How To Select Linoleum Floors

KATHLEEN CLINCH CALKINS[1]

While the principles and suggestions on home furnishing and decoration set forth by Mr. Parsons on the preceding pages are fresh in our minds, let us see how they may be applied specifically to the selection of floors in the modern home. According to Mr. Parsons, if properly designed and selected to harmonize with its surroundings, modern linoleum is not only suitable but desirable as a floor for every room in the house. Let us first define the various types of linoleum, and then, going from one room to another, learn how to use linoleum floors effectively and artistically, keeping in mind the fundamental principles that Mr. Parsons has explained to us.

What Linoleum Is

Linoleum was invented in England in 1863. The name comes from two Latin words, linum (flax) and oleum (oil). Thus linoleum takes its name from its principal ingredient, linseed oil. Before it can be used in making linoleum, however, the linseed oil must be oxidized by exposing it to the air until it hardens into a tough, rubber-like substance. The oxidized oil is then mixed with powdered cork, wood flour, various gums, and color pigments; and the resulting plastic mass is pressed on burlap by means of great rollers that exert a pressure of hundreds of pounds to the square inch. The “green linoleum” then passes into huge drying ovens, where it is hung up in festoons to cure and season. This curing process takes from one to six weeks, depending on the thickness of the material.

There are several varieties of linoleum, designated as follows:

(a) Plain linoleum—of solid color, without pattern—the heavier grades of which are used for covering the decks of battleships and hence are known as “battleship linoleum.”

(b) Jaspe linoleum, which is like inlaid linoleum in that the colors run clear through the fabric. It is made in plain colorings, with a pleasing graining in two tones of the same color.

(c) Inlaid linoleum, in which the colors of the pattern go through to the burlap back.

(d) Granite linoleum, which is also a variety of inlaid. It has a mottled appearance, resembling terrazzo.

(e) Printed linoleum, which is simply plain linoleum with a design printed on the surface with oil paint.

Turn for a moment to the colorplates at the back of this book, and note the illustrations of various types of linoleum floors. Your local merchant has actual samples of linoleum, and will be glad to show you the different grades.

Used for Years in Europe

As Mr. Parsons has suggested, the use of linoleum floors all over the house is not new; it is one of the excellent ideas in home building that has come to us from Europe. There the designing of linoleum, for many years, has been given particular attention; and linoleum floors have found ready acceptance in bedrooms, living-rooms, dining-rooms, etc., not alone in homes of persons of moderate means, but just as frequently in those of the rich and well-to-do. European architects are accustomed to specify linoleum floors in new buildings instead of other materials less desirable.

The European housewife takes particular pride in keeping her linoleum floors in spick-and-span condition by waxing and polishing them. And, as the years pass, linoleum floors soften in color and deepen in tone, taking on a finish not unlike that of wood which has been mellowed by age.

Growing Use in America

In America, the makers of Armstrong’s Linoleum were the first to give attention to the designing of linoleum patterns that would lend themselves to acceptable use in the modern American home. Skilled designers were brought from the best European establishments and given carte blanche in the development of designs particularly appropriate to American ideas of home decoration and conditions of living. As a result, we can state with confidence that for beauty, attractiveness, and general utility the Armstrong floor designs now available are not excelled either in Europe or America.

Miss Rene Stillman, a writer on interior decoration, in discussing recently in the Philadelphia Public Ledger the change from unsanitary carpets to the use of fabric rugs speaks also of the change in linoleums and their relation to modern interior decoration. She says, ... “and then the new linoleums, not the old kitchen kind, but modern floors which have become works of art, some of which are not unlike the floors in old palaces. Not long ago I went to an exhibit given by a number of prominent interior decorators. There I went through one of the most charmingly decorated houses you ever saw, and every floor had linoleum upon it. It was a house of Spanish architecture, and there was a central court, with fountains and foliage—an unpretentious, but very beautiful, little court. And, would you believe it? it was paved—I use the word advisedly—with linoleum of the large black-and-white blocks, for all the world like large black-and-white marble tiles. The other rooms were also covered with linoleum, which toned with the woodwork or the walls or the general scheme of the furnishings. But these rooms were also covered with fabric rugs, some of them large central rugs, allowing the linoleum floor to show about the edges. In other rooms, the rugs were smaller and scattered over a larger surface of the linoleum. Of course, it was very good linoleum, mostly cork I think, and the pattern went all the way through. I was charmed with the subtle colors, the often exquisite designs.”

