Decorating Tip: Flooring in a Snap!

Moss tile, courtesy of SnapStone

Have you ever wanted to replace your ugly kitchen or bathroom floor but shudder at the price of replacement?! Did you ever want to upgrade your humdrum foyer floor and turn it into a showstopper? Then take a look at SnapStone tiles. Snapstone offers a floating tile system that can be installed over existing floors.

Each individual tile is embedded in an interlocking tray with a rubber base.  You just position the tile, snap into place and grout. SnapStone tiles are made of genuine porcelain and come in several sizes so you can design different patterns - as seen above. There are many colors and perfect for bathrooms, kitchens, and foyers.  

Ferrous tile, courtesy of SnapStone

Nutmeg tile, courtesy of SnapStone

Metropolitan tile, courtesy of SnapStone

Interested in learning more about floor treatments?  Take a look at Sheffield School's Complete Course in Interior Design.  At Sheffield, you will learn how to transform a space, create color schemes, and select furniture, lighting, and accessories.

Interior Design Trend: Carpet Tiles Rewrite the Book on Floor Covering

The question is: Are you brave enough to decorate a room with carpet tiles? In case you've been living on the moon for the past few years, carpet tiles - loose carpet pieces that can be joined together with other pieces to create a free-form rug arrangement - are providing a fascinating option for interior design.

Vorwerk Carpet - Free-Form Carpet Tiles

We once were locked into three floor fashion options: (a) uncovered flooring like stone or tiles or wood planks, (b) wall-to-wall carpeting (see top photo, a beautiful design by Vorwerk Carpet), or (c) area rugs over the flooring material. But with carpet tiles, we're freer to create patterns and shapes on our floors. Art is no longer just the province of the four walls in a room!

Vorwerk Carpet - Free-Form Carpet TilesVorwerk Carpet - Free-Form Carpet Tiles

As you can see from the Vorwerk Carpet tiles above or the FLOR carpet tiles below, one can create patterns that form an area rug or asymmetrical shapes and various floating carpet pieces can decorate the floor. The challenge is to not compete with the decorating in the rest of the room, but if you have a stark space that could use a free-form carpet tile solution, by all means go wild and have your flooring shout out, "Look at me!"

FLOR - Carpet Tiles (Dashed Off pattern, Jailbird color)

FLOR - Carpet Tiles (All Dolled Up pattern, Grey color)

FLOR - Carpet Tiles (Suit Yourself pattern, Raffia color)

Sheffield School began as an Interior Design school in 1985, and then expanded our course offerings to train people in other design-related fields, including Feng Shui, Wedding and Event Planning, and Jewelry Design. With thousands of active students and more than 50,000 graduates, Sheffield has trained more design professionals than any school in the world.

Request a free Sheffield School catalog describing our distance education courses.

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Rocking the Country Floors

(Faience tile from Country Floors)

(Kitchen by Country Floors)

If you ever pictured yourself pattering barefoot across a stone floor, baking bread amidst a field of blue and white tile walls, and surrounded by old-world charm, then you need to take a look at the Country Floors showroom.  Country Floors just recently opened their renovated showroom in NYC to highlight their spectacular collection of stone, ceramic, glass, and terra cotta tiles.

(Golden Sienna stone by Country Floors) (Country Floors Showroom)Designers at Country Floors offer many styles to suit a variety of tastes.  They include classic collections of blue and white French faience, Greek classical, Moroccan motifs, and old-world Spanish style. 

(Classical collections by Country Floors)For those who prefer a more rustic mood, Country Floors offers the Novelda series of fruits, vegetables, and floral arrangements. 

(Novelda tiles by Country Floors)Their Pedralbes collection recalls the terra cotta stone floors of Spanish monasteries and villas – some tiles are even hand glazed to give it the unique look. 

(Pedralbes Collection from Country Floors)Take a lovely trip through different cultural styles without leaving your armchair - browse through the collections of Country Floors and turn your dream of beautiful floors to reality.