by Arimar | Dec 27, 2018 | Blogs
When it comes to helping a client select flooring for their home, wood flooring is a classic choice. It can add character and value to your property, while creating a beautiful atmosphere.
According to realtors across the country, hardwood floors can add as much as 2.5 percent to the final selling price of a home. Likewise, according to the 2017 Remodeling Impact survey from the National Association of Realtors, refinished hardwood flooring is one of the components that most appeals to today’s home buyers.
As we get closer to 2019, trend forecasters are rolling out with their top picks for fashion, design, decor and the like, and the world of wood flooring is no different. Here’s a look at the top hardwood flooring trends designers say the new year will bring.
THE LOW-DOWN ON WOOD
Even with the influx of wood-look flooring options, it’s hard to beat the luxury, warmth and elegance of hardwood flooring.
Engineered Woods
Thanks to its overall quality, longevity and range, the demand for engineered hardwood floors continues. Engineered wood flooring offers great stability and, if treated correctly a hardwood floor is for life.
Exotic Woods
It looks like there is an increase in demand for exotic grains in cool dark colors while incorporating longevity and a sense of understated luxury. You can expect to see an increase in the use of sustainable exotic species such as Brazilian Cherry and Wenge from exotic and tropical areas of the world.
THE COLOR FORECAST
Interestingly, both very dark and very light floors continue to be fashionable.
Greys
Grey woods with distinctive patterns are still growing in popularity – particularly for kitchens and even in bathrooms. The go-to neutral bridges easily with other colors and serves well in a wide range of design styles from mid-century modern to rustic farmhouse.
Darker Colors
Within the last several years, the trend toward darker colors has continued to grow. Today’s most popular colors include dark walnuts and coffee browns, which lend themselves to a variety of decorative schemes.
Greige
While dark colors are popular, those who prefer neutral colors are embracing a new blend of light/medium brown and grey. This marriage of tints has created a new color sensation: Greige.
DESIGN STYLE PREDICTIONS
A return to the rustic farmhouse look is also in and, with that, a call for longer and wider planks, with an emphasis on natural aging and the use of reclaimed materials.
A return to simplicity
At home, it’s all about peacefulness and sanctuary. To achieve this calming effect, colors have become less flashy, textures more subdued, and patterns less cluttered.
Rustic Chic
As designs that evoke the peaceful feeling of simple living grow in popularity, the farmhouse look, or rustic chic, continues to be popular. When it comes to this design style, colors are muted and less distracting, texturing is subtler and less pronounced.
Patterns
Simple patterns on floors and backsplashes, as well as areas of uniform color that evoke the 50s and 60s, remain fashionable. The minimalism of the 1980s is also making a comeback, including uncluttered geometric patterns and the sparing use of black-on-white accents. Chevron and herringbone patterns continue to be prevalent
A FOCUS ON THE ENVIRONMENT
As homeowners and retailers become more environmentally conscious, generally, there is more interest from consumers in using sustainable materials.
Reclaimed wood
You have two options for Eco-friendly hardwood. To this end, the use of reclaimed wood continues to be popular as well. Reclaimed wood is the use of older trees that were chopped down long ago.
FSC-certified wood
Wood that is labeled FSC certified (Forest Stewardship Council), means that the council promotes and manages forests throughout the world and focuses on adhering to environmental standards. Arimar purchases all our wood from FSC Certified suppliers, guaranteeing the wood we purchase is from forests around the world that are responsibly managed.
Arimar carries a vast range of hardwoods, from popular classics to trendy, innovative styles, all at competitive prices. Call us today and speak to one of our design specialists.
by Arimar | Jul 6, 2018 | Blogs
The kitchen is the new living room
They say that the kitchen is the heart of the home. Whether small or large, the kitchen is the hub of the home. Whereas kitchens were once solely for cooking they are now also for living.
