Why We Chose Laminate Flooring for Our Home

Last Updated on March 3, 2022

Hi friends! I am about to tell you all about why we chose laminate flooring for our home and after reading it, you might make the same decision.

Laminate flooring has come a LONG way, y'all! Learn why I chose laminate flooring for our home!

Now, let me rewind for you. Our first home was built in 1925 and had GORGEOUS heart of pine wood floors. Our second home was built in in 1990 and we had oak hardwood floors installed in it before we moved in. Our third home was built in 1926 and had stunning, original oak floors, that we had professionally refinished. I was a hard core lover of hard wood floors. I used to shudder at the thought of laminate floors or any cheap flooring ideas. No thank you–only the real thing was good enough for me.

Then at the end of 2012, we purchased our current home, which was built in 1986. The only wood floors in our home were badly damaged bamboo floors, that we did not like the color or the grain of….AT ALL. The rest of the floors were either tile, vinyl, or carpet. Sigh. (Be sure to check out how we painted the bamboo floors in our kitchen and dining room, and how we painted the vinyl floor in our laundry room).

After we moved into our current house, the discussion over what type of flooring we would install began almost immediately. And we quickly ruled out real hardwood floors and decided on laminate floors. Trust me, I was as shocked as you probably are. But it is a decision I would make over and over and over again! It was the perfect decision for us.

Why, you ask? Well, here are the…

Four Reasons We Chose Laminate Flooring for Our Home

1) CostLaminate floors are much more affordable than hardwoods, especially if what you want is a hand scraped look. There is NO WAY we could have afforded hand scraped hardwood floors. Even basic oak planks were out of our budget because of the square footage we required.

This is, BY FAR, the largest home we have ever lived in. It is 3,400 square feet and well, folks, we could not afford to put hardwoods throughout the house, especially since we prefer hardwoods to be installed, then sanded and finished in place. That means as a practical matter, you have to complete the entire installation at once. No splitting up the cost over a number of years (we refuse to take out loans for any of our home improvement projects, so a home equity line was not a viable option for us).

With laminate flooring, on the other hand, you can easily complete the installation one room at a time (at least with our floor plan) since there is no staining or sanding to take into account. Plus, it the material itself is more affordable. WIN!

2) Durability– Laminate floors are just more durable. WAY more durable. We got our sweet dog, Titan, who is a 90-pound Boxer, in 2007. After we had those gorgeous hardwoods in our prior house refinished, we noticed that his toenails did mar the surface, which was soooooooooooo sad! Totally not his fault, just the reality of living with a big dog. Then we had our twin girls in 2011. The thought of being concerned about them pushing around a wagon or toy grocery cart on real wood floors just did not appeal to me. I wanted them to have fun without me worrying about them scratching the floors.

With our laminate floors, we actually let our dog play fetch…IN THE HOUSE. He can run full speed on our floors (Road Runner style) and not make even the tiniest mark on them. It is astounding. And when our girls start dragging toys around and drop things on the floors, we don't even flinch.

The floors in our girls' playroom have been installed for about 2 1/2 years at this point and the ones in the laundry room have been installed for over two years at this point, so I feel that we have sufficient experience with them to say these things are darn near indestructible. That was not my experience with real hardwoods.

3) DIY friendlyLaminate floors are very, very DIY friendly. As I said, we installed the floors in our girls' playroom in a day. The same was true for the floors in the family room (it is a very large room, about 30 x 20, and it still only took us a day). Installing hardwood floors, then sanding, staining and finishing them is a whole different ball game, y'all. If we could have found a way to afford  hardwoods, we would have had to hire the job out because of the vast scope of it. When we moved in our house, our twin girls were about to turn 2, so we did not have endless hours to dedicate to installing a house full of hardwood floors. Installing laminate flooring has been a very doable DIY job for us.

4) Aesthetics- Y'all, laminate flooring has come such a long way! Hand scraped laminate floors (at least the ones that we chose) are just as pretty as many hardwood floors, in my opinion, so they win, or at least come out even with hardwoods in the aesthetics department.

