Let’s talk about wood, shall we? As we mentioned on Tuesday, we decided to go with solid oak hardwoods for the four bedrooms and the hallway upstairs since many rooms downstairs along with the stairs themselves have a nice medium toned oak already (pretty similar to the hardwoods in our first house that ended up being super dog/kid friendly).
As for where to get it, first we looked on craigslist to see if anyone had a large quantity of something in the right tone/amount (no dice) and then we headed to Lumber Liquidators, since we’ve had luck with them when it came to buying hardwood floors for half of our first house back in 2007 and it’s also where we got the cork flooring for our kitchen in 2011. They always have a ton of selection, and tend to have lots in stock along with all of the underlayment & tools in one place, so they’re pretty much a one stop shop for us now that it’s our third time to the flooring rodeo.
Clara walked right in and made herself comfortable (the girl’s right at home on wood flooring, what can I say?) and we had a look around.
She also had some fun on the tiny set of display stairs. According to the guys who work there every kid who enters the store does that as some sort of unspoken toddler rite of passage.
We ended up grabbing six different samples to hold up against the stairs to see which one would be the best match (we tackled this “sampling phase” right before ripping out all of that nasty upstairs carpeting). Since the sun was setting, we waited until the next morning to take them to the new house so we could judge them in natural light.
We decided to try stripping the carpet off of just the top stair so we could be sure the wood under there was still in good shape (if it was completely damaged we’d have to refinish them, which would mean that we could be less careful about picking a matching wood tone for the upstairs). Thankfully the floor under the runner was in great shape (after we pulled about a hundred staples out by hand) and we loved the medium brown tone (not too yellow, not too dark, not too light). Basically it’s the Goldilocks of hard wood.
For a bit more on why we love not-too-dark-not-too-light-not-too-yellow-not-too-red-toned oak, it’s probably 50% personal preference (some people love it redder or more golden) and 50% practical (if you go too dark with hardwoods we hear that every spec of dust and pet hair can be seen, and if you go too light we’ve heard that wear and tear is also easier to spot since it’s such a light surface). And since we had practically the same tone of oak hardwoods in our first house for years (and it worked well for us – we loved how it looked with our furniture, etc) that ended up swaying us.
Can you tell from this bad iPhone picture of all the samples (sorry!) which one works the best with the stairs?
Yup, it’s the bottom left guy. He was the only one in almost exactly the same color and with the same variety of grain (some dark grain and some light grain). It was also the same thickness (2 1/4″) as the hardwood downstairs. So although we loved some of the wider board options, it felt true to our house and nice and cohesive to go with the one that was the right color, had the right amount of wood grain, and was the same width as the rest of the wood flooring in the house.
It took everything in us not to keep going down each step with the crowbar and the pliers, stripping that stained old carpet as we went. But we knew we had a date with the carpeting upstairs (it’s more important to rip that out and lay the new hardwoods before we move than it is to get it off the stairs, which can be done at any time). In the bad news department, that top step took us about 20 minutes to wrestle free (which means we have about three hours worth of work in our future). But stair runner, you have been warned. We’ll be back.
So after judging those samples in the nice natural light of the morning, we returned to Lumber Liquidators a day after our first trip to officially put in our order. We were armed with the square footage for all of the areas we needed to do, so now that we had picked our Hardwood Bachelor (he accepted our rose and everything), it was pretty straightforward.
Here’s a close up of our winner winner chicken dinner. It’s called Lono Oak and it’s a solid wood floor (it’s not engineered, and it’s 3/4″ thick so it can be refinished many times) and it comes with a 25 year warranty. Most hardwood flooring is in the $4-7-ish range, but LL’s list price was $3.69 per square foot.
Here’s where I smiled sweetly and asked my favorite negotiating question, which is “what’s your best price?” Then you just stand there. Resist the urge to mumble “uh, not that I’m trying to be tough” or “I’m sorry, forget it” Just stand there in silence and wait to see what they say. If they can come down, they’ll tell you. And if they can’t they’ll say they can’t and you can smile and say “just had to ask.” John hates this step, so it’s always my job. And before I threw out my favorite line, I also mentioned how this was our third big order from them so we’re definitely loyal repeat customers.
Boom: 10% off our entire order for those two sentences. So that took the price per square foot down to $3.29 and also scored us 10% off other things we grabbed like a special type of underlayment to work with our subfloor (more on that when we get to the installation process). Speaking of installing it, we’re going to attempt to do it all ourselves, and we better get started soon if we hope to move in 2.5 weeks! Plus we want to paint all of the blue/mauve trim (and maybe even the doors?) while the carpet’s out but before the floor goes down. So… yeah. Tick tock, Petersiks.
Meanwhile Clara was busy spicing up their brochure displays…
We left feeling pretty excited about our big upstairs flooring overhaul. Especially since we asked how much it would cost to hire their guys to install all the flooring and they said it would be around four thousand bucks! So assuming we can do it (knock on hardwood) it’ll definitely add up to some serious money saved.
So our hardwoods are ordered and we have a whole mess of blue trim to paint. We’d like to buy a paint sprayer and try our hand at that, so we’ll keep you posted. Should be interesting…
More Flooring Projects
If you would like to read about other flooring projects we’ve done, please check out the posts below:
So exciting! Love the color and can’t wait to see the finished product. It’ll look like a whole new house already just painting the trim and getting hardwoods laid.
We spray painted our trim and doors before we moved in (it was the first thing we did, actually) and I recommend it 100%. The finish is so much smoother!
You’re totally right about dark wood floors showing everything. We just moved into a new place and redid the floors. I love them, but with three long haired cats, the swiffer and I are BFFs now.
