzo, trends come and go in

cycles of approximately five to seven years.

"I remember when I just started 10 years ago, the

big thing was the white," he recalled. "People would

bleach-white stain the hardwood. And now that's

gone! Then we went into a little phase where

everything was natural and light brown, and now we're

really getting into the darker colours."