Laminate flooring has come a LONG way, y'all! Learn why I chose laminate flooring for our home!

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So, how did we pick our laminate flooring? What laminate flooring do we use?

After a ton of research, we finally found a laminate floor that we LOVED. We discovered hand scraped laminate floors made by Select Surfaces. The best part is that they are sold at Sam's Club and are only $1.76 per square foot. The hand scraped finish mimics the look of expensive hard wood floors. Plus, these laminate floors are really thick and have the foam backing attached directly to them, so I was hopeful that they wouldn't make that awful hollow sound when you walk on them. Long story short, we took a leap of faith and purchased a whole lot of boxes of the Canyon Oak flooring {I really, really recommend that you order the amount of flooring you need on Sam's Club's website and have it shipped to you–right now shipping is FREE and it will have you lots of loading and unloading! Or, you should pay online and pick it up so that you are certain there will be enough to complete your project. We realized this after making a trip to Sam's Club, only to learn they only had a few boxes of the flooring}.

We tackled our girls' playroom first. It was a beige box, full of nasty, old carpet. We installed the new laminate floors in a day and there was minimal mess involved. The only messy part was ripping out the old carpet and padding {which was pretty gross}.

Laminate flooring has come a LONG way, y'all! Learn why I chose laminate flooring for our home!

But installing the laminate floors was a treat–no sanding, no staining! And after we got the hang of exactly how to click the planks together, things moved very quickly.

Laminate flooring has come a LONG way, y'all! Learn why I chose laminate flooring for our home!

We were beyond thrilled with how they turned out in our girls' playroom. I mean, seriously, look at that texture!

Laminate flooring has come a LONG way, y'all! Learn why I chose laminate flooring for our home!
Laminate flooring has come a LONG way, y'all! Learn why I chose laminate flooring for our home!

And guess what?! NO HOLLOW SOUND WHEN YOU WALK ON THEM! YAY! I was so worried about the hollow sound. But it just isn't there! You would never know that you are walking on a laminate floor.

Laminate flooring has come a LONG way, y'all! Learn why I chose laminate flooring for our home!

A few months later, we installed the same gorgeous floors in our family room. It made a HUGE impact in the room, which looked like this when we got started. Whoa.

Outdated family room

Here's how that room looks now, transformed largely by the new floors!

Laminate flooring has come a LONG way, y'all! Learn why I chose laminate flooring for our home!
Laminate flooring has come a LONG way, y'all! Learn why I chose laminate flooring for our home!

Well folks, I am SUPER excited to tell you that Select Surfaces is generously allowing me to try out one of their newest laminate flooring products. It is the same fabulous, hand-scraped laminate floors, but in a slightly different finish called Truffle. We will be installing them in our hallway and master bedroom. I am SO excited to get the carpet out of those two spaces. It is going to make a tremendous difference!

We will be sharing a detailed post on the installation of the new floors, as well as the dramatic reveal :)  I can't wait to get started. We hope to have them installed by the end of August and the big reveal up some time in September.

Ahhhh, aren't they gorgeous?! They are going to warm the hallway and bedroom up so much. SO EXCITING! Stay tuned :)

Wondering how I approach transforming rooms and spaces in our home? Check out Designer in a Binder®.

designer in a binder--the affordable and simple way to decorate your home

And if you want exclusive content and behind-the-scenes sneak peeks, be sure to subscribe before you head out!

photo and blog post signature of Tasha Agruso for Kaleidoscope Living

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109 Comments

  1. Great article and very in-depth. I agree that laminate flooring is the ideal answer for most homes as it is realistic looking and a fraction of the cost.

  2. The floors are beautiful! But, I need to know how you re-surfaced that stone fireplace. It looks amazing! Did you do it yourself?
    Thanks!

