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The differences between hardwood and laminate flooring goes beyond simple cost and personal taste. While most homeowners think of hardwood as the cream of the crop and laminate as a consolation prize, that doesn’t tell the whole story. Both types of flooring have their pros and cons, which is why we’ve put together a few quick questions to ask yourself before you decide which style is right for your home. Do You Have Pets? If you have a dog, cat, or any other animal with sharp claws and lots of fur, laminate is a better bet for your floors. Not only is it harder to scratch, it’s also water-resistant, so accidents are easy to clean up. Hardwoods, on the other hand, are more vulnerable to scratches, and the smell of animal waste can cling to the wood even after washing. Are You Trying To Improve Your Home’s Resale Value? While new floors of any kind can add to your home’s resale value, hardwoods have become increasingly popular among homebuyers. Not only will hardwoods improve your home’s value more than laminate will, they may also attract buyers who otherwise might not be interested. Hardwood floors typically yield a 75% return when it comes time to sell your home. But with proper care and maintenance, that percentage could be even higher. Will You Install It Yourself? Seasoned DIYers can handle almost anything a project throws at them, but some things are easier than others. In this case, laminate is significantly easier to install than hardwood, and errors are less expensive to correct. If you plan on performing your own installation, we recommend you stick with laminate floors. Is This Your Forever Home? Hardwoods don’t just improve your resale value, they’ll also last a lifetime. Unlike laminate floors, which may need to be replaced in as soon as ten years, hardwoods can last as long as your home still stands. All you need to do to keep them healthy and beautiful is keep up with regular maintenance and, periodically have them refinished. So, if you plan on spending decades in this home, we recommend hardwood floors. Still not sure which style of flooring is right for you? Contact our experts in , for guidance from the team you can trust. And if you’ve decided, take a look at our online selection and find the right floors for your home today.

Homeowners, real estate agents, and interior designers all agree on one thing: hardwood floors offer more than just elegance and style, they can also add enormous resale value to any home. While new flooring may seem costly at first blush, a CNN report found that homeowners stand to increase their property value by 3-5% simply by installing hardwood flooring. For a $300,000 home, that’s a margin of up to $15,000. Whether you’re limiting your new floors to the living room or filling your home with espresso-colored walnut, a renovation with a nearly guaranteed return on investment is nothing to sneeze at. Investing In Your Property When renovating, a homeowner’s first priority should be adding to their property’s resale value. Updates to plumbing, roofing, layout, and design are all decided with a future sale in mind, and every renovation is meant to raise that price higher. That’s why hardwood floors are such a popular renovation project: because homebuyers are willing to pay a premium for homes with hardwoods. Not only will they pay more for them, but many buyers have come to expect hardwood flooring when they browse new homes. For those buyers, hardwoods are essential, not a luxury, and they want their new home to be move-in ready. These homebuyers may not even visit a prospective home if it doesn’t already have hardwoods. Even if you don’t plan on selling your home for years or even decades, an early investment will still pay off. Hardwood floors are remarkably durable and can last a lifetime when properly installed and maintained. Put Your Money Where It Matters Not every room in your home needs hardwood flooring to improve in value, but you still need to be consistent. Prospective homebuyers will walk away from houses with a clutter of different flooring styles, especially if they’re all visible in the main areas like the living room and halls. So, if your budget or personal taste demand that you only install hardwoods in a few rooms, pick those that make a first impression. Your living room, family room, foyer, and hallways are what homebuyers see first, so from an investment perspective, they’re the most important. Bedrooms, bathrooms, and your home office are less significant, especially if prospective buyers are already dazzled by your hardwoods. If you’re going to have several different types of flooring in your home, it’s best to make sure they meet at doorways. Two types of floors meeting in a high-traffic area like the living room will turn off homebuyers with high expectations. Keeping your flooring consistent throughout your home will help protect the investment you make by installing hardwood floors. Another way to protect your ROI is to choose a trusted, local installer like us! We carry a wide selection of hardwood flooring options and have the know-how to finish any installation without a hitch. Contact our team today and tell us about your latest project!

