I am so glad Friday is here. But I will be even more glad when Friday is over. Once Friday is officially over… we will start our Spring Break! No school & no sports = no schedules. And I loooove the days of no schedules!
Our spring break is not taking us on any exciting vacation. Nope, not this year. This year, we (and when I say “we” I mean “me”) decided to devote the entire week to beautifying our home. We decided (there’s that “we” word again) to rip out all of our carpeting and linoleum in the downstairs. All of it! And install hardwood floors.
Hardwood floors! Are “we” crazy? With nine kids? We have lived in this house for 10 years and have had the stock carpeting and linoleum since the day we moved in. It is completely thrashed and old and shabby and it looks awful. But because it’s completely thrashed and old and shabby and already looks awful…the kids can’t hurt it any. The kids can’t destroy it much more than it already is. So as hideous as it looks, it’s a very “safe” flooring for us to have.
Hardwood flooring is expensive. And the last thing I want is to live in a glass house where I’m nervous that the kids (and their friends) will ruin something so expensive simply by walking, sitting, and running on it. Because that’s what kids do. They walk, they sit, and they run. Sometimes they even jump, throw things, and take sharp objects and carve their initials into hardwood floors.
But we like the look of wood floors. We have always dreamed of having wood floors. And we are sick and tired of the ugly old stained carpet and cheap linoleum throughout the house. We are ready for a change.
The wood that we decided on is a distressed wood – hand scraped and hand stained – that way, if the kids scrape it up (and you know they eventually will) it will at least blend right in once we use a stain pen. And we chose a lighter color so it won’t show dust easily – because being the busy mom that I am, the floor will more than likely not get wiped down every day!
What do you think?
What I’d like to know is this: Do any of you have hardwood flooring with kids running around on it all day? And two dogs? If so, how does it hold up? Do you love it or regret getting it? If you were to do your floor over again, would you choose wood or tile?
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For children I rather have wooden floors. Carpet can build dust and more and its bad for anyone to breath that in. Plus wooden floors wont stain. Just only thing about wood is after a while it will start to age Any idea how to keep my floors from ageing?
Bruce hardwood floors are best I know of. Also, they make little circular adhesive pads for the bottom of chairs. I use a boot tray from bed bath and beyond for shoes but also a separate one for the dogs bowls so water doesn’t ruin the floors.no kids but 2 dogs. There are so scratches. It’s inevitable in the
we have pergo..high maintaniance..have to clean (mop) it every day…but it cleans up very well and then looks very very nice…lasted through many rollar blades and many light saber battles
I would go with real hardwood, not engineered hardwood with laminate over it. With real hardwood you can sand and refinish in case of flood, damage, etc… With the hardwood that comes in boxes (not Pergo – think one step up) there is 1/4 inch of laminate on top of wood. That prevents you from restoring in case of damage. We had a beautiful floor using Bruce Duraluster Flooring. Got wet. Couldn’t refinish. Had to replace. Would go with solid wood next time. Or go the cheapest route and do a Pergo.
We have 4 dogs and three kids. Yes we have scratches, but also have light floor so does not show as badly as darker wood.
Make sure all of your kitchen and dining room chairs have smooth caps on bottom. That will do more damage than anything! Make sure that if you have any boxsprings or furniture on floor that you have no staples or rough bottoms on wood.
Make sure that your floor is delivered to your home and gets to breathe and adjusts to the climate before installed. Woods swells and contracts with humidity, etc…
Save extra pieces or order extra box in case of damaged boards in future. You will not be able to match your floor as every dye lot looks different.
Our hardwood has lots of dents and scratches in it from trucks/trains and the previous owners dog. I love the floors you posted and I think they would hide any wear and tear really well.
Carpet is awful with a busy family. We have it upstairs where all the dirt should be off shoes, and where there is not supposed to be food, but it’s still starting to look filthy. We had a combo of existing hardwood and a high quality laminate in our last house. -I miss that laminate now that we have hardwood on our main floor. But your choice will be much better. We have smooth Brazilian cherry. I didn’t think it was that dark, but it shows every scratch and also dust and dog hair. I wish we had gone with a heavier grained wood and a lighter color with stain that added color variation, so it was better at hiding the wear…Like yours will be.
I had a home with hardwood floors that were over 100 years old and even worn and with a few stains and scars they were beautiful. For $2000 we had them refinished and the were like new.
Be prepared to spend 2 to 3 thousand dollars in 100 years.
