Choosing the perfect area rug for your hardwood floor isn’t a difficult task. Just follow this easy to use guide to put yourself in the know and play the match maker.

One of the most exciting things you can do for your home in terms of livening it up a bit is to throw out your carpets in favor of something a little more exquisite, like hardwood floors or stone tiles. The major difference between these two being whether they can stand up to your current décor and your current area rugs, or if you’ll have to throw out all of your décor along with your carpets.

With hardwood floors you can usually keep your current décor, area rugs included, even if they are jute area rugs or some other less known fabric. But just because you can keep your area rugs, doesn’t mean you have to or that you should. And what if you’re building a brand new home or striking out on your own for the first time and don’t have any décor to take along with you?

That’s why there’s a simple guide to choosing your area rugs wisely for your hardwood floors.

The first thing you want to do is choose high quality wood flooring. You don’t have to spend an arm or a leg or sell off your first born child to get it, but the fact remains that you get what you pay for. Typically, the 99-cents per square foot flooring isn’t going to cut it. The cheapest wood flooring you should go for is typically in the $1.99 to $3.99 price range. Here you’ll find dark woods and light woods, including oak, cherry wood and sometimes, if you’re lucky, Brazilian woods that are on sale.

Once you’ve chosen your hardwood floors and had them installed, the next thing you have to do is dress them up with a nice sealant and surface protectant that will not only give them their own lustrous look and shine, but will also keep you from having to hide digs, scratches and other surface defacers.

Now to choose your area rug. Choosing an area rug to go with the perfect hardwood flooring is no easy task. But what you should remember is that black rugs go with everything. Modern area rugs and contemporary area rugs with plenty of bright colors tend to go best with the darker hardwood floors, but oriental area rugs are great for all woods.

But don’t get so caught up in theme and color that you forget about texture. Bamboo area rugs have a tendency to get lost in the lighter wood floors while cotton area rugs simply slide around too much (unless they have proper backing, which defeats the purpose of the easily washable area rug), but wool pile area rugs, jute area rugs and seagrass area rugs can be at home with any type of wood flooring since they naturally work with the wood and give your home the perfect elegance or earthy flair.

And always remember to take a sample of your wood flooring along for the area rug shopping adventure!

Lumberjocks has designed this ornate table all made from left over flooring.

By using flooring off-cuts in different colors (Ipe, Brazilian cherry, and Red oak). It looks very intricate and complicated – but the key here is that all of the the hexagons are in fact made up of 6 triangles each.

So if you’ve got some spare time on your hands – you can save all your flooring off-cuts (or just ask your local flooring contractor) and go for it!

From the palaces of power to the humblest of homes - that's the path that Oriental rugs have traveled for centuries. Today they are among the premier types of area rugs chosen to enhance a room's décor.

Legend has it that Queen Cleopatra was smuggled into the presence of Julius Caesar wrapped in an Egyptian rug. Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine introduced "Oriental" rugs to Europe when she returned from the Middle East after the First Crusade. The great traveler and merchant Marco Polo probably beheld Oriental rugs when he visited the great empire of Kublai Khan. From this exalted beginning, Oriental rugs have become such a standard for area rugs that they're often the first image to come to mind when considering a rug.

In reality, the term "Oriental rug" is an outworn phrase that refers to a vast variety of rug types created by makers found in the Middle East, Eurasia and Asia. Historically Oriental rugs came from China, but much of that production has now moved to India and Iran. As a descriptor, "Oriental rug" these days often is subdivided into more specific groups, such as Chinese Rug, Persian Rug, Tibetan Rug and so on. These phrases most closely describe where the rug was made, and thus its likely design.

Oriental rugs are made by hand or manufactured. They can be created by the traditional methods: hand-knotted, hand-woven or hand-loomed. Some rug makers use a combination of machine and hand techniques to produce handsome area rugs of Oriental style, but at much less cost. Expensive handmade Oriental rugs are often prized as collectible fabric art. Manufactured styles combine more affordable Oriental design with the durability of contemporary rugs.

The designs of traditional Oriental rugs were complex and deeply toned. Ornate styles include centered medallions, scattered layouts known as Afshan, curvilinear and paisley designs. The colors of Oriental rugs mirrored their brilliant cultures, with deep earth tones, gold, black, bronze and crimson. Down the centuries, as pigments and dyes became more sophisticated, colors such as jade, white, medium blue, plum and brick red began to be seen. However the patterns remained intricate and intriguing.

Once a dark and dominating presence in a room, Oriental rugs today have adapted to contemporary tastes. The traditional patterns are still popular, but artists and rug makers have added modern variations to antique motifs. Lighter color schemes often hold sway, such as gold, crimson and teal matched together, or a modern art pattern in pastels. Innovations such as these may shock or offend traditional Oriental rug owners, but they're proving to be excellent choices for more contemporary décor needing a quality area rug.

Oriental types of area rugs are still crafted mostly in 100 percent wool, silk or cotton. Some area rugs in Oriental designs are created using blends of these traditional fabrics. Some times the standard materials are combined with synthetics such as olefin or polyester, mostly to add durability for rugs intended for high-traffic areas. The natural-synthetic blends also help to hold down the cost, making Oriental type area rugs much more affordable and accessible to homeowners. It's best to be at least somewhat aware of the properties of each type of material, including how it must be cleaned, when choosing an Oriental rug.