These past few years, the home office has taken on a new level of importance within the home. Formerly a place to work on evenings, the home office is now where some people spend their entire workdays. As one of the most important rooms in a house, having the proper flooring in your home office is essential. At America's Carpet Outlet in State College, PA, we feature several excellent flooring options for your home office. Hardwood Flooring An excellent flooring option for your home office, hardwood flooring is incredibly durable and can last decades within a home. As a material, hardwood flooring can help breathe new life into your office, making it a place you enjoy working in. A classic look that never goes out of style, hardwood flooring can help make your home office feel more scholarly, and who knows? Maybe it’ll make you feel that way too. Tile Flooring Tile flooring is durable, resilient, and easy to maintain, making it an ideal option for your home office. With that lack of maintenance comes the ability to avoid potential stains if that morning coffee cup potentially tips over and lands on the floor. Tile’s overall strength will also be able to take on the rolling of a desk chair in ways that other options might not. Consider tile as an attractive flooring alternative for your home office. Carpet Carpet is an excellent choice for your home office because of its comfort and beauty. While carpet might not seem like the best fit for your home office, remember that it is the most sound-absorbing material available to you. This could come in handy during those virtual meetings that happen to be scheduled when children, pets, or other family members are also at home. Carpet is also relatively inexpensive and low maintenance making it a solid option for your home office. Luxury Vinyl Luxury vinyl is, for many, the ideal choice for a home office. Providing tremendous beauty and the ability to mirror other materials like hardwood and tile, but at a much lower cost, vinyl just plain makes sense in a home office. It’s low maintenance, durable, and visually appealing. Luxury vinyl is a fantastic option for your home office from a value perspective. With remote work slowly becoming a part of our everyday lives, consider upgrading your home office flooring today. Trust the team at America's Carpet Outlet in State College, PA to help you find the perfect flooring for your home office!

Black and white flooring is making a comeback this year. The retro look ties together vintage and modern style perfectly, while also adding elegance and sophistication to your home. Black and white flooring is incredibly versatile. Though a checkerboard pattern is common, there are many options and patterns to choose from so you can design a space that you’ll love. Black and white is most often used in a bathroom, kitchen, or an entryway, but the possibilities are limitless. Black and white flooring can work in most homes and for most budgets. Whether you want classic tile, the durability and affordability of luxury vinyl tile (LVT), or even an area rug, there is a way to incorporate this trend. Our flooring and design experts at in, are here to help find the flooring that’s best for you. Create a Backdrop Black and white flooring can be the perfect backdrop that helps highlight your furniture and décor. The repeating black and white patterns create beautiful lines for your eyes to follow through a room leading to a focal point. A black and white checkerboard is the obvious pattern to create this ambience, but you don’t have to limit yourself to a checkerboard. You can choose other repeating geometric black and white patterns, such as chevron, hexagons, or circles to create the perfect look to complement your style. There is a wide variety of sizes in those patterns as well. Create a Focal Point Your flooring doesn’t always have to take the back seat to other design elements. You can also choose to highlight your flooring as a focal point in the room. This is where high-design black and white tile or black and white luxury vinyl tile can really make an impact. Choose a more intricate design, such as a floral design or more intricate diamond pattern. Since tile comes in a variety of shapes and sizes, you can truly customize the pattern of your black and white floors. Black and white floors add texture and more visual interest that pulls the eye in, no matter which pattern you choose. Also, a black and white patterned area rug can make a fashion statement. An area rug is a great idea to incorporate this trend because rugs are so easy to exchange and upgrade. Plus, they add comfort and protect your flooring. Create a Color Palette Because black and white are neutral colors, using them on for your flooring also allow you to play with color. You can choose almost any accent color to match the classic pairing. Go bold with a brightly colored area rug or runner in your entryway to make a statement as guests enter your home. Choose red or golden yellow accents in your kitchen. Or tone down the floors with a soft grey or sky blue in your bathroom to create an oasis. Create a romantic ambience and go dark with a deep charcoal and burgundy so you can escape to your favorite room. Black and white creates the perfect base for you, no matter your style or desired look. No matter your style, in , carries a black and white flooring option that will work for you and your home. Black and white is a classic combination that allows you versatility to create the look you want, whether you want your floors to be a background element or a focal point. Plus, black and white flooring provides you with a neutral color palette so you can create the feel you desire. Contact us to being your flooring project today!

