Tuesday, September 15, 2009

We're floored...again!

If you recall, when we did the nursery for Little G, we used FLOR tiles because I had seen a demonstration of them on the Martha Stewart show. If you will also recall, I had grand plans for cutting my FLOR tiles into an intricate pattern and once I tried cutting the tiles I decided to go with plan B.

Plan B has worked well for us, so we decided to get some FLOR tiles for our great bedroom redo of '09. FLOR has some really awesome new styles that they have introduced this Fall including:

A La Mode with its lovely blue and brown tones installed in a parquet pattern:



Or Best of Both Wools shown here in Dorset Stripe and Suffolk Stripe in alternating rows...or below in Dorset Stripe in a parquet pattern:





In the end, we decided to go with the 5x7' Martha Stewart Collection Landscape Rug Kit in Acorn shown below:



Since we opted for only a 5x7 rug, that meant we were working with only 12 tiles and I didn't think the checkerboard pattern would match our style in an area rug, so I decided to have the shaggier rug in the center surrounded by a 1/2 tile border of the shorter shag.

Our tiles were shipped right after placing the order and were at our door in only a few days.



Upon opening the box, there were instructions, an introductory letter from Martha Stewart and an envelope of FLOR Dots, which are the adhesive you use to stick the tiles to each other:


Here you can see that the back of each tile has a sticker on it with the name of the tile and the color as well as some arrows to indicate the pile of the rug. This way, if you are putting the same tiles all next to each other, you can make sure the pieces all flow the same direction:

Here are some of the velvet twist FLOR tiles as they arrived out of the box:

Also in the box was a handy metal ruler. I hadn't purchased the ruler the last time I got the FLOR tiles and I should have. Since it is a metal ruler, you don't have to worry about the carpet knife getting caught on it when you are scoring your tiles:

Also, the back of the ruler has these convenient markings for 1/4, 1/3 and 1/2 tiles...thereby eliminating any math you might have to do to split the tiles...which are 19 inches and change (rather than a nice, easily calculable 20" even):

The Short Shag tiles came out of the box a bit squished:

You can see the pile a bit better once I ran my hand through it:

So now it was time to get down to the business of cutting these things...I was a bit nervous because last time it was a disaster and I didn't have any extra tiles this time to work with. I placed the ruler on the back of the tile and marked the half length:


Then I took my trusty carpet knife:

And promptly cut the square inaccurately. You can see here that my knife skipped a bit so I had to go back and fix the cut. This worked out ok in the end because I was abutting the cut edge to a short shag rug with a taller pile that could hide my mistake...but if I were lining up the shorter piles squares next to each other, I would really have to make sure my cuts were exactly perfect:

I, thankfully, got the hang of cutting the tiles and was able to move on to separating the cuts. Once you score the cut a few times, you fold over the tile and separate the carpet...it's as easy as that:

The entire process of cutting the 6 tiles I needed for the border of my rug took about 20 minutes...then I was ready to lay them out on the floor and get ready to put the rug together:


I was working by myself so I don't have a picture of me attaching the FLOR dots to the tiles, but it is super easy. Since I had a custom design, I did need a few extra dots, but I had them from my last project so I was all set. One of the great things about the FLOR tiles is that they attach to themselves, not to the floor, so you don't mar your floor and you can easily move the area rug around once you have put it together:

One quick go over with the vacuum cleaner and you could barely tell where the seams were!

In all, from the moment I opened the box until I had vacuumed the rug and taken this picture, the process took me less than an hour...and that includes a 10 minute phone call from my sister-in-law who was coming to visit that day. I should also say, this project was completed in the time Little G took his morning nap!

I think it looks great and I am really pleased with the quality of the rug and how once I knew what I was doing, the ease of customizing it to my needs. So guess it is safe to say that THIS time, I really AM floored! (sorry, I couldn't resist).

23 comments:

  1. that looks really nice. Martha would be proud.

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  2. It looks great!!! I love the way the border looks.

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  3. Wow - at first I wasn't a believer, but then you vacuumed it! It really comes together after a vacuum. The prices are fairly reasonable too for rugs of that size!

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  4. I am definitely starring this post for later use! Thinking of using flor tiles in our living room entryway. We'll need an odd shape and I can't imagine any other way to do it reasonably. Thanks!

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  5. Melinda - glad you pointed that out. I myself can still see where the seams are...but it really isn't that noticable. Many of the styles at FLOR are in a parquet or checkerboard pattern though, not tone up next to tone, so it wouldn't matter as much.

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  6. I work for a woman who has these throughout her livingroom and she loves them. Her huge boxer got sick last week and ruined two of the tiles and instead of having to scrub and scrub at nine months pregnant, she just bought two new tiles!

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  7. Honestly, I've loved these for years but haven't taken the plunge, mostly because I was worried they wouldn't unstick effectively... but I never realized they attach to each other! Plus, it's hard to find modern-patterned rugs in TN... so maybe I'll finally buy some.

    Maybe.

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  8. I've heard the durability of their commercial tile line is better than their residential line, but they don't have as many fun colors!

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  9. Wow! That turned out pretty cool. I've been thinking about using carpet squares for area rugs in our news house. I really want to try it now after seeing how nice yours turned out.

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  10. Ditto to E @Oh! Apostrophe - I'm definitely saving this to use later :) Hmmmm or maybe now, we do need rugs in the apt.

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  11. I'm glad you like them. We're doing all wood and cork floors and have been toying with the idea of Flor tiles. You may have helped us make up our minds :)

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  12. Wow! This is a great idea. I have nothing but ceramics and wood floors in my home, and am always trying to find carpet options. I really like this! Thanks for sharing!

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  13. This is a great option for apartments! And I love all the designs!

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  14. Wow! I'm going to keep this in mind when we are in the market for a new rug. Thanks for sharing!

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  15. Very cool, indeed! I've seen wall-to-wall FLOR, but never thought of assembling it as a rug. I love it!

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  16. Ooo, I totally love these! They'd look great in our office or bedroom. We're all hardwood, and need some rugs!!

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  17. This is SO COOL! I love it! - great job!

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  18. How cool! You really can't tell their separate pieces after you vaccumed it!I am in the market for a new red living room rug and these could be the perfect pieces to use.

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  19. Great job and it looks awesome. I have been dying to get a Flor rug for our new living room. I think I really want the Silver Happy Stripes!!

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  20. Awesome! :) Great idea. I love that you can create your own sized rug too.

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  21. We have a FLOR rug under our dining room table - I love that you can just pop out the squares that need to be cleaned!

    Also, I did an entire kids playroom in FLOR tiles & my client loved it :)

    Yours looks great!! I love how you just vacum over it & all the lines disappear!

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  22. I love this! I went on the site to try to order a rug for myself, but I'm clearly not smart enough to figure out what I need/how many tiles! Perhaps after some coffee I'll try again. LOL

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