Happy New Year readers! Welcome back to the Daily Grind, your regular spot for interior inspiration, fantastic flooring and DIY delightfulness. This month we’ve searched high and low to bring you the very best blogs and resources from across the web. From creating a rough luxe look with bare plaster walls, to keeping tabs on the health of your flooring; this edition is crammed with great stuff, hand-picked just for you.

“Rough Luxe” – Stylish or Lazy?

If you’re a fan of ridiculously tasteful modern interiors packed with vintage and eclectic inspiration, Patchwork Harmony (the blog of 91 Magazine creator, Caroline) is your new favourite website.

In this post, Caroline takes a closer look at the pros and cons of bare plaster walls. Are they shabby? Are they chic? Are they both? Will your guests make wisecracks about when you’re going to finish your decorating every single time? As big fans of natural wood floors, we’re rather partial to this “au naturale” rough luxe look, but you’ll need real guts and panache to pull it off.

• Do you have a bare plaster wall in your home or are you considering using one as a design feature? Share your opinions with other readers below.

Is Your Floor Damaged?

New Year is a reminder like no other that time has a real habit of getting away from us. That small crack in your subfloor can turn into a worrying chasm seemingly overnight, little household jobs can turn into a huge renovation project in next to no time. That’s why staying on top of maintenance at home is so important. Keep a beady eye on the condition of your property and you can prevent time flying and the condition of your premises reaching Code Red.

Your flooring is one area of your home which can deteriorate very rapidly, often unnoticed. We tend to take the materials beneath our feet for granted, but, as this excellent blog from HomeScreed over at At Home Magazine points out, there are lots of potential issues which could result in a damaged floor, particularly with a sub-par screed. To uncover the 3 key signs of damage to your floor, head over to At Home Magazine online today.

Discover: French Forest Floors

If you’re as obsessed with beautiful wood flooring as our floor sanding experts, you’re going to practically dribble on this post from the charming My Friend’s House blog. We know good quality wood when we see it, so we loved reading about French Forest Floors‘ journey from growing trees to shipping stunning natural wood flooring. Boards from this company will set you back a pretty penny, but their commitment to their gorgeous materials is truly inspiring.

Would you pay a little more for a superb quality hardwood floor with a rich heritage? Or are you content with something a little less extravagant? Do you keep a close eye on the condition of your flooring like the team at HomeScreed? Share your experiences and opinions with our readers below.

Some Useful Links:

• Floor Sanding Services
• School Floor Sanding
• Wood Floor Restorations
• Wood Floor Repairs
• Wood Floor Polishing

More from our Blog:

Daily Grind – February: Are You a Laminate or a Hardwood Person? Daily Grind – March: Whiskey Barrels & Warm Wood Daily Grind – April: Floor Damage & Jatoba Hardwood Daily Grind – May: Creative Floors & Ebony Wood Daily Grind – June: Eco-Friendly Varnish & Stunning Parquet