Oct 7, 2013

Building our New Home - Flooring Choices

One of the most exciting things about building our new home is getting to make our own design selections. Since building our last home, we've learned a lot about what design choices are important in a home and what we can live without. While attending university, we lived in an older space we weren't permitted to renovate or tweak. Looking forward to our first home, we couldn't wait to get our hands on a space that was all our own. At that time we were big into espresso stains, creams and warm neutrals. We were reacting to the things we didn't like in the space we lived prior. So, our most recent home was exactly that...minimal on details, comprised of clean lines, dark espresso stained woods, cream trim and tan walls. 

Our previous home.
We've learned since building our last home that dark espresso floors, while lovely in a magazine, are incredibly hard to keep clean with two furballs running around and the traffic of everyday life. It turns out dark, shiny floors are rather unforgiving. This is something my 24 year old self didn't know. But my 28 and 3/4's self? She knows.

So! When choosing the floors for our new home I was on a mission: forgiving, durable, beautiful, neutral. Our dream for this next home is that it is beautiful yet durable. I want it to stand up to daily life better than our previous home did. Of course, I realize, regular care and maintenance is always required no matter what materials make up a home. However, if there was any way we could choose materials that made our life slightly easier in that regard, we wanted to find them :) 


With that in mind, for our main floor we selected a warm, multi-tonal, somewhat traditional laminate flooring that resembles wood. I'm excited that this floor will be more forgiving with dust, foot prints, paw prints, scratches and dents. Below are some pictures I'd pinned on pinterest which served as my inspiration/direction when choosing this flooring. 


Meagan at the selection centre was so helpful with picking out our options. Between the samples I initially chose and the inspiration pics I supplied, she was able to show us flooring options that came closer to our original vision than we could have expected. So grateful for her help! With the tile and carpet, in addition to the laminate, she showed us options we wouldn't have necessarily picked out ourselves because of what we were initially drawn to in the selection centre. And all the while she kept our goals top of mind... the flooring must be forgiving, durable, beautiful and neutral. Together, I feel like we were able to select a laminate, tile and carpet that will stand up beautifully over time, contribute seamlessly to the look we were aiming for and provide a little more forgiveness (looks-wise) in between cleanings. 

I can't wait to post progress pictures as the details of the home come together! 

5 comments:

  1. Oooh I love what you've come up with. I think it's going to be so beautiful! I can't wait to see YOUR home with these color schemes :)
    And this is actually super helpful for when we build a home! I love the dark floors but will it work when we have a house full of kids (or just one is even pretty destructive and messy ha ha)? I wouldn't have thought of that before!

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    1. I was the same way Courtney! I didn't think about it the first time we built either. And honestly, I loved those floors while we had them. However, as soon as the traffic in our home increased, I began to notice how difficult it was to keep the floors looking clean. That said, some people love the look enough to feel like that constant sweeping and mopping is worthwhile ... for us, we're excited to go a different direction and see if it makes our lives a little easier in that regard :)

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  2. Meagan LamontOctober 08, 2013

    1: you are the cutest
    2: thanks for the shout out! love it!
    3: your house is going to be BE-A-U-TI-FUL!

    Signed,
    Meagan at the selection centre : )

    ReplyDelete
  3. It is very effective data provide me as well as and new experience learn from it.

    Brazilian Cherry Flooring

    ReplyDelete

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