‘Tis the season to get ahead on your holiday decorating. It’s officially December and if you haven’t already started the home decorating process, here are just a few quick tips that may help you this year!

Make lists: Figure out what tasks you need to complete. Ask the kids what they want to do and make a to-do list for them. This will help you spread the joy and have everyone do a little something for the house.

Set Deadlines: Make each task in your list have a deadline. It’ll make the holiday decorating process a little less daunting, and it always feels good to complete something!

Plan ahead: Remember when you’re taking out all of the decorations for this holiday season, that you’ll need to put them back. Make it easy on yourself and make a note of where the decorations all go. After the season, remember what a pain it was taking everything out of their boxes and take the time to package them up the way you want.

Organize Decorations: Put them into piles according to which room they will go in and get the kids to help put them up! It’s great for you and makes it a family affair, which can eventually become a fun family tradition.

It’s a great time of the year so have fun with your decorating this year!

Reader Question: “I just hosted my family’s Thanksgiving dinner and my vinyl floor is a mess from all of the spills and traffic. What cleaning answers do you have?”

Answer: First off, make sure you take a look at the manufacturer’s cleaning suggestions in your manual.

You can sweep or use a vacuum to get all of the excess dirt up from the floor, but be sure to use one without a beater bar; the beater bar may scratch the floor. To deep clean the floor, mop it with clean warm water, rinse it thoroughly with fresh water. Again, if you need to use a cleaning solution, please refer to the products recommended by the manufacturer.

If you cannot seem to locate the manufacturer’s recommendations, use one tablespoon of liquid dish washing detergent to one quart of water. Be sure to rinse with clean water to avoid a film buildup.

Using walk-off mats or rugs at every entry will help prevent dirt from being tracked into the home for your future entertaining events. Remember to shake them out every once in a while!

If you would like more, in depth information on maintaining your vinyl floors, please visit our website here.

If you’re looking for design inspiration, check out our Pinterest boards! It’s a great way to get those creative juices flowing!

Check out our Bolingbrook location! It’s located at 374 South Bolingbrook Drive
Bolingbrook, IL 60440. We just remodeled it to better fit the needs of all of you who visit us. There are plenty of samples, displays, and products to view in the store. We hope to see you soon!

If you have any questions, please visit our website.

Renovating, remodeling, and improving your home can be great ways to give it a makeover, gain extra space, or otherwise make it possible for you to stay in one place longer.

Certain projects add more resale value than others. Here are some that generally have the best financial impact.

• Kitchens. People like to see modern conveniences and styles in the kitchen. Especially in older homes, kitchen improvements tend to add value. Read the real estate ads sometime — you’re sure to notice how many mention the updated kitchen features.
• Bathrooms. Second to kitchen remodels are bathroom remodels. Again, modernizing older styles or appliances usually results in good return.
• Outdoor improvements. Your house makes a first impression quickly, so sprucing up its outdoor appearance is a smart investment. This includes siding (fiber cement tends to cost the most, but has the best return) and landscaping, particularly in the front yard.

This is the time to make those home improvements that you have been talking about doing, putting off, and procrastinating about. This is why - Century Tile is celebrating 65 years and is happy to announce their summer sale on large quantities of discontinued and special purchase material. The sale lasts now until August 5, 2012.

What’s on sale? Vinyl tile, laminate, ceramic tile, glass tile, area rugs, vinyl plank, hardwood flooring and natural travertine. Century is offering the lowest prices of the year. With 12 month financing available and super low prices, this is a great opportunity to save money on materials and improve the value of your home. Quality brands like Armstrong, American Olean, Bruce Hardwood, Nafco Permastone, and Mohawk carpet are all included in this event.

Learn how you can save money and make your home more beautiful by visiting any one of our twelve locations. Or visit our website and use some of our design tools to start visualizing what rooms you want to update. Our certified tile specialists are trained to provide you with all the answers you need.

Remodeling or updating a bathroom is one of the best ways to increase the value of your home. Even small changes, such as replacing lighting or do-it-yourself tile, will yield big returns. Here are a few design ideas to turn your blah bathroom into something fabulous.

Vessel sinks are gaining in popularity due to their high-end look and increasingly affordable prices. There are literally thousands of styles and materials available including porcelain, glass, stone, copper and even polished wood. Before selecting a vessel sink, measure carefully to ensure that there is ample clearance at the front and back of your vanity to accommodate the vessel’s bowl.

Make a small bath feel more spacious by replacing the vanity cabinet with a pedestal sink. If you have a lot of toiletries, you’ll need to add shelving elsewhere in the room to make up for lost storage.

If your bathroom is short on storage, add wall shelves above the toilet. They’ll keep toiletries within reach while providing a place to display a few decorative accessories.

Trim molding is one of the easiest and least expensive ways to quickly update the look of any bathroom. Add timeless appeal with wide crown and baseboard molding or install a chair rail, beadboard or paneled wainscot for a charming update.