Haha! My theory is that there’s one negotiator in every marriage and the other person is like “ahhh, don’t make me ask!” – haha! John’s parents and my parents are like that too!
xo
s
heathersays
Haha. Neither of us have any issue asking for a discount/best offer…ever. Yankee thrift thing? Perhaps.
Love LL! Replaced my downstairs carpet with a solid bamboo flooring from there and have pondered doing the upstairs because yes, so much more dog friendly! Well, to ME anyway… My Lab prefers the carpet!
Because we wanted to self-install (and didn’t want to have to rent and lug home a floor nailing machine thing), we ultimately decided on engineered wood after much research. Engineered can be refinished three to four times, which is plenty long, given that refinishing shouldn’t have to happen for a couple of decades at the very least. Plus it had the advantage for us of being a ‘floating’ floor. We just clicked it in and off we went. I will say that you need quite a firm floor to make floating floors work. We have a firm and level floor and once we put in underlay, it was fine. A bit of bounciness at the very beginning, but not any more. I know friends who put in a floating floor on a slightly non-level floor and couldn’t stand the bounciness, so removed it all and went for straight hardwood.
Good luck, and have fun. Carpets are a scourge and I cheer every time one is removed!
We just wanted it to feel seamless, so we didn’t think cork on the top of an oak staircase would feel like “it has always been this way” as much as choosing to continue the oak flooring that’s downstairs and on the stairs leading up :)
We love our wood stairs, but now have a runner for safety. Nothing like socked feet & wood stairs to send you to the ER stat. (And yes, that happened more than once, sadly)
We had bare wood stairs growing up and, while I love the look, I slipped and fell down them 3 different times. I still have a permanently deformed muscle from the last time.
I grew up in a house with wood stairs and we had a no sock rule so barefoot seemed to be great for all 7 of us who lived there (no stair incidents at all, with four kiddos running around) but John’s house had a runner as a kid (he also had 4 kids in the house), so we’re open to either option! Definitely don’t want anyone getting hurt!
xo
s
Stefaniesays
Socked feet + carpet are just as deadly, I promise! I’ve taken at least 10 headers down our carpeted stairs in my lifetime. Luckily I’ve managed to catch myself on the bannister (or in one really lucky incident, there was a pile of blankets at the bottom to cushion my fall… haha) but they are just as dangerous in my opinion.
We had to put a runner down for dog safety! We were fine – but our dog kept slipping and falling!
Jennysays
We have wood stairs and haven’t had any problems yet (and I know from experience that it’s easy to slip with socks/carpeted stairs, too!).
But our current house has stairs to the finished attic that are a bit non-standard — a shorter run than standard (not as much of your foot fits on the flat part) that’s a little off-putting. I found some indoor grip tape, it’s three inches wide or so and slightly nubbly but not as rough as the outdoor kind, which is like what covers skateboards. Anyway, we put a strip of grip tape along the front edge of each step and it adds SO MUCH to the stability and comfort of going up or down, with socks or without. It doesn’t look bad, either – the light grey color kind of matches the mortar on an exposed brick wall up there and it all ends up tying in.
I totally recommend using that kind of grip tape if anyone’s at all worried about slipping. It also helps visually in seeing where the edge is when you’re walking down the steps, since the wood grain can make that a little confusing to the eye, sometimes.
We might not have done it if we didn’t have little kids, but I’d want it if we were older, too. Just nice peace of mind!
Anniesays
We are so used to hard wood stairs (it’s all we ever had) that my kids all fall down the stairs whenever we visit friends with carpet. I love the wood. Installing hardwood is super easy. You’ll love it. Our contractor friend always uses roofing tar paper for underlayment because he says it is a better moisture barrier–of course, we live on the ocean so that might not matter for you.
We’ve never officially called a “no sock rule” LOL but we have to make our 21 month old (and now he does it on his own) take his socks off just to walk/run around the wood floors on our main floor. Socks are slippery!
We do have carpet on our stairs (it is the full width of the stairs but doesn’t wrap around them – if that makes sense) and we still have a “no dress-up shoes” on the stairs rule. Carpet doesn’t solve a three old going down in slip-on heels! LOL
I totally feel like there should be a giveaway of traction socks coming up haha. I’ve taken a digger down the stairs both ways before (with a carpet and without) and yet I do not own a pair myself yet. Must invest.
Janesays
We have wood stairs too and unfortunately one morning I slipped through the entire flight of stairs because of my stupid fuzzy socks. THANK god , I was ok. But , I am going to look into the grip tape for sure.
Laura Csays
My sister and I never fell down the uncarpeted, wood stairs growing up, but we definitely slid down then in our sleeping bags on a regular basis. Stairs are so much fun when you’re growing up!
Lindsay Ksays
When we moved into our house, fortunately the stairs had beautifully finished hard wood in a perfect mid tone stain. But our Boxer, Tucker, did not fare so well on them. I wanted them to be safe for our dog, but I didn’t want to completely cover up the hardwood with a traditional runner. I did some searching and found tread rugs. I love them. Mine are made of sisal with a cotton trim. They are non-stick on the back but I added some additional non-slip strips for extra security and they works great. They stay in place but because they don’t adhere to the floor, I can still pick them up when I need to clean the floor or pull them all off and vacuum them at once instead of lugging the vacuum up each individual stair. I also love that they look more modern and can easily be changed out if I ever get tired of the color/pattern. There are lots of rug sites that sell them, but I bet someone could DIY some with carpet samples.
Your house has a very similar layout to mine. And your stairway/foyer look identical to what we had. We actually ended up knocking out the wall (to the right as you go down) and opening it up because it was a little cramped in our foyer when you walked in and it’s so nice and open now. It’s hard to explain – I have pictures – it was a fun project :) (I think your foyer is a it bigger) We had to redo the bottom half of the stair case and I can vividly remember tearing out all those staples from the carpeting on the stairs – piece by piece. I thought I would die. Love the hardwood! Good luck with the installation!
