THE FLOORS HAVE ARRIVED!

For those of you who follow the husband or I on Instagram, this will not be news to you…for the rest of you…THE FLOORS HAVE ARRIVED!  Boy was Monday a challenge (and the bruises on my arms would have to agree)!  

We ordered the floors from BuildDirect.com back in early September and had them hold the shipment for 30 days so that we could make a little more progress before they arrived.  For those of you on a budget but wanting to do hardwood floors, Build Direct allows for 15 FREE samples before they cut you off (I definitely got more by signing up with my name and the husband’s name but **SHHHHH** there’s always loopholes 🙂 ).  They also have a HUGE selection in a wide range of prices which was super helpful for us.

When we were in the house touring stage I have to admit, I was a dark floor lover through and through.  There was something so modern and warm about the dark floors that I was drawn to.  However, after talking to various people, and considering our design as a whole, I decided that lighter floors would be the best choice for us.  I for one HATE sweeping and vacuuming (that’s the husband’s job) and dark floors show everything.  Taking a step back and thinking about the overall design and feel of the house as well, I started to gravitate more toward lighter colored floors.  Here are some of the samples that I got (the ones that were in the running).

Maple and hickory originally stole my heart.  The light but warm tones coupled with the variation that both of these have made me swoon.  Ultimately, the husband and I are going to be the ones laying the hardwood floors, so we had to be somewhat practical, and since we’re both newbies to this process, we wanted to minimize the potential of having our floors look like a patchwork quilt (which is what a bad maple or hickory job can look like).  That ultimately led us to the white oak that we settled on and I am super excited about it.  One of the things I did NOT want was a glossy floor – and this hardwood is anything but.  It is a UV Lacquered finish which makes it super smooth like perfectly sanded  unfinished wood.  I also wanted to stay away from anything with yellow undertones, or that would yellow over time, and while the picture may look slightly yellow it’s not at all.  It’s just a nice light, natural oak color and I’m super excited about it!  When the wood was delivered on Monday, I was even more pleased with our decision.  The boards are a bit on the short side, but when you paid $2.99/sq foot for pre-finished hardwood floors there are worse problems to find!  We’re hoping there are some longer boards hidden in the packages but I won’t be heartbroken if we don’t (though it’ll take much longer to install if we don’t!).

Anyone with wood floor installing experience that wants to come show off their skills and get a special shout-out on the blog, let me know!

*I have no affiliation with BuildDirect.com and received no compensation from this post