Paint and Flooring

It took ten paint samples to make my paint decisions for every room in the house (except the garage, bonus room upstairs, and Florida room). The samples cost between $4.50 and $6 each depending on what coupons I could find. It also took me two months to finally decide and purchase the paint, all from Sherwin Williams. So, here it goes...

For the living room, hallway and kitchen walls we are going with Maison Blanche (on the left). The Kitchen will be in a semi-gloss finish so we can easily wipe-down surfaces. We will not be installing a back splash and we've already learned the troubles you have with flat paint in the kitchen. We painted the lake house back splash area before the wedding a glossy white and it's made a world of difference.

 

And for the dining room and sun room (which will be my reading nook/office/craft space and Jeff's office) we're going with Nantucket Dune (on the right). These pictures don't really show the difference between the two but Maison Blanche is much lighter than Nantucket Dune. I know these colors are a little on the dull side (ie: neutral, builder basic) but it's very hard to pick a color when you're not living in the space and you just want something other than the awful dark gold that's there now. For the master bedroom I've decided on Knoxville Gray which is actually a Benjamin Moore color but Sherwin Williams was able to match (or so they said, I have no way of knowing). It seems even darker on the walls but that's what I want.

 

For the other two bedrooms we decided on Knitting Needles. The front bedroom will be a guest room and the back bedroom will be a guest room/workout space for me. If we have kids we'll just have to move to a house with more bedrooms. The kitchen upper cabinets will be Pure White and the kitchen lower cabinets will be Naval.  

 

The Pure White in the above picture looks grey but I assure you it's just white. I chose Extra White for the trim but I might take those gallons back to be tinted Snowbound. I do want the trim, doors and closets to look clean and crisp but I don't want them to glow. The color name for the laundry/pantry area is unknown but it looks similar to Breaktime.

 

Again the Extra White above looks grey but it's a really crisp white. So those are the colors for the interior of the house. Oh, and when I say "we" picked this color or that color I mean "I" picked it. Jeff has wisely left the paint choices, and many other decorative decisions, up to me. I have not selected the bathroom colors yet but I'll probably just do white. They're not high on the to-do list because the flooring is already in place for those areas. Speaking of floors, I've made a decision on those as well, finally. We went back and forth for many, many weeks on what type of flooring: laminate, hardwood, or tile. I finally went to look at more options than just Lowe's this past weekend with mom. I visited six different options all together: Lowe's, Home Depot, Lumber Liquidators, BLC Hardwood Flooring, The Floor Store, and Warner Robins Supply. After researching best floors for dog owners and looking at prices I finally decided on laminate. I had my eye on this Style Selections acacia from Lowe's from day one.

There weren't many reviews on this product but the price was great, $1.30 per sq. ft. Then there was this acacia from The Floor Store.

I really love acacia. Anytime I walked around a showroom I usually gravitated toward acacia without knowing that was the name. This hickory hardwood caught my eye at BLC.

It's $7.50 per sq.ft. and we just don't have the budget for that. Plus, hardwood really isn't the way to go for dog owners. This was the only laminate I liked (or any flooring options) from Warner Robin Supply.

This was $4.30 per sq.ft. That's the same as pre-finished hardwood acacia from Lowe's! That was a no and we left shortly after learning the price. These two options from The Floor Store and Lumbar Liquidators are interesting.

 

They're both vinyl plank flooring! I would not have believed it by look or even touch. They are priced the same as Pergo Max which is a premium laminate. These vinyl planks have practically no install costs which makes them pretty dang cheap. However, I've decided on Pergo Max Montgomery Apple. There's a sale going on right now and a sale on installation. I'm not sure if we'll purchase the installation but I'm so desperate to finally get in that house I'm going to seriously think it over. These are pictures from the Lowe's website.

 

I think they look is beautiful and the price is great, on sale for $2.49 per sq.ft. I've read conflicting reviews about water on the floors but all the reviewers say they love their floors. My cousin has Pergo in her home and she has a large, very rambunctious dog and has no issues whatsoever. Here are some of the planks laid out in the store.

I'm pleased with my choice and honestly I don't have time to keep shopping and there are just too many options out there. Just like paint colors, it gets overwhelming. Right now we have subfloors, some that need replacing, and we have a little water issue in the master that needs attention pronto. I'll update you on everything that's left to be done before we can move in soon.