  3. I would like to know what about the formaldehyde in laminate. It is well known it is in laminate and is a carcinogen. I can smell it when I am near it in flooring section. Just curious. Thanks

  4. I totally agree! We used a builder for our current house and let’s just say some of the builder options were… builder grade and we did not want to pay the premium of premiums through our builder to get real hard wood. They didn’t offer a true hardwood, veneer of sorts but more premium upgrade price and I didn’t like the quality. We chose some engineered laminate plank stuff. They were really pushing the wood veneer stuff so we even got credit for the downgrade. lol It’s fantastic. Like you said- you can play fetch with the dog and it’s AMAZING. The few times I have scratched it or dinged it- it would have looked even worse on the other options. It’s a champ in the wear department. It looks gorgeous as well. Laminates have a loooooong way that’s for sure!

  5. I just had laminate installed in my kitchen and I absolutely love it! Easy to clean and doesn’t show dirt as my old white vinyl did. It’s very forgiving if I’m too busy to clean the floor as often as I would like. The best part is that we found one that matches our hardwood floors in the adjoining living room and hall. You have to look closely to see which is laminate and which is hardwood. Plus we are saving trees.
    from another creative soul, Cara.

  6. Hi! I found your post on Pinterest and your blog is great. We just moved into a home that has similar flooring to yours. I’m wondering what you use to clean with? I feel like everything I’ve tried leaves the floor looking dull or has a bit of a sticky residue.

    1. We don’t use anything special. Sometimes I use a normal mopping product and sometimes I just use vinegar and water. Good luck!

  7. We installed this floor and had issues with the as we added planks several rows later the rows a few back would slip out…we love the color and if we can figure out how to fix it will be great. Any good suggestions for installation? We have installed in our foyer and living room.

  8. We just installed laminate back in January. Took us 6 days to do about 1100 square feet, including closets. We bought ours at lowes. Hand scraped burnt hickory. Cheaper than Sam’s Club.

  9. My question is how does it stand up to spills? I have 4 dogs that have stomach issues and sometimes have accidents. I need something that is going to hold up if they sick during the night or if we are not home.

    1. Hi Elaine! We had a HUGE spill with our Christmas tree last year–water was everywhere. We were so worried it would affect the floors, but we had no problems whatsoever. I hope that helps!

    2. You can’t let it sit on the floor, just like your not supposed to use a bucket of water to clean them. If it sits too long it will swell and buckle the joints.

  10. Just wondering can you glue this flooring down? My husband really dislikes floating flooring. Please let me know.

  11. How badly does this color show dust/pet hair/foot prints, etc?? I love it …. but wonder how dark it is. Your home is beautiful :)

  12. After reading your post and the comments, a few things to add my “amen!” to:

    Agreeing with all your reasons for laminate, and a few more, plus some answers.

    First, I’m a ‘nobody’, just another person who chose laminate over hardwood or real wood; mainly because with 5 teenagers, 4 cats, a bird, and a dog, that’s all we wanted to invest in! That said, it was over 10 years ago when we bought a medium grade laminate through Costco, the boys installed it one weekend while my husband and I were out of town with the girls… which was a HUGE surprise! Our floors took a lot of abuse with 7 “adults” and a zoo walking on them every day, but they still look very nice, even after all this time.

    1. Snap together installation: Like I said, our teen age boys laid down the flooring in our front room, family room and down the entire hall… all by them selves, using a table saw to cut, and a few rubber mallots. As stated in the post it takes about 6-8 planks to get the hang of it, after that you wonder why you didn’t get that first try out, then snap snap snap and it’s done in a few hours.

    2. Scratching: Yes, it has scratched in a few places over the years, but nothing that can’t be repaired easily with wood oil or a little polish or in one place we even used a bit of diluted shoe polish! Seriously, the flooring is HARD and it takes a LOT to scratch it, so unless someone (hello clueless delivery guy) is literally dragging a heavily weighted nail across the surface, most everyday use won’t matter at all.

    3. Concrete floor installation: We live in a desert and the floors here are all concrete. We needed to purchase additional “liners” (it’s been so long I don’t know the proper term) for between the concrete and the flooring. The flooring technically “floats” on concrete, (because you can’t nail it!) so they make a thin (about 1/8″ -1/4″ thick) plastic sheeting/liner that you just lay down on top of the concrete, just lay it down, no glue or such. Cut to size with regular scissors. Then the laminate planks sit on that and are held in place by the floor boards. The floors have a little cushion to them when you walk over them, comfy with no noise.

