House Remodeling Thread (long)

[ny biker]

Okay I have made my decision. I looked at even more samples, went back and reconsidered colors that I'd already decided against and rejected them again, even reconsidered some a third time. In the end I chose a wood-grain image in a brown-gray. It's "Oak Weathered" from Ecotimber.

http://ecotimber.com/productdetails?...itle1=&title2=

It's a very good image of a wood grain, very realistic. It has more depth than the brown Oak Fumed sample and several of the other wood-grain products that I looked at. It's also a bit lighter than the brown Kilmartin Pine that I'd considered. Ironically it's nearly identical to another product sold by US Floors, the company that sells the Kilmartin Pine. The only difference is that the US Floors product is beveled with an odd silver color on the beveled edges. I almost went with that one but worried about those silver edges. Then I looked again at the Ecotimber product and realized it was just the right color with no beveled edges. I worried that the gray tone was too trendy and would seem dated in a few years, but it really looks good with my wall colors and with most of my furniture. It's softer than a true brown. And the weathered look should help hide any scratches or dings that occur.

Anyway here I sit, ready to place the order. For some reason I'm hesitating. I think it's the overwhelming nature of this project. I've started to clear out closets and put more stuff in storage so there will be less for the installers to move out of the way, but I still have plenty to do in that regard. And then there's that fear -- what will will go wrong, will more of my furniture get damaged, will the installers end up doing a terrible job. I did have a good feeling when I spoke to the installer that I'm going to choose for the job. He's done projects in my condo association years ago and still accurately remembers the way our original floors were installed. He's also a cyclist, which of course has nothing to do with floors but is still nice. More important is the fact that I'm not actually buying the flooring from him -- I'm getting it from a retail store that specializes in environmentally-friendly products for home improvement, and the store owner recommends this particular installer for his customers. If the installer had a habit of doing bad work, I'm sure the store owner would not be working with him.

Okay, I'm going to do it. Getting out the estimates, sending an email to the store to say I want to place the order and move forward.

BTW I think it's funny how I've done complete 180s on some of my decisions with this. When I first looked into flooring, looking at hardwood, I wanted a dark wood color. I saw samples of gray-brown floors and instantly rejected them as being too trendy. Then when I started to look at cork, I instantly decided I didn't want anything that was pretending to look like wood or tile instead. But you're right, Emily, there are many stores and restaurants that have vinyl, porcelain or cork floors that look like wood, and many of look them pretty darn good.