I’ve never had carpet, even as a child, so my vote will always be for wood. It can be a bear to refinish if necessary (and, if not kept up, the need may arise sooner), but overall it’s worth it. There are drawbacks — hard on baby butts and heads (but they learn balance WAY FASTER b/c they quickly figure out that isn’t something they want to happen again), scrapes from shoes, animals, furniture — they all show, but they show worse on carpet, right?, and w/a distressed look to begin with, it’s going to be perfect!
Good luck w/the installation and enjoy spring break.
My dad rents a house and the dinig room is wood floors. Dad only has the two kids and the 1 dog but, sad to say, Its pretty scratched. Esp where we pull the seats out from the dining table. But the wood isnt a distressed wood so maybe our scratches show up more than yours would? The wood you have chosen is lovely though I would love to have that in my home L x0x0
I really love the real hardwood floor for my house. I love the natural shine from a good wood floor.
For children I rather have wooden floors. Carpet can build dust and more and its bad for anyone to breath that in. Plus wooden floors wont stain. Just only thing about wood is after a while it will start to age
Any idea how to keep my floors from ageing?
*and in the sunlight only. I also chose a light stain. Looks beautiful
Bruce hardwood floors are best I know of. Also, they make little circular adhesive pads for the bottom of chairs. I use a boot tray from bed bath and beyond for shoes but also a separate one for the dogs bowls so water doesn’t ruin the floors.no kids but 2 dogs. There are so scratches. It’s inevitable in the
we have pergo..high maintaniance..have to clean (mop) it every day…but it cleans up very well and then looks very very nice…lasted through many rollar blades and many light saber battles
I would go with real hardwood, not engineered hardwood with laminate over it. With real hardwood you can sand and refinish in case of flood, damage, etc… With the hardwood that comes in boxes (not Pergo – think one step up) there is 1/4 inch of laminate on top of wood. That prevents you from restoring in case of damage. We had a beautiful floor using Bruce Duraluster Flooring. Got wet. Couldn’t refinish. Had to replace. Would go with solid wood next time. Or go the cheapest route and do a Pergo.
We have 4 dogs and three kids. Yes we have scratches, but also have light floor so does not show as badly as darker wood.
Make sure all of your kitchen and dining room chairs have smooth caps on bottom. That will do more damage than anything! Make sure that if you have any boxsprings or furniture on floor that you have no staples or rough bottoms on wood.
Make sure that your floor is delivered to your home and gets to breathe and adjusts to the climate before installed. Woods swells and contracts with humidity, etc…
Save extra pieces or order extra box in case of damaged boards in future. You will not be able to match your floor as every dye lot looks different.
Our hardwood has lots of dents and scratches in it from trucks/trains and the previous owners dog. I love the floors you posted and I think they would hide any wear and tear really well.
Our home was built in 1960 and we have the original wood flooring. It is gorgeous! You’re going to be so happy with your choice!
We are getting ready to rip up some 10yr old carpet too. I prefer wood too. We hope to sell soon, so we aren’t going to put wood in. Lucky you!
Carpet is awful with a busy family. We have it upstairs where all the dirt should be off shoes, and where there is not supposed to be food, but it’s still starting to look filthy. We had a combo of existing hardwood and a high quality laminate in our last house. -I miss that laminate now that we have hardwood on our main floor. But your choice will be much better. We have smooth Brazilian cherry. I didn’t think it was that dark, but it shows every scratch and also dust and dog hair. I wish we had gone with a heavier grained wood and a lighter color with stain that added color variation, so it was better at hiding the wear…Like yours will be.
I had a home with hardwood floors that were over 100 years old and even worn and with a few stains and scars they were beautiful. For $2000 we had them refinished and the were like new.
Be prepared to spend 2 to 3 thousand dollars in 100 years.
Cranky Old Man
I’ve never had carpet, even as a child, so my vote will always be for wood. It can be a bear to refinish if necessary (and, if not kept up, the need may arise sooner), but overall it’s worth it. There are drawbacks — hard on baby butts and heads (but they learn balance WAY FASTER b/c they quickly figure out that isn’t something they want to happen again), scrapes from shoes, animals, furniture — they all show, but they show worse on carpet, right?, and w/a distressed look to begin with, it’s going to be perfect!
Good luck w/the installation and enjoy spring break.
My dad rents a house and the dinig room is wood floors. Dad only has the two kids and the 1 dog but, sad to say, Its pretty scratched. Esp where we pull the seats out from the dining table. But the wood isnt a distressed wood so maybe our scratches show up more than yours would?
I would love to have that in my home 
The wood you have chosen is lovely though
L x0x0