We're so excited to share with you our finished floors today! Replacing almost all of the flooring on our main floor (we opted out of doing our master bath since we'll be tackling a full renovation in there next year) was daunting beforehand, a lot of work during, but now we're on the other side of it--6 weeks and 1500 square feet later--we couldn't be happier we dove in and took the project by the horns.
Upon moving into our house 6 months ago, the main level flooring was split between large orange-brown square tiles and dirty carpet.
At first we were set on tearing it all up and laying hardwood floors, but ultimately we went with faux wood tile (Nordic Brown from The Tile Shop, specifically) for a host of reasons we outlined in this post, but most of all for durability's sake. Yesterday, as a friend's little boy threw that heavy wooden ball sitting on the coffee table in the photo above, across the room--we're so happy we did. No dents. No cracks. Not a scratch! Here's how almost the same angle looked Saturday morning before we moved our furniture back upstairs:
The wood tile continues into the great room and the adjoining laundry/half bath back there (I forgot to snap a photo of those rooms! Eek!)
And back on the other side of the same level, through the entry, which looked like this when we moved in:
And now--although, it is still bare bones--the bones are much better:
The entry leads into a half bath that we updated in October of last year, that also got the new floors:
As well as the nursery and the master bedroom:
Whew! All in all, just over 1500 square feet. We still have to add baseboards, which will definitely help finish off the whole look. We plan on tackling that in the nursery this week, but the other areas we'll do as time, energy and funds permit. Even though baseboards should be hanging over our heads, we still find ourselves celebrating the victory of completing such a huge project and more importantly--gawking over our floors multiple times a day. It was a really good choice for us and this home. And they look even better with furniture in place. I hope to have a few updates on that front for you this week. 6 months in and we still don't have a home tour up? Time to remedy that.
Missed part of the process? Read posts about Choosing between Solid Wood vs. Faux Wood Tile / Pre-prepping and a floor plan / Our decision to not go with heated flooring after all / Demo day 1 / Demoing all that tile / Why particle subfloors are bad / Removing a closet while we're at it / A first peek at the floors / Laying new subfloor and Hardibacker board and the point of no return / Tips for achieving realistic faux wood tile / Slow and steady tile laying / Tools for making tiling more bearable
Disclaimer: Even though the tile (Nordic Brown) was sent to us by our friends at The Tile Shop, our decision to go with faux wood tile, as well as our selection, was our own. We picked the product because it was what we really wanted and was best for our family and home. Special thanks to The Tile Shop for being so great to work with. We're absolutely in love with the results--as we hoped we would be.
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Did you ever seal the grout? Did you end up getting the sealer with the dye to make it darker?
We have dyed some of the grout (see here) but we never sealed it, and fortunately! it has darkened. :)
This looks AWESOME!!!! Did you guys seal the grout at all?
We didn't because we wanted the grout to get darker...and it has!
Congratulations! Enjoy! I Learned alot reading your blog. No Tile shop in my area...?...love ur choice. How do u know how many print variations are in a wood like tile....is it listed ? And if inkjet or roto printer?
I'm curious what it feels like to walk on it. We are having floors installed but there's some differences in the height of the tile. I feel it as I am walking across the unfinished floors, but I'm not sure if once the grout is in if I will notice it as much. I've never had tile so I don't know if it is normal or not.
I stumbled on your blog recently and man, I love your flooring. I ordered a sample that came yesterday and we all love the color but my husband was curious if they're cold. We live in the PNW so its often cold & damp for long periods of time. Thanks!
I have two Greater Swiss Mountain dogs and am curious about how your tile floors are holding up with a big dog on them. Does Charly slip and slide or is there enough texture to keep the floors from being too slick? Any scratches or nicks?
No scratches or nicks--these floors are so durable!! Before we got an area rug (we went with FLOR tiles) for the front entryway, Charly would run and slide a bit when Chris walked in the door, but that's not an issue anymore.
Love the floor. Is it the darker or the lighter of the Nordic Brown? The tile shop has two versions. I loved it so much I am inspired to do all the common areas in my home. Also, what color grout did you choose?
It's the darker one! We used Mocha grout, but it didn't turn out as dark as we had hoped. Definitely go darker with the grout if possible.
The floors look amazing! Y'all did a really great job! Sorry if you have mentioned it already but...What do y'all plan to do with the stairs?
It looks lovely and sophisticated. Bravo :)
Stunning! The space looks even bigger with all uniform flooring.
gorgeous! all that hard work definitely paid off! congrats!!
THOSE FLOORS! The grout color is perfect. Good work guys!
It looks great!
What are your plans for the lower level flooring?
We're thinking a low-pile, perhaps texturally patterned, wall-to-wall carpet. That will eventually be the kids' rooms and a nice large rec room/media room--so we think that'll make the most sense down there.
Beautiful work. What a job, but something that will last you for years and years. Bravo!
It looks great and I especially like it upstairs! I like how it can be used in the bathrooms since it's tile.
Your floors look great! I'm sure it's such a relief to have them completed. Speaking of baseboards, did you see what Jenny at Little Green Notebook did recently?
Yes! So beautiful. 12" baseboards are a little tall for our standard height ceilings, but definitely inspiring.
Yes! You must feel the weight of the world off your shoulders. It looks so great.
And baseboards... oh my goodness. Well, you know how we feel about them. You'd think it would be no big deal to just move forward, but those costs really add up. (Scott and I have this idea we'll knock it all out in an upcoming weekend, but we're also exhausted just thinking about it!)
I feel SO inspired by your baseboard choice, Kim! We're headed to Home Depot tonight to pick something out! Big project, for sure. I want it done, but we just don't have any energy to tackle it ALL in one swoop.
You go guys! So happy for you- what a rough and long ride its been for you- I can't even imagine!
Every time I finish a project, I just linger an extra bit through the room and stare. Do you do that too? Looks so great, guys! So great you get to soak these floors in a bit before baby arrives and steals all the attention. ;)
I feel like that's ALL we've been doing. Lingering and staring! Hahaha. And also, making food in the kitchen--we missed eating!
So inspiring that you all took on such a huge project! You must be so proud :)
Great job! I am impressed that you did all of that yourselves and had the patience to stick with it. I don't have the patience to be a DIY'er. I also loved the video your mom posted of your sisters mopping the new floor. They inspired me to go mop my own :-)
Those girls are so silly. I might have to post that tomorrow!
Wow, not only amazing, but so impressive that you guys installed it yourselves. I loved and still sort of miss the durability of our tile - it really is unmatched. As a big sister gift you should totally get Greta some roller skates - hah!
Hahaha! She'd love that. She was zipping around on her wheely cow all weekend! I should have brought out her scooter.