INPUT ARTICLE: Article: Find out first if you think there may be style requirements where you’re going. If you’re attending a formal restaurant or a gathering for work, appropriate neckwear may be expected. Consider the situation and use your best judgement.  If you want to wear a necktie, consider paisley prints, solid colors, or neckties with checks or stripes.  If you’re wearing a collared shirt without a necktie, make sure your collar is taut. You should starch and iron it and use collar stays. If you don’t want to press it yourself, get it dry cleaned and ask for light or heavy starch. If you’re not wearing a necktie, keep in mind that the more buttons you undo on your collar, more your look presents a casual and even daring vibe. Consider the people you’ll be with and the mood of the gathering. If possible, pair your blazer with a crisp, new, collared shirt in a white shade. Match your jacket with a dark-colored necktie or bowtie. A sleek combination is a black velvet blazer with dark gray or black suit trousers. For a bit more casual of an evening look, swap out the collared shirt with a solid-colored t-shirt, and top it with a formal scarf. You can get velvet smoking jacket blazers in short or long lengths. This is a lightweight, casual look, typically with two to three buttons that close the blazer over your torso. For an extra convenience factor, get a blazer with side and interior pockets.  For a bold, modern look, wear a smoking jacket in an animal print jacquard, with the rest of your outfit a single, dark shade.  Consider a matching velvet bow tie. Consider elegant (not gaudy) cufflinks. Choose a watch, belt and shoes that are as exact of a color match as possible. Match the metal of your watch, if applicable, to the shade of metal in your belt buckle. Consider adding a pocket square.  For instance, if your watch is a brown leather band, your belt and shoes should be brown leather in a matching shade.  Fold your pocket square evenly. Put it in your pocket with 1/4 to 1/2 of an inch showing. Wear shoes that make you feel confident. You may want to wear loafers, whole cut leather, brogue, or another type of shoe. Polish and shine your shoes. Whole-cut or other dress shoes are more formal, whereas loafers are casual. Loafers look good with light-colored suits. Pair your blazer with dress pants or tuxedo pants in the same color – for instance, black. Add a white or colored shirt and consider tucking a handkerchief in your pocket. Look sharp by adding a bow tie to a white, fitted, collared shirt.

SUMMARY: Decide if you’ll wear a necktie. Make your blazer into an evening look. Wear a smoking jacket. Accessorize. Choose the right shoes. Pick the right bottoms for a tuxedo blazer.


INPUT ARTICLE: Article: Laminate flooring can be installed on stairs, or anywhere else that you would install hardwood flooring. The major issue with installing laminate flooring on stairs is durability - stairs tend to get more wear-and-tear than most other surfaces in your home. For this reason, it is advisable to ask the supplier or manufacturer for the most hard-wearing laminate they have.  In addition, laminate flooring can be high-gloss and very slippery - which may be a concern if you have young children in the house. To minimize the risk of slipperiness, go for laminate flooring with a textured, matte finish. You should also specify that you want matching nose stripping when choosing your laminate, as many manufacturers do not have matching nose stripping for all of their flooring. In terms of quantity, you should order about 10% more flooring than you actually need in order to cover the square footage of stairs. This is necessary as you may need to cut a number of boards to fill in extra spaces. It will also allow you a comfortable margin for potential errors. Laminate flooring needs time to adjust to the temperature and humidity of the house before it is installed. This prevents the boards from warping, expanding or contracting later. To acclimate your flooring, remove the boards from their packaging and stack them in an open space, where air can circulate, for 48 hours. The next thing you will need to do is prepare your staircase for laying down the laminate. If you need to remove carpet from the stairs, you can pull it up using a pair of pliers. Carpet is normally attached using adhesive tack strip, staples or both. The tack strip can be removed using a pry bar, while the staples can either be hammered back in place, or removed using a scraper.  Make sure to wear gloves while you are removing carpet, the staples can be very sharp and may cause injuries. Even if the stairs were not covered in carpeting, you can prepare them by removing any old paint or adhesive and repairing any loose or creaking steps by nailing them securely in place. You will also need to make sure each of the steps is level, so the laminate boards will sit properly. If they are uneven, you can use a belt sander to level them out, or simply use a scraper to get rid of any debris or high spots. Many stairs will have a pre-existing overhang: this is when the underside of the nosing on the upper steps is visible from the bottom of the staircase. You will need to address this before you can lay the laminate flooring. You can do this in one of two ways:  You can either cut off the overhang using a reciprocating or jigsaw, then use a chisel to ensure the surface is flush with the riser. Alternatively, you can use a piece of plywood to pad the riser, filling out the space underneath the overhang. Just be sure to nail the plywood in place before installing the laminate. The next thing you will need to do is cut the laminate tread pieces, riser pieces and stair nosing to length. For the tread pieces, lay the the plank across the step, making sure that it fits snugly from left to right. You may need to trim the edges slightly so they are aligned with the step. Most thread pieces will not be wide enough to cover the entire step. If this is the case, you will need to cut a second plank to fill in the rest of the space:  To do this, you can either cut two planks into even pieces, so that their combined width covers the thread, or you can use a full plank and cut a smaller strip to fill in the extra space. When cutting thread pieces, make sure to cut on the groove side of the plank, and glue them together tongue-to-groove. The tread piece should not extend all the way to the edge of the step, as you will need to leave room for the top nosing. Next you will need to cut the riser pieces to length. You need to make sure that they will sit snugly on top of the tread piece, and are level with the top of the riser. If the edges of the plank are not perfectly aligned with the edges of the riser, you can trim them to fit. To cut the nose stripping, you should measure the length of the exposed thread, as well as the length of the riser and cut laminate pieces to fit, trimming the edges to fit the angle of the stairs, if necessary. A good tip is to mark each piece with a number as soon as you cut it to size, this way you will know which piece corresponds with each stair.

SUMMARY:
Choose your laminate flooring. Allow the flooring to acclimate. Remove any carpet and tackstrip. Remove any overhang. Cut the laminate to shape.