Walking on style
Current trends from Columbia’s flooring experts
By Molly Wright
Whether refurbishing an older home or building a new one, flooring decisions are difficult. Personal tastes and lifestyle, cost and durability must factor in, especially if children and/or pets are in the picture. Fortunately, today’s flooring choices are plentiful, with colors, materials and styles to satisfy the discriminating to eco-conscientious shopper. To get the scoop on flooring trends, I talked with four of Columbia’s flooring businesses — Busenbark Carpets, Carpet One, Johnston Paints and Flooring and Dave Griggs Flooring America — for their personal expertise.
COLOR
Remember the flashy, bright colors that were popular just a few years ago? Well, they’re out. Today’s colors are cooler and more tranquil, back-to-nature in tone, though gray is still a favorite, according to Rebecca Null, interior designer for Dave Griggs Flooring America. Also out are vivid wall-to-wall carpets. Flecked-colored ones or two-tone twisted barber pole styles are what people are looking for, says Johnston Paint and Decorating Design Manager Melissa Murphy.
However, hardwood colors seem to be going the other way, according to Scott Bradley, general manager of Carpet One. Buyers with children and pets are choosing darker woods that show less dust, scratches and dents.
MATERIAL AND TEXTURE
Along with color preferences, material and texture penchants change as well. Carpet fibers, for instance, such as wool, olefin and cotton have been around a while, but Bradley says, “Nylon is the gold standard for durability and retention.” With a plethora of colors, qualities and designs, nylon resists stains and provides a soft, pill- and fuzzie-free surface. Twisted and looped carpets such as berber continue to be popular, as well as frieze with a special twisted design that keeps it resilient and springy. Patterned carpets are also in; their floral mosaics, rectangular squares and creative designs look “like pieces of artwork on your floor,” says Traci Busenbark Best, president of Busenbark Carpet.
Hardwood floors are sporting wider planks, 3 inches and up, and distressed or hand-scraped surfaces are preferred. Customers are also choosing prefinished hardwoods over the traditional “sand and finish” home process because prefinished hardwoods take less time to install and have harder, darker and richer finishes.
Among the newer options, bamboo is gaining in popularity. Great for slab homes, it can be glued directly to cement. Manufacturers like that it grows quickly and can be harvested sooner than other materials such as oak, which matures at 80 to 90 years. However, Null cautions that bamboo must be harvested sometime between five and seven years; too early and it’s too soft and dents easily, too late and it’s brittle and splits. The type of bamboo is also important. Strand bamboo, the hardest and most durable type used by Teragren, is 175 percent stronger than red oak, according to Null. Cork flooring is also newer, but because of the softness of the wood, it’s better for low-traffic areas.
Family-friendly laminates are hard to tell from real wood anymore with advances in digital photography. As for cost, Murphy is quick to point out that “a photograph of walnut isn’t any different in cost from a photograph of oak.” Vinyls are also popular with families. Earthscapes, a relative newcomer in vinyl, makes extra-wide sheets for virtually seamless installation and has a foam cushion that’s great for people who are on their feet a lot.
In the tile department, porcelain is king. Less absorbent than natural stone and requiring no sealant, larger squares and rectangular patterns are trendy, with matte finishes preferred over highly glazed ones. Luxury brand Dura Ceramic by Congoleum looks like ceramic but resists cracking and can often be installed without grout.
ECO-FRIENDLY
Five years ago, eco-friendly products were hidden in the back of the store and brought out only when a customer asked to see them, Murphy says. But today, earth-friendly flooring is everywhere. Mohawk Industries’ product SmartStrand made by DuPont Sorona is a great example. Produced from corn sugar, it consists of 37 percent renewable resources, so it takes 30 percent less energy to make and reduces CO2 emissions 63 percent over recyclable nylon products. Tigressá Soft Style, another earth-friendly product by Shaw Floors, is made from Anso nylon, which is 25 percent post-consumer recycled content.
Tigressá yarns, only half the thickness of a human hair, are extremely soft, durable and highly stain-resistant. Hardwoods have gone greener as well with new oil stains made from vegetable oils, paraffin and unleaded drying agents that, unlike plastic coatings, impregnate the wood in a way that doesn’t alter the natural beauty.
For allergy sufferers, “Bliss Healthy Home” carpet by the Beaulieu Company uses Magic Fresh Carpet Treatment, containing silver and zinc ions that block the growth of bacteria, mold and mildew while absorbing and destroying odors in the air. And linoleum shoppers should try Marmoleum, a nontoxic, certified allergy-friendly, natural linoleum made from linseed, flax and cork by Forbo Flooring systems.
Stories from the business
Scott Bradley, Carpet One
Last year a customer came into the store to purchase carpeting. They bragged about how their original carpet had lasted 30 years but wanted to update with a more current style and design. As they began to shop, they realized the carpet they had was the “new” style: soft, textured, earth tone. It just goes to show that sometimes what is old can become new again.
Traci Busenbark Best, Busenbark Carpets
In Park Hills, south of St Louis near Farmington, Leslie Busenbark, grandfather to Traci, started his flooring business with “sand and finishing” of hardwood floors. When his son, Gary Busenbark, Traci’s dad, got into the business, he knew he had to move with the times. People still liked hardwoods, but they were getting more interested in carpeting. Gary spent his days selling carpet and his nights installing just to keep up.
Rebecca Null, Dave Griggs Flooring America
Dave Griggs Flooring America is the only mid-Missouri flooring dealer that recycles carpet cushions (padding). Installers use this service, but it is also open to the public; however, cushions must be nail and staple free. The store pays three cents per pound cash or five cents per pound in store credit. Since Dave Griggs began offering this service, the business has recycled more than 475,000 pounds of padding, or 44 garbage trucks full.
Melissa Murphy, Johnston Paint and Decorating
Last year Murphy attended the Shaw Flooring Alliance Convention in Florida with her daughters, Maddie and Molly, ages 4 and 8. The national marketing manager for Tuftex suggested naming carpet after Melissa’s daughters. To celebrate, Johnston Paints plans an unveiling of these carpets along with four other new ones in mid-August. For every square foot sold until the end of November, the store will donate $1 to the Coyote Hill Christian Children’s Home.