    4. Real wood vs. Laminate: If money were not a problem in my life, if I had plenty of time for maintenance, and or if my home were historical – I would certainly buy real wood. If my budget were still a concern, but due to neighborhood or resale value -someplace where “laminate” would reeeeeally matter to the hoi polloi – I’d invest in tiles (but head’s up- they BREAK! easily and are a bug to replace), other than those, laminate really is nice now so why not?

    5. Pet Hair: You’ll have the same exact dust, dirt, pet hair, and cheerios on your floor as you did before, and yes you will see it all. Think about that a minute. With carpet, you don’t see it all, and let me tell you- that’s disgusting! You’ll do the same amount, maybe even less, floor sweeping, vacuuming, or washing than you do with carpeting, but you won’t have to drag out the vacuum, you can use a swiffer or a dry mop, and it will be much more effective and sanitary than your carpet was. No matter how hard you try to get pee out of a carpet, it just gets diluted and sinks to the pad. With laminate, you can wipe it up before it goes anywhere. (The seams between the planks are TIGHT!)

    6. Babies: The floors are cooler than carpeting, they are also harder, so yes, when baby is just laying on the floor you should place a blanket down. Having an ocean of wood flooring (real or laminate) is kind of staggering, most aesthetics require an area rug here or there anyway, so you should be ok.

    7. Abuse!: 5 teenagers, and pets… and after 10 years (except for that one 6″ scratch from that lunkhead delivery guy- which no one sees now that we fixed it) it looks about 98% as the day we put it in.

    8. Cleaning and Maintenance: Wipe up any wet spills as they happen. A dry mop and/or a swiffer for every day, and a steamer once a week for sanitizing with no streaks. I only use distilled water (distilled because our water is doo doo in the desert) and it still shines. 10 years, nothing but water. As far as any other maintenance, if you *needed* to, you could actually replace a damaged plank because they just snap together, no nails, it would be a bit of a hassle time wise, but it could be done. I’m told if you wanted to you *could* also just uninstall the floor and take it with you when you move, but yikes.

    Long, but I hope it helps!

    1. Super helpful and I absolutely agree with all of your points! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave such a well thought out and articulate comment. I am sure it will help many others!

    2. Love the Look! About to do an install myself. Also had a question…..Where did you get your curtains? Been Chasing a simple pattern like that. Thanks! Tina

  13. Hi Tasha! I stumbled across your blog after repinning a dozen of your pins. I looked you up on FB and from there, I came here. I have the same flooring. I initially purchased similar (but only .9mm thick) flooring at Lowes. When I went to Sam’s for another item, I almost fell over to find that flooring at such an inexpensive price! I did incur some extra cost for ordering the stair tread covers from the manufacturer in Canada, but we are thrilled with sich a high-quality product. It can’t be beaten!

    Heading back over to the kitchen cabinet post to pose a question re: milk paint, now. Thanks for your great blog!

    Lisa

  14. We are considering replacing our vinyl and carpet in the living room and kitchen with hard wood so I’m glad I stumbled across your post! I always thought laminate would scratch more than real wood. What kind of research did you do on types of laminate before choosing? I’m in the early stages and just not familiar with all the options and details.

    p.s. My guy is a fireman too :)

    1. Hi Amanda! We started by finding laminates that we liked the look of (which narrowed it down A LOT) and then searched for quality. The only floors that both aesthetics and quality collided for were the ones that we used from Select Surfaces. I would suggest going to Home Depot and get a feel for the varying quality. The Select Surfaces floors are VERY thick as compared to most laminate floors. I hope that helps! PS- Does your husband work 24 hour shifts, or do they do it differently where you are?

  15. Thanks so much for this great info, I think we are definitely going with laminate in our home. The only thing I am concerned about is the kitchen – our open plan would look better if we had the same flooring throughout the home, including the kitchen. But I am unsure about installing laminate in the kitchen… what do you think, from your experience? Thanks!

