CORK FLOORING

Consider Cork- the most environmentally friendly available - for use in every room in your home. This all-natural flooring product is a fully renewable resource that comes from the bark of a Cork Oak tree. This bark is harvested every nine years up to a total of eighteen to twenty harvests in the life of the tree. This natural phenomenon combined with some of the most advanced manufacturing technology in the world results in a Solida Cork floor.

Cork is made up of millions of air cells. These air cells produce a soft comfortable natural cushion floor, a naturally quiet and warm floor to walk on, and a durable, dent-resistant floor. Cork is hygienic, easy to maintain and suitable for any room in your home.

Cork, natures most perfect gift, has been fashioned into flooring for over a hundred years. The wide selection of Solida Cork designs, colours, and shapes offers endless design possibilities. Solida Cork floors can be custom coloured and shaped to match any decor.

- Outstanding Acoustical and Thermal Insulation

- Resistance to Moisture Damage

- Comfort and Warmth Underfoot

- Easy Maintenace

- Durability

Cork is the natural material carefully harvested from the bark of the cork oak tree, which grows only in the forest plantations of the western Mediterranean. It is a renewable and sustainable natural resource offering a wide range of funtional properties in addition to great flexibility of design.

No trees are destroyed in the production of cork. Harvesting the cork oak is not harmful to the tree. By using cork products, we keep the forest alive, and the habitat undisturbed.

Cork trees produce their bark to provide protection from droughts, fires, temperature fluctuations and other environmental conditions. This unique raw material with its lightweight, flexible honeycomb cellular structure is impermeable to liquids and gas, this makes it an ideal material for a myriad of household products.

Insulation - Because 90% of the tissue consists of gaseous matter, the density of cork is extremely low, giving the material wonderful insulating properties, thermal as well as accoustical.

Resilience - When cork is subjected to pressure, the gas is compressed and volume decreases considerably. This action creates a comfortable firm but cushiony walking surface.

Durability - Cork is remarkably resistant to wear, as due to its cellular structure, it is less affected by impact and friction than other hard surface materials.

Impermeability - The presence of Suberin, a natural waxy substance, makes cork impervious to both liquid and gas. As a result, it does not rot.

Hypoallergenic - Cork does not absorb dust, consequently it does not cause allergies.

Fire Retardant - A natural fire retardant, cork does not spread flames, and it does not release toxic gases during combustion.

Cork is available in several different styles, stains, pre-finished or unfinished, with beveled or square edges, with a 'clic' glueless installation system, as a floating floor or full glue down installation, in lots of sizes - stop in today to see this unique product in flooring.

The Best Colors for Painting Floors

Painting the floor is one of the quickest, most powerful makeovers. How about tomato red, ocean blue? These top designers think color works on wood floors.

Deep Ocean
"Blue was a natural for a Nantucket boathouse, and it brightened all that old wood. Then we spattered it with red, white, and blue, so you don't notice all the sand you track in. You just tap a wet paintbrush against a strip of wood, but it's more difficult to control than you think. It could end up looking like a Jackson Pollock — but that would be cool, too." - GARY MCBOURNIE

Gray Owl & Blue Jean
"I just painted a sunroom floor in two colors, a gray khaki over a dirtied-up sky blue, so as you walk over it the blue starts to show through. It creates this nice scruffy look, as if it has aged over a long time — but it happens faster. When you reach that ideal moment and it looks pleasantly worn, finish it with clear polyurethane to preserve it." - STEVEN SCLAROFF: BENJAMIN MOORE GRAY OWL 2137-60, BLUE JEAN 2062-50

I couldn't live without my red floors. Every floor in my log cabin is red. I've been buying rustic antiques and Americana for years, so it ended up being a nice base for my collections. And it brings me this absolute cheeriness. In summer, it feels like the Fourth of July; in winter, it's like Christmas." - ANTHONY BARATTA: BENJAMIN MOORE CARNIVAL RED 23

I love painted staircases, and I'm doing one right now that leads up to an attic playroom. The base color is a wonderful, warm white, and then I'm having a two-color stripe — in gray-beige and a deep, rich gray-blue — painted on the outside ends of each tread and riser. It's like a virtual runner. A little tongue-in-cheek, and less expensive than a carpet." - BETSY BURNHAM: DUNN-EDWARDS WHISPER DEW340, DUNN-EDWARDS MUSLIN DE6227, FARROW & BALL DOWN PIPE 26


Why not put the sky on the floor? Sooo cool. It's unexpected, contemporary, upside-down! This turquoise is the color of our Santa Fe sky on a clear day. Hang an antler chandelier, slipcover the sofas in oatmeal linen, add a rustic coffee table, and you've got a hip, affordable Santa Fe look." - EMILY HENRY: BENJAMIN MOORE SPECTRA BLUE 2049-50

A plain stained floor is a missed opportunity to me. I did this radiating squares thing to add some zing to a little pass-through space at the Kips Bay showhouse where a real rug would have been a tripping hazard. The squares were espresso brown and soft silver-gray, but if that's too much contrast, do tone-on-tone. Classic blue and white would be great in a beach house." - JOEL WOODARD See next slide for paint information.

Kitten Whiskers

"The reason I paint a floor is to get this sort of tonal cocoon. I do the walls and the floor in the same color so the eye goes around very softly. There's nothing jarring. I like this color because it's more than a beige. Sometimes it's strawberry yogurt and sometimes it's wet sand, depending on the light. It always works because it's so calming." - BRETT BELDOCK: BENJAMIN MOORE KITTEN WHISKERS 1003

Westcott Navy

"I painted my dining room floor because I didn't want to go through the hassle and expense of refinishing it. I wanted something dark, because a dark floor dresses up a room. This iron gray has a little blue in it, and that tinge of color gives it more depth. It's not just a dead black. And then you can bring in a brighter color and have fun with it. It's pretty with my yellow chairs." - KATIE RIDDER: BENJAMIN MOORE WESTCOTT NAVY 1624

Pretty Painted Floors: Breathe new life into your wood floors with inspiration from these colorful rooms.

Opening Up

To enlarge a space visually, coat every surface in white―including floors. Introduce color in a cheery hue through furniture and accessories to keep a white room from feeling sterile.

Going Beyond

Coastal motifs stenciled onto painted wood floors add a playful touch and take a traditional blue-and-white scheme to a whole new level.

Interesting Addition

Striped, polka dot, checkerboard, or plaid, pattern adds spunk to a vanilla kitchen. Here, extra-large diamonds add bold interest and make the space look

Striking Entrance

To create an entryway that’s fun and functional, use latex porch and floor enamel and paint a diamond motif. Before painting make sure you sand floors properly and vacuum thoroughly. After paint has dried, apply a second coat. Floors take loads of traffic, and two coats are essential.

Significant Design

Wake up a boring floor with paint. Here, thin stripes of white outline alternating shades of blue to create interest. A compass draws the eye toward the winding staircase.