If you have a traditional property with a good set of solid oak floorboards, you may want to take advantage of them. Rather than placing tiles, carpets, rugs or laminate flooring over the top, make the oak floorboards a feature in their own right. If they look old and worn they’re going to hold plenty of character and there are many staining products that can bring the best out of them. A water based wood staining spray will be safe to use for most finishes and there are plenty of different tones to choose between depending on the colour of your floorboards. Danish oil, hardwax oil and Finney’s Extra Tough Floor Varnish will all give your floorboards good colour whilst filling in scratches and marks, and these are very cheap to buy. Another option is Durapolish Clear Glaze, but this takes a longer time to dry, yet the great thing is that it’s suitable for oily woods.

You can probably tell by my website name that I love natural carpets, and there are plenty of reasons why it’s my favorite type of flooring. Most natural carpets are made of 100% natural fibres, from totally renewable resources, making them environmentally friendly. They’re extremely soft to stand on and they’re easy to clean nowadays thanks to high quality carpet cleaners. I know some rooms will need to have tiled flooring like kitchens and bathrooms because of moisture, but for hallways, bedrooms and living rooms I don’t think there’s another option better than natural carpet. There’s no end of colours to choose between, and you can decide on different thicknesses depending on the level of comfort you require. Natural carpets are can add a touch of class to your home so really…why would you need to consider anything else?

I’ve just moved into a new house and one thing I’m enjoying the most is how soft the carpet is! Coming from a shared apartment with vinyl flooring, it’s nice to have my feet on something soft again and I’ll be doing all I can to maintain my carpet, including:

Detailed cleaning

I like to use a bit of elbow grease when I’m cleaning my carpet. I use a ton of household items such as baking powder and salt, which has worked a treat for a number wine and ketchup stains.

Regular, but not too regular hoovering

I’ll hoover a couple of times a week max. Vacuum to regularly and your carpet will start to wear, vacuum to infrequently and your carpet will be filthy, and rough to touch.

I always feel guilt when I look at an animal skin rug and think to myself ‘that looks fantastic’. I know full well that some of my friends look at it as though it’s an animal’s corpse. Sheepskin, goatskin and cowhide are all popular animal skin rugs, but you can also buy reindeer, rare breed sheepskin and springbok rugs among others. I’ve never liked the feeling of fake animals skin rugs, but over the last few years I’ve become a little less at ease with the whole concept. No animal should need to be killed for its skin, just so a wealthy, pompous person can rest their sweaty feet on it. I had a change of heart recently, but I can declare right now that I’ll never buy an animal skin rug. I’ve always much preferred polyester runners anyway!

Most towns will have their own carpet stores, but as you enter there will be rolls and rolls of carpets piled high, and the choice can actually be quite overwhelming. If you want to leave with some change in your pocket, you may want to consider these tips:

Never accept the going price – Most stores will price slightly higher, but they’ll soon drop their prices if you show and interest but say the price is putting you off. If they don’t agree to drop the price you should start to walk away, they’ll be sure to give you some kind of offer when you leave, especially if it means they close a worthwhile sale.

If you visit a store and can’t quite find the colour you’re looking for, then they’ll most likely be able to order it in for you, but you will usually need to put down a deposit first.