That looks ah-maz-ing. What a difference!! My parents should do that in their place…my goodness it’s a whole new house with the wall gone.
Ashleysays
Awesome! Bottom left was my favorite shade when I saw the first picture – perfect medium brown. I’ve heard Sarah Richardson say that dark and light hardwood floors go in and out of style, but medium brown stays timeless.
Wahooo! Our floors got the Sarah Richardson stamp of approval!
xo
s
Katiesays
Love the color!
But, um, that’s a lot to get done in 2.5 weeks! Good luck! The paint sprayer would probably be a really good idea. And maybe get some friends over for a painting party.
That’s exactly what I was thinking. Ambitious! I hope Clara has some grandparent time lined up.
mribarosays
So you only have 2.5 weeks to install some 1000 square feet of hardwood floors AND then sand and varnish it? That’s a lot of work for two people. But I guess, even if you’re pressed to move, you can keep your things downstairs and camp in the living room until the upstairs rooms are finished drying (and airing) out.
There are so many hidden discounts out there, especially for certain professions (military, teachers, etc.) that I’m always asking politely. What’s the worst that’s going to come out of it? “No.” Then I just kindly thank the person for his/her time.
Incidentally, one of our local ski resorts (Powder Mountain) offers a discount to teachers, military, members of the police and fire departments. They also have a good student discount.
I think I may be more excited about seeing the new wood floor/white trim combination than I was about your kitchen renovation! Those two steps are going to make such a HUGE difference! Good luck with install =)
Ahhh! It’s going to be a whole new world with wood floors and white trim! I’ll be up there singing Disney songs.
xo
s
Stephsays
Ahh! Now that song is stuck in my head. And I was just sitting here innocently scrolling through comments and now I’ll be singing Alladin songs all day. :)
So jealous! We took a break from our jobs and left everything to go on a round the world trip.
I read your blog everyday to maintain some ‘normalcy’ while we are away. You know, so we don’t feel so far from home!
As much as we love learning about other cultures and eating foreign foods and sitting on buses for 14 hours and living out of a backpack and sleeping in a different location every night – I CANT WAIT TO PURCHASE A HOME!
In the meantime I’ll live vicariously through you and your home renos! Keep up the great work guys!
You can totally do it. Laying wood floor is super easy once you get going, just remember to leave enough room between the floor and the wall for it to adjust over time.
I am glad you all had a good experience at LL. We did NOT. But we ended up with a similar product for $2.74 a square foot ordered straight from the lumber yard. We love it. Our house now feels fresh and clean. Congrats on the new house.
You guys are so impressive! But I love how realistic and down to earth your blog is. I usually want to breathe into a paper bag when you start talking about what you plan to accomplish in a certain amount of time; but somehow you do it! Thanks for being so real!
Haha, oh man! We have some paper bags out around here- just in case! We were just talking last night about how we might only get two rooms done upstairs and then we’ll just leave the other two rooms empty until after the move when we can finish them. Here’s hoping it goes faster than we thought…
xo
s
Ambersays
I second this. We bought our first house a month ago and I can’t believe how every single project takes twice as long as planned. Even the simple ones! You guys are an inspiration.
bettysays
i just recently installed bamboo hardwood in my MIL master bedroom.. even with all the different walls (it wasn’t a typical 4 wall br) it was much easier than expected and didnt hurt we saved about $500 by doing it ourselves :) good luck, may the hardwood floor gods be with you :)
I’m so thrilled you bought a new house! I know a lot of people are upset, but we traded in our Cape Cod house for a Colonial this past October and have a similar check list of to-do items! Our hardwood floors are being put in next month. Unfortunately we only had HW in the dining and living room so have to do hallways, family room, bedrooms and STAIRS. It’s a very expensive project, but it will make this house SHINE! I can’t wait to get rid of the flaky beige carpeting. The dust is so gross… how did previous owners not do this?? Anyhow – good luck with your project. I can’t wait to see the results!! :)
Thanks so much! I never knew that! Off to fix the spelling :)
xo
s
Jeannasays
Looks good! Good luck guys- packing to move/painting/flooring all in 2 1/2 weeks? Ya’ll are a little craycray! But, we are happy to sit back and watch it all happen! We’re rooting for ya!
Can’t wait to hear about the underlayment and how it goes putting the flooring down. We have the same particle board (glued down with shanked nails over the original hardwoods, so we can’t pry them up without ruining/splintering the hardwood underneath). Soooooooooo, I will be watching your process with great interest… and then will have to convince the hubbie to pretend he is handy enough to install something new.
So excited to see all these changes to the new house. Congrats!
That shade is gorgeous! We had our original hardwood floors redone last year and went with a dark walnut stain. I *love* it, but yup, it shows every bit of dust and cat hair…so I’m not 100% sure I would do it again. And/or I need to get better about sweeping…or buy a Roomba…
Can’t wait to see the new floors in and the trim re-painted – that upstairs is going to look SO different already!
I am seriously coveting some hardwood floors. With two cats and a dog that sheds when you look at him, the vacuum and I could use a break. Plus, there’s the added bonus of sock skiing across a room instead of just walking.
I got a price for the flooring we want from Home Depot, but I didn’t think to try Lumber Liquidators. Since you got hardwood for what they quoted me for laminate, I think it’s worth checking out! Thanks!
I can’t wait to tag along with your progress on the floors. My husband and I just finished installing oak hardwoods from Lumber Liquidators in our dining room and we actually aren’t thrilled with the quality of the pre-finished floors and are actually considering refinishing them! Maybe we got a bad batch because we both had heard great things about LL. It seems that factory finishes just aren’t as sturdy as a hand finished floor so when we do our master suite, we’ll be installing unfinished floors and finishing after installation.
