After weeks and weeks of agonizing and analyzing and debating and stressing and literally dreaming about it...I finally chose and ordered the laminate flooring for our new house. I had no idea it would be such a nerve wracking experience!
I knew in my head what I was looking for, something warm and rustic to bring that old farmhouse feel. I knew I definitely did NOT want something orange-y or 80's honey oak colored. I wanted something that was brown/tan, not orangeish or reddish. I also knew I definitely did NOT want anything shiny and smooth. I wanted texture and rusticness and something that looked realistic. Basically I wanted hardwood, but at a laminate price. : ) Let me tell ya, this is not that easy to find apparently. At least it wasn't for me, because I tend to be v.e.r.y. picky. Plus, our bank account made some immediate decisions for me on ones that were lovely but just too expensive.
You might remember this picture I shared a few weeks ago asking for everyone's opinions.
There was a big variety of opinions and each option had lots of people who loved it, though I think #4 probably took the lead. We ordered samples of these, but when they came they weren't what I was looking for. They had that waviness to them that some of the handscraped style laminates do, and that is something else I don't care for. Not really sure why that is, I just don't.
So...those were out.
Again, a wide variety of opinions were shared, some even said they didn't like any of them, lol!
Ultimately I decided the one on the far left, though beautiful and rustic, was just going to be too dark. The rooms where this will be laid don't get very much direct sunlight and I was afraid it would end up being too dark and suck the light right out of the room. Plus, everyone's comments that dark floors show every bit of dust and dirt kind of worried me. I don't like cleaning very much. For realz.
I also decided the one on the right had too much orange in it for my liking. So, I thought the middle one was looking like my only option, but even though I liked it I just wasn't completely sold on it.
Meanwhile, a friend of mine that I went to high school with posted a picture on her Facebook page of her kids playing on the floor in her house. Her kids are adorably cute, BUT...you guessed it...I noticed her floors. They were gorgeous! I immediately shot off a nosy message asking her what kind they were and what color. She told me the color (Historic Oak Charcoal) and said that they love their floors. They're beautiful and easy to clean and hardly show any dirt at all. Ummm...sold! I immediately started Googling. I found it and promptly fell in love. But what I also found was that it was way out of our price range. (They had gotten a great deal on theirs since they knew the owner of the flooring store in their town.)
I finally decided that I would just have to come to terms with the fact that I might not find the perfect one in our price range, and that I would just have to settle for something and learn to like it. I even prayed about. I told the Lord, "I know that this is such a tiny inconsequential thing in the grand scheme of things going on in this world, but this decision is pretty important to me right now so I'm asking that you'll please just help me to choose the right flooring that I can be happy with."
So...I continued the search. I visited a couple of local stores right here in our small town, but nothing was jumping out at me. I knew there was a flooring store about 40 minutes away, and they just so happened to carry my dream floors. I decided, "I've got nothing to lose, I'll just call them and see what kind of price they have on those floors. Never hurts to ask." Surprisingly, their price was not nearly as high as the other place I had checked! I began to feel a spark of hope. It was still more than we could afford, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I had originally thought. I remembered seeing this flooring on one of those discount flooring websites and decided to give them a call and do a price comparison. (All of this was while sitting in a CVS parking lot while my kids climbed like little monkeys all over the seats in the back of the van.) Turns out, they were having a Cyber Monday sale and their price was even lower, like ''we could afford that" lower. Woowhee! My heart was pounding! At this point I had only seen pictures of it, but had not looked at any samples in person. So we took off and drove the 40 minutes to the smaller store so that I could look at it in person and make sure that's really what I wanted before I placed any order.
And it was gorgeous, exactly what I had been looking for all along, and I fell in love all over again.
The people at The Floor Store were so nice and extremely helpful and knowledgeable. I told them about the sale from the discount flooring site, but said that I would much rather support a local small business than a huge online store and asked if they could do any better on their price. Not only did they do better, they actually beat the online store's sale price!! I could not believe it! I was so extremely happy and excited! I was amazed at the thought that God cares about the little things, and that He cares enough about lil' ol' me to not only answer my prayer but to give me the desire of my heart. He is amazingly awesome!
So, if you've made it this far then I'm sure you're dying to know what I ended up choosing, right?
Well, without further ado, here it is. (This cell phone picture doesn't do it justice!)
It's called Historic Oak Timber, and it's from the Restoration Collection made by Mannington (100% American made I might add!)
It is the perfect shade of brown I was looking for, no orange undertones there! It's rustic and it has texture and beveled edges, and and and.....I just love it! I cannot wait until it comes in and we can get it laid. It will go a long way in making a doublewide feel like an old farmhouse.
Not only am I excited about it, I'm also glad to have this decision behind me so that I can quit stressing over it and move on to other things to stress about. : )
***UPDATE 2 YEARS LATER***
I've received several questions from readers wondering how we ended up liking the Mannington floors so I decided to add an update. After 2 years of having these, with 3 young kids, a dog, and an indoor/outdoor cat, I can honestly say that we still LOVE them!! They've held up really well, we've had no major issues with them, and they almost always look clean! They hide dirt so well. The only minor issue we've had is that if something sharp or extra heavy has been dropped on them we've gotten the occasional small chip in the surface. I don't think they're a big deal though. I just simply color in the chipped area with a brown Sharpie marker and it blends right in with the worn character of the laminate. The beveled edges do tend to catch crumbs, but it's nothing a quick vacuum can't handle. I would definitely recommend these floors if you're considering them. In fact, I hope to get them installed in our living room and piano room someday soon!
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