(ARA) - Does your house look like a picture out of a decorating magazine? Let’s be honest -- most houses with kids aren’t picture perfect. You want a comfortable, attractive home, but you don’t want to spend your life worrying about fingerprints on the walls, stains on the furniture or footprints on the floor.

Busy families want their house to be user friendly, as well as a welcoming place to come home to at the end of the day. One part of your home that takes a lot of wear and tear is your floor. Whether your home has carpet, vinyl flooring or hardwood floors, each requires special care to keep them looking their best.

Carpets need frequent vacuuming and professional cleaning; hardwood floors require delicate care so as not to damage their surface (we won’t even talk about the toll kids and pets can take on their finish); vinyl flooring is easy to clean, but subject to nicks and tears. In addition to looks and durability, another feature to consider is the health aspect of these various floorings.

Most carpets and rugs are made of synthetic fibers and use synthetic backing and adhesive for installation, which means they are not especially ecologically friendly. Moreover, carpets make a perfect home for bacteria, dust mites and other micro-organisms that can affect your family’s health. Vinyl and hardwood flooring, although not as hospitable to microorganisms, require maintenance and cleaning with detergents, waxes and refinishing materials that can be toxic.

But there are better options. Marmoleum, an all-natural flooring made from linseed oil, wood flour, rosins and limestone, has antibacterial properties that prevent breeding of many microorganisms. The flooring, which is backed with jute, is installed using solvent-free adhesives that contain no lead, formaldehyde or chlorine.

Marmoleum is a perfect choice for an active home. It is an easy-to-clean hard surface floor, but is warm to the touch -- good for crawling toddlers or sprawling teenagers. The floor also adds beauty to any room of the house.

Homeowners can choose from over 100 colors to create a custom floor that expresses their unique style. Using insets and borders ranging from geometric shapes and earth tones to curves, patterns and jewel tones, individuals can design a floor covering that will adds personal style to their home. Only ecologically friendly pigments are used to create the floor’s beautiful, vibrant colors.

Best of all, upkeep is a snap. With Marmoleum, dirt and spills will not be absorbed into fibers as they would with carpet, so basic dust- and damp-mopping are all that’s required to keep the floor clean. That’s good news for busy families.

The flooring’s inherent antistatic properties make it easy to clean, stopping dust mites in their tracks. Hospitals have used Marmoleum for years, and it is recommended by many medical professionals for anyone with allergies, asthma or other respiratory disorders.

For more information on Marmoleum flooring, contact Forbo Linoleum, Inc. at (866) MARMOLEUM, or visit the company’s Web site at www.themarmoleumstore.com.

Courtesy of ARA Content