ARE YOU FLOORED?

My new apartment has a reasonable rent and a great view of the Boston skyline. However, it has ugly vinyl floors, and the landlord won't replace them. Do you have any ideas for a way to cover them?
P.P.
Somerville

Modular carpet tiles from Flor might be your solution. They come in many colors and patterns, and you can have great fun combining them any way you want. The 19 1/2-inch squares are designed to be installed by homeowners and start at $7 a tile. They are available in Boston at Koo de Kir (koodekir.com) and at Vessel (vesselinc.com) and online at florcatalog.com.

I live in a modern home with some interesting architectural twists, including the layout of the second-floor stair landing and corridor. The floor width increases gradually from one end of the hall to the other. I would like to replace the white Berber carpeting with wood. The house has radiant heat, which is beneath the floor. Is there a way to lay a floor in an interesting pattern? Are there exotic woods that could be used?
R.S.
Cambridge

The radiant heat limits the options, but it should not stop you from finding interesting and attractive flooring. Most manufacturers and installers recommend using engineered floors (wood veneer or solid wood glued to a plywood backing) with radiant heat, as they are more stable. However, if you prefer, you can use solid-wood plank flooring. American cherry, walnut, mesquite, teak, and oak are available as engineered as well as plank flooring and would be appropriate for your project. Regardless of species, the planks should be fairly narrow (2 1/2 to 3 inches), since wider boards are more likely to cup and warp with temperature changes from radiant heat. Quartersawn or rift-cut planks are also less prone to warping than plain-sawn flooring.

The easiest way to create a pattern with plank flooring is by varying the size of the boards or by adding borders of another species of wood. For an engineered floor, you can add inlaid borders.

Hoboken Floors (617-426-4343) at the Boston Design Center is a major supplier of wood flooring and can direct you to people knowledgeable about installation over radiant panels. No matter what kind of wood you select, you should be able to walk barefoot through your house feeling the warmth through the wood this winter.

I have a 14-foot hallway. Most runners are 7 or 9 feet long. Should I buy one rug that is 9 feet and center it in the hall, or should I buy two 7-foot runners, so the whole thing is covered? Is it best to place the rug at the door or a few feet into the hallway?
S.T.M.
Dorchester

I like the idea of a single 9-foot rug, especially if the flooring in the hallway is pretty and forms a nice contrast to or backdrop for the rug.

If it suits your style, Johanna Erickson's handmade rag rugs are available at the Sign of the Dove (signofthedoveco-op.com) in the Porter Square Shopping Center in Cambridge. A 3-by-10-foot runner is $250. Erickson will also custom-make rugs to a specific size.

A less expensive option is to have a piece of broadloom carpet cut to size and have the edges bound with wool serging at Father & Son Floorcraft in Belmont (617-926-9999).

If your door swings into the hallway, start the rug 6 inches beyond the edge of the open door. And make sure you place a non-slip pad under the rug to keep it in place.

My favorite niece asked for European hotel-style bedding as a wedding present. I'd love to oblige her request, but I don't know where to start.
S.N.
Bedford

There are many variations of formal European bedding, with selections differing from country to country and designer to designer. Most start with a featherbed, a feather-filled pad traditionally used in Northern European countries that goes on top of the mattress cover and beneath the bottom sheet. (My college-age daughter reports that they make even a dorm mattress comfortable.) Because they absorb body heat, they'll help keep you warm on chilly nights. Just remember, they add height to the mattress, so you'll need a deeper fitted sheet.

Linen sheets are elegant, but we find them scratchy and prefer 100 percent cotton percale. What are known as European hotel linens are white or ivory sheets with a colored stripe embroidered at the edge of the top sheet and around the pillowcases. The Lowell line from Matouk (matouk.com or the company's factory store in Fall River) is one example.

You'll need at least two down or high-quality fiberfill pillows for each side of the bed. You can use matching cases or have a patterned cover on the front pair. If you want more layers, add small square toss pillows or cylindrical bolsters.

For blankets, we go all-American with a lightweight wool blanket from Swans Island Blankets (swansislandblankets.com) in Maine. Hand-dyed and hand-woven, they are truly works of folk art, and priced accordingly, with throws starting at $375 and blankets running anywhere from $495 to $2,200. A less expensive option is a lightweight down comforter. Garnet Hill (garnethill.com) makes one that is bound like a blanket, so it can be tucked in and used without a duvet cover.

For a true Euro-style bed, use a blanket cover instead of a bedspread. They are not easy to find, but E. Braun & Co. (ebraunandco.com) and Schweitzer Linen (schweitzerlinen.com) in New York carry them. To keep the neat, crisp look, tuck in the top sheet, blanket, and blanket cover, with hospital (a.k.a. military) corners. Finally, every European bed has a duvet, the European term for comforter, which can be down or fiberfill. Tuck it into a duvet cover in a solid color to match the hotel-sheet embroidery, a striped pattern, or plain white. Then fold it at the bottom of the bed.

Other sources for linens, blankets, and comforters include Target stores (target.com), L.L. Bean (llbean.com), Pure-Rest (organic cotton sheets and wool blankets at purerest.com), Restoration Hardware (restorationhardware.com), and W Hotels The Store (whotelsthestore.com).

Interior designer Sandra Fairbank is a partner with her husband, architect Toby Fairbank, in Fairbank Design in Cambridge.