New flooring can take it all

Q: I am planning to replace my carpet in the family room, which has a door to the backyard. I have two dogs and the carpet in front of this door has taken a beating. I'd like to try another floor covering in front of this door. It is a contemporary-style house, so the kitchen is immediately adjacent to the family room. The kitchen has laminate flooring - would laminate in front of the backdoor work? If so, how large an area?
I thought of laminate throughout the family room, but there is tile in front of the fireplace and at the front door. Too many different things.

A: Not necessarily. Think of laminates as wood - which is what all laminate manufacturers hope you'll do. Wood and tile are natural go-togethers, ergo, even though we are talking about faux wood, a laminate floor could be the right thing for your entire family room, not just the area next to the back door.

The product of test tubes, rather than trees, laminates combine good looks with durability and easy upkeep, according to manufacturers like Pergo, whose "Vintage Home" laminate in "Nantucket Pine" gleams underfoot in the renovated attic bedroom we show here.

Well-known in Europe, laminates are relative newcomers to America's floors, but they have found a warm welcome, especially in hazardous-duty areas like your doorway. Technology makes them tough - for instance, laminates can take water that would ruin real wood. They are also scratch-resistant, according to the manufacturers, which should relieve your doggie-claw anxieties a bit. In fact, Pergo even uses a dog as their mascot (meet "Pergo" the pooch at www.pergo.com).

However, you should know that if scratches ever do occur, it's not possible to have laminate floors sanded and refinished, as you can real hardwood. On the other hand, laminates are lots less expensive and install more easily in the first place.

Decisions, decisions. I know it's a job, keeping up with all the offerings for today's home. But still, you really must reconsider your complaint about "too many different things" to choose among.

Q: I'd love to get a deer horn chandelier for my husband's den, but the very idea makes me feel creepy. Doesn't anybody make fake horn lights I could live with?

A: Yes, but you really needn't bother. Mother Nature herself has taken the "creepiness" out of chandeliers, lamps, and furniture fashioned from the antlers of male deer and elk. The good news is, they shed their antlers naturally when the mating season is over in the spring.

Then it's open season for hikers, seniors and sometimes Boy Scout troops who go out scouring the Rocky Mountains, gathering antlers that companies like Crystal Farm of Redstone, Colo., fashion into, ahem, naturally attractive light fixtures, chairs, tables and inspired oddments, like hall trees and fireplace tools.

Furnishings made from the antlers and horns of various deer species and bovines, domesticated and otherwise, have been around since medieval days, according to quirky New York antiques dealer Bruce M. Newman (whose book "Fantasy Furniture," published by Rizzoli, devotes almost 30 breathtaking pages to them).

Crystal Farm has devoted more than 20 years to making this furniture, using deer and elk antlers found locally, and fallow deer antlers from the United Kingdom. Owner Stephen C. Kent can put your mind at ease about buying an object made of antlers: "When they're naturally shed, there's a little rosette - not a straight cut - on the end of each antler," Kent explains. Learn more at www.crystalfarm.com.

Rose Bennett Gilbert is the co-author of "Hampton Style" and associate editor of Country Decorating Ideas.