Buying Guide - Top Tips Direct From Us To You


Styling your home – our top tips for flooring and beds

When it comes to styling your home, flooring makes a big difference. That’s because simply adding a new carpet, laminate, vinyl or wood floor covering gives an instant uplift to any room, improving the décor, adding light and colour, and making your furniture look better. So what kind of flooring will give your room a great facelift? Should you pick carpet, laminate, real wood flooring or vinyl for your room?

We’ve got some great style tips on carpets, real wood flooring, laminate and vinyl to help you choose.

Real wood and laminate floors

The Victorians loved to show off their wooden floors with lovely rugs and plenty of floor polish – and these days, the real wood floor has been brought right up to date with a whole modern makeover. We started seeing wooden floors really gaining in popularity about a decade ago, and they’ve gone from strength to strength since then. It’s not hard to see why - today’s wood floors, whether they’re laminates or solid wood, are both tough and good-looking. 

Real wood floors and laminates can withstand the rough and tumble of family life, including dogs’ claws, wheeled toys and spills, while adding a touch of minimalist chic to any room. Laminate flooring is made by sandwiching together a number of layers, which means it’s very hard-wearing – for instance, if you have kids it will stand up well to tough play. Laminate is a good solution if you want to put down under-floor heating, because its construction means it flexes comfortably as your floor heats and cools. A laminate floor is extremely versatile – it can look very contemporary, like our dark wood Stretto Black Walnut laminate, or blend in well with more traditional decors such as Impressario Vanilla Oak.

Wooden floors and laminates can also help to make your room look more spacious. That’s because the planking effect in wood floors and laminates draws the eye across the room smoothly and without interruption, showing off your pieces of furniture to good effect. Choosing lighter coloured wood floors and laminates such as beech can help create an airy, bright feel to the room, while darker wood floors and laminates look sophisticated and work well with light-coloured walls. Real wood floors and laminate floors have other advantages, too. If anyone in your family suffers from an allergy, wooden floors and laminates will help to cut down on dust particles – it’s now also possible to fit underfloor heating beneath laminate floors to keep your toes cosy. Finally, what draws many people to wooden floors is their sheer versatility. You can change your room simply by investing in a new rug, while the real wood floor or laminate floor goes on looking great for years.

At United Carpets, we have a wide range of both solid wood floors and laminates to suit all pockets. Our laminates and real wood floors are easy to fit, too – visit your nearest store to see the full range.

Carpets – plain or patterned?

At United Carpets, we pride ourselves in our wide range of carpets – we stock Berbers, Saxonys, Wiltons, cut and loop piles, synthetic carpets, wool carpets and many other carpets to suit all requirements and price ranges. Now we appreciate our range of carpets can make it hard to choose – do you want a Berber or a Saxony carpet? Should you choose a synthetic carpet or a real wool carpet? So we have creaeted some handy buyers guides to help you every step of the way. Our buyers guides on this website will help you decide what kind of carpet is best for your home, but there’s also style to consider. Householders have been keen on plain carpets for many years, and we can certainly recommend them – for instance, a plain Berber carpet in a neutral colour looks chic in any room, while a synthetic carpet in bright colours looks great in lively areas such as children’s rooms where you need a particularly tough and stain-resistant carpet. Pattern used to be a bit old-fashioned, but we’re seeing some incredibly stylish modern patterns coming through such as our own Baroque carpet, which has a subtle leaf pattern on a plain background. A carpet like this can make a real statement in a room, and you should make the most of it by choosing colours from the pattern in the carpets for your walls. You can even get away with using a different pattern elsewhere in the room, as long as the colours are from the same palette. Whether you choose plain carpet or patterned carpet – and whether you go for a Saxony, a Wilton or a Berber, finish off with toning accessories such as throws and cushions for the sofa, lampshades and a stylish rug, and you’ll have a contemporary room that’s chic but not cluttered.

 

Why vinyl is vital

Vinyl flooring is one of our best-selling floorings, because vinyl’s tough qualities make vinyl a popular choice for areas with high footfall, such as bathrooms and kitchens. Vinyl floor is incredibly versatile, too – these days, vinyl comes in such a wide range of patterns and finishes that it can provide a low-cost alternative to flooring such as stone and real wood flooring that can cost a lot more. When choosing vinyl, you have plenty to go at. Contemporary vinyl flooring comes in wood, mosaic and stone patterns as well as more traditional tiled, plain and patterned finishes. Putting down vinyl flooring is a good choice in your room because its smooth appearance reflects the available light and makes your room look bigger, as well as giving an uncluttered feel to the floor – this is important in busy areas such as kitchens where there are lots of accessories. Vinyl is easy to keep clean and will enhance the style qualities of your bathroom furniture or kitchen units – pick a pattern or colour of vinyl that complements wood and other surfaces to get the best look.

Artificial grass – the clean, GREEN solution

How green is your home? Do you have just a hard concrete backyard, or a plain balcony?

We have a solution that can turn a hard concrete backyard into a carpet of green, or even make your balcony look like a proper garden in miniature. Our United Carpets range of artificial grass has been specially sourced on the Continent for its realistic looks, hardwearing nature and practical prices. The artificial grasses come in three kinds, ranging from the budget to deluxe, and our artificial grass is incredibly simple to put down. You can buy artificial grass ready-rolled in our stores in 1.8m x 1.33m lengths, or you can order artificial grass in bigger sizes as a special order, delivered the same week. On concrete, you can glue artificial grass down, and on decking artificial grass can be nailed – or you can just leave it loose so you can take it up in the winter. Our artificial grass is also available – like carpet – in lengths cut to your specifications. You can even lay it where you currently have your brown lawn and forget about mowing forever, although that requires a bit more preparation work. Artificial grass is a bit hit in other European countries where they have low rainfall, because it never fades in the sun and it never needs to be watered. Even your dog can’t make brown patches on this lush artificial lawn! And there’s even evidence that some customers aren’t just using the artificial grass outside. We’ve heard of people with footie fan kids who have turned their bedrooms into a pitch with artificial grass instead of carpet - now, that’s inventive!

Beds and divans that add beauty to your bedroom

At United Carpets we pride ourselves on the great range of high-quality beds and divan beds we stock, because we know beds play a big part in people’s lives!

When choosing a new bed or divan for your bedroom, you want to make sure you pick the right kind of bed, because you are likely to keep it for many years. A bed or divan can make a major difference to the look of your room, so here are our top tips for choosing the correct one for your needs:

  1. Contemporary or traditional? If you choose traditional, you might prefer a divan with headboard or perhaps a metal bed to give old-world appeal. Metal beds can also look highly contemporary, though, depending on your accessories.
  2. Wood or metal? Both wood and metal beds are extremely durable, and are extremely versatile. If you choose a wooden bed or a metal bed, you can spruce up your room regularly without changing the bed, because wood beds and metal beds fit into any décor.
  3. Need storage? No bedroom looks good if it’s cluttered, and a divan bed can provide extra storage in drawers underneath the bed. A divan is like a box, so you have plenty of space.
  4. Leather or faux leather? One of the most contemporary looks for beds is leather or faux leather beds – sleek, modern and stylish. And the good news is that whether you choose a leather bed or a faux leather bed, the finish will be hardwearing and easy to care for.
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