Channel 5's Chronicle

Please tune in to Channel 5's Chronicle next Tuesday, 2/28 at 7:30. The Carpet Workroom and Reclamation Center will be featured on the episode, "Luxury for Less"!

Help us save a life!

We would like to introduce to you a new charitable promotion we will be running for the foreseeable future. We are working with another local business to collect water bottle caps for a woman named Camille who has been diagnosed with liver cancer. For every 500 caps collected, she receives one free chemotherapy treatment. We are offering $1 a future carpet or rug order for every water bottle cap you bring in (limit $10/order). Please help us save a life! Visit www.thecarpetworkroom.com for more information.

Wool Carpet Remnant Update

New wool carpet remnants are in! These high quality 100% wool remnants can be made into both designer area rugs and custom stair runners. These rugs and runners service Needham, Newton, Boston, Cambridge, Wellesley, Milton, Canton, Westwood, and Sudbury. Please call 781-844-4912 for more information.

For photos visit, http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150570978281025.380804.192451251024&type=3. For info visit, http://buygreencarpets.com/

Boston Custom Stair Carpet

This is a fantastic example of a custom stair runner. We installed this in a brownstone in Charlestown overlooking the city of Boston. This set of stairs twisted down three flights and includes multiple landings, all of which were cut to fit. We actually had to create templates for each stair because their variations in size and shape before fabricating from 100% wool broadloom carpet. Notice the consistent hardwood reveal throughout. It's amazing what a little creativity can do with stair carpets. For more info visit, www.thecarpetworkroom.net

An Insider's Guide to Buying Sisal

One of the fastest growing trends in the carpet and rug industry is sisal. There are many pronunciations for this product as well as many misconceptions. Most people that request this material do so without knowing much about it. They see pictures in design magazines, but are surprised once they see it in person. To the eye, it is very decorative, but to the touch, it’s not nearly as pleasant. The most practical uses are in dining rooms and living rooms where you typically aren’t barefoot or laying on it, or in entryways and stairs where there is a lot of foot traffic. It is extremely durable, holds up well over time, and actually cleans up rather nicely. Consider this your guide for buying sisal.

Real sisal carpets are made out of fibers extracted from the leaves of the agave plant which is a form of cactus. This material is produced all over the world, most commonly in Belgium, China, South America, South Africa, and Mexico. The highest quality sisal is produced in Belgium, but it is also the most expensive. Other natural fibers that are sometimes categorized with sisals are jute, abaca, sea grass, and coir. Here are some advantages of sisal fibers:

· 100% natural and biodegradable.

· Made from infinitely replenishable resources.

· Non-toxic, antistatic, and antibacterial.

· Contain tannins which repel dust mites.

· Absorbs moisture from the air when it’s humid and releases it when humidity drops which stabilizes the smell for sensitive noses.

· Makes for hard-wearing, rustic, yet elegant rugs and carpet.

· Moth and rot resistant.

· Good insulator and noise reducer.

Quality of sisals is dictated by the types of fibers used, the weight of the yarn, as well as the weight at which it is woven. Almost all of them are backed with latex in order to stabilize the shape and texture. This also helps with cleaning. The latex backing itself stops a large majority of dirt and liquid from filtering to your floor. This makes it easier for you to remove dirt with a good quality beater brush type vacuum. I have also heard that because of its solid construction, you can easily bring the rug outside to sweep, hose off, or beat with any solid object. One quick home remedy for spills; simply coat the stain with salt, let it dry, and then pick the stain out with a fork.

As I mentioned in the beginning, one complaint people have about sisals is their “wiry” feel. One way to soften these rugs is with a dense pad underneath. This will also add to the longevity of the rug itself. A good cushion acts as a shock absorber, keeping the rug looking new after many years of wear.

The best way to finish a sisal rug is with a wide cotton binding. Because of the latex backing and the sheer thickness of the fiber, standard thin binding won’t work. A 3” or 5” binding will not only keep your rug from fraying, but will add accent colors that will dress up the look of the rug. If you still don’t like the feel, there are many manufacturers that use wool and synthetic products to imitate the look of sisal. Wool sisals are the most expensive, but are the most decorative and comfortable. Polypropylene sisals are growing in popularity because of their inexpensive price and durability.

