I never had strong feelings about flooring before we moved into The Mad House. Suddenly we were homeowners and the ugly carpet was our problem, not the landlord’s. When we moved in, The Mad House had five different types of flooring — just on the first story of the house. Among them were dated parquet, inexpensive laminate, and, worst of all, white wall-to-wall carpet.
I detested that carpet. It showed every stain and trace of dirt, and, with two young kids and a basset hound, there were plenty of stains and dirt. I silently cursed it every time I vacuumed or steam cleaned it. After living with these floors for over three years, we saved up our money and scheduled the installation of hardwoods. This time last year I was so excited to rip out the carpet in preparation for the next day’s installation.
But, like any other DIY in The Mad House, things weren’t that simple. It turned out that our subfloor was astoundingly high in moisture content, and that, even though we had acclimated the new wood for weeks, we would have to wait to have them installed. And wait. And wait. For THREE MONTHS, we lived with subfloors waiting for the moisture differential to come within range.
But they finally were installed and it was worth all the wait.
Just look at the difference the floor makes! One of my favorite compliments that people have given us on the floors is that it looks like they have always been here. Some people are afraid to say they almost didn’t notice the floors (because they know all the trouble we went through to install them), but I actually like that the floors look so natural in the house.
While I love new wide plank hardwood styles and think dark flooring can look very modern, we never considered either for The Mad House. The second story of our house has original hardwoods which are three inch wide oak slats, so we chose the same type of hardwood when we installed the new floor. As a result the floors look like they could be original to the house, which is exactly what we were going for.
The floor makes a big difference in the overall look of the room, but it doesn’t call attention to itself. I think it just makes our living room look complete.
We knew exactly what we wanted in our floors, but I know that choosing flooring is a daunting task since it is such a big investment. If you are still deliberating a flooring change, Shaw Floor‘s experts can guide you through the process. We are so happy with our hardwoods and the way they have transformed our living room. What do you think of the finished floors?
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Shaw Floors. The opinions and text are all mine.