Two big lessons we learned:
1. Wood WILL scratch wood! Always put down a scrap of cardboard or cloth.
2. DO NOT tap the pieces in too tight. We have several areas where my husband got a little overzealous when trying to eliminate gaps between the boards and when we actually nailed those boards in, there was some hairline splitting on the tongue side.
We even used a manual floor nailer that we got on Craigslist for $30. My arms were sore for weeks!
hey love the choice! i’m not sure if you are planning to put a new runner on the stairs, but just in case you are thinking about leaving them bare, i thought i’d share this story. we had the same old carpet runner problem that you do, so we took it up – which did take hours. but we loved the clean look when we were finished and congratulated oursevles. then. THEN. we all started falling down the stairs. i’m not kidding. both my kids wiped out twice each, my husband went down 3 times. i only bit it once, but that was plenty. anyway, i finally threw in the towel and decided safety was going to win out – and in went a new, pretty runner! :)
Oh yes, I’m totally open to bringing in a runner if we need one! I grew up with wood stairs and remembered the no-sock rule (that’s when we always tripped, so we were just barefoot and it was fine) but John’s stairs growing up were carpeted, so we could easily end up with a runner!
xo
s
Kristinasays
We have carpeted stairs and I have fallen down them three times, my husband at least that many, and both my kids have fallen twice. I doubt it matters if they are carpeted or not. Our family is just full of grace and balance. I bet it’s the socks that matter the most.
Great flooring choice. You’re lucky that the downstairs has it at all considering the home’s age–it was built in the midst of a prime wall-to-wall carpeting bonanza. Hope the installation is a breeze!
I am so excited to see how it all turns out! I have to say I love Lumber Liquidators. We just bought laminate floors from them for 20%off but in the time it took to have our order get to the store we saw they were offering our exact flooring for 40%off. Luckily we went to the store and all we had to say was “so we saw that our flooring is now 40%off” and they immediately said “we can adjust it for you”. Yay, we saved an additional $400 plus we had it shipped to the DE store so we didn’t pay sales tax! I couldn’t believe how nice they were, plus the flooring looks sweet!
That’s awesome! I’ll have to keep an eye out for a price adjustment if that happens!
xo
s
Blythesays
Can’t wait to use your “line” on my kitchen reno!!! I love it :) And yes, I’m the negotiator in the house too, the hubby always says – you do it! hahaha
P.S. I love that you’re going with a standard solid wood oak. :)
Ambersays
I feel your pain about the stair runner. I have ripped out two runners and its not much fun. I especially disliked the staples under the edge of the runner overhang. Know what I mean??
Best of luck to you, your backs and knees as you lay your flooring!! :)
Wow,nice :) I like it. I will think of you pulling all those stair staples by hand while I’m counter-setting all the nails and old broken staples (from a carpet install that predates the carpet I pulledup) in my floor so I can have the thing sanded down and refinished.
You rock my cheapo socks from the dollar section of Target. I love that you included the “this is where you don’t mumble and apologize” because that is EXACTLY what I would do!
How do you decide which items are appropriate to negotiate? Or where it is appropriate? I’m not looking to barter my Pantene shampoo at Target, but I feel like I’m missing opportunities because I’m scared to offend someone. Although I have mastered the art of asking for a student discount. I’m paying loans back, gimme deals, holler holler :) Any hints?!
I think at chain stores like Target and HomeGoods they’re not really set up to negotiate so I don’t even think about haggling there, but stores that give you quotes for certain jobs (ex: a window installation from Home Depot, a hardwood order from LL, etc) – those seem to be places that have wiggle room for customers to ask that little “what’s your best price?” question, and in most cases they come down or toss in something on the house. Hope it helps!
xo
s
heathersays
You can totally negotiate at places like Target! I don’t do it often but it’s definitely a thing. For instance, you love a vase that’s full price, but you notice it has a flaw/chip in it that you actually don’t care about. Ask them if they can discount it based on the chip in it! I sometimes don’t do it because I feel bad if there are people behind me in line, but sometimes that pressure of keeping the line moving is enough to have the managers sign off on it quickly so they can get to the next transaction.
marysays
I don’t haggle much because I don’t like when people do it to me. But I asked for a little off a carpet install and was sorry I did. The installers said the quote guy under-ordered the carpet to meet my price, so they had to pull it too tight in spots to have enough. It looked bad so now I usually just get multiple quotes and pick my favorite one, without haggling.
Love, love, love hardwood flooring. They were an absolute must when we built our new house. We have it through most of our house, and we actually did unfinished floors and had our own special mix of stain to match exactly what we wanted. Glad you found something you love and good luck on the install!
That’s the one I picked first time as well. Great match. Honestly, if I only had a fraction of your energy. Clara’s party, DIYing hardwoods, when will you have time to pack?! Oh and a Memorial Day gathering as well? Maybe after you have all celebrated, you can bring them over to your place and have a packing party. Seriously, you two, wow.
Haha, I think we’re crazy. I don’t know how we think we’ll be able to pack this whole house up, but maybe we can bribe friends and relatives with pizza and radio karaoke!
xo
s
Stephaniesays
Clara’s little red purse kills me! She is so cute.
Can’t wait to see the floors in, we want to replace a ton of carpet in our house with hardwood but I’m scared of such a large project! Looking forward to your “after” pictures! :)
I can’t wait to see the finished product! And really, with how much it costs to install, should you ever decide to stop renovating your own home, think how much you could charge to do it for other people!
Lauren @ The Highlands Life says
So exciting! Love the color and can’t wait to see the finished product. It’ll look like a whole new house already just painting the trim and getting hardwoods laid.
