Both traditional tile and marble flooring can add a clean, polished look to any home, but figuring out which one to choose can be daunting.  With the help of a professional interior designer, let’s take a look at the pros and cons of each material to help you decide which one to install in your home.

Tile Flooring

For years, tile flooring has been a top choice for homeowners across the country.  The benefits of tile floors abound, but since there are so many types of tile floors, it can be challenging to choose the best one for your spaces.  Since the floor frequently ends up being the focal point of any room in your house, you must be sure that it is designed and installed properly.

Pros of Tile

Tile flooring gives you so many options to choose from.  With tile, you can customize the colors, size, texture, style, and even shape of your floor.  Since it is so customizable, you are sure to create a look that is uniquely yours.  Because of the installation process of most tile, it can be laid without problems on even and uneven surfaces.  Tile is also much cheaper than marble, making it a more affordable way to customize a floor.  Additionally, tile can be installed on a do it yourself schedule and budget.  Tile is resilient, meaning it is easy to clean and will not stain.  Finally, tiles are free of allergens and maintain a high level of hygiene.

Cons of Tile

Tile can be cold to the touch, especially to bare feet.  This is most noticeable during the colder months of the year.  This problem is easily addressed by placing large rugs or mats on the floor to block the chill of the tile.  When tiles are damaged, they either break with unsightly crack lines or display chips on the edges.  If left untreated the condition of the tile worsens.  Additionally, tile becomes very slippery when wet, which means that all spills and messes should be cleaned promptly.  Finally, tile is known to amplify noise, so expect clicks and louder dragging sounds when moving items on tile.

Marble Flooring

In recent years, marble has proven to be one of the most desirable and trendy flooring solution for homeowners across America.

Pros of Marble

In recent years, marble has proven to be one of the most desirable and trendy flooring solution for homeowners across America.  Marble offers classic style and elegance in a very sleek and clean finish.  Marble is much tougher than traditional tile floors.  This means that you are less likely to see any chips, breaks, or scratches on the durable marble flooring.  Marble usually feels cold to the touch.  This is a bit of relief during the sweltering summer months.

Cons of Marble

Currently, marble is one of the most expensive flooring materials on the market.  A trained professional is required for installation due to the amount of technical knowledge and experience necessary to install a marble floor.  Since marble is so tough and hard, expect dropped items such as cookware and glasses to break on contact.  Marble is more of a high maintenance flooring solution compared to tile.  To maintain the shiny gloss finish, you must schedule time for regular polishing.  As previously mentioned, marble is always cold, so look at buying slippers or house shoes to combat the cold feel of the tile during winter months.

Figuring out what lighting solutions to add to your smart home can be difficult. What used to be a simple decision is now an ordeal involving dozens of variables like power consumption, colored lighting, and “smart” lighting features like wireless connectivity. Continue reading as we discuss some of the main forms of lighting so that you can make an informed decision for the lighting in your home.

Traditional Bulbs

These typical bulbs, sometimes referred to as dumb bulbs, are the ones that you can find on the shelves of every home improvement store. The types of dumb bulbs include halogen, compact fluorescent, and LED. If you are interested in using traditional bulbs for lighting your home, LED bulbs should be your choice – here’s why:

Pros

• They are the easy to find at most stores
• They are inexpensive compared to other forms of lighting
• If you find the right LED bulb, they are the most energy efficient solution
• They are compatible with regular dimmer switches and work simply with a traditional light switch

Cons

• There are no extra features when using LED bulbs, or any traditional bulbs for that matter
• No connectivity features, such as wifi and smart home apps

Affordability

• These are the cheapest bulbs to buy for your home
• With advances in technology and production, the costs continue to fall every year
• They often use much less energy than smart bulbs

Smart Bulbs

Smart bulbs are desirable since they have networking capabilities in every bulb that allows smart home connectivity. This gives you access to a variety of features including color modification, advanced scheduling, and wireless power toggling. In conjunction with a home automation managing application, you gain total control over all smart lighting fixtures in your home. Popular choices for smart lighting materials include the Philips HUE bulbs, LIFX, and the GE Link.

Pros

• The sheer novelty behind smart lighting brings joy and ease of access to all members of your family 
• Some smart lighting solutions give you thousands of color choices in a single bulb
• You have the power to change the tone and intensity of white light
• You can adjust the brilliance of light to match the flow of any room (less light near TV, more light in a social corner)
• You can utilize various third party applications to connect your smart lights to receive notifications from services like email or family tracking apps

Cons

• For those who have no interest in the advanced features these bulbs provide, they could be an empty purchase
• They often require the use of a hub of some sort
• There is a limit to how many of these smart lights you can reliably use in your home
• Some smart bulbs lose their customization settings when the physical switch they are attached to is turned off
• In this case, you are stuck with normal light until you open the application and reset the scheme

Affordability

• Compared to traditional lighting, they are all expensive
• You can expect to pay three to five times as much for a smart bulb than you would for a reliable LED bulb
• Replacing all the lighting in your house with smart bulbs will be a large one-time purchase

Depending on what your priorities and interests are, smart lighting may be right for you. However, rest assured that if you find the right LED bulbs, your home can still look sleek and clean without the need for fancy lighting systems.