    1. Great question, Elisa! I feel torn about whether or not to put laminate in kitchens. I am confident they would do fine with ordinary spills and splashes. But, if the dishwasher flooded or refrigerator water line broke, I would be nervous. I hope that makes sense!

  16. Hi! Thanks for the awesome recommendation on floors. I was looking through the pictures and noticed your fireplace. Did you faux concrete it? I’ve been researching it to do my bathroom countertop.

  17. I would love to share your blog with our website readers! You have some excellent points about why laminate is a good choice! Feel free to email me and let me know if I have your permission!

  18. If cost is the big consideration and you want a hardwood-looking floor, you could use laminate. But to me, laminate looks like imitation wood. I have seen laminate floors in a lot of price ranges…still looks just like what it is. In that case, I would rather have carpeting (which I am NOT fond of). I guess I am spoiled from looking at my floors…1926 bungalow, all original hardwood floors, all in great shape.

    Your site has some really good ideas though and I am using your ‘painting a vinyl floor’ one on my tiny kitchen. Some DIY sites still have ideas that costs tons of money. I like your perspective!

    1. Thank you! I was a wood floor snob, too! I’ve only lived in historic homes with original hardwoods prior to this one–my family home was built in 1900, our first home as a married couple was built in 1930 and our last home was built in 1926. I LOVED our hardwoods. This house was built in 1986 and now I am so in love with laminates! I would NEVER choose carpet over laminate, but I would also NEVER rip out hardwoods out to put them in. Good luck with painting your vinyl floor! I hope your love yours as much as we do!

  19. I love your floors, they match mine. We did the whole house in them. I love the hand scraped look. I as well have a Rotti and was very concerned about the scratching. My dad and husband put them down with ease.
    Thanks for sharing.

  20. Hello, we have a home that was built in 1993. I plan to but laminate in a basement bedroom. Do you need to install a sub flooring or are the planks ok on the concrete floor? Also, did you paint your fireplace stone? Thanks! Loie

  21. Hello! Thank you for your great opinions of laminate flooring – my husband and I are in the process of making the laminate/hardwood decision for our 2,000 square foot open floor plan home as well. We have a 6 month old baby, a 60 pound boxer, and a 15 pound shih tzu. My question for you is about the coloring of your laminate – it looks like a relatively dark color – how does your boxer’s hair show on it and how is the upkeep in cleaning with a dog that sheds the way boxers do? I’ve always had carpet with my boxer so I am a little concerned about installing all laminate or hardwood with her hair everywhere and a crawling baby!

    Thanks so much!

    1. Hi Chelsey! The floors are relatively dark and we don’t notice our dog hair on it at all, except for one area where the sun shines on the floor in such a way that it makes it noticeable. I hope that helps!

    1. Hmmm, I’m not sure, Ann! I would call Select Surfaces and ask about that. We use a little bit of vinegar in water to mop the floor. They are very easy to care for!

  22. I purchased this same flooring a year ago and we love it!! My problem is its developed a cloudy film across top. My question is have u had this issue before, and how do u go about cleaning it? I left my email I was hoping u could contact me.

  23. Other than removing the carpet padding, what else did you need to do to prep your floors? You had mentioned that there was already something on the back of the plank. Does that take care of the additional step I had to do? In my old house I installed laminate flooring but had to add a layer of sound reducing padding.

    I’m also curious about special prep on a slab. Is there any?

    1. Hi Lisa! Yes, the underlayment is attached to this flooring so you don’t have to add the sound reducing padding. We didn’t have to do anything else to prep our wood underlayment. I have no idea what other steps would need to be taken for a slab–we have never installed flooring on a slab. I hope that helps!

  24. The floors look great. We have the same floor and let me tell you if you spill something, wipe it up immediately or the floor will warp.

    1. Hi Ron! We haven’t had any problems with spills or warping. We had a bad spill from our Christmas tree base last year and were worried about the floors, but didn’t have even the slightest problem. I hope that helps!

