Floored. (Pun Intended).

I tend to fall in love with home decor that is incredibly difficult to find; which also translates to expensive.  Let's start with the floors.  We considered multiple flooring options--hardwood, tile, porcelain tile, cork, and even concrete. We nixed tile and concrete because we have a child that will soon be learning to walk...I was picturing multiple trips to the ER.  No bueno.

I really loved the idea of cork flooring because it's soft, warm, and eco friendly; and of course I lurve the look of hardwood. So I started checking out Pinterest (of course), and realized that the floors I gravitated towards where in the shade of gray...or had a whitewashed look. 

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Um...do you know how difficult it is to find flooring that isn't carpet in shades of gray.  It's dang near impossible.  

On a whim Andy and I stopped by a flooring place that we happened to drive by to check out other options.  I really had my heart set on hardwood floors after realizing the cork floors I liked were uber expensive. I knew I'd probably have to settle for a stock color of hardwood in order to not spend a gazillion dollars.  Boo.  When we arrived the salesman asked us if we'd considered laminate.  Oh heck no. I know very little about floors; but when I heard the word laminate I thought of cheap looking bathroom floors and was definitely not interested.  

The salesman assured me that laminate could be beautiful and said it was more durable than hardwood. And cheaper. I was skeptical.  

But then he showed me some gorgeous flooring and I couldn't believe it wasn't hardwood.  It was PERFECT, and it was gray-ish.  SA-WEET!

I really liked two shades from a line called Mannington.  They were beautifully detailed, wide planked, and had gorgeous handscraped grooving.  The lighter shade is called Black Forest Oak Antiqued, and the darker is Black Forest Oak Fumed.  I held them up to a white countertop sample and an espresso colored cabinet which are the colors of our kitchen.  I love dark floors but you can see every bit of dust and dirt on dark floors; I love light floors for the kitchen, but I wasn't sure if I'd love it in the living room.  So we took both samples home, inspected them in different light, and dropped crumbs and dirt on them. 

It was seeing the floors in the light that convinced us to go with the darker color.  There is enough color variation that it hid dust and crumbs really well, and it looked fab when sunlight was hitting it.  It looks very similar to the very first image at the top of this post. And, after researching and price comparing, I was able to negotiate the price down to $3.19 a square foot.

I can't wait to show you the finished look!

Do you have laminate floors?  How do you like them?

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