I have been spending a lot of time at the flooring store! I have three major projects on the go right now so lots of different floorings to choose. One of my major projects is of course the house we just bought and are now renovating and I thought I would share with you what I chose for flooring and why.

Hardwood is probably the most popular choice in North America as they add warmth and texture to a home and look beautiful. However, there is always the question of solid hardwood vs. engineered? I don’t want to get deep into the technical aspect of hardwood vs engineered but the basics to know is that hardwood is a solid piece of wood and engineered is multiple layers bonded together under extreme heat and pressure. Hardwood should only be installed in above grade levels where as engineered can be installed below grade over plywood, wood, OSB and concrete subfloors. Both are beautiful and come in many different styles and colours. Both are very durable and look great but hardwood tends to have a higher price point than engineered but you can find reasonably priced selections from both types.

For our house I went with a Kentwood Antiqued Oak Stone City engineered hardwood. (here are the specs) It has a 50 year resistance wear warranty plus oak is a harder wood and it has a textured surface to it and with two large dogs that is a bonus as it will hide any scratches.

Choosing either a hardwood or engineered wood floor with more of a texture either hand scraped or vintage is the best way to go if you have pets. You will read articles upon articles that will tell you NOT to put wood floors in your home if you have pets but I ignore those. You can have beautiful hardwood floors and pets living together happily! 🙂

I choose this flooring as it is medium in colour and has a slight grayish tone mixed with brown. I wanted to avoid any red or yellowish tones to my floor. It will blend well with other wood tones and look great in a white kitchen! My main reason for choosing engineered hardwood over solid hardwood was simply based on price point and for the simple reasons as it was the one I liked the best out of all the choices.

Kentwood floors are probably my most popular choice for hardwood and engineered flooring as it come in so many different colours and variations that appeal to most clients as well as the price point is reasonable! Average is approx $6 – $8 sq/ft.

Here are a few inspirational pictures of beautiful rooms with hardwood floors.

When choosing hardwood flooring one thing to keep in mind that dark floors show lots of dust/pet hair. Light to medium floors don’t show as much so unless you want to dust/sweep your floors everyday then I would stay away from dark floors. They are beautiful but hight maintenance.

Next I will be putting together our Master Bathroom Design 🙂