Our family room is coming along and a big piece of that was replacing the yucky carpet that was in the house when we moved in. Here is a before picture:
We decided to replace the carpet with hardwood which was a hard decision because my husband likes carpet since it’s soft for lying down on and wrestling our kids to the ground, but I like hardwood because it’s easier to clean and also looks nicer. In the end, we went with hardwood but only if I promised to get a soft area rug for the wrestling matches (which I was going to do anyway ;)). Initially I thought about getting bamboo since it’s super durable and also comes from a renewable source but after learning that we could never refinish them since they are made from strands of bamboo that would splinter if refinished, we chose traditional hardwood instead. I liked the idea of getting hardwood floors that are hand-scraped because it already has some imperfections in them so when my kids or dogs (or me) scratches the floors, I’m hoping that they will be more hidden. I also wanted a darker hardwood at first, but a lot of people told me that darker hardwoods show more dirt and dust so I went with a medium tone. At our old house we had 3 inch width strips of hardwood which I didn’t like at all since they look dated so I also wanted something wider. I also knew that I didn’t want anything with orange or red undertones. So after researching a lot, I came up with a medium tone, hand scraped hardwood with large planks and no red or orange undertones.
Unfortunately this is the biggest picture I could find, but the link to the product is here.
I only had a small sample to look at when we picked the floors and I was pleasantly surprised to find that there was a lot of color variation when the floors were actually laid. This is what it looks like in the family room:
I LOVE these floors! See how there are dark pieces mixed in with lighter pieces? Here’s a better pic to see the contrast in the area near the fireplace:
Here are a few more pics:
I while back I bought a green and white rug that I thought would look great in the family room, but unfortunately, it was an epic FAIL. The price was right but I guess you get what you pay for because it was scratchy and too thin and all the corners turned up which was a huge tripping hazard so I returned that puppy and bought the above rug from West Elm. It is perfect! It’s soft and the gray and tan/beige geometric pattern is exactly right for our family room. I want to keep the family room fairly neutral so this rug works perfectly. The only drawback is that it sheds like crazy and fills up my vacuum bag after a couple vacuums. I know that will taper off soon but in the meantime, we are walking around with rug fuzz on our clothes (even with vacuuming everyday). But, the shedding is worth it! I also got a great deal on it (20% off) and although it was expensive to begin with ($850) the 20% off made the price reasonable. Here is a close up the rug:
