So Many Colors

Overwhelmed by All the Colors of Marmoleum?

Even though we are overwhelmed by the patterns and Colors of Marmoleum we would like to use marmoleum click throughout our main hallway and through our open-concept kitchen / family room / den. How can people ever pick from all the choices of Marmoleum that are available. What are the most versatile shades and where is the best source of ideas and designs? Should the design be consistent throughout all of these areas?

Carol
South Bend, IN

See the answer below….

Hi Carol

The rule of thumb is that when picking colors you should have something in each room that you absolutely love and start there. That first piece of the puzzle should be something you won’t consider changing. It can be furnishings, wall art, window treatments or the colors of Marmoleum flooring.

As far as patterns go, many of the more varied samples are the older, original, marbleized linoleum patterns from 150 years ago. The really great news is that for 2013 Forbo has brought out whole new Generation of Colors. There are also embossed varieties, speckles and flatter, more mono-chromatic options too. Very simply….do you love any of them? Pick something and then test your other choices against it.

Do you have to use the same color throughout for the floor? Usually a good indicator is whether the ceilings are continuous from one room to the next. If they are then the walls generally don’t have a logical place to change colors either. The floor color can be a unifying element from one room to the next or the colors can change and be complimentary. If you are brave with colors, you can pick contrasting colors but they usually require a more developed sense of style as to how to fill in the palette of colors so they all work together. It’s never bad to share pictures or ask for opinions, but you may as well own the decision, since you are going to live with it…. until you decide to repurpose your Marmoleum Click to another space.

Hope that helps.

Marmo

Trailer Restoration and Vintage Linoleum

Vintage travel trailer restoration and linoleum flooring just go together

Here at Marmoleum Clique I love to help folks who have all kinds of flooring needs but the travel trailer restoration and camper market brings out some of the quirkiest and coolest folks I have met. Committed to a slice of nostalgic history they are people who seem to value the simplicity of 50’s and 60’s America at its finest.

Before central air conditioning and cable tv people used to actually go outside and stay outside all summer long. Traveling the country and collecting state stamps which they pasted on their windows, they were folks who spent little and accomplished a lot. We would like to salute this era of the 20th century nomadic summer traveler.

If you need advice or want to find out what will work best for your project, feel free to post a question or email me. In the meantime, hopefully these points of information will help you select the right product that fits your needs and you will be happy with the selection.

1. Is Marmoleum the right product for a travel trailer restoration?Linoleum has been used extensivey in all kinds of demanding environments from hospitals to battleships. That is right the navies of the world used linoleum as battleship flooring very extensively. Bear in mind that both of these application locations have plenty of people to take care of their flooring. The product is resilient which means soft and comfortable underfoot so you have to keep it clean to keep it in good shape.

2. What is the easiest way to keep this flooring clean? A good suggestion is to establish zones just like commercial buildings do to get the shoes clean before they enter the interior spaces. A rough mat outside the door is critical to help knock off coarse soil from your shoes. Ideally for a trailer entrance you might establish two zones outside the trailer with the first one being a material like Forbo Grip and the second being Coral or Duo matting that is used as a walk off area. In a LEED building these zones would be 6 to 10 feet in length in order to abrade bottom of your shoes before you get to zone 1.

3. What if I dont have room for two flooring zones? You might consider committing a small area just inside the door for either a built-in or loose laid mat that can function as your zone 2 matting. This concept of establishing zones is worth the planning and fuss. After all, soil brings in all kinds of nasties and contaminants on our shoes from viruses, spores, tetanus, germs and organisms of all kinds.

4. Is Marmoleum linoleum my only choice for a camper or travel trailer restoration? While we think the original linseed oil based sheet goods or tile flooring is one of the most popular choices, we would love to see more folks in the vintage trailer restoration community find out about Flotex flocked flooring. While Flotex is a “carpet-like” product, it is actually manufactured of tiny standing colored fibers with a density of about 70,000,000 fibers in a square yard. Able to be scrubbed and sanitized this product will really hold up very well and while a little pricey, it comes in squares and sheet and it doesn’t seem like you can wear it out.

I also found some great links about the trailer restoration community for those intrepids out there who are thinking about restoring and preserving this little slice of Americana … LittleVIntageTrailer.com

Marmo

Shakespeare & Linoleum

Poetry and Marmoleum…Shakespeare? Really?

Shalt thou embrace and splurge for the flower of the floor or lie for all the seasons, regretful at thou fickle frugal nature!

A long time admirer of the linoleum floor, most people don’t know that William Shakespeare was thought by some of notable import to be the first in history to write about linoleum and its wondrous properties. When dirt floors were all the rage in England it was heresy to even consider such luxury.

Marmoleum Sweet Marmoleum

Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,
Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home;
Apologies to J H Payne must be expressed
Or this verse will be pure theft at best.

While exiled from home, scouting materials up-to-date,
What to use to replace the old carpet I hate,
The DIY in me fell in love with Marmoleum
So pretty and easy and free of petroleum.

I gazed on the naked floors with anticipation,
And designed a layout of my own wild creation.
My carpenter did machine cuts and we both did the Click
And found that the floor got finished right quick.

How sweet, how Cool, and thoroughly Green,
I even enjoy keeping the silly Floors clean.
So round two is upon me: three more rooms to do,
The adventure starts again, and the colors are new.

To return ever more determined, renovation the goal,
My heart still flutters at Marmoleum —
Not linoleum — never rustoleum –like a museum —
Such a lovely home, and the floor is floating;
If I could be humble I wouldn’t be gloating.
No more from that cottage again will I roam;
Be it ever so tumble, there’s no place like home.

NHarris

PS: Points to W. Shakespeare!

The Marmoleum Clique – Forbo Marmoleum Free Samples

Forbo Marmoleum Free Samples, Reviews, Linoleum FAQs, Green, Healthy, Sustainable Flooring News