Living With And Caring For Wooden Floors

I was looking back through last year’s Instagram photos in the run up to Christmas the other day and found THE one, of our living room with the tree up. In the caption I’d sworn to have the carpet out by the time next Christmas came around and lo and behold, that was the motivation I needed to make it happen.

It’s now around two months since our dream floor was laid in the living room. We knew that a carpet would never be practical with a dog and cat but it served a purpose when they were little and in the process of toilet training so we were able to be completely unprecious about any accidents.

When we decided on wooden floors I think our friends and family raised a few eyebrows because it seems as equally impractical with a dog as a carpet does. Could I be choosing style over substance? Especially when there are so many better value imitation options on the market these days such as Amtico and good quality laminate.

The problem is though (and definitely my financial downfall) that I just can’t contemplate shortcuts. Even though no-one else would know or even care what flooring we have. I know, I care. So for me all along I knew that only quality wooden flooring would do to create both the look and feel we were after to try and recreate a period element to our 1930’s home.

And now here we are. The herringbone parquet is down and we’ve had a little while of living with it and adjusting. Guess what? We LOVE it. There were a couple of heart-stopping moments in the early days with people dropping keys, Maddie doing her best Bambi impression as she couldn’t get to grips with a slippery floor. Overall though, it’s one of the best improvements we’ve made to our home.

For starters, it’s beyond easy to keep clean BECAUSE I CAN SEE THE ANIMAL HAIR. No matter how many times I vacuumed the carpet, I never felt like it was clean. These days the hair can’t escape and just sits on the surface of the floor and a quick clean with the soft brush attachment on our vacuum works a treat. Even Maddie has adjusted and learned being careful in here means she doesn’t slide all over the place. Having had carpet which never felt clean, plus laminate/vinyl in other parts of our home which also feels like it’s never clean, this has been a revelation.

It also feels so much warmer than the carpet did and I can’t really explain why because it makes no sense. Perhaps it’s the depth of colour or maybe it’s the quality of the product. We did opt for oak and if you’re based in and around the big smoke, there are plenty of places to source durable solid oak flooring in London.

Whenever we make a big change to the house, like replacing flooring, I always get the sense that the walls breathe a huge sigh of relief. We’re pouring our heart and soul into putting the love back into this space. We’re here for the long term and when I look at this floor it feels like it’s always been here. It’s a modern touch whilst also paying homage to the era the house was built in and hopefully in 5 years time we’ll still be as enamoured with it as we are now.

Post in collaboration.

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