Have you ever watched Life Styles of the Rich and Famous or the MTV equivalent, Cribs, and decided you wanted floors like the ones in Joan Collins' mansion? Have you ever thought, "Beautiful, sleek hardwood floors made out of thousand-year-old oak or rugged, turn-of-the-century pine would be the perfect addition to my home," but then you saw the price and the dream became a nightmare? You can still have that dream. Laminate flooring may be the answer.

Laminate flooring is made out of synthetic materials and made to look like wood flooring and shined to a hardwood gloss. It's easier to install and maintain, and best of all, it's priced to keep the average home improvement hobbyist from breaking the bank.

Laminate flooring comes in strips with tongue and groove edges designed to be easily snapped together. The flooring operates as a "floating floor," designed to lay right on top of your existing floor. What could be easier?

But why should you choose laminate flooring over other flooring materials like carpet or rugs? Easy...laminate floors offer many advantages over carpet, hardwood floors or rugs. First, laminates offer outstanding durability and abrasion resistance. Hardwood floors, though durable, are easily scarred. True hardwood floors, if you really want to get the best use out of them, should never be used in high traffic areas, which mean no kids, no animals and no parties. Hardwood floors are best used in your Grandma's living room. You know the one, the living room where you were not allowed to even sit on the furniture.

Next on the list: easy maintenance. Laminate floors are much easier than carpet or regular hardwood floors to maintain because damaged pieces can be easily replaced. Just pull up the piece that's damaged and stick in a new one. Try this with hardwood floors and you'll discover the meaning of headache.

But best of all, next to the lower price of course, is the wide variety of choices you have with laminate flooring. Not only is there a wide variety of styles to choose from but there are different grades as well depending on the traffic flow.

You can choose laminates with an oak look and feel for the rugged pioneer in your soul. Or you can choose a maple laminate floor for the classic look. Of course there's always beech, cherry or walnut laminates for a much more welcoming nature to your home.

But before you can even make that decision, you still need to determine how much traffic will be traversing across your brand new floor on any given day. In a residential setting, there are three classes of floors to chose from: Class 21 is sufficient for moderate loads like bedrooms, Class 22 is good for normal loads like living rooms and family rooms and Class 23 is good for heavy loads, ideal for anywhere in the house except bathrooms. This is probably the best choice for homes with children, indoor pets, and that annoying uncle who refuses to go home.

But why choose laminate flooring over carpet? After all, isn't "wall-to-wall carpet" what everyone wants? Not if you want to control the dust mites and allergens that are constantly floating around your house. Studies that have come out of the United Kingdom in recent years show that 50-to-70% of asthma sufferers are allergic to dust mites. Carpet is a safe haven for dust mites while the American Lung Association has said that hardwood and laminate flooring can drastically improve the air quality in your home.

Pet allergens are the second highest cause for asthma in children and carpeting does absolutely nothing to lower that percentage. So you see, not only are laminate floors pretty to look at as well as easy to install and maintain, it's also recommended by 4-out-of-five doctors. The dentists at Trident would be so proud.