Sunday, March 21, 2010

A Trip To Tours

Well, the suburbs of Tours. Chambray-lès-Tours to be exact. When Ken and I were there a couple of weeks ago to order our new stair for the attic conversion, we stopped into a nearby store to check out flooring materials. We think that we're going to put in one of those synthetic wood-like floors and then use rugs in the higher-traffic areas.

A big floor store chain. Lots of rugs, carpets, and other floor treatments.

After looking at flooring and costs, we checked out some of the rugs and saw one that we liked for the future attic's t.v. area. We didn't buy it at the time, but I started to think that if we waited any longer, it wouldn't be there when we go back to order the flooring.

A section of the new rug. It's not big; about 4.5 x 6.5 feet.

So I drove back over to Chambray on Friday and bought it. It's un tapis, which is what we might call an area rug, not to be confused with une moquette, which is more like wall-to-wall carpeting. You may have heard of un tapis volant (a magic, or flying, carpet), le tapis rouge (the red carpet), or un tapis roulant (a moving sidewalk). Ours is none of those. It's brown and white, to match the brown sofa.

13 comments:

  1. We just put down bamboo flooring. Very 'green' and wears great with two dogs and riding boots. I like your brown and white tapis... I have a room that is painted chocolate brown that is very soothing to the eye. Happy Spring!

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  2. Love the new rug; perfect choice. Should blend in perfectly. I hope you're not feeling too lonely with Ken being away.

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  3. I like the rug as well - fresh and modern.

    I always enjoy the French words you post. I did not know "tapis roulant" or "moquette."

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  4. That's going to look terrific. Good for you for snagging it now, rather than going back in a month and finding that they've all become "tapis volant" and disappeared.

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  5. Nice-looking tapis :)
    So, by "synthetic wood-like floors", are you referring to something like Pergo? a laminate sheet with a wood-grain photo over hard board? There are definitely lots of brands and styles of that kind of flooring out there (we've been looking LOTS over the past six months). Do you think you'll be going with the plank style (where the laminate boards actually look like single planks of wood), or the style where each board actually has the print of what looks like 3 or 4 planks of wood? Are you going with the clickable kind? or the glue-down?

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  6. p.s. oh... and what is the French term for that kind of flooring?

    I went to the Saint-clou website to enjoy browsing around... what is liège flooring?

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  7. While the cat's away, the mice will.....buy carpet?

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  8. Do you guys know this place?
    http://www.americansinfrance.net/MovingPlanner/French-Property-41-Loir-et-Cher-For-Sale.cfm?property=20091638

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  9. suzanne, I'll have to check out bamboo. Is it economical as well?

    martine, Callie is keeping me company. :)

    diogenes, I am a fountain of information! ;)

    chris, I would have been disappointed.

    judy, yes, like Pergo. I think it's called stratifié. I'm not sure which style we'll settle on, but clickable sounds like what we were looking at. Liège flooring, I assume, is made from cork.

    starman, thanks. I don't know that place, but if it's over by the zoo then I can picture approximately where it is.

    michael, merci.

    writer, thanks!

    anon, and that's just the beginning. Today I might buy some washers for leaking faucets!

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  10. You know Daphné was born in Chambray, and Thierry used to work there. The town center is actually quite pleasant, although not an "old town." But everything that is built up around it is horrifying.

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