Flooring

Last summer, when the fireman and I saw some laminate flooring on sale at Menards, we went ahead and bought it. Even though, the wall that we took down wasn't done yet and the beams weren't up. It was a good price and we thought we were getting a good deal.

As time went on, we started to wonder if laminate is the best thing to use.

A few weeks ago, he brought the laminate into the house. It needed to get to room temperature to acclimate itself before we can lay the flooring. Incase the temperature was different in the garage.

I got home from work and saw them in the hallway, stacked up.

I said, "Oh, you brought the flooring in!"

"Yeah" the fireman said.

"Did you look at it? Does it look nice?" I said.

"I didn't really look at it that much." he said.

I put my stuff down and pulled a board out and held it up. It didn't look like I remembered.

I held it against the barn beam and against the floor and against the entertainment center. Looking at it from different lights. The color didn't look rosy at all, it looked like walnut, dark and uninteresting.

I put the wood down and went to the table to sit with my hubby, trying to figure out what to say. To see if he felt the same way.

"You should look at it." I said.

"Okay, what do you think?" he asked.

"It doesn't look quite like I thought it would." I replied cautiously.

"The livingroom didn't look as dark as it does now when we bought it. It may be a little dark."

"Oh, thank goodness! I hate it!" he says.

"Oh, I good, I hate it too!" I sighed.

So, we dug out the receipt. Thank goodness I'm obsessive and organize everything. And returned it the next day.

The other day, we went to a Lumber Liquidators and picked out this.

Much better.

I would have preferred that it had some more definition in the color. I was leaning towards a pine-like look with the lighter wood and dark knots.

But what we did get that we wanted was the wide planks, this is 5 1/2 inches wide and a slight rosy color, it adds warmth, and a textured surface. It's hand scraped, so the surface is wavy and natural looking, instead of flat and glossy.

There will be scratches and scrapes and this sample that was on the floor had scratches in it that only added to the naturally worn surface. There is some dark imperfections in the wood, dents and knots that add character to it. Definitely a plus to us with our naturally destressed barn beams.

It's engineered hardwood. Which is real wood, but only a thin layer on top of a strong mixed wood. You can refinish it a few times in it's lifespan still. It's considered stronger and will hold up better to warping.

We did find out that there is good laminate. Some laminate has the color go all of the way through the board so that scratches aren't very obvious. The laminate we originally bought was not like this.

Yes, I am very thankful we didn't like it any longer.

Actually, laminate can be tougher than hard wood. They had a sample that they scratched hard with keys and you could see a slight scuff like you would on a cellphone cover, but it was VERY slight. I was amazed. But good laminate does cost more and if you damage it much, you have to replace the piece.

Which means, taking up the floor to that spot. Yipes.

Also, it was in our price range.

It won't be in for a week or so and we probably won't get it laid for a month or more.

Here's to hoping we won't change our minds by then.