Words can not possibly describe how excited I am to finally be writing this post! It seems as though I have been planning for months and have not been at a place to share it with you all. I must say, I hate that. I love keeping you all in the loop. As many of you know, Josh and I set off for a new adventure two weeks ago. We started the renovation process on our new fixer upper. Man, what a past couple of weeks it’s been! So many changes have taken place, one of them being the upstairs flooring. The disgusting carpet that was there has since been thrown out and engineered hardwood floors will be taking it’s place.
Let’s talk about why I chose engineered hardwoods and where we purchased them.
Engineered hardwood floors are similar to solid hardwood floors in the fact that they are both actual wood floors. They both offer such great texture and pattern to any floor. There is a few differences though. Unlike solid hardwood floors, engineered hardwoods are not solid hardwood all the way through. EH have a top layer that is solid hardwood followed by a layer that is plywood. Because the bottom layer is plywood there is less expanding and contracting. This also means they are not required to acclimate as long. EH are also a little more durable when it comes to denting or scratching. You can nail them down, glue them or float them.
The only downside to EH is they can not be refinished as many times as solid hardwoods. Most manufactures say only 1-2 times for the life of the floor. We installed solid hardwoods in our last fixer upper and absolutely loved them but in the eight years we were there, we never had to refinish them. The manufacture of the flooring we chose gives a 15 year finish guarantee. If the EH finish only holds up for 10 years before they need to be refinished, we’ll be happy!
Which brings me to my next point, they’re extremely affordable! The cost of solid hardwood floors can get very pricey. The EH only ran us $2.29 a sq. ft. That’s a great price when you’re considering we need over 1000 sq. ft.
We went with a handscraped, birch floor in an espresso stain. I love how rich they are without being too dark. I also wanted a stain that did not have red hues in them. The Birch espresso is just perfect!
Wondering where we shop? We bought our flooring at Floor and Decor. Floor and Decor is my absolute favorite place to shop for flooring and back splash tile. Almost all of our hardwoods and tile has been purchased there. The reason we love them so much is because they’re selection is amazing! We recently took a trip to their newest store in Buford, Ga. The Buford store is one of their largest stores with over a million square feet. They have a great showroom where you can get ideas for bathrooms, kitchens, etc. We were able to meet with their in-house designer Judy. She’s just the kindest person and so insightful. We’re so thankful to their awesome staff, those who walked the aisle with us to assist with any questions to the guys who loaded all 30 boxes in the van for us. Aside for the helpful staff, their prices can’t be beat. I’ve priced flooring at the big box stores and the name brand warehouses and have yet to find a better price than Floor Decor. We’re so happy to be working with them and we can’t wait to get the floors installed.
We are so anxious to start the installation! We’ll be installing them ourselves over the next week and we’re looking forward to sharing the progress with you all.
Here is the latest photo of the master bedroom. It’s painted and ready for some flooring.
Before:
After:
We’re moving right along. The process is a little slow for someone who has trouble with patience. ( I don’t know who that could be, ha!) However, I’m thrilled with the work that we have done so far! Be sure to check back with us after Christmas to see the process of the floor going down and the finished product. I’ll be in new floor heaven!
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