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First of all, THANK YOU and lots of love to everyone who participated in my first ever blog poll! While I love having lots of choices, the amount of money I’m spending for our floors is a LOT of my budget, so the task of actually pulling the trigger can be a difficult one. Which is why I appreciate it SO much that you all voted and helped me with this decision! So without further ado, let’s get to the results. They were surprising, to say the least!

On Wednesday afternoon, Scott and I met at Floor & Decor to make the final choice and haul away my new purchase. Thankfully, we came prepared with Scott’s van for fitting in all the boxes – 34 to be exact! Even though this weekend’s project would only involve the upper floor’s installation (the craft room and small hallway area), it is recommended that you purchase ALL of the flooring you’ll need for your home just in case the company runs out of stock. You never want to be halfway through a project and scramble to find the rest of your materials!

There we were in the showroom, and I pulled up the poll results on my phone to get up-to-the-minute stats on which choice you all thought would look best. Originally, I thought by making it a group decision, I would see a clear winner… but instead, the results were all TIED. Six votes each for the Rosewood, Beechwood, and Walnut options! I had to laugh, and shared the results with Scott. We were back to having to make the choice between the two of us.

In the showroom of the store, they have three-foot arrangements to compare each option to one another to help give you a better view of how it would look once installed. We laid out the three options side by side and discussed the qualities of each. Scott really liked the Beechwood based on the sample I had at home, but after looking at multiple pieces of the flooring arranged in a larger scenario, we both agreed that it was just too “knotty” and would look kind of strange if we put it all over the house. The Rosewood was very, very plain when the planks were laid together, so I decided that having one large piece of solid brown flooring would create no visual interest. Because the Beechwood and Rosewood options were 70 cents more per square foot than the Walnut, I was glad that we could eliminate the more expensive choices without compromising on what we ultimately thought would look best. The Walnut was the only choice left!

 

…Or was it? Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a beautiful Brazilian Walnut pattern that I hadn’t noticed before in the warehouse when I originally picked my samples. It was a shade darker than the Exotic Walnut, but combined what I’d liked about the other two options of the Rosewood and Beechwood. The grain pattern was a little tighter and less “busy” as Scott put it. So, we laid both walnut patterns out side by side, and also took note that they were the same discounted price per square foot.

Then, I did what I feel very guilty about since I had so many people give their advice… I went with my gut and chose the one that I hadn’t even included in the poll!

The 34 boxes were quite heavy, so we were relieved that the helpful people at Floor & Decor made it easy to load into the van by giving the palette the forklift treatment:

We weren’t so lucky unloading the flooring into the house. But Scott’s hand truck helped, and we finally got it all into the dining room to rest (tip: always bring your flooring home at least 72 hours before installing to get it acclimated to the house’s temperature and humidity).

As a peace offering to those who participated in the poll, I would like to give you a sneak peek at what it now looks like in the craft room:

Please forgive me, and I hope you will understand! Even though it was completely out of left field, there was just something about the color, the grain, and the price(!) that said “PICK ME!!!”

Has anyone ever had something similar happen in their own remodeling process? Have you ever spent a lengthy amount of time agonizing over multiple options, only to choose one you never even considered originally? I hope I’m not the only one!

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9 Comments

  1. I think they were all great choices and the final one you chose was just gorgeous! Can't wait to see it all done!

  2. Thank you! I really really love it. Scott and my dad have done a wonderful job so far, and tonight I'll get my first lesson on how to do it too.

  3. LOVE your new floors! It's BEAUTIFUL! I love your choice — can't wait to see the whole room!

  4. The floor is beautiful! It looks very similar to they style/color we are thinking about installing in our house …. one day! We have about 4000 sq feet of floors to cover, so it is going to be an expensive purchase… but oh so worth it when we can finally afford it. I am excited to see it when it is finished.

  5. If you were thinking about laminate like I did, Floor & Decor had it for $1.99/sq ft. Color is Brazilian Walnut. Hopefully soon I can post additional pics to fully expose the difference they make.

    Thank you everyone for your comments!

  6. Wow, that is going to be one sexy floor!!! I think you made the right choice, even though it wasn't in the original running!

  7. When we repainted our kitchen I was insistent on a blue/gray theme, despite how much my fiance wanted orange. After 45 minutes (during which my fiance bailed on not wanting blue fairly quickly) I decided on the orange and it’s really pretty in our kitchen. Feels like Florida!