As a matter of fact, in the last few years many leading architects and interior decorators have used linoleum floors in homes they have planned, particularly because of the decorative effects it is possible to achieve with linoleum floors, as contrasted with other materials. Where the problem is to redecorate a house, linoleum is being more and more widely used to resurface worn wood floors. And, in many new homes, owners and architects have specified linoleum floors instead of wood; they have used linoleum not alone because of the economy in dollars and cents but because linoleum floors are so very much easier to take care of. Especially where the housewife has to do her own work, or good help is difficult to obtain, linoleum aids materially in solving this almost universal household problem.

The portfolio of colorplates and black-and-white reproductions included with this book will give you an excellent idea of just how linoleum floors look in modern homes. If you are planning to build a new house, you owe it to yourself to investigate the possibilities that linoleum floors offer you in making the home unusually interesting and attractive.

For the Hall

The hall is the first place in your home that visitors see. It must be kept speckless and spotless. A linoleum hall floor proclaims the neatness of the housewife to all visitors the moment they cross the threshold because it is so easy to keep such a floor fresh and inviting.

And no matter what the decorative treatment of your hall, there are patterns in Armstrong’s Linoleum that will harmonize perfectly with rugs, walls, and furniture. For a formal vestibule, there are exclusive designs that will appeal to all tastes. For instance, Pattern 350, which is a six-inch block design of alternate black and white squares, suggests marble tile. Or there is an interesting Persian tile, Pattern No. 232, in cream, red, and black. The newer designs in marble and tile inlaids permit many interesting combinations. In an entrance hall proper, you may prefer wood effects. There are several linoleum parquetries which, waxed and polished, make splendid floors for halls and reception rooms, as well as living- and dining-rooms.

The durability of good linoleum should always be kept in mind. The number of footsteps it would take to wear it out cannot be estimated, and dripping umbrellas and wet rubbers do not damage it.

For the Living-Room

Linoleum for the living-room? Remember, we are now speaking of linoleum as a floor and not as a covering. There is a vital distinction. Over linoleum installed as a permanent floor, naturally, you will lay your fabric rugs, whether they are domestic or Oriental. And you will select your linoleum floor carefully, because it must serve as a background not only for the rugs placed upon it, but for all the furnishings of the room, just as the wall-covering is a background for the pictures or draperies hung against it. The general rule is that the linoleum floor should be darker in tone than the walls and woodwork. It is the foundation upon which the whole plan of furnishing is based. Thus you will select your linoleum floors, keeping in mind the type of furniture, the woodwork, and the general effect you wish to produce.

For example, if the woodwork is dark and the furniture tends toward the massive in style, one of the darker tones of plain brown, the brown jaspe, or a parquetry linoleum floor is appropriate. If the woodwork is white or ivory, the floors may be selected in softer tones of gray, green, and light brown, depending on the character of the furnishings.

For the Dining-Room

Linoleum is truly the logical floor for the dining-room. Every practical consideration persuades its use. In the dining-room, cheerfulness and individuality are the prime requisites. A thoughtful selection of the floor in relation to the furnishings may be made to contribute not a little to the charm of a room. The newer linoleum designs offer many interesting suggestions; for instance, a marble tile, with contrasting interliners, or one of the carpet inlaids of all-over pattern, permits out-of-the-ordinary floor treatment. Pattern No. 201, a little three-inch tile of alternating black and gray blocks, is reminiscent of Italian influence. In the woods, Parquetry No. 600 is particularly good. Or, for the average home, nothing is better than the jaspes in browns and grays, or a plain linoleum in appropriate coloring.

In any room, a nice balance in the use of figured and plain surfaces is always desirable. For instance, if a plain coloring or a jaspe linoleum is used for the floor, figured rugs and wall coverings may well be chosen. If, however, a patterned linoleum floor is employed, the fabric rugs and wall coverings should be plainer, or of small all-over pattern. Avoid overemphasis of pattern or, conversely, too much monotony of plain surfaces.

The cheerful tile designs in Armstrong’s Linoleum are particularly appropriate for the breakfast alcove or sun porch now found in many homes. In a recent issue of The Delineator, Martha Hill Cutler, writing on “Linoleum Floors—Durable, Smart,” after saying that “linoleum has now ‘arrived’ as an artistic as well as a practical possibility for every room in the house,” speaks particularly of the use of linoleum in the breakfast-room.

