Green Flooring that will surprise

Made of Bamboo, Premium Green's new strand woven hardwood flooring is not only breathtaking visually, it is a renewable "hardwood" floor produced organically without the use of fertilizers nor pesticides. The bamboo is harvested in approx 5 years and the plant it left alive and healthy to regrow once again. Something that can not be said for domestic tree species not to mention the exotic brazilian hardwoods that are under depletion.

If you want the exotic look of a brazilian hardwood the new strand woven collection might be the place to look. The original tones were in the steamed darker brown tones or the lighter natural tone. Now by mixing and weaving a variety of both we have the Charred and Raw options. Great choices and neutral colors all with an unexpected 3000lb janka hardness rating matching that of the Exotic Brazilian Walnut tree. This is twice the hardness rating as maple, standard bamboo flooring and Oak.

What about the cost? It is priced lower than our solid brazilian wood options.

So if you want the look and hardness rating of an exotic hardwood floor but do not like the idea of walking on the product of a dead rainforest, consider the strand woven bamboo option by premium green bamboo. Click here to view the collection

Full 5" Wide Hickory Plank

A great new introduction today, a new 5" wide Hickory plank starting in the low $3. per square foot range. The rejuvenate plank introduction features 1/2" thick construction and an exceptional mulit-coat crystal clear finish that accentuates the randomly contrasting light and dark areas of the hickory grain. Check out this new hickory floor introduction.

Chicago simplefloors moving forward

The Chicago simplefloors showroom is under way. This is our 8th location and it is definitely a twist on our existing model. After all who would put a hardwood flooring showroom in a "glass wall" high rise, overlooking the chicago river right in the middle of the financial district. Its a little out there.... so we are doing it. I will post pictures soon and let you know when it will be open.

So far we are using the rainforest collection, in the dark amazon color for the flooring. We tore out the carpet and installed the flooring in a floating floor method. We did not like any of the display options this industry uses so we spent a little too much time over the past 6 months designing a new display system which we then had custom built. It is completed and on the way. If you live in Chicago, we look forward to seeing you but you wont be able to just waltz on in, you can visit but you have to give us a call first. You will be surprised at the prices, we only look expensive, they are they same as our low online prices.

We have been contacted by many in the local design community already requesting access to samples of our products, so we will be opening it to the trade due to its ideal location (blocks from the chicago design center).

Portland & Seattle stores and warehouse, now off fossil fuels

Another step forward, the Portland and Seattle simplefloors stores have been converted to 100% GreenPower (mostly clean wind). No fossil fuels, no nukes, no hydro. If the concept seems odd, don't worry your not alone. Swtiching to green electric power does several important things. It creates demand for clean energy while lowering demand for fossil fuels and nuke energy sources. In our society, change is driven by demand. Its your dollar and you have the right to spend it the way you want. When enough demand is placed for clean power, more clean power stations will be built. When demand lowers for dirty power, expansion of the old institutions will stop and a decline will start.

Turning toward green

It costs a little more, but its worth it. Flooring? No, I am talking about power. Our Sacramento store is the first store to use and purchase solar and wind power only for its operations. In my opinion, it should be mandatory for every company where it is available. It is called responsible and I am very proud of them. Its time to stop preaching "green" and start doing. Other locations are soon to follow. The Seattle store is on the phone to Puget Sound Energy as I type. Businesses are not the only ones that can do this, contact your local power company and find out how to purchase solar and wind power only. Its an option that is available in most areas. Change starts with real action, and sometimes being responsible is a bit more expensive....so be it.

Clearance Section Created

Just launched a new clearance section on the site. This section has items that are odd lots and discontinued items. Occassionally it will have things in it that we just have too much of. These items we list until the inventory levels drop down to a normal rate and then they are removed. This is a great addition to the site and we treat it like a "garage sale" section. Anyway, items have been added and are selling well already. We have approx 22,000 cartons of items in the clearance section right now (roughly 748,000 square feet) that are marked and priced for clearance. There will always be something in this section, here is a link to the section

Portland simplefloors now open

On the footsteps of the Seattle store, the Portland store is now open. Both look and are doing great. Have not posted lately, been very busy with our product revamp for 2008. The visual difference between a plank of oak and high design hardwood floors is really obvious when comparing the two. It is like anything else when you really get into the detail of it, it is suprising how involved something as "simple" as a wood floor can get. Colors, staining techniques, hand crafting techniques, tonal buffs, gloss levels, species to color to gloss combinations, width varieties, it goes on and on and can be overwhelming. This year, we are streamlining the line, and launching only the best of the best visuals with the most impressive features and highest quality ingredients. Just as important we are going to do it at the same price as the mass produced standards. simplefloors.com, floors to go.simple to do