Martha says
If only the Bowers lived down the street – then you could just borrow their sprayer!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh man, that would be awesome!
xo
s
Cheryl says
I had the same first thought – need to borrow Jeremy & his paint sprayer!
Ainhoa says
We spray painted our trim and doors before we moved in (it was the first thing we did, actually) and I recommend it 100%. The finish is so much smoother!
YoungHouseLove says
Sounds awesome!
xo
s
Emily G. says
You’re totally right about dark wood floors showing everything. We just moved into a new place and redid the floors. I love them, but with three long haired cats, the swiffer and I are BFFs now.
~Emily
Andi @ Estella's Revenge says
So glad I can read about the process you guys go through. I have a feeling I’ll be undertaking a process like this one of these days. :)
Audrey says
Y’all are AWESOME!!! I am sure you will get in a groove and have no major problems installing the floors (knock on wood…)
Jess @ Little House. Big Heart. says
Definitely agree with your choice! It’s timeless and classy. :)
And Kevin always does the negotiating for us; I don’t have the guts and always feel guilty for asking for a discount!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha! My theory is that there’s one negotiator in every marriage and the other person is like “ahhh, don’t make me ask!” – haha! John’s parents and my parents are like that too!
xo
s
heather says
Haha. Neither of us have any issue asking for a discount/best offer…ever. Yankee thrift thing? Perhaps.
YoungHouseLove says
Hilarious!
xo
s
Robin says
neither of us are that person in our marriage! We’re doomed to pay full price… until one of us gets the guts.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha! Just try my one favorite question! It really works!
xo
s
Karen F says
I was going to say the same thing – my husband is so uncomfortable negotiating, but I enjoy it (well, I enjoy saving money – it never hurts to ask!)
Kitty says
I think that’s so true, Sherry! I have a mild horror at asking and my Husband will negotiate the best price. :-) I just couldn’t do it!
Erin S. says
Love LL! Replaced my downstairs carpet with a solid bamboo flooring from there and have pondered doing the upstairs because yes, so much more dog friendly! Well, to ME anyway… My Lab prefers the carpet!
Gracie says
Oh, I see Clara got a hair cut! Looks cute!!
sophie says
looks good!
Because we wanted to self-install (and didn’t want to have to rent and lug home a floor nailing machine thing), we ultimately decided on engineered wood after much research. Engineered can be refinished three to four times, which is plenty long, given that refinishing shouldn’t have to happen for a couple of decades at the very least. Plus it had the advantage for us of being a ‘floating’ floor. We just clicked it in and off we went. I will say that you need quite a firm floor to make floating floors work. We have a firm and level floor and once we put in underlay, it was fine. A bit of bounciness at the very beginning, but not any more. I know friends who put in a floating floor on a slightly non-level floor and couldn’t stand the bounciness, so removed it all and went for straight hardwood.
Good luck, and have fun. Carpets are a scourge and I cheer every time one is removed!
YoungHouseLove says
So interesting about how much the floor underneath matters! Makes sense though!
xo
s
Nicole B. says
Why didn’t you guys want to go with cork floors again?
YoungHouseLove says
We just wanted it to feel seamless, so we didn’t think cork on the top of an oak staircase would feel like “it has always been this way” as much as choosing to continue the oak flooring that’s downstairs and on the stairs leading up :)
xo
s
Sandi says
Loving these “new house” posts!
Bonnie says
We love our wood stairs, but now have a runner for safety. Nothing like socked feet & wood stairs to send you to the ER stat. (And yes, that happened more than once, sadly)
Melissa says
We had bare wood stairs growing up and, while I love the look, I slipped and fell down them 3 different times. I still have a permanently deformed muscle from the last time.
YoungHouseLove says
I grew up in a house with wood stairs and we had a no sock rule so barefoot seemed to be great for all 7 of us who lived there (no stair incidents at all, with four kiddos running around) but John’s house had a runner as a kid (he also had 4 kids in the house), so we’re open to either option! Definitely don’t want anyone getting hurt!
xo
s
Stefanie says
Socked feet + carpet are just as deadly, I promise! I’ve taken at least 10 headers down our carpeted stairs in my lifetime. Luckily I’ve managed to catch myself on the bannister (or in one really lucky incident, there was a pile of blankets at the bottom to cushion my fall… haha) but they are just as dangerous in my opinion.
Chelsea @ Riding Escalators says
We had to put a runner down for dog safety! We were fine – but our dog kept slipping and falling!
Jenny says
We have wood stairs and haven’t had any problems yet (and I know from experience that it’s easy to slip with socks/carpeted stairs, too!).
But our current house has stairs to the finished attic that are a bit non-standard — a shorter run than standard (not as much of your foot fits on the flat part) that’s a little off-putting. I found some indoor grip tape, it’s three inches wide or so and slightly nubbly but not as rough as the outdoor kind, which is like what covers skateboards. Anyway, we put a strip of grip tape along the front edge of each step and it adds SO MUCH to the stability and comfort of going up or down, with socks or without. It doesn’t look bad, either – the light grey color kind of matches the mortar on an exposed brick wall up there and it all ends up tying in.
I totally recommend using that kind of grip tape if anyone’s at all worried about slipping. It also helps visually in seeing where the edge is when you’re walking down the steps, since the wood grain can make that a little confusing to the eye, sometimes.
We might not have done it if we didn’t have little kids, but I’d want it if we were older, too. Just nice peace of mind!
Annie says
We are so used to hard wood stairs (it’s all we ever had) that my kids all fall down the stairs whenever we visit friends with carpet. I love the wood. Installing hardwood is super easy. You’ll love it. Our contractor friend always uses roofing tar paper for underlayment because he says it is a better moisture barrier–of course, we live on the ocean so that might not matter for you.
