The floors are finally done! I’ve wanted them replaced since I bought the place, but I didn’t have the money and it wasn’t urgent at the time — a want vs. a need. Unfortunately, the past couple of months have been really bad for my son allergy-wise, and getting rid of the  carpeting became necessary. We took care of his room, but it wasn’t enough; he was still sick.

So, one day I got out a box cutter and tore out all the carpeting downstairs.

At that point, I was committed.

I usually have fun searching for flooring, but this time about did me in. I couldn’t find what I wanted for the price I wanted! I’ve always had incredible luck finding the perfect flooring for under $2sqft until now. I went to so many stores, scoured so many websites, and acquired quite the collection of samples. What made it so hard was that I wanted what I chose to go in the kitchen as well, since it’s all open concept, and the wooden kitchen floors had water damage from the previous owners. Plus, it’s not easy to put wood next to wood, so this really meant a complete overhaul.

I kept seeing vinyl plank flooring that looked like wood (much like laminate) but I was so leery of it. It wasn’t until I went to a nicer flooring place that I couldn’t afford and even they pointed me to the vinyl plank flooring that I realized I should really consider it! It’s apparently expected to overtake laminate wood flooring as an option, and for great reasons. The biggest and most important to me is that it is waterproof! You can mop it, have spills and not panic, etc. It’s totally safe for the kitchen. I love the look of the wood in the kitchen but I hate the risk (and it was ruined in my kitchen already, so I really didn’t want to replace it with more real wood.)

I chose to get mine from Lumber Liquidators, for several reasons. I’ve used them in the past and always been happy, for starters. Their vinyl is either Floor Score or Greenguard certified, so it’s not completely toxic. And, it’s made in the USA…I’m not a fan of things cheaply made in China under poor regulations.

So, while the kids were gone with their dad on vacation for a week, the floors were installed. It was SUCH a mess to have done, moving furniture, finishing removing carpeting, dust from flooring being cut, etc….but SO worth it. The house looks amazing!!! And I have to give a mega big huge thank you to my parents, because without them it wouldn’t have been possible to have done right now. I work really hard at multiple jobs to support us, and something like flooring wasn’t really in the budget, even flooring that’s a good deal. We had to replace about 1000sqft of floors. Yikes! Thank you mom and dad, I love you!!!!

Want the full tour, including the loft with its gray laminate flooring? Check out my video.