The days of bland eco-friendly flooring options are over. These days, consumers are actively shopping green, resulting in major flooring companies expanding their eco-friendly options. At America's Carpet Outlet in State College, PA, we feature a number of environmentally conscious flooring choices that we know you’ll love. Here are 3 great eco-friendly flooring options for your home: Engineered Hardwood Flooring Engineered hardwood flooring is made from natural wood and features many of the benefits of actual hardwood flooring. However, because of the way that it is produced, engineered hardwood is actually more sustainable than solid hardwood flooring. Engineered hardwood is constructed of layers of natural hardwood and plywood, with each being layered together in a different direction. This tiered structure allows engineered hardwood to have increased durability enabling it to last for many years, sometimes decades. It also boasts increased temperature resistance, adding to its overall lifespan. Engineered hardwood is simpler to install than hardwood flooring, too, thus reducing the required resources. Stone Flooring Stone flooring offers homeowners a timeless and incredibly sustainable flooring material. As a natural product, stone requires minimal resources to produce. Due to its durability, stone flooring can last up to 100 years if properly cared for. Ensuring that your stone flooring comes from a local provider will further reduce your carbon footprint. For eco-friendly flooring shoppers, stone and tiles are solid choices. Laminate Flooring laminate is a strong flooring option for those who want to make an eco-friendly flooring decision while on a budget. With a base layer made of wood by-products and glue, laminate comes from recycled materials. The top layer of laminate comes from embossed paper, and the wear layer above it is a thin sheet of plastic. These materials combined make for a flooring option constructed of sustainable resources. With each passing year, the number of eco-friendly flooring options for your home grows. Whether you select one of the ideas above or decide on another eco-friendly choice, you can’t go wrong. Trust the team at America's Carpet Outlet in State College, PA to help meet your eco-friendly flooring needs.

For the average homeowner, a new flooring purchase and installation represents a major investment that must balance several important factors. In addition to working within flooring budget parameters, new flooring must meet current household demands and potentially attract prospective homebuyers down the line. If you have ever wondered to yourself ‘does flooring add value to a home,’ you will find that savvy surface choices do increase your property’s bottom-line! Our America's Carpet Outlet showroom in State College PA has all the hard surface and soft surface flooring options that will fit your budget and help complete effective renovations. Here are a few of our key suggestions for which flooring adds value to a home: Quality Matters When purchasing flooring, you will often get what you pay for. If you need to quickly list a home on the market, you may choose a lower-cost flooring option that will install quickly but not offer much longevity. Although genuine hardwood flooring will cost more to purchase and install, this surface adds the most value as material and is constantly at the top of surveys as the most preferred flooring option. Similarly, natural stone will require more of your flooring budget to purchase and install, but will create an incredible, undeniable first impression when prospective buyers walk inside a home. Both hardwood and stone floors, as well as engineered hardwood and tile surfaces, will be the most durable options that will remain attractive and perform better the longest. These high-quality flooring options will add the most value to your home! Creating Luxury A first impression really does make a tremendous difference in assessing the value of a home, whether it’s an appraisal, a realtor assessing a market price, or a homebuyer looking to fall in love with a property. Even if you can’t afford to install a pricier material for your new floors, you can still create a luxurious look that will add value to your home! For instance, although laminate and vinyl flooring will not add as much value as hardwood, stone, or tile, you can select the widest, longest planks and oversized tile formats to create finished floors with more upscale appeal and presence. Patterned plank installations will also add sophistication to your home no matter which material you select. Explore how you can use a herringbone, chevron, parquet, or diagonal stripe pattern to add visual interest and elevated, fashion-forward results to your interiors. Creating Value If you live in an active community with lots of parks, walkable areas, pet owners, and young families with kids, then you can create value with your flooring choices by catering to your regional home-buying market! By choosing waterproof flooring such as LVT, sheet vinyl, or waterproof hardwood with the most desired wood and stone visuals, your listing will definitely catch the eye of an active family with kids and pets. These same families will appreciate carpeting not being used for high-traffic areas like hallways, family rooms, and living rooms. On the other hand, bedrooms are a great fit for the soft feel and sound-absorbing qualities of new carpet. If you are getting a home ready to sell, consider the needs of the area and you may find that adding value for your local demographic adds more value to the offer you receive! So, does flooring add value to a home? Not only will new flooring increase the visual appeal of your home and add financial value, but our America's Carpet Outlet experts are also ready to help you browse all of the attractive options that will help you get the most bang for your buck!

