If you’ve picked up an interior design magazine in the past year, you may recall the brand name Annie Sloan. Named after the owner and inventor, one of the world’s most respected paint and colour experts, Annie Sloan brings decades of knowledge – and plenty of style – to her hugely popular line of decorative paint, also known as Chalk Paint. It can be used on all types of furniture including solid oak floorboards. You’re able to give your floorboards a classic shabby chic finish with her selection of chalk paints, and the great thing is no other aftercare is required. Simple apply the paint, leave it to dry and the job is done. There are plenty of colours to choose between and it’s a nice way to spruce up your old oak floorboards. Many shabby chic shops sell old furniture coated in chalk paint, and it really does give classic furniture a completely different look.

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!