I really never thought the day would actually come that I would be so lucky to finally rip out these old yellow floors in my home and replace them with something I actually liked (more like LOVE now that they’re down!). Luckily, last fall, there was a bit of a leak in my building which always means water damage for just about everyone 5-10 floors below the problem. Thankfully, the damage wasn’t anything major, but there was definitely water damage and an insurance settlement was provided. Flash forward almost 6 months I have finally picked something out, finally got it installed and am SO insanely happy with how it all turned out. It was definitely worth the wait to find the perfect floors. Plus, since there wasn’t major unlivable kind of damages (like my bathroom situation) I was able to take my time and didn’t need to be in any sort of a rush which is always a perk.
With the new floors down and a lot of new things learned on my end, I thought I’d share the whole process from start to finish with help from my friends at Mohawk (where my bedroom carpet is also from) in a three-part series. There’s so much to sift through when it comes to flooring that it’s important to educate yourself as much as possible before making the purchase. Unlike paint where you can just change it out in a weekend with a little elbow grease and little money, floors are a much bigger, permanent kind of deal. So to kick things off, today I’ll be sharing the whole process of selecting floors as it’s the most important one!
To start things out, I’ve been a fan of Mohawk for a few years now. As I mentioned, this is where my bedroom carpet is from. and it feels like silk you guys. Legit, silk. I like to sit on my floor it’s that soft. So when deciding to look at flooring, I knew that Mohawk had a great reputation for quality, selection and customer service. So I headed straight to their nearest authorized showroom in Atlanta, Builders Floor Covering & Tile which I easily found on the Mohawk site. The showroom was just a few minutes from me, so I headed there for an appointment to browse some flooring options.
Before you even think about buying, you have to really narrow down a lot of elements. Color, grain type, finish, width, length, and more. I knew I wanted darker floors, something in the grey/brown family and probably a 5-inch width for a more contemporary look. But before you look at colors, I highly suggest thinking about the style first. I knew that anything with too much grain, knots or texture, would really be too rustic for my more modern space. I also knew that I had to do engineered because I’m in a high rise. From here, I’ve now been able to narrow things down quite a bit and I’m able to just see a few different collections. Each collection will have a great array of color choices from light to dark so now you can start to make some decisions. I ended up picking out about 5 options from the ArmorMax collection to take home with me. I liked this line because it had a ton of durability factors in it which is great for Pork and all the high heels I wear in the house.
My number one tip for picking out floors is TAKE THE SAMPLES HOME! This is so important and something that is drastically going to alter your final decision. Once I got the pieces home I laid them all out on my floor and moved them around my house, from room to room. I pushed them up against the walls, the carpet, the rugs, everything. I wanted to see what it looked like in every single light and against any other color in my house. It was very clear that some colors got the boot immediately, but a few lingered for days….okay weeks. I had a very difficult time deciding. I was torn between a dark grey and dark chocolate brown. I wish I could’ve combined them to make my own floor, but unfortunately, not possible. After browsing a little more in the showroom, [my mom actually] ended up finding something that she thought would work. I brought it home and in some light, it looked sort of brown, and in some light in looked more grey, but overall it was the perfect blend of the two. We had nailed it! I ended up selecting an Oak Shale from the Rockingham Oak Collection which is part of the Armor Max brand from Mohawk.
Now that I picked something out, it was time to get a formal quote. I scheduled this within a week, it was super easy, and Builders Floor Covering & Tile came out to measure. Within a day or two, they had sent me a quote with all the details I needed. From the pricing of the cork underlayment, a requirement in my building, to how many days, the process it would look like and so on. I knew exactly what I was getting myself into. Next up was scheduling the BIG project!
More on the process and how it all went in my next post coming in a few weeks. Be sure to check back for all the details on what it was like and the BIG reveal!
This post was written in collaboration with Mohawk.