Crystal @ 29 Rue House says
We’ve never officially called a “no sock rule” LOL but we have to make our 21 month old (and now he does it on his own) take his socks off just to walk/run around the wood floors on our main floor. Socks are slippery!
We do have carpet on our stairs (it is the full width of the stairs but doesn’t wrap around them – if that makes sense) and we still have a “no dress-up shoes” on the stairs rule. Carpet doesn’t solve a three old going down in slip-on heels! LOL
P.s. Love the floor choice!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh man! Slip on heels sound treacherous!
xo,
s
heather says
I totally feel like there should be a giveaway of traction socks coming up haha. I’ve taken a digger down the stairs both ways before (with a carpet and without) and yet I do not own a pair myself yet. Must invest.
Jane says
We have wood stairs too and unfortunately one morning I slipped through the entire flight of stairs because of my stupid fuzzy socks. THANK god , I was ok. But , I am going to look into the grip tape for sure.
Laura C says
My sister and I never fell down the uncarpeted, wood stairs growing up, but we definitely slid down then in our sleeping bags on a regular basis. Stairs are so much fun when you’re growing up!
Lindsay K says
When we moved into our house, fortunately the stairs had beautifully finished hard wood in a perfect mid tone stain. But our Boxer, Tucker, did not fare so well on them. I wanted them to be safe for our dog, but I didn’t want to completely cover up the hardwood with a traditional runner. I did some searching and found tread rugs. I love them. Mine are made of sisal with a cotton trim. They are non-stick on the back but I added some additional non-slip strips for extra security and they works great. They stay in place but because they don’t adhere to the floor, I can still pick them up when I need to clean the floor or pull them all off and vacuum them at once instead of lugging the vacuum up each individual stair. I also love that they look more modern and can easily be changed out if I ever get tired of the color/pattern. There are lots of rug sites that sell them, but I bet someone could DIY some with carpet samples.
Deb says
Your house has a very similar layout to mine. And your stairway/foyer look identical to what we had. We actually ended up knocking out the wall (to the right as you go down) and opening it up because it was a little cramped in our foyer when you walked in and it’s so nice and open now. It’s hard to explain – I have pictures – it was a fun project :) (I think your foyer is a it bigger) We had to redo the bottom half of the stair case and I can vividly remember tearing out all those staples from the carpeting on the stairs – piece by piece. I thought I would die. Love the hardwood! Good luck with the installation!
YoungHouseLove says
Ooh that sounds cool! Would love to see pics!
xo
s
Deb says
I sent the links in an email but I have no idea if you even get those – ha! Here are some pictures :) (um, I’m not the photographer you are so…..)
http://adventureswiththehenrys.blogspot.com/2011/04/finally-after.html
http://adventureswiththehenrys.blogspot.com/2011/10/shut-front-door.html
YoungHouseLove says
Holy cow that’s amazing Deb!!
xo
s
Kerrie says
WOW!! That is amazing! I don’t think that I would have ever thought to tear out the other wall, but it really opens it up!!
Shannon says
Wow! I’m really impressed! Nice job Deb!
Raeann says
That looks ah-maz-ing. What a difference!! My parents should do that in their place…my goodness it’s a whole new house with the wall gone.
Ashley says
Awesome! Bottom left was my favorite shade when I saw the first picture – perfect medium brown. I’ve heard Sarah Richardson say that dark and light hardwood floors go in and out of style, but medium brown stays timeless.
YoungHouseLove says
Wahooo! Our floors got the Sarah Richardson stamp of approval!
xo
s
Katie says
Love the color!
But, um, that’s a lot to get done in 2.5 weeks! Good luck! The paint sprayer would probably be a really good idea. And maybe get some friends over for a painting party.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh man, we’re pushing it, right? Here’s hoping!
xo
s
Cara says
That’s exactly what I was thinking. Ambitious! I hope Clara has some grandparent time lined up.
mribaro says
So you only have 2.5 weeks to install some 1000 square feet of hardwood floors AND then sand and varnish it? That’s a lot of work for two people. But I guess, even if you’re pressed to move, you can keep your things downstairs and camp in the living room until the upstairs rooms are finished drying (and airing) out.
YoungHouseLove says
It’s prefinished so we don’t have to do the sand and varnish steps luckily. But it’s still gonna be a race! :)
-John
Wendy @ New Moms Talk says
Way to go for asking!
There are so many hidden discounts out there, especially for certain professions (military, teachers, etc.) that I’m always asking politely. What’s the worst that’s going to come out of it? “No.” Then I just kindly thank the person for his/her time.
Incidentally, one of our local ski resorts (Powder Mountain) offers a discount to teachers, military, members of the police and fire departments. They also have a good student discount.
YoungHouseLove says
That’s awesome!
xo
s
Britni says
I think I may be more excited about seeing the new wood floor/white trim combination than I was about your kitchen renovation! Those two steps are going to make such a HUGE difference! Good luck with install =)
YoungHouseLove says
Ahhh! It’s going to be a whole new world with wood floors and white trim! I’ll be up there singing Disney songs.
xo
s
Steph says
Ahh! Now that song is stuck in my head. And I was just sitting here innocently scrolling through comments and now I’ll be singing Alladin songs all day. :)
YoungHouseLove says
You’re welcome ;)
xo
s
Kathryn says
So jealous! We took a break from our jobs and left everything to go on a round the world trip.
I read your blog everyday to maintain some ‘normalcy’ while we are away. You know, so we don’t feel so far from home!
As much as we love learning about other cultures and eating foreign foods and sitting on buses for 14 hours and living out of a backpack and sleeping in a different location every night – I CANT WAIT TO PURCHASE A HOME!
In the meantime I’ll live vicariously through you and your home renos! Keep up the great work guys!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Kathryn!
xo
s
Tina says
You can totally do it. Laying wood floor is super easy once you get going, just remember to leave enough room between the floor and the wall for it to adjust over time.
