Dianne,
That is a new one om me . Are the counters like a plexi glass .? Or something like corning ? I bet it is beautiful counter top.

[ February 16, 2006, 05:16 PM: Message edited by: Renee ]

Being an avid recycler and environmentalist, I installed a counter made of recycled glass when I remodeled my kitchen a couple years ago. Pieces of colored glass are embedded in a material similar to cement. The finished product looks similar to terrazo flooring and it's gorgeous. You can choose the color (or 4 colors in my case) of glass, the sizes you want the glass pieces to be, and the color of the base material. You can even supply your own glass (so if your family owns a brewery, for example, you can use pieces of broken beer bottles). The finished product feels like marble and needs to be maintained about the same.

I can't tell you the pleasure I get from seeing light shining through some of the pieces of glass. It's very beautiful.

If you're interested, check out www.counterproduction.com; they have pictures on their website. I know other companies are making a similar product but I don't know the company names...you can always do a google search.

MaryE, how cool. I thought they would be bumpy and hard to clean. Wow, they're like marble? I bet that's pretty.

Dianne, your floor sounds so mod. What's the rest of the condo like?

MaryE, that link didn't work for me.

Dots, I posted a link to our place in the travel thread.

Whenever you post a link, make sure you don't put a "period" or a "semi-colon" at the end of the link. People have a tendency to cut and paste the entire thing and then the links don't work. Try again Ms D, it could be the problem. Hugs, JJ

Dianne, Jawjaw is right. The semi-colon screwed up the link. It seems to work fine if you omit that. ....sorry...

We are considering replacing the carpet in our family room with a hardwood floor. There are so many different brands and kinds of wood floors to choose from. I'm in a quandary to which of these wood floors to pick. They all have pros and cons. The lamanite is reasonably priced, but I understand if it is installed with the wrong pad under it, it can sound kinda hollow when you walk over it, and it is much colder on the feet than real wood. There is the engineered wood that clicks together like lamanite, but has the look and feel of real wood. Then there is the real wood that has to be nailed down, but after time may have to be refinished...messy/dusty. There is Parquet also, which are the small squares that are nice. I generally research things to nausiaum and then get more confused than ever. Do you all have a favorite type, style, color,or brand of wood floor??......or should I just stick to carpert???

~Cookie~

I don't know which areas of the country but there has been a problem with mold from wood flooring. Many floor guys here in AZ won't even install the laminate any more because they're afraid of getting sued. As I understand it, real wood floors, tile, and other 'natural' materials 'breathe' better and the mold problem isn't as bad or is non-existant. We are in the process of remodeling and will be replacing all of the carpet mostly with saltillo tile because the concrete foundation is so old, cracked and uneven. There is a self-leveling concrete we could pour over the current foundation so we might try that and go for bamboo or cork flooring in the bedrooms.

Thanks for your imput yonuh! That does make sense about the mold. I never thought about that! I guess if one's house is on a slab or concrete, there probably wouldn't be any vapor barrier between the floor and concrete, where as mositure could not escape, and then causing mold. As with a house on foundation with a crawl space or a basement, air would be able to circulate a little more to dry out the mositure and hopefully not have the mold problem. Good luck with your flooring too!

Can you stand more about hardwood floors? Our house is over 100 years old, with an inlaid floor in the living room. While we were renovating the house, I 'pondered' that lovely, badly used floor. It had been sanded before, the heart nearly taken out of the wood. Finally, I decided to do the least to it, hoping for the best. I thoroughly washed it, put paste wax on it, rented a big buffer and, wow! The beauty of the wood has come through--by the second year, the protection was well set and I let it go for two years. An easy solution for old wood--