So You’re Building/Renovating a House

This post sponsored by STAINMASTER®. All opinions are my own.

Building? Renovating? Congratulations! This will be such a fun, exciting process, full of challenges and decisions, joy & growth! Yes, growth…a friendly way of saying that this experience with s-t-r-e-t-c-h you. In a good way. I feel like you can never be TOO prepared, so hopefully this little post will help.

(Below) Here we are on the day we got the keys to our house! We didn’t even know the challenges that would lie ahead. 😉

While there are MANY decisions to be made when building a new home, or renovating an older home, I’d love to focus on ONE IMPORTANT area that requires some thought. Flooring. When you think about it, the floors in your home will take the biggest amount of wear & tear. Not a day goes by that we don’t use THAT SURFACE in our homes. Then add in the needs of your specific family…for us, a dog, teenagers, gatherings, spills, mud, the “oops I forgot to take off my dirty shoes”..and the list goes on!

About 5 years ago we started the process of building a brand new home, and I’ll be honest. I didn’t put much thought into the durability factor of our floors. I was thinking more about the “looks” of things, and we paid the price. When it came to carpet selection, we chose the very budget-friendly option, which didn’t hold up in a key high-traffic area…the stairs. Ugh. A couple years into enjoying our new home, we chose to replace the carpeting on the stairs with something more durable, and much better looking.

Fast forward to December 2017, and the start of the major renovation of our 1890 farmhouse. THIS TIME we would do things differently. Flooring would be a huge consideration for us, and we wanted to select something that wouldn’t need replacing any time soon (renovation isn’t cheap, so let’s choose something that will LAST!).

One of the first rooms we considered was the laundry/mud room, for obvious reasons (MUD ROOM = better choose something DURABLE). Here’s what we knew:

1. We LIVE in our house. It’s not a model home. (But of course I wanted it to be pretty!)

2. Due to the nature of what this room would be used for, something waterproof would be amazing.

3. Pet-friendly was a MUST. (And preferably something that didn’t require grout, which can show pet stains.)

We landed on a product we are crazy about. This STAINMASTER® PetProtect™ “Free Expressions” in “Dove” by Phenix Flooring reminded me of concrete, which fit the look we wanted perfectly, but it’s so much more than a pretty face. Here’s what we love most about it:

-100% waterproof

-scratch resistant

-stain/scuff resistant

For us, it’s been nice to have flooring we don’t have to worry about!! 🙂

In our upstairs kids bath, we also elected to use luxury vinyl, the STAINMASTER®PetProtect™Phenix “Free Expressions” Santa Fe Collection in “Toasted Brown” by Phenix Flooring. Now here’s another room we would like to NOT worry about. 🙂 When you have teenagers that love having lots of friends over, just trust me here. Beyond the practical side, we also loved this option for the look! I mean, it’s pretty tough to put hardwood floors in a bathroom and be carefree, right? But the look of hardwood is everything to this all-white bath!!

 

And now I’m about to say a word that some consider a bad word. CARPET. (gasp!) We actually got quite a few notes from folks that were shocked we were putting carpet in our newly renovated home. REALLY? You’re shocked?? I love carpet for so many reasons, and especially THIS carpet.

Let’s start with the appearance. This patterned carpet from STAINMASTER®PetProtect™(find it here) was just the classic, neat & tidy feel we were after. Carpet adds instant coziness, quiets an echo-ey staircase, and brings that feeling of home we were wanting! But there’s another layer to this onion.

Meet Cooper. The newest little member of the family, full-time house dweller…and *ahem* carpet tester. 😉 That’s right, we knew our carpet would have to stand up to ALL members of the family.

Needless to say, when selecting carpet we were pretty excited to learn about STAINMASTER®PetProtect™. With built-in stain resistance that resists even the most difficult pet stains, we feel free to live our lives! When accidents happen, it’s not the end of the world. Ummm, game changer.

It’s no secret that Cooper is our WORLD. The sweetest pup on the planet, and welcome in any room in the house.

Let’s talk about another benefit of carpet…it covers a multitude of sins. 😉 Newsflash: Our house has VERY UNEVEN floors. It was built in 1890, and renovated a few times over the years…sooo, ya. My office (above) has the most noticeable unevenness, so it was carpet to the rescue! As I sit in here today (with Cooper happily laying under my chair), I’m so thankful we opted to put this pretty carpet in here. Who doesn’t want to feel cozy while working??

(below) Carpet brings the cozy to the bedrooms in our home!

If I were with you today, helping you make some of your surface selections for your new home or renovation, I would definitely ask you to consider practicality. And remind you that in the every-day world, you’ll be so happy you took the time to find flooring that will make your life easier!

Best wishes for a smooth process, friends!