She says, “In a breakfast-room or sun-parlor one can do daring things. There are fascinating possibilities in a linoleum design of brilliant colorings, the black-and-orange, for instance, the green-and-white, green-and-black, or blue-and-green.

“Breakfast-rooms are almost always so small that rugs are not absolutely essential, but plain rugs against these brilliant tiles as backgrounds are very effective. Brilliantly colored curtains to harmonize, an unusual chintz or cretonne, and painted furniture can be combined with them with colorful results.”

For a Group of Rooms

By using the same linoleum floor through a series of rooms, it is possible to gain unity and a feeling of spaciousness. On the second floor, not infrequently the rooms open from a central hall or top stair landing. There are a number of colors and designs in Armstrong’s Linoleum that are specially suitable for groups of rooms because they lend themselves as a background for the draperies in each room, and yet bind all the rooms together as a unit. The gray jaspe, plain dark gray, and light gray linoleums are particularly appropriate with old Colonial painted woodwork in white, ivory, or soft gray; the brown jaspe, plain dark brown or tan, the parquetries, and certain carpet patterns are equally appropriate with oak, cypress, gum, or chestnut woodwork in the natural finish or painted woodwork in buff and tan.

For the Bedroom

For the bedroom, no floor is so sanitary and so easily cared for as linoleum. It appeals to the most fastidious. And linoleum is not a cold floor—in fact, it is as warm as any wood surface. We have said that linoleum is made largely of cork and linseed oil. Cork is widely used for heat insulating purposes. Engineers regard it as good, if not a better heat retainer than wood. And a linoleum floor has certain advantages over wood floors. There are no cracks or crevices to catch dust or harbor germs. The oxidized linseed oil, moreover, has known germicidal powers that actually tend to destroy bacteria.

There are some very dainty small designs in delicate colors in Armstrong’s Printed Linoleum that are particularly suitable for bedrooms—blue-and-white, pink-and-white, green-and-blue, and green-and-white. Bedroom floors like these, or of plain light blue, rose, or light gray are very charming.

Over the bedroom linoleum floor you will, of course, use small fabric rugs beside the bed, in front of the dressing table, or before the easy chair. You would not leave a wood floor bare. Let us emphasize again that linoleum is a floor—and not merely a floor-covering.

Perhaps in your home bedroom floors have been a problem because they are of soft wood, which must be repainted frequently and which are always hard to keep looking well. Linoleum offers you new floors for old—and at relatively slight expense, far less than the cost of putting in new wood floors. Remember that linoleum floors do not need periodical refinishing, as does hardwood. This is an additional saving.

For the Sleeping-Porch

Many people do not consider a house complete nowadays unless it has a sleeping-porch. Here, again, to secure a thoroughly satisfactory floor is a problem. But linoleum solves it nicely and economically. Granite linoleums, which resemble terrazzo, or a neat tile effect will be especially pleasing.

For the Bathroom

Water is always being spilled upon the bathroom floor. It rots wood; it gets into the cracks of tiling and, in time, may cause the tiles to come up. What is needed in a bathroom, therefore, is a floor that is proof against moisture, easy to clean, sanitary, comfortable, and exceptionally durable. If laid properly—that is, cemented down with waterproof cement—a linoleum floor in a bathroom will last for years. The designs of Armstrong’s Linoleum which are offered for the bathroom combine cleanable, sanitary, comfortable, durable, and beautiful qualities in the highest degree.

For the Nursery

In decorating the children’s playroom, a linoleum floor, chosen in pattern to harmonize with the color scheme, gives one an opportunity to work out a charming relationship between the floor, the furniture, and the draperies, to suit the playroom idea. In Armstrong’s Linoleum, there are a score of designs in pleasing matting and wood effects and carpet patterns especially appropriate for such a room. And the floor need not be expensive—Armstrong’s Printed Linoleum will last through childhood’s romp and play. And, when the toys and games are put away for more mature interests, the room may be refurnished at slight expense.

For the Attic and Sewing-Room

In many homes, the attic is being changed from a store-room into an attractive, comfortable spare room at little expense. The skillful use of odd pieces of furniture, the pleasing blending of draperies, and the covering of the floor with an attractive linoleum pattern will easily make this room one of the most interesting in the home. Whether the room is used as an extra sleeping-room or for sewing, the advantages of a linoleum floor are obvious. It is so easy to clean; cuttings and threads are easily swept up; they do not stick to the smooth-surfaced linoleum. For a very small outlay, you can transform the attic in your home into a usable, attractive room.