One thing to watch out for: supposed Oriental rugs that are actually manufactured in Europe or America. They may feature traditional designs but they are manufactured by machine. This isn't necessarily a bad thing if you are simply seeking a good-looking area rug for a den or family room where the rug will be exposed to lots of feet upon it. However, if you are looking to purchase an authentic Oriental rug as an investment or family heirloom, be sure to check with the merchant about how and where the rug was made.

Aside from that one caveat, an Oriental rug can be an excellent choice - a classic that still brings thrilling style to any room.

Whilst designed as wall tiles these alligator print tiles can be used on floors in limited areas. Designed by Ann Sacks these certainly are not for the faint hearted.

Using the same looks that have been used for years in the best couture houses like Prada and Hermes in the design of their shoes and handbags; these tiles are equally impressive.

So now you can take the best looks of Italian embossed leather and put them on your floors and walls.

Available in earthy browns and creams to modern white to bold magenta and red – you are bound to find the perfect color for you next renovation project.

Graboplast, a Hungarian flooring manufacturer has just this month launched a brand new product. By using the latest advances in nanotechnology they have developed a scratch and scuff resistant, hard wearing PVC flooring suitable for sports stadiums and other public spaces.

Having invested heavily in the new technology the company was eager to prove it’s worth. At a recent press conference they demonstrated how it withstood heavy traffic and cigarette butts without any apparent burn marks.

They are so confident in the new flooring that by 2012, they expect that this PVC flooring will account for 75% of its total output.

I expect we will hear a lot more about nanotechnology in the future for flooring and all types of home applications.

I recently spotted this image at Apartment Therapy and just had to share it with you.

I must say I ‘love it’ but in saying that I’m not sure I’d have it in my home.

The green shades certainly look bright and refreshing and you can’t argue that it’s not unique.

What do you think?

Italian design company http://www.vetrocolor.it have come up with an innovative new glass tile collection.

With an array of colors and embossed patterns with metallic finishes as well these tiles will make any bathroom a masterpiece.

Everyone wants to add a bit of beauty to their home and an apparently small task such as finding a good rug can mean the difference between rooms looking fabulously furnished or just plain unfinished. With a plethora of rugs available to purchase, in all kinds of shapes, styles and colors, knowing which one will serve you the best can be a difficult task to undertake. The other factor that will of course dominate proceedings is how much a rug costs and how it will fit into your budget.

Deciding on what type of usage the rug is going to get is a good place to start. If you are simply going to throw an accent rug in front of a door to take the brunt of heavy traffic, then it would probably be fine to go out and get a cheap rug which will be replaceable. That rug will serve a purpose in contrast to sourcing an expensive, high quality rug which will be better served as a decorative piece.

Cheap rugs are obviously predominately more available than what would be considered more expensive ones. The ability for manufacturers to turn out generic rugs, will allow them to sell them at a cheaper price to the masses. But if you are looking for quality, then you should consider antique rugs.

Antique rugs are available in many styles. They can be made from several different materials ranging from wool to silk and feature varying types of dyes, vivid colors and symbolic patterns. The choice, just as in looking for a modern rug, will be down to your personal taste.

Hand woven rugs and braided rugs are considered top of the order when it comes to rugs. Persian and Moroccan rugs are particularly popular, due to their uniqueness and unsurpassable quality when it comes to hand made techniques. Importing one of these may sound like an expensive prospect, but rest assured that you would be getting the very best quality, and you may be surprised as to how much you really have to pay for one.

The internet has made the world a smaller place, and if you are looking for an antique rug, then it could be a great place to start. The popularity of online auction sites has made these antique and high quality rugs more accessible than ever. Getting your hands on a rug which has been well taken care of and was hand crafted many years ago can be done easily with the help of the internet.

So what is the difference between new rugs and those which may be considered antiques? Antique rugs are often treated as family heirlooms, for they will have seen a lot of history having been passed down from one generation to the next. These are generally well looked after items, out of respect for those family members who had the rug before the current owner.

Modern rugs are often cheaper and in some cases just as durable, but they are likely to be very generic and not have the same unwritten connection with history, as something which has come from the past. There are also rugs which fall in between both categories, those which are not new enough to be considered modern, but not old enough to be considered antiques. This field of area rugs can be a great way to find something unique for your home, as well as having it possess a bit of history.

Older rugs are usually noticeable for their styles and colors, and immediately imbue the onlooker with a sense of warmth, beauty and familiarity. The rug should make a house feel like a home, and that is what older, if not antique rugs, can easily do.

Either way, whichever route you wish to take, whether you opt for old world charm and elegance over modern style, there will be retailers online to suit your preference.

My nephew would just love this mosaic lizard floor – him and his sister could play for hours around it pretending it was chasing them or trying to bite their toes

He is certainly a sticking feature to the floor and looks ‘aboriginal’ in design to me. Being a fan of mosaics – having attempted a couple myself I can appreciate the work that has gone into this.

If you want to give it a try – there are heaps of websites dedicated to how to do mosaics. Personally, I did a quick course at a community are centre and then went from there.

I’ll bring you more floor mosaics as I find them!

Your at the Winter Olympics and all around you is billboards and advertizing – about 200,000-square-feet of the vinyl graphics to be exact. Imagine all that in landfill.

Now image that being made into flooring instead of being waste.

That is what Mannington Commercial thought of – the flooring manufacturer in Calhoun, Georgia is joining with 3M Canada to their vinyl graphics featured at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics into flooring.

Amazingly it will all be incorporated into Mannington's Premium line of tiles where applications range through education, commercial healthcare and retail.

What a great way to recycle!