Cork flooring is rapidly becoming more popular, mostly because of an increasing demand for eco-friendly flooring options. Cork is truly a green material; since cork itself is a derivative of the bark of the tree, the success of cork harvesting lies in keeping the trees alive and promoting forest health, rather than cutting them down. A healthy tree means a profitable tree, so these forests are sustained and observed, encouraging growth for decades. These are just some of the reasons you should consider switching to cork flooring in your home.
Did you know…
A law was passed in the 30’s called “The 9-Year Law”, which dictates that cork cannot be harvested any more frequently than every 9 years. The tree must meet other qualifications as well, such as having a circumference of at least 60cm, and being at least 25 years of age.
The average cork tree lives to be between 150-200 years old.
As a tree ages, the better its quality of cork becomes.
Dom Perignon was one of the first to use cork for stoppers in his sparkling wines, making it a significant discovery that would lead to many other uses of cork.
Cork flooring is a recycled product- cork floors are made from the “waste” cork that is left from the production of wine stoppers.
Cork floors are a popular choice to be used in libraries, churches, and nurseries because of its sound absorption qualities.
Because of cork’s structure (millions of tiny, encapsulated air cells), it greatly reduces heat loss in rooms. Unlike other flooring materials, it maintains an even temperature through these tiny prisms- a temperature that feels comfortable underfoot, and is neither too warm, nor too cold.
“It’s like a stroll down a charming European side street.” –Los Angeles Times
Imagine a street that’s alive with the work of stylish and creative people. You can feel the energy as you explore an enchanting 2 ½ blocks of more than 85 shops, boutiques and galleries that have made Cedros Avenue into North County’s most interesting enclave of coolness and creativity. Cedros is also the home to many eclectic home furnishing retailers, and our own Solana Beach branch of Coles Fine Flooring, which moved into the Design District in 2003, offering expert design service for all your floor covering and window treatment needs.
Discover bargains and style. Find fashion boutiques, art galleries and fine home furnishings. Happen across that perfect gift from aroud the globe, a treasured antique, hand-woven tapestry, or exquisite hand-made jewelry.
You can get happy and healthy at one of Cedros Avenue’s day spas, salons, yoga or pilates studios. Find expert garden guidance at the renowned Cedros Gardens. Then settle in for a refreshing beverage and something delicious to eat at one of the many cafes and bistros, and return for an evening of world-class live music at the renowned Belly Up Tavern.
Character, energy and charm. Special bargains. Friendly, small-town service.
Feeling good is what it’s all about, according to recent fashion predictions by Pantone for the Summer of 2009. People will be most attracted to colors that reflect individuality and personality, colors that make people feel good about who they are. Color will be more than just a shade, but the very mood and style we wear to face the world.
Color is the essential ingredient in design and style, the very flavor that brings out the mood of design. Fashion and home furnishings are flavored with color, bringing out emotions and style. Color sets the mood like smell reminds a memory, as suggestive as a dream or the scents of the wind itself.
The Pantone Color Forecast features a string of “isms,” each designed with a personality that’s knows what it wants. Since personality comes in all styles of faces, there’s sure to be something this year that lights up your mood, whatever you are feeling in the moment. Step out on summer with designs that play with your personality. Dance the colors that suit your mood.
In an classical arts style that just seems to find its way naturally into any art opening, Classic-ism is nearly colorless save for a medium stripe of blue that suggests restraint and a polite calming grace. It’s subtle yet stylish, perfect for understating the obvious. Classically intoned, this color is sure to bring tradition into fashion and design.
Striking out more boldly, Today-ism steps into brightness with a proper balance of deep red hues and a somber brown, creating a playful dance to attract the eye. It screams right now, lighting up color with an immediacy that brings out a room.
On the experimental side, Fetish-ism experiments with carnal desire, seducing freedom with deliciousness. It’s boldly suggestive, yet subtly coy, like a wink in the bright lights of the night. It’s perfect for when you are feeling dangerously playful, ready to turn heads that follow you everywhere around the room.
