Low Maintenance is the Idea
Living in Estes Park, we are often asked if we have products that are low maintenance. A good majority of the properties in our town are made up of vacation homes, short and long term rentals and second homes. The average age of residents is north of 51 and that means many are retired. This provides us with a large number of customers who's main desire in choosing a product is whether it can stand up to dirt, hot pans, pets, or those jumping, running, spilling grand kids. The answer is an emphatic yes!
What we've learned over the centuries is natural products such as granite, wood, stone tile, etc look great but typically don't age as well. With the technology leant to us in this 21st century, we have created faux or partly faux surfaces that look like the real thing but offer much more convenience.
Granite for instance is very porous and lends itself to chipping. It doesn't have much heat tolerance and isn't easy to clean. This may give us a beautiful surface for our countertops, however it doesn't give us that kid tested, mother approved label. In comes quartz. Quartz products are 93% quartz where granite products only have 40-60% quartz with weaker minerals mixed in that create the porous top. Home and Garden labeled quartz one of the leading surfaces of the year last year because it looks great but offers what granite can't. Because it's nonporous and nonabsorbent, it won't draw in moisture from raw or leftover food, which can harbor harmful bacteria. It gives off zero emissions, and no radon. There is no safer stone surface for food preparation, period.- Cambria USA. Quartz, like some other new products are manufactured differently with your lifestyle in mind.
During the turn of the 20th century, wood was the most common flooring choice in homes across the country, and still today many homes are outfitted with this natural and beautiful surface. Most woods however are soft and lend themselves to scratching. Pets, kids, and gravel filled shoes wreck havoc on your nice wood floors and soon after install, they look as though you drove your car through your living room. There is a solution to your busy, no worry lifestyle, and that comes in the form of porcelain tile, laminate or vinyl floor. Now don't think this is your normal everyday tile and vinyl. With the technology of imaging today they can actually make these product look so similar to the real thing that people can't tell the difference. Recently I attended a flooring conference and I was shocked how real they looked. There was a floor covered by a vendor with these products next to wood and it was impossible to tell the difference. Many of these floors come with 30 year commercial warranties with them, sure to stand up to anything your toddler can throw at them (my 1 year old's favorite game is, what can we throw off of the second floor onto the bottom floor that makes the most noise).
Now I could go on and on with many more products, but will save you some time reading. The fact is you don't have to sacrifice time cleaning or money repairing just because you like the look of a product. You can have the look you want and enjoy your home too. If we can't "live" in our homes, what's the fun in that?
For more ideas and help with your next design project, contact us here at Design Center Of Estes Park.