Floors are a thing we tend to take for granted until they become a project. Between the times where we have to worry about cleaning or maintaining them, they pretty much just remain out of sight and out of mind beneath us. So, obviously, most people's minds don't leap to "fun facts" if and when they think of floors, but you might be surprised just how interesting flooring can be.
Here at Carpet Mart, floors are just about all we think about! It's kind of our thing, and we wish everyone was as excited about flooring as we are. We had a slow day around our Benton Harbor, MI showroom one day, so we decided to kill some time by looking for some interesting facts about flooring that might make you stop and think again about whether or not floors are just a place to stand. Here's what we came up with!
Errr...can I get that design in luxury vinyl instead?
Imagine walking into a flooring store to look at tile options and finding an outrageously beautiful design. You notice there is no sticker, and joke to yourself that if you have to ask how much it is, you probably shouldn't buy it. Imagine your shock when you ask the tile flooring sales rep how much this marvelous tile costs, and he explains that it's a steal at one million dollars per square foot!
Well, as unlikely as that scenario is, it's not entirely impossible! The design firm Petra Firma produces a decadent black marble tile that features 95 brilliant cut diamonds arranged in a flower-like shape that surrounds a circle of black agate at the center. It's the perfect tile for someone with a million bucks and a 1-square-foot floor plan!
Pluck the day!
We all know that the phrase "Carpe Diem!" means "Seize the day!", or do we? In reality, a closer translation of the phrase would be, "Pluck the Day!? Back in the old days, carpet was made by fraying fibers through some process of plucking.
The word carpe means "To pluck" and is also where the word carpet comes from for the same reason. We're not sure where the wires got crossed, but somewhere along the line, someone decided that "seize" just has a better ring to it and we've stuck with it since.
They don't make' em like they used to!
If you take good care of a well-made rug, it can last for a really long time, but one rug takes that fact to the extreme. It's known as the Pazyryk Rug, and it was found in the grave of a Scythian Prince who was buried with him sometime around the 5th century B.C. E., making it over 7 thousand years old. Looks like it turns out that the secret to extending the service life of a rug is to bury it in a frozen valley for a few thousand years! Who knew?!
Well, that's all the fun facts we have for today! We hope you enjoyed reading them as much as we enjoyed sharing them!
