Our home is about 6,000 square feet. On the first floor, the initial 1/3 of the space, which includes the front entry, formal living room and formal dining room, is composed of beige unfilled travertine in a versailles pattern. The next 1/3, which includes the kitchen, breakfast room, and den (all open floor plan) is done in a rustic alder wood real hardwood flooring. The remaining 1/3 is carpeted master suite and a carpeted office.
We have been pretty unhappy with the real alder hardwood flooring. The house came with it, and because it's so soft, it is extremely prone to scratching and dents. We are probably going to refinish it but have been holding off because we know it will just start over getting scratched.
Anyway, we want to replace the carpet in the office with some sort of wood flooring. The office is completely separate from the area with the alder wood, so there are no real limitations in terms of continuity. I will say that the stairs in the home are done in a real hardwood (I think oak) and the entire upstairs is carpeted.
We looked at some engineered hardwoods, and we really like that they seem to be more durable than the real hardwood and we can get exactly the color and texture we want without having to experiment with stain color and wood types. They are also cheaper and less messy to install than real hardwood.
We talked to one guy (who sells real hardwood) who basically said that in this market (Tulsa, OK), it is considered gauche to have anything less than real hardwood in a home worth more than $750k. He said for resale, buyers will expect real hardwood in our $1M home. We don't have any plans to sell since we just bought, but we don't want to make a short-sighted decision. We also are considering having the entire upstairs replaced with hardwood flooring in the future, so we will want some consistency with whatever we choose for the office. Any thoughts?
We have been pretty unhappy with the real alder hardwood flooring. The house came with it, and because it's so soft, it is extremely prone to scratching and dents. We are probably going to refinish it but have been holding off because we know it will just start over getting scratched.
Anyway, we want to replace the carpet in the office with some sort of wood flooring. The office is completely separate from the area with the alder wood, so there are no real limitations in terms of continuity. I will say that the stairs in the home are done in a real hardwood (I think oak) and the entire upstairs is carpeted.
We looked at some engineered hardwoods, and we really like that they seem to be more durable than the real hardwood and we can get exactly the color and texture we want without having to experiment with stain color and wood types. They are also cheaper and less messy to install than real hardwood.
We talked to one guy (who sells real hardwood) who basically said that in this market (Tulsa, OK), it is considered gauche to have anything less than real hardwood in a home worth more than $750k. He said for resale, buyers will expect real hardwood in our $1M home. We don't have any plans to sell since we just bought, but we don't want to make a short-sighted decision. We also are considering having the entire upstairs replaced with hardwood flooring in the future, so we will want some consistency with whatever we choose for the office. Any thoughts?