Bamboo | HOME RENOVATION REPAIR

September 2010
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Vanity of distinction

Cherokee County in north-central Georgia, isn't the first place you'd start looking for a world-class furniture manufacturer, but that's exactly where you'll find one. The Furniture Guild, located in Canton, Georgia, employs a team of talented woodworkers, artists and finishing experts to produce beautiful, high-end, hand-crafted cabinetry, including the bath vanity shown above. From the company's Vanity Flair Collection, the vanity features a stone top, glass sink and bow-front cabinet built of bamboo. It has two doors and a drop-down center panel that gives access to the plumbing. The Bamboo Vanity is available in more than 40 finishes and it can also be wall-mounted. Prices start at around $4,995.

Floating bamboo floor

Teragren Fine Bamboo Flooring has just introduced Portfolio, a brand-new line of prefinished floating floors that snap together without glue, nails, staples or any other fasteners, as shown below. The bamboo planks rest on a thin foam underlayment and aren't fastened down in any manner. That translates to fast, clean, no-fuss installation in hours, not days. The Portfolio collection comes in 10 designer colors, and features planks measuring 1/2 inch thick x 5 inch wide x 72 1/2 inch long. However, what I found most interesting is that the flooring is milled from strand bamboo, not laminated bamboo strips. The result is a fine-grain, rock-hard floor that's an astonishingly 154 percent harder than red oak. Floors in the Portfolio collection run about $9 per square foot.

Bamboo bonus: Beyond flooring

As you're probably aware, bamboo flooring has gained widespread acceptance as an attractive, durable, and more-sustainable alternative to hardwood. Most manufacturers grow bamboo on plantations, which helps reduce forest logging. And because bamboo is a fast-growing grass--not wood--it can be harvested in as little as four years. What you may not realize, however, is that flooring isn't the only use for bamboo.

Bamboo bonus: Beyond flooring