Wood flooring in general has enjoyed a phenomenal re-surgence during the past decade, but the popularity of parquet floors has been uneven, at best. I’m not really sure why this is so, because parquet is a good value and for the do-it-yourselfer, a parquet floor is relatively easy to install. Some people are under the mistaken assumption that because parquet is thinner, it’s less durable than a strip or plank hardwood flooring. Actually, a 5/8-in, square-edged parquet floor has as much sandable wood as a 3/4-in. strip floor, whose tongues and grooves will be exposed when 1/4 in. of wood has been sanded away.

Parquet flooring is considered to be any kind of floor with a repeating geometric pattern. The pattern can be formed right on the floor by nailing down short strips, or it can consist of individual parquet tiles made up of many small pieces arranged in a decorative pattern. To hold the tiles together during handling and installation, the pieces are loosely bonded to a paper, cloth or plastic mesh backing or stitched together by a thin, soft metal or plastic spline threaded through a groove. This technique makes this type of hardwood floor installation much easier.

Parquet tiles are installed by gluing them individually to the subfloor or, if they are thick enough, by face, edge or blind nailing. Some parquet even has peel-off adhesive already attached to a foam backing that provides thermal and sound insulation.

Standard parquet thicknesses are 5/16 in. and 3/4 in. Common tiles sizes are 9×9, 11×11, 12×12 and 19×19. The size and pattern are, of course, a matter of personal preference. Unless the pattern my client wants is available only in 9/16 in. or 3/4 in., I’ll use 5/16 in. Parquet in general is a good choice where moisture is liable to be a problem, because there’s no consistent cross-grain expansion. Thin parquet is even better, because it expands less forcefully than thicker wood.

A word of warning: There are few grading standards for parquet. Pattern styles and names change from one manufacturer to the next - one mill’s Mt. Vernon might be another’s Swirl. Make sure that you see a sample of the parquet you want from the company you’ll be buying it from. Buy enough flooring to complete the job (plus a little extra) so you won’t run into problems with variation between lots. And believe me, there will be lots of variation.

Most parquet made of oak is manufactured in the United States. If you canvass a few suppliers, however, you’ll be able to locate walnut parquet and special order other species. Most common patterns can be found in teak, rosewood and other exotic species. If you are looking for something really exotic, you can special order your own pattern in any species you like. Bring a blank check and hide your eyes, though. If you have to ask how much the bill will be, you can’t afford it.

Are you finding shopping for the right baby pushchairs to be too confusing? Do you dread the idea of walking into a baby supply store and having to deal with insistent salespeople? Many new parents feel overwhelmed when trying to shop for the right baby equipment to suit their baby’s needs. You get so many different opinions on so many different items from so many different places; it is hard to know who to trust. Thankfully there are plenty of tips available to help you make your decision about buying your baby’s pushchair with confidence. Here are some tips to help make shopping for your baby needs much more fun.

If your friends have kids, ask them about strollers. Even though your needs might (and probably will) be different from theirs, there is no reason you can’t pump them for information on the products that they have purchased for their children. While you are talking to them, find out why exactly they chose the stroller they did, and what other ones they considered. Ask them why they decided against other models. If you have a certain pushchair in mind, ask people you know whether any of them has used it and if so what they thought of it. There is hardly an end to the information you can get from other parents!

Durability and flexibility are big concerns if you want a pushchair that your child can use for years. It is a hindrance for some people to purchase different baby strollers tat will fit a growing child. If you can’t afford or don’t want to buy multiple sized baby strollers then you do have another option. A convertible pushchair is the answer to your child outgrowing conventional strollers.

This will save you a lot of money in the long run-especially if the stroller you choose is sturdily built. You can usually also find pushchairs that will accommodate and fit around your car seat, which can save you from yet another expensive and overwhelming purchase.

Safety should be the top priority when choosing a pushchair. You can avoid a faulty product by spending a few minutes confirming that there aren’t any bad reports on it. This means that you have to look out for things like sharp edges, removable parts and how sturdily the pushchair will be put together. Just because the manufacturer says that their product is the safest on the market doesn’t mean it’s true. Safety always comes first. The good news is that there are lot’s of safe products on the market and they aren’t hard to identify. Every parent has different criteria by which he or she chooses the baby’s pushchair. You might need one that is better suited for long walks, while another parent needs something that is good for car owners. You should imagine having your pushchair and visualize the things you would like to be able to do with it. With a short checklist and a little research you can make a very smart purchase.

The Art Nouveau design style made its appearance during the last ten years of the nineteenth century. At the time Victorian design and decoration was truly excessive, and people were secretly looking for something with perhaps a little less “clutter”.

Art Nouveau design was born out of that desire to simplify things.

There was a general movement towards making rooms lighter and altogether less cluttered. This was reflected in the newly popular, paler paint colors for walls that were in strong contrast to the previously fashionable, darker shades and were seen as fresh and airy by comparison.

To provide interest, a paper or painted frieze might have been added at the ceiling line and borders above the skirting/base board were not unusual. Architectural embellishments were few. Dados diminished in popularity, but a picture rail or plate rack at approximately eye level might have been featured. Pilasters and paneling were also sometimes applied, especially if they could be employed to emphasize the vertical. Wallpapers, mostly depicting botanical themes, continued to be favored, particularly now that their cost was much reduced as a result of machine-manufacture.

