In the five years I’ve lived in this house, I can confidently say that the new hardwood floors are the biggest transformation to date. I’m so excited to share the final reveal with you today!
The first morning I padded across the new floors in my bare feet, I giggled because it was the first time ever that the floors didn’t squeak or shift. Everything was so still and serene.
The floors are truly the star of the show on their own, but I love how they also compliment the holistic design of the house. Every room feels so much brighter and cleaner, and it almost feels like an entirely new house. I’m absolutely in love with the warm undertones and the varying yet subtle difference in tone across each board.
In this blog post I shared how I naturally (wink wink) came to the decision to keep the stain a more natural finish after I saw the wood in its organic state and I’m so glad I trusted my gut and acted on my initial reaction. My contractor used the Pallmann Pall-X 96 Satin in a water base. He did two coats. I decided to go with a Satin finish, as I didn’t want super shiny floors (gloss / semi-gloss) but also didn’t want them to appear dull. Based on the fact that all of my windows face north and south in the house, I felt this would be a safe bet without too much shine. I’m super happy with the decision!
While we were at it, we decided to install all new baseboards and raise the height. The new five inch baseboards scale so much better with the large rooms and high ceilings vs the previous three inch baseboards (which also had so much wear and tear on them). To save both time and money, I opted to paint the baseboards myself while the contractors were installing the hardwoods. For two weeks, I would wake up at 5am, go down to my garage and put the first coat of paint on as many baseboards and pieces of quarter round as I could. I’d place them on plastic dixie cups to dry while I went to work, then would apply the second coat after I got home from work.
After a couple days of this new routine, I came to look forward to painting while I listened to 90’s on 9 on SiriusXM. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad this is over and I’ll never have to do it again! By doing this work myself, I was able to save on professional painters, and also avoid potentially getting paint on the new hardwoods!
I couldn’t be happier with the final results, especially with the craftsmanship and professionalism of my contractor, Flavio with FGL Flooring. If you’re in the Nashville area and need new hardwood floors, I couldn’t recommend him enough. They finished both on time and on budget, which is something I’ve never been able to say before.
Still to come is the staircase (I’ve learned so much already about staircase terminology). I can’t wait to share it with you, as well as the final cost breakdown for the complete flooring renovation.
Flooring looks great.
Thank you so much! I couldn’t be happier with it and am amazed every day by how transformative it’s been to the overall aesthetic of the house.