Painting the walls in your new home can be stressful and nerve-racking.  When you choose a paint color, you must consider the effects that it will have on the room.  Depending on your choices, you can dramatically change the brightness, flow, and mood of the room you paint.  So how do you make a good selection?  Continue reading for 10 guidelines to follow when selecting the perfect paint colors for your home.

1. Baby Steps

For those who aren’t quite sure what colors to use, experimenting in a small bathroom or hallway is a great place to start.  If you will be doing the painting yourself, select an easy area that will be done quickly.  This gets you the fastest results, so that you can decide to throw on another coat or change to a different color.  Painting your home is an exciting process, so enjoy the adventure and keep painting!

If you are having trouble selecting a color to use for your first area, find a piece of art or clothing that you find visually appealing, and select colors from there.

2. Create The Mood You Want

The color or colors you choose will affect the mood of the room, regardless of any furniture or wall decorations present.  When painting any room in your home, it is important to keep the desired mood in mind.  A poor color choice can absolutely ruin the mood of the room, so be prepared to pivot to a different color if your vision for the room changes at any point in the process.

Painting is all about adding a personal touch to your home.  You are in complete control when it comes to the moods you create.  A bedroom can be restful and calming or dramatically intimate; a dining room can feel invigorating and sociable or neat and formal.  Warm, contrasting, and bright colors contribute to feelings of excitement and conversation, while deeper, cooler colors and neutral colors feel very formal.

3. Learn From Your Lighting

Your paint shop should have light boxes that you can use to test potential colors under different types of natural and artificial light.  When comparing colors, remember:

• Natural daylight will show you the truest color of your paint

• Fluorescent lighting adds an element of blue to your paint color

• Incandescent lighting will enhance the warm colors and yellows in your paint

• If you are worried about a strong color overpowering your room, consider using that color as an accent wall.

4. Know Your Color Terms

Understanding the terms used to describe paint colors will help you along your journey to create a colorful home.  The basic terms you need to know are Hue, Value, Saturation, and Intensity.

Hue: The color of the paint.  For example, the hue of red paint would be red; the hue of yellow paint is yellow.

Value: This describes how light or dark the paint is.

Saturation: This is the level of dominance of the hue in the color.  When comparing red to pink, the red hue is more dominant in the red paint than the pink paint.

Intensity: Intensity is described as the brilliance of the color.  Pure colors (Red, Blue, Yellow) are more intense than mixed colors like yellow-green.  Stronger colors generally have a more dominant hue.

5. Test Your Choices

If you aren’t confident enough to begin painting your walls straightaway, begin by painting large poster boards.  This will give you a life-sized sample of your paint that you can use to test the flow of the color with your furniture.  Experiment with dramatic colors and other colors that reach outside of your comfort zone.

6. Use Decorative Finishes For Added Depth

If a standard paint job alone isn’t enough to bring life to your space, consider adding different textures or spaces of broken color.  Looking to add even more drama to your walls?  Using a burnished mineral or metal finish will easily add depth and excitement, or you could opt for layered glazes of color to make your walls pop.

7. Paint, Walk, Repeat.

When painting your home, it is helpful to consider your walls as interconnected planes of color.  Think about the walls that will peek through into each room.  How do those colors look together?  Remember that in most rooms of your house, you will see pieces of other rooms.  Choosing the right colors from room to room will create a sense of flow and unity across your home.  Continually walking around your home throughout the painting process will help you pick the right colors for your home as you are painting.

8. Get A Color Wheel, And Use It

Find a small color wheel to keep with you during the painting process.  This tool shows you how all the colors interact.  They can be helpful for comparing potential colors to your furniture and wall decorations.  Plus, the color wheel is perfectly divided down the middle (between yellow-green and red-violet) into warm and cool colors.

9. Play With Monochromatic Palettes

If you would like to create an exciting visual impact without choosing wild colors, consider creating small variations within a color group.  You will be amazed at the striking effects closely related colors provide.  This is the best option to choose if your furniture or wall art provides a substantial pop of color already.

10. Choose Various Paint Finishes

Using the same color on your walls and trim does not have to look boring.  For example, you can use a matte finish on your walls and a thin, satin finish on your trim.  Since the colors are of the same hue, they will look great together.  This is a great option for those who are looking for an exciting, cohesive look.