Looking for some important pre-installation checklist items you can use to “be prepared” for your next flooring project?

Starnet vendor Armstrong goes to school with high performance floors for high performance students — with their wide variety of flooring materials for creating healthy and productive environments for students and teachers. Design patterns using colors appropriate to every age group and application, from cool, eye-relaxing grays to stimulating bold, bright colors… even better, many [...]

Contract magazine and The Center for Health Design announced the winners of its annual Nightingale Awards — and our special congratulations to our friends at Mondo Rubber Flooring for winning in the flooring category: Five winners, as well as one honorable mention, were named across a variety of markets. The annual program, which is open to [...]

Our friends at Floor Daily have the following article up about the winners of Centiva’s challenge to Starnet Members in honor of the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day. Member companies were encouraged to work on “fun projects that would benefit the environment.” The Project results were due by the first of October and they repeatedly demonstrated [...]

Our marketing materials go-to guy, Clint Schramm, pointed us to this piece of good news from the AIA: “For the first time since January 2008, the Architecture Billings Index (ABI) indicated a growth in design activity in September, increasing for the fourth straight month. As a leading economic indicator of construction activity, the ABI reflects [...]

Dear friends — please enter your best flooring project to the Starnet Design Awards 2011. We look forward to seeing your work!

More good news from Armstrong Floor Products: “We are pleased to announce that Natural Creations luxury vinyl tile can now be installed using the recently introduced S-543 Premium Plus adhesive. This expanded recommendation allows Armstrong to offer customers a solution for installing Natural Creations luxury vinyl tile on concrete slabs with moisture levels up to [...]

Wonderful fun news from Armstrong Commercial Flooring: Armstrong is pleased to be participating in a new NBC show called School Pride! The show has a very similar concept to “Extreme Makeover Home Edition”. If you watch any programming on NBC you may have recently seen a trailer for the show. The pilot episode airs this [...]

Click on the Starnet YouTube channel to see our own Jeanne Matson discussing Vancouver! Part one is here Part two is here Part three is here

Dear Starnet members and vendor partners — please contact Pamela Herrlinger if you didn’t receive the September Starnotes. And everybody, please remember to send Pam your stories, news, and photos!

Here’s an interesting, up-beat forecast for the flooring industry. We have had Jonathan Trivers entertain and enlighten our Membership at a past Annual Meeting. He presented the following at FIANA — and it’s full of good information for all of us. At the recent FIANA Convention in San Antonio, Texas, we had the opportunity to [...]

Dear Starnet Members and Vendor Partners — don’t forget to read this month’s Starnotes! Hot topics include the November Starnet 2010 Fall Meeting, an intro to our new Controller, and a brief on the the unique selling proposition that is Starnet. Read on for member news and business solutions, and please remember to send us [...]

Floor Daily reports that the Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI) is supporting proposed legislation in California that provides incentives for carpet recycling: “The Carpet Stewardship Bill, sponsored by Assembly Speaker John A. Perez, (D-Los Angeles) represents new thinking in the area of product stewardship, in that it will incentivize carpet recycling by rewarding those entrepreneurs [...]

A lovely article in Floor Covering News on the tribute to the wonderful life and work of industry stalwart Sonna Calandrino: “…hailed as a pioneer, a teacher, a visionary, and praised for her courage, determination and caring nature, but most of all she was called a friend to everyone throughout the supply chain… …That was [...]

The registration link for the Starnet 2010 Fall Membership Meeting is LIVE! Members and Vendor Partners, please refer to the link Starnet emailed to you. Members may also register by logging into S-Net. Through this link, you can sign up for all activities connected with the meeting as well as reserving a room at our [...]

Remember to read Starlog for ongoing discussions of floorcovering issues! This month, a lot of good reasons — even in (or especially in) a down or slowly recovering market — to use quality products and network with top-notch vendors on every aspect of the job. Read the whole thing here!

Our friends at Mats Inc. sent us news about the launch of Floorazzo™, their: “new line of prefabricated terrazzo tile flooring by Mats Inc. Floorazzo™ offers the beauty and luxurious look of terrazzo flooring without the lengthy and expensive installation process. The Floorazzo™ line boasts 35 standard colors across two unique collections, Marbles and Gems. [...]

We got a fun email from the good folks at Wilsonart that we want to share: “Dear Starnet team, We hope you might enjoy reading the latest issue of Wilsonart Flooring’s July Laminate Flooring Journal. It’s a patriotically-themed tribute to this made-in-America company’s latest projects: “To Honor and Empower Wounded Warriors”: Learn more about Wilsonart [...]

