The Adored Abode

Shortly after we moved into our home almost 3 years ago we began the search to replace our flooring. Most of the flooring in our home was very old carpet, except for tile in the entryway and kitchen. Nathan and I both prefer hard floors over carpet, especially with two dogs who shed a lot and all too frequently track mud and dirt into the house.

There’s a real life we just moved in before.

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How We Decided on Solid Hardwoods

Our home is two story, with the master bedroom on the main floor. We decided to replace flooring one story at a time, starting with the main level. We searched high and low for a flooring we wanted to use throughout our home – knowing we would most likely install the same flooring upstairs later down the road as we chose for the main floor. We considered hardwoods, wood look tile, and linoleum. After much back and forth, and bringing many samples home, we landed on hardwoods. We both like the feel of hardwoods (tile is a bit too cool for me to have installed throughout the house) and ultimately decided that should we ever sell our house hardwoods would provide us the most value, considering the flooring other houses in our neighborhood have. We had hardwoods in our previous home and loved them, even though they did scratch, especially from two rambunctious dogs running around. So, we knew thought we knew what we were getting into with hardwoods.

We had initially received a few bids for the in home finished solid flooring, but the cost was pretty far out of our budget, so we started looking into pre-finished solid hardwood options. While we were looking at flooring we learned our neighbor works for a flooring wholesale distributer in KC and he said we could purchase flooring at wholesale through him, which is typically only offered to contractors! We completely lucked out!! Since we had narrowed down what types of hardwoods we liked already (darker, solid wood, with a matte finish, preferably 3-4” planks to go with the classic feel of our home) we were able to semi-easily select a few of top contenders from our neighbor’s wholesale facility and after bringing the samples home we landed on these hardwoods. The flooring we selected is available at Nebraska Furniture Mart, if you have one near you. We did pay substantially less than the price listed on NFM since we purchased wholesale through our neighbor, BUT (spoiler) knowing how well our floors have held up I would easily pay the retail price because they are worth it!

Purely due to the square footage of the area where we wanted the hardwoods installed we decided to hire the install out. However, we did rip out all the carpet, carpet pads, and staples ourselves to save some money on the install. The crew finished the install in a matter of a few days something that would have taken us weeks. We had a few snafus with the install – suffice it to say communication and expectations when working with contractors is KEY, but that is a topic for another post!

As soon as we saw the hardwoods going down we knew we made the right decision. They felt like they belonged in our house all along!

How are they holdings up?

We have had these floors for 2.5 years on our main level (and about 6 months upstairs) and they have been phenomenal! I am not saying that lightly either. I’m not sure why or how (our best guess is the matte finish), but they do not scratch easily at all! Nothing like the hardwoods in our previous house that were all scratched up within months of moving in.

There are quite seriously only a handful of scratches total throughout our entire main level and we know exactly when and why they happened. For example, we moved a large, heavy dresser on a not thick enough moving pad and dented the floor a bit in a straight line where we moved it (it’s not even really a scratch, more of a dent). Another scratch happened when Nathan was unknowingly walking around with a staple sticking out of the sole of his shoe. With these scratches we were able to use a stain pen to minimize the appearance and now you can barely even see them (probably only we will ever notice them). There are absolutely no what I will call “everyday” scratches. No scratches from the dogs’ nails, even no scratches from when the dogs run their zoomies around the house like maniacs (which we find hilarious and entertaining). No scratches from dog bones being flung around. No scratches from boots or heels. Nothing like that at all. The finish on these floors is incredible.

We also have had several incidents where liquid inadvertently pooled on the wood (water from shoes by the door, dog accidents, an overwatered plant, etc.) and so far, we have never had an issue with the wood warping or swelling.

My only complaint with the flooring is the color. Our floors are very dark (which is what we wanted). I love the way it looks, but as a person who is a bit of a clean freak it is irks me to see every little dog hair (one of our dogs is white and the other is brown – you can’t see the brown hair), dusty paw print or spec of dirt. It’s not too bad if we vacuum with the dust pad attachment at least once a week, but dark floors are something I would reconsider if we were ever to install flooring again.

All in all we are very, very happy with our hardwood flooring choice! I hope this was helpful if you are thinking of replacing your flooring or are looking into hardwoods!