St. Tropez Rustic European White Oak
Today, a good sized, well laid out kitchen is vastly important. Newer homes have embraced kitchens as living spaces in mind, designed to be larger, more accommodating and dual functional, both for lifestyle and resale purposes.
While still called kitchens, they are much more than that. They are a family’s living space and house several areas within. Builders, architects, realtors and designers all recognize this. There’s the kitchen area, the designated cooking space. Then, there’s the dining area within the kitchen. In many larger kitchens, a family can all congregate while cooking, working or relaxing. For those who enjoy entertaining often, even homes with formal dining and living rooms find that guests tend to gather around the kitchen. Here are three designer-approved tips to turn your kitchen into a living room.
Make the kitchen multi-purpose
Islands are a place to entertain, eat meals, work and connect with loved ones. And as more families do away with formal dining rooms, more are turning to islands for more of their meals. Islands are also expanding beyond the kitchen, becoming more of an open concept with kitchens extending into the living area. Adding stools is an easy yet effective way to create space for kids to do homework or guests to linger.
Encourage access
As entertaining has become more casual and relaxed, guests not only gather around the kitchen but also feel comfortable enough to help themselves to food and drink in the refrigerator. So, you want to make it easy for people to get in and out of the refrigerator quickly. You may also consider setting up a custom drink station, which can include a wine refrigerator and ice drawer. Easy access to tools and equipment for you, as chef and entertainer, are also important to keep in mind.
Fuse style and substance
For décor purposes, comfortable furniture, inviting fabrics and warm lighting create an inviting space where people will want to spend time. Go neutral for bigger items like paint, tile and countertop colors, and add bursts of color via accessories and artful displays. Hardwood flooring is an ideal choice for a timeless look and functionality. (Read more about Kitchens with Hardwood Floors for inspiration here.)
by Arimar | Jun 18, 2018 | Blogs
Nice Rustic European White Oak
Three Pro Tips For Styling White Rooms
Embrace white year-round to get a simple, classy, and functional look for any space. Discover creative ways to use this neutral.
Add a bit of color.
Light and airy, white works well in a variety of color schemes and design styles. While the style is about keeping the look simple and clean, adding a few pops of color can give a white room a stunning effect. White creates a blank canvas inviting a host of accent colors—from pastel blues and greens, to vibrant reds and oranges. Pro Tip: This neutral hue also creates a solid base, which works well to create balance and contrast. Just a little bit of one bright color makes a big impact
Go with the flow.
A small, narrow space always looks bigger and more open when painted white. Keeping a room neutral and white can make a smaller space feel large, make a dark room feel bright, and make any room feel open and airy — even without a lot of windows. Pro Tip: You can use white to unify disjointed spaces. Shades of white on the walls and underfoot set up continuity from one room to another.
Focus on texture.
Make an all-white color scheme feel welcoming by adding texture. To add warmth, try distressed finishes and layers of natural textures. Think rugs and throw blankets with thick, rough or interesting textures. Pro Tip: In a rustic-themed kitchen, white-washed wood dining table and chairs, modern white light fixtures and white cabinets and sand-toned hardwood flooring all may mingle nicely.
Lastly, don’t overlook what lies beneath. The brilliant sheen of light-colored floors is unmatched. While dark wood underfoot in an otherwise white space all the way to the ceiling keeps the eye moving up.
View our Gallery for more design inspiration >>
by Arimar | Jun 11, 2018 | Blogs
Genoa Rustic European White Oak
Why Sustainability Matters When It Comes To Flooring
Today, home buyers care about the type of floors they purchase. As people become more environmentally and socially conscious, demand for green building practices rises. This means that more homeowners are seeking sustainable flooring for their homes, in particular wood.
What makes a floor sustainable? Aside from the materials themselves, sustainability encompasses the manufacturing process, use of natural resources and the impact of the supply chain on the environment. It also means choosing flooring that is high quality and built to last.