  25. We own two homes (until one sells!). One has Brazilian cherry hardwood floors and the other, which we completely remodeled over the past year, has laminate that looks almost exactly like yours. We also have two toddlers and a goldendoodle. We are sold on the laminates for precisely the reasons you named. The is also this: The market we are selling our home in is not good. Had we installed hardwoods we would loose profit. I think laminates have a stigma that they just shouldn’t anymore. Also, not only do our floors match, we have the same curtains. :)

    1. Hi Sarah! Aren’t those curtains fabulous?! Glad you are enjoying your laminates as well and I totally agree that laminates have a stigma from years ago that is undeserved!

  26. Question….I know there is hardwood, engineered, and laminate flooring. I’ve read that the engineered is the way to go with the reasons you have mentioned and that laminate was less expensive but poorer quality. Since you didn’t mention engineered I’m wondering if this is what you installed. Thanks!

    1. Hi Terri! Our floors are laminate, not engineered wood. We have engineered wood at my law office and I am very unimpressed with the durability of them. Like solid hardwoods, they show every scratch and especially little dents from high heels. I hope that answers your question.

  27. I have read the reviews and many have complained they had a hard time installing because the planks would not stay together and chipped . Did you have a problem with this?

    1. Hi Debbie! We didn’t have that problem at all. My guess is that people were not holding the planks at an angle to lock them in. Many people think that they should be laying the planks flat to lock them into place, which is not correct and the planks will pull apart if you do that. I hope that helps!

  28. Loved your laminate floors and story. We put simiLar Laminate floors In mY mothers home a year ago. The iNstaller Glued The boards where they go together because mother has an elderly Incontinent dog. No problems due to that! She also Has A big dog and six cats running around like they’re on a race track – No dents Or scratches – the floors look as good as the day they were instaLled! Love them So much and they love so good! Looking forward to seeing more of your Reno choices.

  29. Love how your floors turned out! I have to say that for me, I do like our laminate floors. However, we put them in our open floor plan living room/kitchen/dinning room, and there have been a few milk cup spills, our laminate will swell and bubble….maybe we just bought a really bad brand. Overall though I am happy with them. Thanks for all the great tips!
    -Shonee
    http://www.hawthorneandmain.com

  30. Thanks for your thorough review laminate verses hardwood flooring. We installed hardwood flooring in our previous home and YES, I do agree with you that it scratches easily. My daughter move a piece of furniture across the floor that lost it felt bottom and and it scraped the floor pretty bad. What we did was get a marker that match the flooring and it was a great temporary fix. We have since moved into a new home last year and we are going to remove the carpet and install laminate flooring. After reading your review I am convinced that’s the way to go. Laminate it is! Again, thanks for sharing.

  31. Hey there! I found this article through Ahology, and pinned it there! Then, quickly headed over to see your reasoning. I am coming to the same conclusion in my mind. I was recently at a friends house with beautiful gray laminate wood floors, and seriously had to ask if they were real or not! I am loving the new laminate. The only thing holding me back is whether or not it will add value or decrease value in a home. Of course anything is better than this stained white carpet! Yuck! But, like you…we’ve moved a few times, and I always do things to increase the value for future potential buyers. Did you look into the value factor, at all? Just curious.

    1. Great question, Melissa! We did think about the value issue. We plan to be in this home for 15+ years, so we figure we will have laminate for ourselves and if we think it will be a problem when we sell, we will have wood installed at that point (assuming we can afford it then)! But, with as gorgeous as these floors are, I can’t imagine that wood would add significantly more value. I would be really worried about it with lower quality laminate, but these are amazing. I hope that helps!

  32. Hey Tasha! Love the way your floors look :) We installed laminate flooring in our kitchen a couple months ago and I love them so much! I have a question for you though, what product do you use to clean them? We haven’t had and scratches yet but they do get scuffed from chairs. We are seriously thinking about putting laminate in our whole downstairs, but I want to make sure I know how to care for them first! We installed traffic master colfax laminate floors if that helps. Thanks for your help, I visit your blog at least twice a day :)

    1. Hi Kayla! Thank you! We use a little bit of vinegar in water to clean the floor. They are very easy to care for! I hope that helps and THANK YOU for being a loyal reader of my blog!