To avoid monotony in your home interiors, patterns are the perfect additions to bring visual interest, engagement, and creativity to your furnishings and flooring. From creating interesting, patterned flooring layouts to designing with patterned floor tiles, there is a multitude of ways to attain eye-catching surfaces in your favorite rooms! Whether you are looking to achieve a retro-inspired look or an innovative finished floor, our America's Carpet Outlet showroom in State College PA has all the attractive floor coverings you need to bring your ideas to life. As you explore dazzling options for your home, here are some of our favorite ways to incorporate patterns with your floors: Traditional Tiles As kitchen and bathroom remodels are thriving in the home industry, tile is an ideal material to express your personality with a unique patterned floor. Offering a virtually unlimited array of finishes, shapes, and colors to select from, you can easily design bold looks or sleek, subtle visuals. In a luxurious space, consider an offset tile pattern using square or rectangular natural stone of any size. Chic geometric patterns can uplift monochromatic color schemes while making smaller spaces feel larger. For a fascinating bathroom floor, a penny tile pattern will amaze simply from the intricacy and the sheer number of tiles! Explore contrasting grout colors when using traditional tile for an added pop of interest. Patterned Tiles In recent trends, designers and homeowners alike have been turning to the dramatic effect that large-format patterned tiles present! With an often-vintage appeal, patterned bathroom floor tiles are an instant way to lend an engaging feel to a completed design refresh. You are no longer limited to simply ceramic or porcelain options either: Innovative patterned vinyl flooring installs for less time over a variety of subfloors while eliminating the need for grout work. Installation Layouts Even if you decide not to use patterned floor tiles, you can design a plank installation layout that displays pattern within the finished floor. Using hardwood flooring, laminate, or luxury vinyl planks, you can lay out a parquet, diagonal, chevron, herringbone, or another weave to showcase enhanced interest. These classic patterns also add a timeless feel and highlight the work of skilled craftsmen. Although you may need to work with a designer or installation professional to successfully execute these looks, the savvy planning ahead will result in a more expensive-looking finished layout without substantially adding to your project costs. Creative Carpet Soft, plush carpeting will also allow you to incorporate patterns in a variety of ways. First, you can choose actual patterned carpet to bring interest and texture, while many of these multi-level loop styles will aid in easy cleanup and preventing wear. Versatile carpet tiles allow you to create eye-catching arrangements by mixing different patterns, tile sizes, and pattern directions without installing wall-to-wall carpet. Similarly, patterned area rugs are often easy on the budget and let you layer your favorite modern or nature-inspired patterns over hard surface flooring with ease. You can use creative patterns to transform every room in the house from your entryways, living room, and bedrooms, to kitchens and bathrooms. Visit the America's Carpet Outlet showroom in State College PA and our design experts will help you add extra flair to your stylish floors!