Hardwood floors have a classic, timeless appeal that make then elegant choice for those value environmentally friendly products. In fact, wood is one of the most earth-friendly and renewable materials you can choose. Not only are fewer materials used in creating wood floors, but they also use fewer raw materials, energy and natural resources to produce.
At Arimar, we believe in environmental and corporate social responsibility. Therefore, our manufacturing processes uses the entire tree from root to crown, leaving no waste behind. Therefore, you can rest assured that our hardwood floors are made with sustainable practices. In practicing sustainable forestry our forests will be viable for generations to come.
Our Floor Art Wide Plank Collection offers style and beauty and is made out of Heveas or Rubber tree. Hevea is well known for its high density, hardness, and physical and mechanical strength, with similar characteristics to Oak. An added benefit is the Rubberwood’s high level of dimensional stability, allowing it to withstand external pressures such as temperature, moisture and air. This makes it an exceptionally excellent choice for homes in warmer, more humid climates.
Explore Arimar’s Floor Art Collection>>
by Arimar | Jun 5, 2018 | Blogs
What sets our Collection of Floor Art apart from the competition and a plus to offer it to your customers:
Treatment, finish, construction. Length of the boards, exclusivity.
90% of the new floors added to the collection goes through a process of smoking, fuming brushing, hand scraping plus the use of the reactive stain done by hand. What this does it adds life to the floor and make it easy to maintain & repair. The finish is Bona Naturale.
85% of the boards on the 9 ½ collection are 96” long, 85% on the 7 ½” are 84” long and 78% on the 6 ½ collection are 72” long.
With our collection you would be able to offer your customer a more exclusive floor.
What is Smoking & Fuming:
This technique exposes the wood to small amounts of ammonia in a controlled environment. The ammonia reacts with the natural tannins; the longer the wood is exposed, the darker it becomes.
Fuming describes the initial surface treatment which creates a rich colour range from warm chocolate to the elegance of almost-black. Smoking takes the process one step further by ingraining the colour deep into the wood itself.
Semi-fumed involves the process of exposing only the surface of the wood to ammonia in variable quantities to achieve a lighter result of amber hues than the process of smoking or fuming.
European Oak is the optimum choice for fuming and smoking because its high tannin content creates a palette of rich wood tones. As the intensity of the reaction depends on the tannin content in the wood, each board reacts slightly differently to create a result that marries blended floor colour with unique and distinctive variations.
What is Reactive Technologies:
Our proprietary reactive technologies encompass the art of creating and enhancing colour from within the wood itself. The wood is treated with metal salts, which react with the natural tannins and cellulose to replicate the oxidization and maturing process of naturally aged wood. The result is a unique, in-grained ‘aged’ timber render that cannot be duplicated with traditional staining methods. The color penetrates into the wear layer making it very easy to repair scratches.
Double reactive technologies take aged wood rendering to the next level. As with reactive technologies the wood is treated with metal salts to create a unique aged look, the process is then repeated to achieve a greater intensity of colour and further enhance the plank’s individual characteristics.
Bona Naturale
The super matte sheen of the Bona finish creates an attractive, sleek oiled wood effect.
This surface finish was originally created for the hospitality industry; its flexibility resists cracks and chips and is ideal for high usage areas such as restaurants. The finish also contains an anti-slip agent and is longer lasting than harder and thicker polyurethanes. Our finish is a Bona Naturale, UV Cured Urethane system. It is water based.
Construction of the floor
Hevea Brasiliensis is a plantation hardwood timber that shares the same high density and strength as White Oak which is native to the US. It is therefore an excellent, environmentally sound substitute for Oak and other slow growing hardwood species.
We use Hevea Brasiliensis to create the core of our flooring because it provides greater dimensional stability and can withstand external pressure (such as temperature, moisture and air) to change. This ensures that the all-important core in our multi-layer engineered floors is stronger and more reliable than other species which are found in cheaper products.
