Home Renovation Tip - Flooring Ideas

New carpet is the most obvious place to begin. It's actually easy to install; the hardest part is getting the new, raw carpet in place where it needs to be. Depending upon the room that you're renovating, it's a matter of measuring the room, ripping out the old carpet and replacing it with the new carpet rolls. You can do this yourself if you're adept at this type of work; if not, it only takes a small work crew to take care of the manual labor involved.

Measuring, tack strips, padding, and the carpet you've got your heart set upon - these are the basics of what you'll need to transform your room within hours. It may sound easy, but it's not a chore you can learn in a book! Mistakes can cause bends and bubbles in the carpet; then you'll need a professional to come in and correct what you began.

Tile is another option for your new flooring. In addition to the lovely tile you choose, you'll also need to choose the grouting to get the renovation underway. Tile is heavy; this is definitely a "heavy lifting" job! You'll need the raw materials, correct room measurements, and tools to cut and fit the tiles into place. Putting in a tile floor is difficult to mess up, but you pay for this convenience with a steady "one tile at a time" installation process.

Vinyl floors are another great renovation option. They're easy to install, they look similar to tile, and goes down smoothly. You'll have to cut the tile to fit your floor, of course. A drawback to vinyl is that, in contrast to real tile, it's made to look like something it isn't; it fades and warps over time.

Wood flooring is not only beautiful, but it's durable as well. If you renovate with wood floors, you've got lots of options to consider. Wood floors, however, are difficult to install for the novice renovator; it's tedious and time-consuming and isn't recommended for anyone who's new at this type of work. Not only will you have to choose the type of wood you'd like, you'll also need a complete installation kit.

Parquet flooring is similar to wooden plank flooring, but instead of planks, you'll be working with blocks of wood that are fit and cut into place. There's still the measuring, cutting, replacing mistakes with new blocks may add to the frustration of doing this project on your own, but if you can see it through, it results in a beautiful floor.

Your home's flooring shouldn't be an afterthought. It's a renovation that's every bit as important as your bedroom, den, or kitchen. If you choose to install your own new flooring, be prepared for manual labor, tedious and painstaking hours, and costly mistakes that will result in a "do-over." Your new floor will be a part of your home for a very long time; don't settle for anything other than exactly what you want, the way you want it!

Author Steven Gaines takes us from New York's most expensive condominiums and co-ops to the offices of its most powerful real estate brokers to reveal the outlandish displays of ego, bad behavior, and status hunger that come into play when the best addresses in the city are on the line.

With his signature elan, Gaines weaves a gossipy tapestry of brokers, buyers, co-op boards, and eccentric landlords and tells of the apartment hunting and renovating adventures of many celebrities - from Tommy Hilfiger to Donna Karan, from Jerry Seinfeld to Steven Spielberg, from Barbra Streisand to Madonna.

Here, too, is a fascinating chronicle of the changes in Manhattan's residential skyline, from the slums of the nineteenth century to the advent of the luxury building. Gaines describes how living in boxes stacked on boxes came to be seen as the ultimate in status, and how the co-operative apartment, originally conceived as a form of housing for the poor, came to be used as a legal means of blackballing undesirable neighbors.

A social history told through brick and mortar, The Sky's the Limit is the ultimate look inside one of the most exclusive and expensive enclaves in the world, and at the lengths to which people will go to get in.

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