With more jobs transitioning to work-from-home and hybrid work situations over the past couple of years, homeowners are finding that creating a home office is an increasingly valuable use of space. If you are repurposing an old bedroom into an office, you may find that the flooring needs an upgrade to better suit the new room function. Our America's Carpet Outletshowroom in State CollegePA has all of the attractive flooring options that can help you complete a stylish office to get quality work done every day. When it comes to selecting the best type of flooring for home office layouts, here are a few of our favorite options: Hardwood If you’re looking to add value with your new office flooring, hardwood will boost your property’s bottom-line while providing the strength to support heavy office furniture such as desks, cabinets, couches, chairs, or hutches. You can also use hardwood planks to create herringbone, chevron, or parquet installations for added creativity. To protect your hard surface investment from scratches and scuffs that an office chair can create, use a protective mat under your chair with enough surface area to at least match the length of your desk. Laminate & Luxury Vinyl For many homeowners, a flex room that can be used as a home office and later turned into a different type of room is an ideal use of space. Both laminate and luxury vinyl will allow you to create the stone or hardwood office look you love, while also providing the durability, moisture resistance, and scratch resistance to later serve a playroom or fitness area. Not only will these flooring options resist coffee spills and dropped items with ease, but they are also better suited for basement or attic office locations if space is at a premium in your home. Carpet Since heavier pieces of furniture can easily crush plush carpeting over time, think of low-profile level loop pile carpets, multi-level loop pile carpets, textured carpets, and patterned carpets when it comes to the best soft flooring for home office design. In addition to adding warmth and softness to your workspace, these carpet types will offer greater durability and wear resistance. Carpet tiles are also a great soft option to explore since these easy-to-install interlocking pieces require zero adhesive and offer attached padding for better performance and sound insulation. Area Rugs No matter what your favorite office flooring is, you can bring visual interest, texture, pattern, and extra softness underfoot by adding eye-catching area rugs to your design. These pops of color and creativity can inspire greatness and keep your home office setting from feeling flat. For a calming effect, you can look for rugs with blues, greens, and nature-inspired visuals. Try red and yellow tones to boost energy and optimism, and turn to grays, neutrals, and geometric patterns to spark your intellectual side. Ready to craft a personalized office that will help you maximize your time and inspire your best output at home? Bring your favorite ideas to the experts at our America's Carpet Outletshowroom in State CollegePA and they can help you find the best type of flooring for home office productivity all year long!

If you are ready to complete a dazzling bathroom remodel, there’s a great chance that you’ve landed on stylish, timeless tile to update your bathroom flooring. In addition to reliable durability and moisture resistance, both ceramic and porcelain tile options present vast design capability that allows you to create a look that’s all your own! Our America's Carpet Outlet showroom in State College PA features an incredible selection of tile colors, finishes, shapes, and sizes to complete your next incredible vision. As you plan your future design, make sure to consider these ideas for how to install tile flooring in your bathroom: Larger Tile Sizes In addition to making your bathroom feel more luxurious, installing large tile formats can save you time and enhance a confined space. Since it will take fewer larger tile pieces to cover a bathroom floor than smaller tile pieces, you can save time and grout work during your installation. Larger tile sizes will also reduce the number of seams in the finished floor and provide more tile surface area to reflect natural light. As a result, your final bathroom tile floor will be uncluttered, use natural light to perfection, and provide an airy overall feel. Installation Patterns Interior designers love using tile to create classic patterns with unique color combinations, and you can certainly install tile flooring in your bathroom in similar fashion. In addition to lending plenty of visual interest, chevron, herringbone, parquet, and diagonal tile patterns will give your bathroom upscale appeal. If you take a little extra time to lay out how you will install tile flooring patterns, you can create a one-of-a-kind bathroom design that is truly unforgettable. Wood-Look Tile When it comes to matching the feel of your bathroom flooring to the rest of the house, genuine is not a suitable option for bathrooms since the room will experience