When considering new projects for your home this year, there are ways to shave costs without sacrificing great design. Looking for ways to cut your budget? Why not consider look-alikes that cost less and may even be better.
Using Porcelain Instead of Marble
Marble is making a comeback in bathrooms, kitchens, and flooring. Installation costs range from: $100-$300 square foot. Mable has some disadvantages, however. It is porous stone. Spilling red wine on a white marble countertop is not a stain easily removed. Acidic lemons can etch the stone. The same with lotions or hair dyes if marble is installed in a bathroom. Marble also contains minerals, buried deep within the stone. Exposure to heat and humidity can cause the Marble to rust.
Porcelain tiles have the look of marble and require less maintenance. Installation costs range from: $4-$10 a square foot. The properties of this material make it more attractive and less absorbant, which means they are far less likely to stain. Caring for porcelain tiles is easy, as few cleaning solutions will harm them.
Using Luxury Vinyl Flooring Instead of Hardwood
Hardwood floors for homes are the standard and have been for years. They are considered timeless with many options for color and style. However, hardwood floors have maintenance concerns. Sensitivity to moisture can damage the floors. Overexposure to moisture is likely to cause warping in the wood and - in some cases - changes in the shade of the wood.
Vinyl plank flooring offers the rustic look of hardwood without the worry. It is a photographic image of hardwood flooring. With technological developments, it is not as easy to differentiate between hardwood flooring and vinyl plank flooring. Often homeowners are challenged to distinguish between the two by sight or touch until they are informed which is which.
Using Carpet for Rug Designs
Those on the creative side could make their own rugs from broadloom. Those on a budged look for affordable remnants.
Floor Covering Media, a business network serving the floor covering industry, provides readers timely, objective news and information about flooring topics.
Readers may conveniently retrieve this timely, objective news and information at Floor Search.info, which is Floor Covering Media's public search engine.