SHAW IS A PRESENTING SPONSOR OF 2008 HGTV GREEN HOME! November 29, 2007

Shaw announced today that the company will sponsor the 2008 HGTV Green Home Giveaway. HGTV will be conducting a national sweepstakes that will invite viewers and fans to enter to win the HGTV Green Home. The national sweepstakes kicks off on March 28, 2008 and runs through May 16, 2008. The HGTV Green Home is located near the popular beach resort of Hilton Head, South Carolina. The HGTV Green Home will be located near miles of some of the most popular beaches in the country and an environmentally-conscious golf course.

The home will be fully furnished and designed with eco-friendly products and materials by Interior Designer Linda Woodrum, who has worked on the past 10 HGTV Dream Homes. Online, viewers will be able to take a virtual tour of the home where they will be able to learn about green design and eco friendly products. HGTV Green Home House Planner, Jack Thomasson, is overseeing the construction of the home. Shaw will provide a variety of eco-friendly flooring for the home.

Holiday Decorating and Traditions November 28, 2007

Holiday decorating is all about tradition whether it be carrying on the traditions you had when growing up or starting new traditions of your own. This year continue your family traditions and start a new one of your own with your holiday decorating or by finding a new way to share the reasons you celebrate the season.

To get into the spirit of the holidays, you might need to do some prep work. To ease the burden of bringing all of the decorations down from the attic, turn on some holiday music. If you don’t have any, there is plenty you can download from itunes onto your ipod or run down to your local coffee shop. They usually have CD’s right by the register. Next, put on some festive clothing. This is the perfect time to bring out the sweater your great aunt gave you that you committed to never being seen outside the house. Trust me, this is the perfect time to wear it. Along with your festive music and holiday attire, you need a holiday beverage. Egg nog, hot tea, apple cider or a gingerbread latte from the coffee shop are good choices for your final step to holiday prep work. It is also a good idea to bake some cookies because you just might need a snack mid-decorating!

Green Build Expo 2007 - Hardwood Flooring November 26, 2007

The Green Build Expo 2007 had many hardwood exhibitors, but 2 companies in particular caught my attention for their beautiful and unique products.

One company, Sustainable Flooring in Boulder, Colorado offers wood flooring products that are not only sustainable, but have an appearance unlike most hardwood flooring you have seen. Their product line is made up of reclaimed products, those that are “certified” by either the Forestry Stewardship Council or follow similar harvesting and production methodologies, and others that are either made from rapidly renewable raw materials or are created from post-industrial content. “Sustainable Woods” encompasses lesser know species. Their harvesting and subsequent use will help insure that forests are allowed to thrive.

Green Build Expo 2007 - Shaw Gets A Green Thumbs Up! November 20, 2007

With over 22,800 in attendance and more than 850 exhibitors at this year’s Green Build Expo in Chicago it was clear that this green movement is here to stay and getting some serious attention.

It was no surprise that the expo was held downtown at McCormick Place, a building that is LEED certified. As you walked into the building there were a series of signs mounted to the wall explaining what it meant for the building to be a LEED certified building. Throughout the expo there were educational stations, recycling stations and many other efforts to educate on ways to become more “green” as well as ways to participate. It was also encouraging that throughout the city there were advertisements for new lofts and condos bragging that these new residences were “green” residences.

The expo kicked off differently than most trade shows. It began in the evening with a cocktail reception. Guests arriving the first day were allowed to spend a few hours getting a sneak peak of the show before the masses showed up to stand in the registration line the next day. Some people waited over 2 hours just to get into the show! I was fortunate enough to arrive the first day. It was helpful to be able to get an overview of the exhibit with less people before the aisles became crowded. It was exciting that some booths were so crowded that I had to come back a few hours later to try to get information!

Carpet Recycling Efforts and How You Can Do YOUR Part November 16, 2007

Each year, carpet accounts for 2% of U.S. landfill waste by volume and close to 1% by weight. That translates to 5 billion pounds of waste per year making it one of the largest single contributors to landfills!

What’s being done about it?

One group called CARE or Carpet America Recovery Effort is a non profit organization formed in 2002 by The Carpet and Rug Institute. Members of the carpet industry, government agencies and some non-government agencies are aiming to increase the amount of recycling and reuse of post consumer carpet and reduce the amount of carpet waste going into landfills. Since CARE was formed, 500 million pounds of carpet have been recovered.

Dare to be different - trends in exotic hardwood flooring November 9, 2007

Exotic hardwood flooring is becoming increasingly more popular because buyers seem to constantly be searching for products for their homes that are more unique than what you find at your everyday big box store. These floors are a symbol of style and provide greater diversity from hardwood’s reputation as a traditional flooring choice.

The word exotic is defined as:

ex·ot·ic (g-ztk)

adj.

1. From another part of the world; foreign:

2. Intriguingly unusual or different; excitingly strange:

About Exotic Hardwood

Like traditional hardwood floors, exotic hardwood floors have styles offering different widths, species, grain, colors and types of construction. You can find exotic hardwoods that are unfinished, pre-finished, solid or engineered. Most of the floors come from South America, Australia, The Far East and Africa. Click here to see a selection of domestic versus exotic samples from the National Hardwood Association. It is also important to keep in mind that not all species of exotic hardwood are available as flooring. The ones listed here are all available for flooring.