The inaugural study measures customer satisfaction with upright vacuums by examining six key factors: performance; ease of use; features; price; styling and appearance; and warranty.  The study is designed to assist manufacturers in their efforts to improve customer satisfaction and provide information to help customers with purchase decisions.

Among the 12 brands included in the study, Miele ranks highest in customer satisfaction with a score of 809 on a 1,000-point scale, demonstrating strong performance in the most important factors that drive customer satisfaction. Miele does particularly well in the performance, features, warranty, styling and appearance factors.

Dyson, Riccar and Shark follow Miele in the upright vacuum rankings with scores of 794, 787 and 784, respectively.

The study finds that adding more vacuum functions, such as floor-type settings and accessories, including fittings for upholstery, stairs and pet hair, doesn’t necessarily translate to higher satisfaction among upright vacuum owners.

“Brands in both the highest and lowest tiers of the rankings offer models with various features, but if they aren’t easy to use or don’t achieve the desired results, customer satisfaction will be lower,” said Christina Cooley, senior manager of the home improvement industries practice at J.D. Power and Associates. “Since the primary use for the vacuum is for cleaning floors and carpets, it is critical that manufacturers stay focused on the vacuum’s core use and differentiate their brand based on durability and strong suction performance.”

The study also finds that customers spend between $85 and $550 for their vacuum.  Although price is typically the main selection criteria for purchase, the highest-ranking vacuum brands benefit from pricing leverage, as they are most often selected based on brand reputation and quality construction.  The highest-ranking manufacturers are also more likely to be sought out by consumers when purchasing a vacuum, based on strong customer loyalty and positive recommendations.

J.D. Power and Associates offers the following tips to consumers as they begin the upright vacuum shopping process:

• Don’t base your purchase decision on price alone.  Consider a high-quality brand, even if it may be more expensive. Although a vacuum may be initially less expensive, you could end up paying more for repairs or even having to replace the vacuum in less than 5 years, if the quality is low.
• Less than 5 percent of customers experience an actual problem with their vacuum.  Focus on finding a vacuum that is going to provide consistent, strong suction and has features that meet your specific needs.
• Vacuums with multiple features are attractive, but shop for a vacuum with accessories that meet your specific needs.  Consider the size of your home and whether you or family members have allergies, or other features that may impact your selection.  For example if you have a dog or cat, you might want to narrow your selection to vacuums that offer a filtration system and pet hair tools to meet your needs.

The 2012 Upright Vacuum Satisfaction Study is based on responses from more than 5,700 owners who purchased an upright vacuum cleaner within the past 12 months. The study was fielded in January and February 2012.
Coles is a proud supplier of Miele Vaccuums and can help you pick out the right make and model suited for your flooring needs. 

“It’s who you know that counts.  Ask Chris Coles an executive with Coles Carpets of San Diego, the oldest retailer in the region.  Thanks to Coles’ relationship with Michael forest the British based decorator for the blockbuster movie titanic – nominated for a record 14 academy awards – she and her cousin Marianne Laub were recipients of an unprecedented opportunity to visit the set during filming.  The set visit saga began in August 1996, when Forest’s scouts found Coles as a potential source of supply for flooring.  The stores appeal was that it carried inventory and could supply product as needed.  That month forest purchased about $30,000 worth of carpet.

Because he would be flooding floors regularly during filming Forest needed a fast and reliable source of replacement.  He had couriers ready at a moment’s notice to drive to San Diego for new supplies, Coles said.  “At one point he had to have something in a hurry so we had to change from blue to green because we didn’t have time to get the blue he needed,” she said.  As a way of saying thanks to someone who had become a friend as well as a supplier, Forest invited Coles and Laub to visit the set that October.  “It was a rare peek behind the scenes, and we thought it was quite an honor,” Coles Said.  They were given a personal four-hour tour of the set, constructed from actual blueprints of the original ship that sank en route to New York on April 15, 1912.  They started with a visit to the nearly full-sized mock-up of the ship.  “It was simply a three-sided wooden hull that sat above the cliff, but from a distance it looked like it was sitting on the water,” Coles said.  “The backside was only scaffolding and cameras, definitely a hard hat area.”  The visit was during the day as filming took place mainly after dark

Next, Coles, Laub, and their hosts were hoisted up the sides of the hull in a  cage elevator to the top deck.  There were actually three decks but each was devoid of interiors.  Those sets were located elsewhere.  “We were in total awe,” Coles said.  “It was so unbelievable.  On the ship we really had to watch our step because there would be these big holds cut out and we’d be looking straight down to the next deck.”

The flooding scenes were accomplished with the aid of a giant water tank the size of two football fields that used 17 million-gallons of sea water pumped directly from the nearby Pacific Ocean.  The tank, which Coles and Laub also visited, was built atop a rocking hydraulic platform, so when the set was flooded it would mechanically simulate the sinking of the ship in the exact same pattern and timing that the actual events occurred.