  33. How do you clean your laminate floors? How does water affect them? I ask b/c I really love my steam mop and would prefer to use it for cleaning every floor in the house. And b/c my son had laminate floors about 15 years ago, and a water spill caused a seam to bubble up and go soft. Hopefully the newer versions of laminate flooring are more forgiving than the old ones.

    I must say your floors are perfectly lovely!

    1. Hi Ann! Thank you! We clean them with diluted white vinegar and have never had a problem with the water. We even had a ton of water spill from the base of our Christmas tree last year and didn’t have any issues. I hope that helps!

  34. What a great post! I am researching laminate floors to install in our house and will definitely be checking out the Select Surfaces line! This is the exact look I’m going for. :)

    I have to know…where did you get those adorable prints with the states in your living room? I love that idea!

  35. Thank you for a whole lot of great information and pics! I have to admit I wasn’t interested in laminate for all the reasons you stated. I have hard wood in most of my home. I was tempted recently, to the point of having a flooring store measure to do family room and bedrooms in hard wood….they are carpeted and I’d love to get rid of it. You’ve opened my thoughts to laminate. .thanks! Now, how did you check color, in store ?

    1. SO glad to hear it, June! Yes, I went to a Sam’s Club and looked at the colors in person. I am guessing you can also order samples from Select Surfaces. I hope you go for it!

  36. I love our laminate floors. We did a reno 2 years ago and put down laminate on the entire first floor. And like you said, I don’t have to worry about puppy claws hurting the wood. My parents and sister both have hardwood and we have to tippy toe around their houses because they don’t want their floors scratched. Not to mention, my sister has had her floors re-finished every few years (its a pain and expensive!). Can’t wait to see your finished master!

  37. We live in Payson AZ – a small town in Northern Az. We purchased our 2400 sqft 2-story home in 1998 as a future retirement home and as a getaway from AZ summer heat. The (newly constructed) home had been sitting for 2 years and we could see why. A beautifully designed floor plan but the home had entire knotty-pine walls and god-awful cheap carpeting. As time and money allowed we had wall-board installed, leaving the ceilings in the knotty-pine cabin look – also replacing flooring with good carpeting. About 6-7 years ago the carpet looked bad in the traffic areas. We happened to be in Home Depot one day looking at carpet and a gal had us look at their laminated wood flooring. We just couldn’t believe how it looked like real wood. We took a chance and decided to have it installed on both levels, excluding the bedroom areas (due to cold winters here). Looking at the pictures of your laminate flooring, it looks exactly the same as we have! To this very day, people can’t believe that it isn’t real wood. We also have a dog who loves to play ball, and who continually runs and slides – never any scratches seen. Cleaning is a breeze too. I might add that ours was installed with an attached foam backing. There have been no squeaking noises either – which is common on 2-story wood installations. In short, we are now “up in years” and looking to downsize. But our next home will indeed have laminate wood flooring installed – a priority for us. Thank you Tasha for showing everyone the beauty and reliability of laminate wood flooring. And I also enjoy your other decorating tips. Just wish I were a lot younger and could do them all myself!!

    1. Hi Joann! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave such a thoughtful comment! I am so thrilled to hear that you had a great experience with your laminate floors as well. They really are just amazing and we are so excited to be finally installing them on the second floor of our home. Ours has an attached foam backing as well and I think it really cuts down on that “hollow” sound that some laminates have. Thank you SO MUCH for reading my blog!

  38. Hi Tasha. Great post. Now I have a plan for my home. Thank you. P.S. Your banner comes up without the leters D and Y at the end of the word body.

      1. No, actually I have an older desktop with a huge TV monitor. It’s probably because of the Windows version I have. Looks like your readers are going for the laminate floors. Definitely a doable DIY. Anne

  39. I am forwarding your blog to my BFF who is in the process of putting on an addition and gutting her kitchen. She & her DH have been going back and forth about what to install for a kitchen floor. This should be a nice help for them. Thanks!