Stepping into a stranger mood, Surreal-ism playfully creates the unexpected in a play of creativity. It plays with your imagination with all the brightness of a jewel, dancing and shimmering like moonlight on the water. It’s imaginatively artistic, yet dreamingly suggestive. Shining like a wine glass in the hues of the moonlight, this color dances creativity in the dreamy lights of the dance floor.
Turning absurdity upside down, Absurd-ism frees color from the binds of conformity and rationality, creating a playful twist on the disproportionate. Bending the rules of color in an innovative twist, it breaks out of boring with a playfulness that laughs at the color brown. It’s the kind of color that’s willing to stand on its head, tell a joke in a library, dance even when there’s no music playing.
Independent-ism strikes out on its own with a boldness that’s unique enough to turn heads. Why look like anyone else when style can be as bold as we can be? It’s the color we wear when we want to be ourselves, sure of who we are. It’s like stepping into a room and knowing what you want.
Female-ism celebrates the woman and everything that makes her beautiful. With medium pastels, it celebrates the female being with positivity, a dash of medium color with just a touch of retro glamor hues.
Each of these colors suggest a personality and a mood, a way of making style our own. Design plays on the emotions, changing like moods with the dress, the drapes and the color of the cake. It’s a dance that depends on the playful or the serious, the bold or the subtle. Design and color mean more than just occasion and circumstance, but the very mood and style we wish to step into for the moment.
Coles Fine Flooring is now San Diego County’s only dealer of Ralph Lauren carpeting. Luxurious and stylish, Coles is proud to be the exclusive source for this carpet, and the only flooring company to offer you the finest in Ralph Lauren styles.
The use of marble for flooring is as old as flooring itself. From the buildings of ancient Greece to modern statues and monuments, the beautiful stone has a place in everything. But marble tile flooring can be very expensive and has a smooth, cold texture that can be a real downside in a bathroom. Additionally, it is difficult and expensive to install. With the new bathroom ceramic tiles available on the market now, does going marble really make sense?
There was a time when marble was the only choice for a sophisticated bathroom. But that was when tiles were limited to glass rather than the wide range of ceramic and porcelain tiles that exist today. Modern tiles can easily rival marble tile flooring in efficiency and beauty, and the average ceramic tile is much less expensive than its marble counterpart.
Bathroom ceramic tiles are designed for durability and elegance. They are tremendously versatile and their lower cost allows you more freedom to use them in novel ways. Tiles also tend to offer a better grip than a highly polished marble surface, helping to prevent slipping after bathing or showering.
If you are really set on the marble look, you can achieve that same elegant appeal with less cost by using the marble as an accent piece. Try using a granite or marble countertop instead of re-doing the entire bathroom floor in marble. There are excellent ceramic tiles to coordinate with almost any countertop shade you could pick; why spend the money to put marble down all over the bathroom?
Of course, there are some situations where marble – and only marble – will do the job. If you have your mind truly made up, make sure that your marble supplier is responsible and willing to work with you. Some marble installers can be resistant to your questions and ideas, installing your floor the way they want to with little or no input from you. A good company will be happy to answer your questions and help you get the bathroom you really want.
Strange though it may seem, one of the first things your guests will see is your bathroom. Even if you entertain casually and never have much traffic outside the living or dining room, your friends will still need to see the restroom. Consequently, that seemingly unimportant powder room should receive just as much care and attention as the often-improved entrance hall.
But despite this crucial role, many bathrooms remain in the design dark ages. Most are covered with dated and worn bathroom floor tiles, relics of a bygone era rather than shining beacons of modern style. Toilets and plumbing fixtures are often tarnished and loose. Some full baths have remarkably dirty and mildewed showers. No matter how nice your foyer might look, no guest will be thinking of the entry hall when they enter a bad bathroom!