For the Kitchen, Pantry and Laundry

If your kitchen or pantry floor is the kind that requires you to spend hours with water pail and scrubbing brush and back-breaking labor to keep it clean, it is time you change to a linoleum floor. And, even with linoleum floors, many women find it hard to get away from the scrubbing habit. Most people scrub linoleum entirely too frequently. A plain or inlaid linoleum floor should be thoroughly waxed with liquid floor wax. The wax provides a coating which prevents the dirt from being ground into the surface. Such a floor needs only to be swept and then wiped with a damp cloth, and the wax renewed every five to six weeks. Varnishing a printed linoleum floor will add to the life of the linoleum and make it easier to keep clean. All these considerations hold equally true for vestibule, laundry, and closets. There are many bright patterns in Armstrong’s Linoleum for the kitchen or pantry from which you can make a selection that will exactly fit into your idea of what these rooms should look like.

The Advantages of Linoleum Floors

By way of summing up, consider for just a moment what the qualities are that you really need and demand in the floors in your home. Certainly, you want your floors to be durable. And is there any floor you can think of—cost considered—that can approach a good linoleum in wearing quality? Next, you demand sanitation. Do you know of any floor that excels linoleum in that respect? Most assuredly, you want floors that are easy to keep clean. Have you not found linoleum easy to clean? And you must have comfort. Is not linoleum easy underfoot?

But, you say, we must have warmth, too. Certainly, you must. But you would hardly think of leaving the wood floor in your bedroom and living-room bare, would you? No, you use rugs. Follow the same course, then, with your linoleum floors; and you will find them equally as comfortable as hardwood. In fact, thickness for thickness, linoleum is a better non-conductor of heat than wood is.

Then, finally, you demand beauty and economy in your floors—and justly so. As for color harmony, hardwood has distinct limitations. Shades of brown and tan are about the only colors that are available. But, with linoleum, the range of colors and patterns is well-nigh unlimited, and your floors can thus be made an integral part of your general color scheme. On this point, the colorplates that accompany this book speak for themselves.

As to economy, linoleum floors of good quality are less expensive today than the cheapest hardwood. And they cost less to maintain, too. Given reasonable care and proper treatment, linoleum floors will last indefinitely, without the periodic refinishing that all hardwood requires.

So you can see for yourself, once you analyze the subject, how remarkably linoleum does combine each and every one of the qualities you want the floors in your home to possess.

Bureau of Interior Decoration

Naturally, we want you to be thoroughly satisfied with your floors of Armstrong’s Linoleum—not only as to wearing quality but in respect to pattern and color as well. And, since the selection of suitable linoleum floors to harmonize with the different types of furnishings and color schemes involves the application of the principles of interior decoration, we have organized a Bureau of Interior Decoration to answer any questions you may care to ask about the use of Armstrong’s Linoleum in your home.

If you are planning to refurnish or redecorate your home, write our Bureau of Interior Decoration, describing your furniture, wallpaper, rugs, and the color scheme you have in mind. Our Interior Decorator will be glad to make suggestions that may be helpful to you, and will send you lithographs of linoleum patterns that will make suitable floors for your home. There is no charge or implied obligation for this service.

How To Get Armstrong’s Linoleum

First, get in touch with the merchant in home furnishings with whom you are accustomed to trade. If he does not have on hand an adequate assortment of Armstrong patterns to suit your taste, ask him to show you his copy of the Armstrong Pattern Book, which contains colorplates of all of the two hundred and fifty designs and colorings in the Armstrong line. From this book, you can select your first, second, and third choice; and doubtless he will be glad to place an order for the pattern you desire.

Certain patterns, including plain colorings, jaspes, and carpet inlaids, are carried in the factory in our Cut-Order Department; and the merchant can order exact room sizes for you.

If, however, you have difficulty in getting just what you want, please write us, not forgetting to include the merchant’s name and address. Then we shall do all in our power to see that you can secure what you require through some good store near you.

As manufacturers, we sell only through the regular trade channels, and, therefore, we cannot quote you prices. In fact, it is really to your advantage to buy through your dealer, as he purchases Armstrong’s Linoleum in large quantities, and thus the transportation charges are much less than if a small quantity of linoleum were shipped direct from the factory.

Our Guarantee

Every yard of Armstrong’s Linoleum is fully guaranteed to give satisfactory service. Your merchant will be authorized to make good to you any defect in manufacture, either by replacing the linoleum or by making an adjustment satisfactory to you.