Our guiding principles for the house, in order, are
1) Don't over-improve
2) Make it resell-able
3) Do what you love
For the floor, we wanted wood-look. Hardwood was expensive and the least kid-friendly. For the kind we could afford, we'd might have to refinish to sell. Engineered hardwood is great looking and doesn't have as many shrink/swell issues as wood, but since the surface is wood, it gets scratched easily, too. We heard lots of horror stories about laminate, but it was firmly in our price range and the samples were way harder to scratch than wood/engineered hardwood. We figured we could replace our whole laminate floor for what it would cost to refinish the wood.
We found got a sample of laminate that we loved. It was a warm, dark wood with lots of rustic character and a perfectly realistic texture. In the weeks between when we chose it and when we ordered it, though, I got more and more worried that it was going to warp when someone spilled on it. It came down to the wire--I had to order or else the wood wouldn't be ready to be picked up when I went to Chicago to get Kahlin from the airport.
I dialed the BuildDirect number (love those guys, by the way) and had a moment of clarity: wouldn't it be great to have an inexpensive floor that still looked good when you go to sell?? That's the best of both worlds! So on the spot I decided order a sight-unseen kind of laminate with good reviews that claimed to have waterproofed joints.
I picked it up at a trucking warehouse in Chicago (saved $300 of shipping). I was the only small car there. It was very intimidating to back into bay with all of the tractor trailers. Our van looked hilarious there.
You can see a little tiny pallet of Bowman flooring on the loading dock!
So how do we like the floor? It's fine! It's nothing like our favorite one (the part that we like the least is that it has no surface texture), but it is unoffensive and I am happy. The waterproofing looks great! Mike from our ward (also the father of Jonathan's piano students) came over to lend a hand with the first few rows. Getting excited to see the finished product!
1) Don't over-improve
2) Make it resell-able
For the floor, we wanted wood-look. Hardwood was expensive and the least kid-friendly. For the kind we could afford, we'd might have to refinish to sell. Engineered hardwood is great looking and doesn't have as many shrink/swell issues as wood, but since the surface is wood, it gets scratched easily, too. We heard lots of horror stories about laminate, but it was firmly in our price range and the samples were way harder to scratch than wood/engineered hardwood. We figured we could replace our whole laminate floor for what it would cost to refinish the wood.
We found got a sample of laminate that we loved. It was a warm, dark wood with lots of rustic character and a perfectly realistic texture. In the weeks between when we chose it and when we ordered it, though, I got more and more worried that it was going to warp when someone spilled on it. It came down to the wire--I had to order or else the wood wouldn't be ready to be picked up when I went to Chicago to get Kahlin from the airport.
I dialed the BuildDirect number (love those guys, by the way) and had a moment of clarity: wouldn't it be great to have an inexpensive floor that still looked good when you go to sell?? That's the best of both worlds! So on the spot I decided order a sight-unseen kind of laminate with good reviews that claimed to have waterproofed joints.
I picked it up at a trucking warehouse in Chicago (saved $300 of shipping). I was the only small car there. It was very intimidating to back into bay with all of the tractor trailers. Our van looked hilarious there.
You can see a little tiny pallet of Bowman flooring on the loading dock!
So how do we like the floor? It's fine! It's nothing like our favorite one (the part that we like the least is that it has no surface texture), but it is unoffensive and I am happy. The waterproofing looks great! Mike from our ward (also the father of Jonathan's piano students) came over to lend a hand with the first few rows. Getting excited to see the finished product!
I love reading about all your adventures with this house. Thanks for sharing. :)
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