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Tina!
xo
s
Leah says
I hope you win a rogue $4,000 so they can do it for you in a day and you have that mess outta your hands! : )
Rene @thedomesticlady says
I am glad you all had a good experience at LL. We did NOT. But we ended up with a similar product for $2.74 a square foot ordered straight from the lumber yard. We love it. Our house now feels fresh and clean. Congrats on the new house.
http://thedomesticlady.com/?s=great+wall&submit=Search
YoungHouseLove says
That sounds awesome Rene! I think it’s a franchise, so perhaps different stores have different management/customer service?
xo
s
Sandy says
I know I said it before, but nipper pliers for those stairs! Saved me hours pulling the staples!
Can’t wait to see how the new floors work out. They are beautiful!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Sandy!
xo
s
Bonny says
Laying hardwood is easy! I’ve got hardwood laid in most if my house, all if it self done. Great job matching the tones on your floor!
YoungHouseLove says
That’s great to hear!
xo
s
Tiffany says
You guys are so impressive! But I love how realistic and down to earth your blog is. I usually want to breathe into a paper bag when you start talking about what you plan to accomplish in a certain amount of time; but somehow you do it! Thanks for being so real!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, oh man! We have some paper bags out around here- just in case! We were just talking last night about how we might only get two rooms done upstairs and then we’ll just leave the other two rooms empty until after the move when we can finish them. Here’s hoping it goes faster than we thought…
xo
s
Amber says
I second this. We bought our first house a month ago and I can’t believe how every single project takes twice as long as planned. Even the simple ones! You guys are an inspiration.
betty says
i just recently installed bamboo hardwood in my MIL master bedroom.. even with all the different walls (it wasn’t a typical 4 wall br) it was much easier than expected and didnt hurt we saved about $500 by doing it ourselves :) good luck, may the hardwood floor gods be with you :)
Rebecca says
I’m so thrilled you bought a new house! I know a lot of people are upset, but we traded in our Cape Cod house for a Colonial this past October and have a similar check list of to-do items! Our hardwood floors are being put in next month. Unfortunately we only had HW in the dining and living room so have to do hallways, family room, bedrooms and STAIRS. It’s a very expensive project, but it will make this house SHINE! I can’t wait to get rid of the flaky beige carpeting. The dust is so gross… how did previous owners not do this?? Anyhow – good luck with your project. I can’t wait to see the results!! :)
Alex says
Katie Bower is currently giving away $3k of hardwood flooring on her blog. You guys should’ve played the BFF card :p
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, I saw that! Such a cool giveaway!
xo
s
Diana says
Nice choice, that’s what I would have chosen, too!
No need to publish this, but, as it is the second time I see it on your blog, I wanted to let you know:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rite_of_passage
Sorry if I’m inappropriate.
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks so much! I never knew that! Off to fix the spelling :)
xo
s
Jeanna says
Looks good! Good luck guys- packing to move/painting/flooring all in 2 1/2 weeks? Ya’ll are a little craycray! But, we are happy to sit back and watch it all happen! We’re rooting for ya!
YoungHouseLove says
OH MY GOSH, we’re CRAZY! We have Clara’s party this weekend, a little Memorial Day family thing next weekend and then moving weekend is upon us! Ahh!
xo
s
Eileen says
Can’t wait to hear about the underlayment and how it goes putting the flooring down. We have the same particle board (glued down with shanked nails over the original hardwoods, so we can’t pry them up without ruining/splintering the hardwood underneath). Soooooooooo, I will be watching your process with great interest… and then will have to convince the hubbie to pretend he is handy enough to install something new.
So excited to see all these changes to the new house. Congrats!
Rebecca @This Nest is Best says
That shade is gorgeous! We had our original hardwood floors redone last year and went with a dark walnut stain. I *love* it, but yup, it shows every bit of dust and cat hair…so I’m not 100% sure I would do it again. And/or I need to get better about sweeping…or buy a Roomba…
Can’t wait to see the new floors in and the trim re-painted – that upstairs is going to look SO different already!
Megan says
I am seriously coveting some hardwood floors. With two cats and a dog that sheds when you look at him, the vacuum and I could use a break. Plus, there’s the added bonus of sock skiing across a room instead of just walking.
Ali B. says
I got a price for the flooring we want from Home Depot, but I didn’t think to try Lumber Liquidators. Since you got hardwood for what they quoted me for laminate, I think it’s worth checking out! Thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
Good luck Ali!
xo
s
jaclyn says
I can’t wait to tag along with your progress on the floors. My husband and I just finished installing oak hardwoods from Lumber Liquidators in our dining room and we actually aren’t thrilled with the quality of the pre-finished floors and are actually considering refinishing them! Maybe we got a bad batch because we both had heard great things about LL. It seems that factory finishes just aren’t as sturdy as a hand finished floor so when we do our master suite, we’ll be installing unfinished floors and finishing after installation.
Two big lessons we learned:
1. Wood WILL scratch wood! Always put down a scrap of cardboard or cloth.
2. DO NOT tap the pieces in too tight. We have several areas where my husband got a little overzealous when trying to eliminate gaps between the boards and when we actually nailed those boards in, there was some hairline splitting on the tongue side.