plenty of moisture and humidity. In order to achieve the look of your favorite species and texture, wood-look tile will help you capture a rustic feel when you install tile flooring in your bathroom. You won’t need to worry about cupping, warping, or cracking! Gorgeous wood-look tile options are offered in realistic wood plank formats that will give you classic tile performance while offering the visual of hardwood sophistication. Subfloor Preparation Before you begin to install tile flooring in the bathroom, you will save yourself plenty of stress if your subfloor is suitable first! Since tile installation requires a level subfloor, ensure that this step is completed thoroughly so that your budgeting and scheduling are not thrown off. An uneven subfloor can lead to a height misalignment between tiles, a lip that creates an unsightly shadow, squeaking, or even loosening of tile over time. Once the subfloor is properly leveled and prepared, your tile flooring will need mortar or tile adhesive and then need to be sealed with grout between the tiles. If you have apprehension in any of these key steps, it’s wise to hire tile professionals to guarantee the best installation results. With the performance you need and the ability to create a personalized feel that’s also easy to maintain, tile flooring will help you craft a rejuvenating bathroom that helps you feel your best every day. When you are ready to turn your tile dreams into reality, visit our experts in our America's Carpet Outlet showroom in State College PA for extra tips to install tile flooring in your home!

Whether you’re looking for added visual interest, enhanced comfort, or extra protection for your flooring underneath, area rugs are the perfect easy-to-use pieces to elevate any room. You can find an incredible array of patterns, textures, sizes, and constructions within our America's Carpet Outlet to use throughout the home. For peak performance during life’s everyday adventures, proper area rug placement will ensure that each rug can handle activity and foot traffic with ease. From materials to room functions, here are a few key considerations on where to place your new area rug: Entranceways It’s always wise to place a new area rug by your entranceway and foyer to protect your interiors from the outside world. An olefin area rug with a patterned or speckled design will not only handle moisture and foot traffic like a champion, but will also hide stains, dirt, and debris easier. You can even select a lighter-toned shade that will enhance natural light to open up your entranceway if the area feels confined. To unify the space, mirror the shape of the rug- square, rectangular, circular, or ovular- to the shape of your foyer for premium area rug placement. Hallways Without a doubt, hallways are an excellent location to place a new area rug since the soft additions will help cushion foot traffic, insulate sound, as well as lend balance and proportion to the design scheme. In this case, your best bet will most likely be a runner which is an elongated rectangular rug designed to serve these uniquely shaped parts of the home. Materials such as nylon or polyester will be a great fit for providing color, softness underfoot, and durability for foot traffic. Once you take measurements of your hallway, you can size your new area rug to fit the dimensions perfectly. Living Rooms, Family Rooms & Dining Rooms In the rooms that don’t receive as much constant foot traffic, you can opt for more eye-catching looks and luxurious materials such as silk and wool. When it comes to area rug placement with coffee tables, you can decide to either put all legs under the table or just the front legs. Make sure to put felt pads under any coffee table legs that aren’t on the rug to keep the table height even. For dining room area rug placement, purchase a rug that’s large enough to fit all legs of the dining table and account for the chairs being pushed back from the table. In addition to matching the shape of your rug to the shape of your dining room table, add about 36 inches to the dimensions of your table to ensure it has enough coverage for a premium dining experience. Kitchens & Bathrooms For the areas in the home that will experience moisture such as kitchens and bathrooms, and even laundry rooms and mudrooms, you will need area rugs that can handle humidity and absorb drip-drops. Cotton area rugs are easy-to-maintain, add comfort and slip resistance, and many options are even machine washable which can easily refresh them if they get soaked. Make sure to check that the backing of your rug is suitable for your flooring type and place them in front of sinks and showers to protect your floors from excess moisture. Since your bedroom is your own personal domain, indulge in your favorite texture and fiber that will help you unwind every night and enjoy each morning! Think of the patterns and color palette that can help tie your room designs together and our America's Carpet Outlet rug experts will help you explore the area rug placement that will uplift your interiors flawlessly.