I can’t believe that my neighbor is replacing her wood floor to completely white wood floor, her husband told me that, but the color is white, I can’t seem to find a good picture online.
Is it ghastly?
All that matters is that this is what your neighbor wants.
When we built our house, I chose blue counters for the upstairs bathrooms. Everyone objected…but I wanted them, and I like them.
In my opinion, people need to get what THEY want, not what they think some future buyer will want.
I think it’s smart to think about resale if you know you are moving in a few years. When we were young married, we moved a bunch of times. I think we bought and sold 5 houses in a 9 year time horizon. We always went with the most neutral palette that we could when choosing finishes. The only house where that wasn’t the case was our first one, which we bought thinking we’d have years to fix up. (Lots of ugly wall paper, outdated bathrooms, and a granny vibe). That one languished on the market, we were forced to put in money we didn’t have to strip wallpaper and paint, and we sold for a loss. All the other ones sold very, very quickly, some in bidding wars.
I think I might know the reason for white wood floor. I think previous owner had dark wood, that was the trend 10 years ago, but this family has a few dogs, maybe dog’s hair will show up more with dark wood.
I agree with @momofboiler1, I bought 3 brand new houses in my lifetime, I keep the color neutral. Not just thinking of resale, we tend to keep our house for a long time, but it does make it easy for us to do the interior decoration later on. Most likely at the time we put our name on the list and then when we get to select our flooring, and by the time we move in, we may not know for sure what we want for the house.
Re: noise transmission from second floor - we had cork in bedrooms and upstairs hall, and it’s both quiet and soft underfoot. Add me to the carpet haters. We just moved, and have carpet only on the stairs in the new place. I’d get rid of it but stairs are tricky: carpet is safe since people are less likely to slip. It’s Berber, which I tolerate somewhat better than other styles, but I’d still love to look at something other than carpet, even if my feet appreciate it for now.
You’ve got me thinking about carpet on stairs. I don’t love ours, since it’s a pain to vacuum. But, if I ever take a tumble probably carpeted stairs provide more cushion.
Note: To prevent tumbles on uncarpeted stairs, avoid using them in stocking feet. A young friend of mine had an oops, ended up in the ER.
Zero cushioning effect. Ask me how I know. I much prefer hardwood stairs!
Finally replaced our carpeted stairs from the first level to the bottom level with hardwood. The first level to second level always had hardwood floors. We walk barefoot, slippers or shoes. I agree socks could be an issue. But, the cleaning without carpet has been wonderful.
I gave these to my kids with stairs (hardwood) last year, also to my husband who has mobility issues. They work much better than regular socks All Women’s Socks – Bombas
We recently did a re-model, and after decades with dark wood floors, we went with very light floors and I love them. But our house is on the contemporary side, and this works really well with that. If your home is very traditional, might not look right. Do what makes you happy.
Thanks again for all the feedback!
Still trying to figure this out, ha. 50% of our first floor open concept definitely needs to be replaced (some damaged and other areas just old) - entrance area, hallway, powder room, coat closet, kitchen, laundry room.
Other first floor areas are optional - decent condition cool carpets in the (very low traffic) living room, dining room, and library. Can leave those as is.
Challenge is the family room - it’s the biggest room on the first floor and a few years ago my husband had some high quality, mid-toned hardwood installed (he found at an incredible discount) . I’ve had it covered for 10 years w/an area rug (dogs). We uncovered it a few days ago in preparation for rehab (and, no more dogs).
It’s just stunning and I love it. The idea of ripping it up and replacing with lux vinyl plank is painful. It’s not trendy though - it just looks really nice. And fam room abuts the kitchen so putting lux vinyl plank in the kitchen next to the hardwood would look (I think?) kinda weird. Even if got a close match - it would clearly be a different material.
Wondering if it makes sense to find hardwood to match the fam room and put in entrance hall and closet - and put tile in powder room, laundry & kitchen (the water rooms)? I thought tile was hard and hard to replace tho (so buyers disliked)?
Again SO appreciate the thoughts!
I’d try to match the existing hardwood floors. It’s a gift that you have them in such good condition!
I would try to match the existing hardwood. If you are concerned about the bathroom and entrance area, you can tile those. You won’t be the first person to choose that option. And there are plenty of beautiful tiles you can get!
That’s what we have…a fully wood first floor except for the entry hall, mud room and powder room. The flow with all the same flooring is really nice.
I put dark LVP floors in my kitchen and love them , but we have two yellow labs (see avatar) and their hair does NOT blend in. You can imagine how often I’m sweeping . I do love how they look, though.
Key words here - you love the floor you already have! If they are in great shape and you love them you should not go to the expense of replacing them (eventually) for someone else to live there. Let them make that choice and you enjoy your great floors!
Depending on your wood or tile choice I think think something warm toned (like wood) is so welcoming in an entry/foyer.
Listen, not everyone wants trendy. None of my 3 kids who are young adults would want “trendy” floors - they adore beautiful wood floors and bonus if they are older and well loved. Rugs are so popular now for decor that I think my kids (and me) would prefer the blank slate of a nice wood floor to then personalize a room with the kinds of area rugs we prefer (which for some people can lean trendy if they want them too!)
We thought that too…but our entryway door is a main entry into our house. The tile really has the durability to take whatever is on people’s feet! Wood is not so forgiving.
But I will agree…if would look nice!!
Good point if the entry is the main entry. Our back entry into the kitchen is actually our “mainly used” entry - the front entry into the foyer is just really for occasional visitors - everyone else uses the back.
What’s on the floor on your back entry?
Our current house has a tiled vestibule before entering the foyer but our pervious home had hardwoods at both entrances. I just used area rugs.
To be honest, I’m not EXACTLY sure what it is! It’s a tile look, but not tile. (The flooring guy was concerned our old floor boards could not take the weight of tile.) Sort of a laminate plank? Not wood look or wood at all, it’s like a hard not shiny laminate that came in rectangular planks? It’s 20 years old and could use a refresh but we are house hunting and not going to replace…