  40. How are these floors with water? It seems like my husband or grandson is always dripping water on my laminate floors. I run around all the time wiping up drips. You have had yours for 2 years now, have water drips been a problem?

    I would also like to ask, if you don’t mind, how you clean your floors. We just got ours, and Bono was recommended.

    Thanks so much, I always enjoy reading your articles.
    Linda

    1. Hi Linda! Believe me, our floors have sustained plenty of spills and we have not had any problems. We just use water with a little bit of vinegar to clean our floors, but I have heard Bono is great. Thanks so much for reading my blog!

  41. What was the prep work after removing the carpet? Did you have to do self-leveling cement? Did you have to patch carpet tack holes? Do you remove and then reinstall the baseboards or just lay the flooring snugly against the baseboards? What tools were used to cut the planks? I would love a full tutorial or a link to one that has the exact flooring. A list if steps from start to finish would help give me confidence to try this.

    This sounds like the perfect option for my home! Thank you for posting!!! :)

    1. Hi Tammy! Fortunately, our subfloor has been perfectly level so far, so we did not have to do a self-leveling cement. We did not have to patch any holes either. We did remove and reinstsall the baseboards and we used our compound miter saw and table saw to make the cuts. We will be doing a full tutorial in conjunction with the installation of the floors in our master bedroom so stay tuned :)

  42. I too thought I wanted hardwood floors, but after reading your blog, I am certain now that I want laminate! I already have laminate in my kitchen and mudroom, but they have that hollow sound. They are 12 or 13 years old, so I am sure laminate has come a long way since then!! I love the dark colors, the darker/richer the better. We are gutting our kitchen and dining room and now I think I know just what I want for flooring! But we are not doing it ourself, we hire everything out, but our flooring guy is family related and he will do my backsplash also.. Thanks for the detailed information, as it was very helpful! I hope you enjoy your floors–can’t wait to see the hallway and master bedroom!!

    1. Hi Brenda! I’m so glad that you found the post useful! We have worked out Half of the carpet in the bedroom and will start installing the floors tomorrow! Stay tuned:-)

      1. Hi there!
        Love, love your posts and was wondering what did you use to clean the floor that doesn’t leave a filmy finish? Unfortunately my laminate is not as nice a colour or texture of yours..but you are certainly selling me on your brand. They look terrific!

        Thanks alot and have a wonderful day!

        Tessa

        1. Hi Tessa! We just use water with a little bit of vinegar to clean our floors and we have never had an issue with a filmy finish. I hope that helps and thank you!

  43. I am so looking forward to the upcoming post with the completion of your laminate floors. I think this is the product that might be perfect for our house, thanks!

  44. So glad you wrote about this. I have s smaller home and have been looking at laminate for ALL of the reasons you stated. We have an 85 pound yellow lab, an 85 pound black lab/sheep “puppy” and a 30 pound beige Jug. We have small light tile that is a nightmare. And it looks so “cold.” Not cozy at all. Can’t wait until we can get to this (and by “we” I mean my significant other-hehe). I’ll take before and after pics. Any suggestions for color with the range of color in our 4 legged children?

    1. Jean, laminate floors would be perfect for you and your sweet dogs! I can’t wait to see before and after pictures! As for color, you may want to check out cocoa walnut. It’s not quite as dark and has some beige undertones, so your dogs’ hair might blend with it well :) I hope that helps!

  45. Yay for this post!! Our “truffle” floors are being installed tomorrow. Your floors look beautiful.

  46. Wow! What more can I say? This is fabulous and I love reading about the transformation. You certainly did your research. We too come from older houses with beautiful hardwood floors. And now, our present house, was built in 1992 with parquet (no, not the good looking sort of European kind!) over a cement slab. We looked into hardwood when we first moved here and it was too expensive, and the parquet isn’t all that awful. But I love the idea of being able to do one room at a time. I’m going to follow your links and at least begin some research on this! What a great look indeed. Thanks!

    1. Thanks so much, Libby! I am so, so happy that we chose these floors! We have had them for over 2 years now and I am SO glad we did not choose wood!