Flooring Choices for our Fixer Upper

It has been exactly one year since we got the keys to our fixer upper home! Some days it seems like there is still SO much we want to do with the house, but on days like today, when I’m reflecting on how far we’ve come, it’s hard to believe we’ve fit so much DIY into one short year. One of the absolute biggest updates we’ve undertaken is the flooring. Do you remember the bright orange carpet like I do?

How about the dingy carpet in the family room (not to mention the wood paneling)?

We had old, stained carpet running throughout the majority of the house, except for vinyl in the kitchens and bathrooms.

My husband and I have taken on MANY floor installations – it might be our best home improvement skill. We’ve put in ceramic tile, refinished hardwoods, installed pre-finished hardwoods, installed unfinished hardwoods, and had carpets installed. There are so very many types of flooring, I wanted to use this opportunity to talk about our flooring choices for our fixer upper. After careful consideration, we decided to install hardwood floors throughout the main living areas of this house: the living, dining, and family rooms, as well as the kitchen and hallways. We chose carpet for the bedrooms and still plan to install tile in the laundry and bathrooms.

The hardwood flooring that we chose was a 6″ wide, ¾″ thick, solid rustic hickory. We wanted the durability and upscale finish of hardwood floors and the ability to refinish them down the road. They turned out so gorgeous!

This is the dining room – it doesn’t even look like the same house without that orange carpet, does it?

Wood floors come in endless choices of color, texture, wood species, engineered vs. solid, plank width and length, pre-finished, unfinished, etc. Talk to a flooring specialist about the type of wood that fits your budget, functionality, and taste in decor. A dark sleek floor could be amazing in a large, modern room, while a warm rustic wood may be just the cozy look you’re going for. 

Our house does not get a huge amount of natural light and we have lower ceilings. This was a key factor in our decision to keep the floors unstained. The lighter wood brightens up the space while the huge variations in grain and color add so much personality to our home. This was a really hard decision – we had the exact same wood species in our last house, but it was stained and we looooved it. After much deliberation, however, we knew it wasn’t the right choice for this home. So just remember that every home is different. Make a flooring choice that works in your space.

Think about how your floors will define the spaces in your home. Running long floorboards the length of the room and/or into adjoining rooms can really open up the space. You can then define rooms/areas with throw rugs.

We are so happy with our hardwood floor choice. It has added considerable value to our home – in the real estate market, yes – but, more importantly, in the way that we feel as a family living in this gorgeous space.

I do want to also talk about carpet for just a minute, since changing out the 40-year-old carpets in the house was one of the first things we did before even moving in. As with all types of flooring, there are many styles, colors, and textures of carpet from which we can choose.

My top considerations in selecting carpet were:  how durable would this carpet be? How light could I make the carpet while still hiding the dirt that a family of five people and countless animals would be tracking across it? What carpet could be used consistently throughout the bedrooms while also laying the foundation for the different decorating styles in everyone’s individual spaces?

In addition to the questions that might help you find the right carpet for your space and needs, I would also suggest really going out to look and feel everything! Do you like loop or cut pile? Do you like a pattern? Super soft for bare feet or more firm for higher traffic areas? We ended up choosing a carpet that has a combination of loop and cut pile for a bit of a pattern. I thought that it helped modernize our house and I liked that if a loop snags, I can trim it to match the cut pile. I do want to point out the picture immediately above. This is a side-by-side of the exact same carpet sample board. The photo on the left was taken with the board laying flat on the ground, looking overhead like you would view the carpet in your house. The photo on the right was taken as the board was hanging up on the rack – the way you look at samples when you’re flipping through them in the store. If you find a carpet that you’re considering, DO lay it down on the ground to make sure you like the look of it as flooring! Finally, consider wearability and how the carpet will hold up to staining – especially if you have a busy family like me.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this glimpse into our floor selection process and some of the “after” pictures. We still have quite a bit of DIY in the works and I’m looking forward to sharing more updates! I also hope you’ve found some inspiration to undertake a flooring project in your own home!