Luckily, today’s tile market offers many different options to help you get the ceramic mosaic tiles your bathroom deserves. These tiles provide an incredible variety of design options, everything from standard stone-finish flooring to intricate inlays. With the right company, you can go from design concept to installation quickly and efficiently. Even better, ceramic mosaic tiles are less expensive than stone and much more pleasant to walk on: where stone can sometimes grow chilly, ceramic mosaic tiles stay much more reliably at room temperature.
Without a doubt, tiles are an excellent option for giving your bathroom a vibrant new look. But don’t just think of them as bathroom floor tiles; good ceramic is much more versatile. Here are just a few ways you can use a seemingly common tile to give your bathroom unexpected flair:
Create a pattern on the floor.
Vary the size of the tile while keeping the color constant.
Incorporate a tile accent.
Install tile on your walls or counters as well.
Design your own wall art to highlight a sink or architectural feature.
With so many options, ceramic tile is the clear choice for the bathroom and beyond. Check out Travertine stone tile.
Parquet has a long history, dating back to the magnificent French palaces of the 17th century. But the beautiful geometric patterns, usually quite intricate, have found a place in the finest wide plank flooring and accents of today. Parquet wood flooring is excellent for adding a focal point to a room, or for creating a “room within a room” – a small space outlined with a beautiful, contrasting wood pattern in the floor which divides the space without enclosing it. Parquet provides a particularly lovely contrast when paired with warm and stately reclaimed wood floors.
So, what is parquet? Simply put, parquet is the art of wooden inlays. Parquet is typically very intricate and very elegant, requiring many hours to plan and carve. In the early days, each different parquet piece was hand-carved and assembled to ensure that it would match perfectly. Because the parquet is made entirely from wood there can be no irregularities in fit as there could be in stone floors: if two pieces of parquet are not perfectly sized they will have to be re-made.
In modern use, entire floors are rarely done in parquet. It is far more common to find parquet flooring used as an accent piece, such as a medallion set in the middle of a room and surrounded by wide plank flooring. The elegant, rich tones of the flooring provide a canvas for the parquet, allowing it to stand out and make a beautiful impression. Parquet often coordinates with any wooden furniture in the room, either contrasting with it or highlighting it to really make it pop.
Although parquet wood flooring looks beautiful with any type of wooden floor, many homeowners like to pair it with beautiful and ecologically sensitive reclaimed wood floors. These floors recycle wood from old homes and reuse it, saving trees to protect the environment while providing a lovely classic feel for your home. Parquet inlays fit right in with the rich colors of reclaimed wood and are an excellent finishing touch to any room.
Karastan area rugs have a simple theory behind them: the old patterns of beautiful rugs from days gone by are still beautiful, and still add sophistication to homes now just as they did in ancient times. The Karastan company conducts extensive research into traditional rug patterns from all of antiquity, ranging from weaving patterns seen on cave drawings to samples preserved in museums.
Of course, Karastan also considers the patterns found on rugs made in India, China, and throughout the world. Many tribes still practice their traditional weaving patterns, creating breathtaking works of art. Those rugs are then made into contemporary area rugs by Karastan to bring that touch of traditional beauty into your home.
Karastan has been making quality area rugs since 1928, when Marshall Field noted that the loom technology of the day had come to rival expensive, handmade rugs in quality and design. He founded Karastan area rugs, which came to be the standard known throughout the industry. Karastan rugs come in a variety of colors and designs, but they are far more durable than their hand-woven counterparts. While most contemporary area rugs need to be hand-cleaned and rarely recover if something is spilled on them, Karastan rugs can be cleaned so easily and with such good results that industry experts are amazed.
In 1933, Karastan set up a rug at the World’s Fair in Chicago. But they didn’t just let people see the rug. They invited every single person at the Fair to walk over it. By the time the rug was taken up, more than 5 million people had left their mark on the rug. Covered with every type of filth from food stains to dust to wear and tear, the rug was almost unrecognizable. Karastan then did a test: they washed one side of the rug, while leaving the other side untouched and dirty. When the cleaning was finished, the washed side was as good as new.