When you choose a sustainable area rug, you are not simply buying a home accessory. You are making a meaningful statement about what you believe in. You are helping to create a world where quality, beauty, and a sustainable way of life are essential. We have a wide selection of sisal remnants in our workroom as well as many other options for order. Please stop in to check them out!

www.thecarpetworkroom.net

A New Type of Carpet Store in Boston

From http://buygreencarpets.com/blog/96-a-new-type-of-carpet-store:

What sets us apart from most carpet stores is the way we approached the flooring industry. Most companies develop a retail store to sell the carpet, and then subcontract somebody to install it. We did the complete opposite. My father, Peter Lovetere began installing carpet when he was 18 and never looked back. He thought it was a good trade because of the little overhead and the high demand for insulating floorcovering here in New England. He installed for many years before purchasing equipment and renting space for a workroom to add fabrication to his services. Up to that point, he had installed for the types of retail stores I spoke about in the first two sentences. About 15 years ago, after he refined his skills and became an expert in the trade, he started doing high end work for design showrooms. The kind of materials they sold were of the best quality so very few installers risked working with such expensive carpet. After only a few years he had mastered the art of installing and fabricating Wiltons and Axminsters, the Rolls Royces of the carpet world. For those 15 years he had collected the small pieces left over from being such an accurate installer. Those small pieces are known as carpet remnants. Most carpet stores don’t tell you when they have to order surplus in order to create seams for your carpet installation. Those extra pieces either go back to the showrooms to be resold, get stored in a warehouse only to take up space, or stay with the installer who can either throw them away or keep them. My father chose the latter.

Two years ago he was contacted by Channel 5’s Chronicle because they wanted to do a segment on bargains around Boston. They had received an anonymous tip from someone who had bought a remnant from him, had it cut to a custom size, then fabricated. They came to his workroom, filmed the segment, and it aired in November of 2009. With that came a deluge of business, people wanting to take advantage of the tremendous deals being offered. He was unprepared for the amount of popularity for his two man operation. Things eventually quieted down, but the segment aired again one year later in November of 2010. This time, he knew what was coming. He vacated his old location and opened up in a bigger, more customer friendly building just less than a mile away. Not only does he offer custom area rugs he makes out of remnants, but now offers everything else a carpet showroom would; wall to wall carpet sales, mill orders, installations, and more. He brings a new perspective to the sale of carpet, because he knows all the trade secrets the traditional stores don’t want you to know. He doesn’t exercise a huge retail markup because he doesn’t need to sub out the labor. Best of all, he is the best in the business at what he does. With 32 years of experience, there is nothing he hasn’t seen.

This backward approach to a retail store was not the way he had planned it, but after turning 50 last October, he knew it needed to be done. There are just so many floors you can cover before exhausting yourself physically. Without knowing it, he has actually created an entire new way of buying carpet. The dawn of the Internet age has created an entirely new brand of consumer, one with the knowledge and information to ensure they are getting the best deal possible. Carpet remnants, once a trade secret, have become mainstream because of bloggers wanting to share their bargains. Most carpet stores despise this but we encourage it. We guarantee that we can obtain any carpeting material you find on the Internet at the lowest possible price. What makes it even easier is that just about every carpet mill has a website with an online showroom where you can browse their entire product line. Do your due diligence at home, then come visit us to do all the work for you. It really is that easy.

Carpet Recycling Update

Thanks to E.O.M.S. Recycling in Brockton, we are now one step closer to diverting all of our post-consumer carpet from landfills. We have been storing this material for months in our facility until we reached out and contacted E.O.M.S.. They immediately supplied us with a 10 yard container for carpet and pad only, which they bring to a recycling facility. Each time we fill the container we call them, and within days they are here to swap it out and give us a new one. If more businesses adopted these practices, we could significantly reduce the waste stream in Massachusetts. For more information on E.O.M.S., visit their website at http://www.eomsrecycling.com/.