The interior design was copied exactly from the original Titanic blueprints, right down to the mother-of-pearl inlaid on the walls, although Forest used a computer-generated look alike.  The carpet in the main salon at the bottom of the grand staircase was a woven product made by a company in London that had actually outfitted the original Titanic.  Forest showed the two women the furniture, which he had made in Mexico.  He also took them through areas where props like china, silverware, and vanity sets were stored.  An entire tent was devoted to dozens of washing machines and dryers used to clean the clothing of dummies every time a sinking scene was shot.  “We saw stacks of dummies,” Coles said.  “All those people in the movie that are in the water are dummies.  Everything on the set was so organized.”

Filming of the movie was done in Rosarito Beach, Baja, Mexico.  James Cameron, the director, insisted on extreme secrecy to protect his vision, which is why Coles believes she and Laub may be the only outsiders to have been allowed in.  Due to its Southern California location, Coles Fine Flooring has been a source of floor for Hollywood, and Chris Coles has been on many a television or movie set, but this was different.  “It was absolutely amazing,” she said.  “Don’t ask me how they did it; I couldn’t tell you.  We just didn’t have time to take everything in.”

On the way out, the set guard asked Coles and Laub what they thought.  “We were still in awe.  He asked if we got any photos. We said, ‘Oh no, we were too overwhelmed to think of it.’ And he said, ‘Good I would take them away from you.’”

For one month, May 1-May 31, San Diegans can donate their used musical
instruments to Coles Fine Flooring. All instruments will be completely
refurbished by the Community Council for Music in the Schools (CCMS) and then
distributed among San Diego City School music programs.

Since introducing the program in 2005, over 600 instruments have been donated to
the San Diego City Schools. The goal in 2012 is to significantly add to this number of
instruments, greatly benefiting school-aged children in San Diego County.

“’Music Matters’ is simply another way that we are able to give back to the San Diego
Community as well as further music education for young people,” said Mark
DeBoskey Station Manager for KSDS. “The goal of this program is to provide
instruments to children who want to play music, yet might not have the financial
means to buy their own. There have been multitudes of studies strongly linking music
education to success in school. These studies have been conducted at such
prestigious institutions as Rutgers and Harvard.”

Remember, your donations are tax deductible so make sure to keep your receipt when you drop off your instrument! Stop by one of Coles’ seven locations (San Diego, San Marcos, Solana Beach, El Cajon, MCAS Miramar, MCRD, and NEX at 32nd St.) and donate your gently used instruments today and help keep music alive in our schools!

Warm carpet or flooring colors can range from the very lightest of yellows to the very darkest of reds. When choosing a warm color we think of oranges, reds and yellows. When applying these types of color choices to a carpeting and floor coverings, the warm colors translate into browns and rusts.
The darker and medium browns and rusts, often found in carpets and hard surface flooring, will anchor your room and these darker warmer shades will make the room intimate. If you continue with the warmer theme on the walls you will enhance the intimacy as well.
Warm neutrals can also be achieved by graying down the oranges and the browns. The grayer the warm color the more neutral it becomes. Warm beiges are achieved by lightening the brown and adding gray. These warm neutral colored carpets are the most versatile.

Cool Color Trends

Cool colors also run the gamut from light to dark. When choosing a carpet color in the cool family, you will need to consider the lightness or darkness of the carpet color as well. The most commonly associated colors in the cool family are the blues and greens. Cool colors are often toned down with gray (like with warm colors) depending on the feeling you would like to evoke in that environment.
Choosing a darker shade of blue or green carpeting will still give you a cool feeling but the darker the shade the more grounded your room will feel. The lighter the green color carpeting, the more open and airy the space will feel.
Cool carpet color trends also are represented in more neutral tones. Adding gray to a shade of green will still produce a cool color but it will be less green which is more usable in some spaces.

Great Plains Collection
An innovative collection of luxury hand-made rugs featuring a soft, dense and luminescent viscose pile, with deep canyons of suede leather. The subtle yet defining contrast between fields combine superior craftsmanship, innovative texture and quality that identifies the Calvin Klein Home Rug Collection.

Loom Royal Collection
Woven from the highest quality 100% New Zealand wool yarn, these area rugs offer an exceptionally dense and subtle texture. The palette and sophisticated styling combined with accents of hand carving creates this unique collection.

Solar Collection
This collection of hand loomed rugs evokes luminescent radiance. Silk like fibers offering a subtle sheen in a velvet-like textural quality. Natural tones express the understated modern elegance of Calvin Klein Home area rugs.

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 counter top instead of re-doing the entire bathroom floor in marble. There are excellent ceramic tiles to coordinate with almost any counter top 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.

New low-noise, 1200-watt, Miele-made Vortex Motor^TM  Suction control via rotary dial with 6 variable power settings Motor protection function with safety shut-off. This vacuum offers lightweight skeleton construction and an impressive 33-foot operating radius, Long electrical cord with one-touch automatic rewind, Rear parking system attaches floor tool to canister for short breaks, 360° castor wheels for high maneuverability, lightweight telescopic stainless steel wand, durable non-electric hose. The Red Velvet Miele vacuum is recommended for all smooth flooring and low-pile carpeting and is available now at Coles!