Just as the right accessories finish your outfit, the perfect tile will rev up the look of your bathroom. Whether you choose sleek glass or opt for rustic natural stone, new tile will add architectural interest, color and texture.

Come into the store or visit our website and see how we can help with your bathroom project.

It’s not unusual for an adult child to move back into your home for a short time. They may want to save money for a home of their own, need a place to stay for a few months before moving or getting married, want to go back to school, or just want to retrench and get ahead on debts. All of these are good reasons for the decision, and with a little planning on your part, it can work very well for everyone. Consider these issues:

1. Negotiate an agreement with your child before the move. It should include a time-frame for the stay, how much money your child will put aside each month to reach their goals, any expenses they will cover, and any responsibilities they will assume. Responsibilities should include their own laundry and taking care of their own dishes and in general cleaning up after themselves. You really don’t want them to fall into any frustrating patterns that occurred when they lived at home before, so address those as part of the agreement. Also negotiate real consequences for not meeting the agreement.
2. Choose the space that will be given to your child. It does not have to be the same bedroom they had when they were younger. While you don’t want to redecorate a space for this temporary stay, you may want to encourage your child to make the space feel like their own. An area rug can address flooring issues, and will be a nice addition to their new home.
3. Remember that your child has been on his or her own and you no longer have the authority to parent the way you did when they were in high school. Focus instead on any issues that affect your comfort such as coming in quietly late at night or keeping you informed on whether they plan to be home for a meal.
4. This is a unique opportunity to spend time with your adult child. With expectations met and understood, you may find yourself enjoying their stay very much.

Often times, we tend to take for granted the outdoor part of our house, like the patio and deck. But just like any part of our home, it deserves a lot of attention, as it still adds to the beauty and overall appeal.

A great material to use for outdoor flooring is tile. It is durable and comes in different sizes, shapes and patterns.

So here are five outdoor flooring ideas if you want to use tile for your patio, deck, or garden.

1. If you want your patio to be modern, consider using white tiles and combine it with chrome fittings and fixtures. Take a look at this Travertini Ceramic tile made by Atlas.
2. There are also tiles that have different patterns on them like popular paintings or geometric prints. Selecting this type of tile can add a different feel and theme to your outdoor space.
3. Another idea is to mix and match different shapes of tiles. Choose one large tile with a pattern or print that will reflect the theme that you wish to create and then arrange smaller tiles around it. We can help you find tiles that come in multiple sizes. Not all tiles come in all sizes and because not all tiles are the same thickness so it’s best to check with us before mixing and matching tiles.
4. Make a pattern using your ceramic tiles. There are a lot of patterns that you can use to create your ceramic flooring such as the checkerboard pattern, a brickwork pattern, offset joint, diagonal with accent dots or a brick-weave pattern.
5. If you want to add color and texture to your patio, you can opt to use pebbled or mosaic ceramic tiles. Remember, texture is great for slip-resistance.

Ask us which tiles are appropriate for outdoor use because not all tiles are suitable for exterior installations.

We recently had a question that we thought we would share in hopes of helping more moms in the same situation!

Reader Question:

Hi! As the kids are starting to trickle back to school in the Chicago area and by Labor Day school will be in full swing , many moms like me are breathing a sigh of relief as we look forward to a new found peace and quiet. However, in the mean time I would like to ask for help due to a small amount of frustration from my children having redesigned our home over the summer holiday.

The wood floor in the den now has a few new distress marks, the bathroom ceramic grout lines are turning black from all the hundreds of showers and the area rug in the front foyer has a new polka-a-dot pattern, courtesy of my daughter.

Can you give me any advice for any of these problems? Thank you!

Dear Reader:

We’ve got you covered! First, wood floor manufacturers understand and expect these accidents to occur. Fill kits are available for scratches or if the damage is significant, single board replacements are possible with a qualified installer.

The grout issue is simple and easily corrected with Century Tile #51 Mildew Remover or the Heavy Duty Tile and Grout Cleaner by Aqua Mix. Be careful with those home bleach remedies. The bleach will kill the mold growth however; the color pigment might be affected, especially if it is not an epoxy based grout.

The carpet (or area rugs) has a couple of solutions. If you are aware of the stain you should immediately, blot the stain with clean white cloths and use a factory recommended stain removal process. Companies like Shaw Carpets have help lines to work you through these issues (http://www.shawfloors.com/Customer-Care/Contact-Us or 1-800-441-7429.

If the carpet stains are set, there’s still good news! We offer an area rug cleaning service. All you have to do is roll up the rug and drop it at any Century location. We can send it out and the professional’s got to work on it.

Accidents happen, they are not necessarily intentional, but they occur.

Century Tile is always happy to help you solve your “redesign” issues!

Feel free to call upon us and we will be happy to get the answer that solves the problem,

Your friends at Century Tile