We even used a manual floor nailer that we got on Craigslist for $30. My arms were sore for weeks!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks so much for the tips!
xo
s
jen says
hey love the choice! i’m not sure if you are planning to put a new runner on the stairs, but just in case you are thinking about leaving them bare, i thought i’d share this story. we had the same old carpet runner problem that you do, so we took it up – which did take hours. but we loved the clean look when we were finished and congratulated oursevles. then. THEN. we all started falling down the stairs. i’m not kidding. both my kids wiped out twice each, my husband went down 3 times. i only bit it once, but that was plenty. anyway, i finally threw in the towel and decided safety was going to win out – and in went a new, pretty runner! :)
maybe you guys are less clumsy!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, I’m totally open to bringing in a runner if we need one! I grew up with wood stairs and remembered the no-sock rule (that’s when we always tripped, so we were just barefoot and it was fine) but John’s stairs growing up were carpeted, so we could easily end up with a runner!
xo
s
Kristina says
We have carpeted stairs and I have fallen down them three times, my husband at least that many, and both my kids have fallen twice. I doubt it matters if they are carpeted or not. Our family is just full of grace and balance. I bet it’s the socks that matter the most.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha! Full of grace and balance = hilarious.
xo
s
Starr @ The Kiefer Cottage says
Great flooring choice. You’re lucky that the downstairs has it at all considering the home’s age–it was built in the midst of a prime wall-to-wall carpeting bonanza. Hope the installation is a breeze!
Katie says
I am so excited to see how it all turns out! I have to say I love Lumber Liquidators. We just bought laminate floors from them for 20%off but in the time it took to have our order get to the store we saw they were offering our exact flooring for 40%off. Luckily we went to the store and all we had to say was “so we saw that our flooring is now 40%off” and they immediately said “we can adjust it for you”. Yay, we saved an additional $400 plus we had it shipped to the DE store so we didn’t pay sales tax! I couldn’t believe how nice they were, plus the flooring looks sweet!
YoungHouseLove says
That’s awesome! I’ll have to keep an eye out for a price adjustment if that happens!
xo
s
Blythe says
Can’t wait to use your “line” on my kitchen reno!!! I love it :) And yes, I’m the negotiator in the house too, the hubby always says – you do it! hahaha
heather says
Hope this helps in laying your floors, or for anyone else who might be thinking about it!
http://hardwoodfloorsmag.com/articles/article.aspx?articleid=203&zoneid=2
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks!
xo
s
heather says
P.S. I love that you’re going with a standard solid wood oak. :)
Amber says
I feel your pain about the stair runner. I have ripped out two runners and its not much fun. I especially disliked the staples under the edge of the runner overhang. Know what I mean??
Best of luck to you, your backs and knees as you lay your flooring!! :)
Lilly says
Way to go on the haggling!! That may be my fave part of this post! :)
Callie says
What a gorgeous color of wood you chose!! When I heard ‘oak’ I was thinking more of the yellow/gold tones, but this is lovely! Looks a lot like the finish on the wood step I just refinished in our sunroom. It makes me smile every time I see it :) http://house-capades.blogspot.com/2013/04/wood-step-to-sunroom-hellooo-there-shiny.html
YoungHouseLove says
That looks great Callie!
xo
s
KarenH says
Wow,nice :) I like it. I will think of you pulling all those stair staples by hand while I’m counter-setting all the nails and old broken staples (from a carpet install that predates the carpet I pulledup) in my floor so I can have the thing sanded down and refinished.
Sarah says
Installing floors is easy, but tedious! You guys can definitely knock it out. Once you get in the groove and figure out your pattern, it flies.
Kate says
You rock my cheapo socks from the dollar section of Target. I love that you included the “this is where you don’t mumble and apologize” because that is EXACTLY what I would do!
How do you decide which items are appropriate to negotiate? Or where it is appropriate? I’m not looking to barter my Pantene shampoo at Target, but I feel like I’m missing opportunities because I’m scared to offend someone. Although I have mastered the art of asking for a student discount. I’m paying loans back, gimme deals, holler holler :) Any hints?!
YoungHouseLove says
I think at chain stores like Target and HomeGoods they’re not really set up to negotiate so I don’t even think about haggling there, but stores that give you quotes for certain jobs (ex: a window installation from Home Depot, a hardwood order from LL, etc) – those seem to be places that have wiggle room for customers to ask that little “what’s your best price?” question, and in most cases they come down or toss in something on the house. Hope it helps!
xo
s
heather says
You can totally negotiate at places like Target! I don’t do it often but it’s definitely a thing. For instance, you love a vase that’s full price, but you notice it has a flaw/chip in it that you actually don’t care about. Ask them if they can discount it based on the chip in it! I sometimes don’t do it because I feel bad if there are people behind me in line, but sometimes that pressure of keeping the line moving is enough to have the managers sign off on it quickly so they can get to the next transaction.
mary says
I don’t haggle much because I don’t like when people do it to me. But I asked for a little off a carpet install and was sorry I did. The installers said the quote guy under-ordered the carpet to meet my price, so they had to pull it too tight in spots to have enough. It looked bad so now I usually just get multiple quotes and pick my favorite one, without haggling.
Erin@Managing the Manor says
Love, love, love hardwood flooring. They were an absolute must when we built our new house. We have it through most of our house, and we actually did unfinished floors and had our own special mix of stain to match exactly what we wanted. Glad you found something you love and good luck on the install!
Lisa E says
That’s the one I picked first time as well. Great match. Honestly, if I only had a fraction of your energy. Clara’s party, DIYing hardwoods, when will you have time to pack?! Oh and a Memorial Day gathering as well? Maybe after you have all celebrated, you can bring them over to your place and have a packing party. Seriously, you two, wow.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, I think we’re crazy. I don’t know how we think we’ll be able to pack this whole house up, but maybe we can bribe friends and relatives with pizza and radio karaoke!
xo
s
Stephanie says
Clara’s little red purse kills me! She is so cute.
Can’t wait to see the floors in, we want to replace a ton of carpet in our house with hardwood but I’m scared of such a large project! Looking forward to your “after” pictures! :)
Brenda says
I can’t wait to see the finished product! And really, with how much it costs to install, should you ever decide to stop renovating your own home, think how much you could charge to do it for other people!