Matt at Floor Covering News lets us all know about their new social media — now there’s lots of fun, easy ways to get the latest scoop on the flooring industry: Matt writes: “I just wanted to make everyone aware that Floor Covering News is moving up the social media ladder in such areas as Facebook, [...]

Last May, our friends at Heritage Contract Flooring planted 30 trees at Buffalo Public Schools. Heritage has partnered with LPCiminelli, Lees Carpets, and Starnet Worldwide. All 30 trees were donated by Re-Tree of WNY. Each tree was planted by Heritage staff members, with help from students at the following six schools: PS 82 Early Childhood Center, [...]

Our own VP of Operations Fred Williamson on YouTube! Here Fred discusses Starnet in general; here he talks about our relationships with vendor partners; and here he explains our best practices committee’s work. Fred, you are a star!

Welcome to our newest Starnet Members Pat, Gloria, Adam, and Paul Bryan, of Bryan’s Flooring, Inc. in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Pat Bryan started his family-run business in 1978 and has grown the business steadily since. Pat and Gloria attribute their success to treating their customers honestly while providing the highest quality products and service. You [...]

Randy Rubenstein sends us fun photos of Rubenstein’s Contract Carpet LLC and Teragren working together on their Earth Day 2010 project of caring for the magnificent Madrona Woods in the Pacific northwest. Thank you for these inspiring and lovely images!

Congratulations to Consolidated Carpet for their striking work for the Coty Beauty Lancaster Group in the Empire State Building, New York, NY. Consolidated Carpet worked with architects Ted Moudis Associates and designer Luis Valcarcel, with products from  Karastan, Lees, Tarkett-Azrock, Armstrong, Johnsonite, Burke-Mercer, and Roppe. An elegant interior for fashionistas!

Our 2010 Category winner for Education was Starnet Member New England Floor Covering, for their lovely, gracious work in Proctor Hall, Middlebury College in Middlebury, VT. New England Floor Covering worked with architects Freeman French Freeman and designer Jesse Beck AIA NCARB, and used products from  Milliken, Bigelow, Lees, and Roppe. A beautiful interior for busy students!

CCA’s Sean Flannery participated in the 16th Annual Special Olympics Challenge day at the James E. Duckworth School, located in Beltsville, Maryland on May 21, 2010. Assisting AOBA (Apartment and Office Building Association of Metropolitan Washington) who hosted the day’s events, Sean Flannery really got into his role as the catcher for the adapted javelin [...]

Starnet member Corporate Floors, Inc., a Grapevine, Texas, based commercial flooring services company, has acquired the assets of Dallas-based ReSource Flooring Group. Corporate Floors, a minority certified business, member of the StarNet Commercial Flooring Partnership and a MilliCare Textile and Carpet Care franchisee, is known for its strong commitment to customer service and industry-leading sustainability [...]

From Sam Prager of Carpet Services Inc. in Irving TX and Joshua Perry of Sally Beauty Company in Denton TX, here’s a great testimonial to the power of Starnet — the cooperation that gets everybody the floor they want, when and where they want it: “I just wanted you all to know that the Starnet [...]

In our 2010 Category: Public Space, Starnet Member Floors and More won for their strong, natural floors, which designate space and help to guide shoppers at Harps Food in Benton AR. Universal Flooring worked with J Price Architecture and manufacturers Armstrong, Ardex, and Daltile. A serene, clean interior!

Here’s a fun, interesting PR from our friends at Mannington — a mobile app for designers! Mannington Commercial announces the launch of Choices that Work, the floorcovering industry’s first mobile application designed to serve designers’ process. Using a smart phone’s integrated camera and scanning technology, the app integrates with Mannington sample books to show coordinating [...]

In our 2010 Category Winner: Unique Installation Challenge, Starnet Member Universal Flooring won for their magical project at the Pretend City Children’s Museum of Orange County in Irvine, CA. Universal Flooring worked with Ben Haskins from Kraemer Design + Production Inc., and manufacturers ECOsurfaces, Johnsonite, and Milliken. An enchanting interior!

Awarded Honoree in our 2010 Student Achievement category, Rachel Erickson from the Virginia Tech School of Architecture and Design created a clean, open space for the World Wildlife Fund Headquarters, Washington, DC. Rachel worked with Teragren on the lovely bamboo surfaces. Another Honoree in our 2010 Student Achievement category, Lindsey Richards from the Virginia Tech School of Architecture [...]