Sell hardwood flooringts diverse color palette

If fsex cusroMERS come V V flooring, they usually that will complement their to you looking for hardwood have specific colors in mind home d6cor. Your iob is to make certain that you direct them to the wood flooring products that will best meet their needs.

Today, wood floors come in a variety of colors, styles and price ranges. Helping customers choose the right floor is simply a matter of deciding which look they like best, and making sure it fits their d6cor, lifestyle, and budget.

Light-colored wood floors like ash and maple make a room appear more open and airy. These woods typically lend themselves to a more clean and modern look.

Medium-colored wood floors like hickory and oak make a room appear more warm and cozy. These woods typically lend themselves to a more comfortable and casual look.

Dark-colored wood floors like mahogany and walnut make a room appear more stately and refined. These woods typically lend themselves to a more traditional and formal look.

New to the wood flooring scene, however, are exotic wood species, which can run the gamut of colors:

Bubinga, which originates in Africa, can appear pink, red or reddish brown with purple streaks or veins.

Australian cypress ranges from cream-colored sapwood to honey-gold heartwood, with dark brown knot holes throughout. It looks similar to knotty pine, but is much harder.

. Santos mahogany, which originates in South America, is a dark reddish brown.

. Purpleheart, which originates in Mexico, has a brown heartwood that will age to a deep puryle or purplish brown. Burmese teak, which originates in Asia, varies from a yellowish brown to a dark golden brown.

For a totally unique look, wenge, which originates in Africa, will age to a very deep brown, almost black, color.

Needless to say, there literally are hundreds of wood species available today that can accommodate any decorating style, but with so many choices available, how can you encourage your customers to think outside the box and consider all the options available to them, especially if their minds are made up when they first walk through your showroom door? One of the easiest ways is to have them "try it before they buy it" virtually.

The National Wood Flooring Association offers a virtual "Design Your Room" feature on its consumer website at www.woodfloors.org. Using this interactive feature, your

DIFFERENT TYPES and tones of hardwood species create dramatically different looks, such as this solid Brazilian cheny parquet floor with accent blocks of wenge, maple and red oak, creating a custom basket weave pattern. (lmages by National Wood Flooring Assocnflon) customers can try a variety of wood flooring species in several room settings, including a living room, dining room, bedroom, child's room, bathroom, and hallway. They can choose the species, finish, width, grade and construction of the flooring with just one click. They can even change the wall color to more-closely match their own home d6cor, and can position the flooring vertically or horizontally or even diagonally to get a better feel for how that can affect the mood and look of a room.

Once your customer has decided on a species, you will need to make sure that the species will perform adequately based on their lifestyle. For example, a home with three young children and a large dog will have different wood flooring needs than a home with an older, retired couple with no pets. The young family will need to select a species that will stand up to the rigorous foot traffic it will likely get during its lifetime in the home, and it is your job to steer them in the right direction. For instance, if they love the look of domestic black cherry wood flooring, which is ranked at 950 on the Janka hardness scale (see chart on previ<tus page), they might want to know that Brazilian cherry is ranked much higher at 2,820-nearly three times the hardness of the domestic species.

As you can see, there is a lot more to choosing a wood floor than color alone. Educating yourself to help your customers make good wood flooring choices will result in happy customers, and repeat business.

Bv Carla Waldemar