Plain window and door glazing now gave way to more decorative treatments. Stained glass featuring geometric patterns or representations of botanical subjects was popular.

The latter part of the nineteenth century saw a decline in the fashion for large area rugs. These were often removed in favor of wood floors, both board and parquet, which were frequently covered with faded oriental carpets.

Art Nouveau Furniture

Plush curtain treatments and deeply buttoned upholstery were eschewed by the followers of the New Art. In their stead simpler furnishings were in evidence.

Attention was directed to the windows themselves rather than to how they were dressed. Pelmets, if they were used, were now flat and of simple design, otherwise lengths of fabric would be simply gathered and suspended from a plain wooden pole. With the emphasis on vertical lines, the curtains were frequently full length and rarely caught in a tie-back.

Furniture designs were pared down to a more basic form and were usually constructed from oak or satin-wood for a lighter look than the traditional mahogany. These items would have a simple wax finish and the grain was much in evidence. Cutouts, often in the form of a heart, inlaid work and simple carving were the principal embellishments to be seen.

Other items of art nouveau furniture, in the Mackintosh manner, were highly stylized, and chairs with their exaggerated ladder-backs were often painted black.

Lighting And Accessories

Probably the first item that springs to mind when Art Nouveau is mentioned is the Tiffany lamp. Its skilled American creator, L. C. Tiffany, who also designed whole houses (appropriately enough, for someone whose middle name was Comfort), produced some of the loveliest colored and leaded glass lamps to be seen. Although electricity became available during this period (to those who could afford it), in general the appearance of light fittings varied little from those fittings previously designed for gas.

Far fewer accessories were displayed, the emphasis being on objects made from silver, copper, ceramic, glass, bronze and pewter.

Whatever design style you are looking to incorporate into your home, check out these interior room designs tips. Whether you’re thinking along the lines of a Victorian style or just looking for some living room design ideas.

With wealth and security inevitably come a profusion of styles and an irresistible temptation to go over the top: a broad statement, but one borne out by history. In the twentieth century we have to look back no further than to the 1980s to see evidence of this. If we retreat even further - to the mid-nineteenth century - we find perhaps an even finer example - I’m talking of Victorian interior design ideas.

Victoria was on the British throne, her empire was churning along quite nicely and the rewards of the industrial revolution were being appreciated by a rapidly growing middle class. In the ‘workshop of the world’, as England was then known, fortunes were being made through trade with the colonies. Add to this newly found wealth and security, a monarch with strong feelings about home and family, and you have all the back-ground ingredients of Victorian style.

With all attention on the home, it was obvious that this was where an individual’s status could best be demonstrated to the world at large. The message was loud and clear: ‘I have arrived, I have substance and I espouse family values’ (sounds familiar?). A great surge in building and urban development ensued, much of which constitutes the English housing stock of today.

The penchant for classical styles was declining, but without any strong, new, directional fashion surfacing, the only way to look was back and to reviving previously popular interior and living room design ideas (this too has its parallel in the 1980s when shabby-chic country-house eclecticism became all the rage). Gothic, Elizabethan, oriental, Scottish baronial, Egyptian and rococo - these were among the many styles that the Victorians mixed somewhat indiscriminately. When interpreting Victorian style today, you have the choice of jumbling these various furnishing styles within one room or perhaps of concentrating on just one theme in each individual space.

Industrialization had arrived and furniture was produced en masse (but, alas, not always to the highest standard). At least this meant that furnishings cost less and were therefore available to a wider public and in greater abundance. It should be no surprise, then, that house dwellers of the time overdosed on exuberance. The Victorian home is typified by the cluttering of furnishings, layer upon layer. Why stop at one pair of curtains at a window when these can be accompanied by blinds and net drapes too? Every imaginable item was draped, trimmed and bedecked; every inch of floor space crammed with furniture and every table spilt over with memorabilia.

While the dictates of today’s decorators may be ‘Less is more’ or ‘If in doubt, leave it out’, the byword of their Victorian equivalents was ‘More is marvelous’!

Although at the beginning of this long-enduring period (1837-1901) schemes tended to be relatively light in feel, by the turn of the century they had become altogether more somber. Window treatments were designed to restrict light, the decorator’s palette took on deeper tones, furnishings became bulkier and dark woodwork dominated living room designs. Artificial lighting, despite the arrival of oil lamps followed by gas lamps, did little to brighten interiors. This all sounds rather dull until you remember that the Victorians would dress their rooms according to the season.

Come spring, many of the heavier elements would be replaced or covered by lighter-weight materials in paler colors; then the winter scheme would be re-imposed in the autumn. We adopt this arrangement for our personal clothing, so why not for our rooms?

In Victorian times there was a preciseness that we perhaps lack today with our flexible casual lifestyles. Each room had its definitive purpose and style of decoration. Libraries, drawing rooms and dining rooms tended towards the sumptuous, while upstairs was generally given a lighter, more feminine touch.