First, bonus points in my uber cool book if you know what song my title is from. Because I'm way cool and therefore you must be cool to read this blog.
(Mental note: Do not be retarded, Kristie. It's not cool.)
ANYHOOOOO. It's Saturday evening and I'm at home. Per my usual. And I have a question for the Internet.
Last night I was at a friend's house and she and her husband have the most beautiful wood flooring throughout the entire house. And I'm jealous. I have been considering ripping all the carpet up and getting new flooring and now I'm definitely sold on the idea. Especially when a stemless wine glass got broke last night at her house and it was so easy to clean compared to if it had dropped and broken on carpet.
I have spent all day thinking about the options and the cost and the effort for different types of flooring. Here's where you come in. I tell you what I'm considering and you, so kindly, tell me what you think, what you have experience with, what you hate and any other ideas or suggestions.
Here are my three options I've chosen:
Laminate wood flooring. I figure it's cheaper than real wood, better for the environment (although I need to check into that) and I think it's more durable.
Bamboo. I looks so so pretty. But I hear it's more expensive and it's not as durable, especially with animals that have claws and like the chase each other.
And lastly. Concrete. I'm considering ripping up all the carpet and having someone come in to stain and seal the concrete floor. It would seem to me that it's durable, easy to clean, easy to repair if need be and maybe cheaper than the other options. The only downfall I can think of is that I'd have to move all the baseboards down to meet the concrete floor.
So, I wanna know what you think. Humor a girl on a lonely Saturday night. Or Sunday. Or Monday. Take your pick.
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7 comments:
Spongebob?
I don't know what I think about the floors, though. I'm torn. I loved having wood floors-- we had parquet in the old house. But I hated the dust and dirt and pet fur and stuff everywhere. I know the same amount is in carpet, but you can't see it (and don't walk through it) until it's vacuumed up. We swept every single stinking day.
Granted, with carpet in our apartment, I vacuum twice a week and still saw "Ew, gross!" at what comes up, just like I did when I was sweeping.
I don't know that I'd like concrete, but I haven't seen many concrete floors.
Whatever you decide to do, I hope you love it!
What about a combination thereof? Maybe do concrete in your higher traffic living areas, bamboo in your bedroom and laminate in other, medium rooms?
If you DO decide to do concrete, make sure you do a ton of reference checks and see portfolio (or better yet, real customer examples) of the company's previous work. Concrete can be beautiful, but if it's not done right, it will be tacky as hell.
Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? Spongebob Squarepants!
You don't have to move the baseboards down for concrete floors, you just buy quarter round and add it to the bottom of your baseboards to cover the gap where the carpet was and paint it to match.
I love stained concrete floors, it's a simple solution that allows you to change the colors in all sorts of ways, you do have to score the floor if you want any sort of border or pattern though.
Bamboo is more environmentally friendly and if you pay for the high quality stuff is really actually durable from what I've read. It does scratch (as do wood floors) with dog nails and would require you to be up on the dog nail grooming as well as the not wearing heels in the house.
The same can be said for wood floors. The only floor really that won't scratch though is going to be the laminate. Even tile can scratch.
I don't know how enviro friendly laminate is (I would think not very) but Flor tiles are those carpet squares that are recyclable which is pretty cool.
Helloooooo Sponge Bob. (I can't even tell you how NOT PROUD I am that I know that. That show kills.)
Okay, stained concrete is AWESOME, and so easy to maintain. Only downside I see is the echo factor-you will need to throw down some rugs so you don't sound like you are in a museum. I've got a few contacts for you if you are interested. And yes, you will have to move the baseboards, but look at it this way: you can dust them while you are at it. :)
Laminate-it is cheaper, and it is VERY durable. I have two big dogs, and they ran all over it and there were no problems. It is also easy to install, and easy to clean.
Bamboo-gorgeous, but is more suseptable (sp?) to knicks, scratches, gouges.
Real wood floors-I have them now, and they are easy to maintain and pretty durable. other than the fact that you have to worry about certain things scratching the surface.
Could this comment be any longer???
In terms of resale value, I would say hardwoods or bamboo is the way to go. I love the look of concrete, but I would say you need pretty modern decor to go with it. Jon and I are probably going to do laminate based on the recommendation of a realtor. We plan to sell in a year and he advised us that we probably wouldn't get our money back in a year's time if we installed hardwoods. So laminate it is! In any case, can't wait to see the pictures!
There's a guy in Weatherford that does AWESOME concrete staining. My parents are building a garage and this guy stained it to look like tile. It's SO cool!
As far as wood flooring I say laminate. We have real hardwood and it sucks butt! Plus laminate isn't as high maintenance.
P.S. Spongebob Quarepants (yes I said Quare) lives in a apple under the sea according to Drew! Get it right.
Spongebob!
Flooring? We are in the midst of ripping our carpet and vinyl (we bought the house that way - shudder) and staining our concrete. The only rooms that will not be concrete are the bedrooms and - we are still "discussing this" - the Living area. With a kid and a dog and a cat, it's super easy to maintain, the pricing is much cheaper, and the maintenance is super low. It's very easy to do yourself, and the worst part is prepping the concrete.
I think that wood looks hawt, and love the look and background of bamboo, I'd do concrete any day.
Good luck with your choice and take pics!
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