we are currently grappling with the decision of the upstairs flooring. i am endlessly confident and comfortable with our decision to do a poured concrete floor on the first floor. while it may be hard, it's indestructible and easy to clean. three dogs and probably a cat and a lot of muddy boots later, i'm going to darned thankful for all that lovely moppable concrete. but let's go back upstairs where we have a subfloor to cover.
wood is an easy choice, right? and i love these gorgeous wide plank floors from dinesen. more than the plank, i love the simple lye & soap finish. no shine, just honest barefaced wood. (the word polyurethane just makes me cringe.) so you'd think we have it all figured out. except these floors are mostly douglas fir. softwood... not a dog-friendly thing. and toenail track marks are not the kind of beautiful patina that usually makes me love old things so. but of course hardwood costs a bundle more. a huge freaking bundle.
there are all kinds of wood samples floating around the house right now. i'm counting the pennies in the piggy bank and debating form and function. i'm so tempted to go with the pine and just let life happen and let the house create its own story. our dogs have always been part of that story, maybe it's not such a bad thing?
any thoughts on dogs and floors? hardwoods vs. soft? any solutions we may have missed?
xo. r
i have had pine floors in rentals (including once with 2 dogs), and i loved the character they had. of course, they were ancient + i didn't pay to have them installed...
ReplyDeleteWe have pine floors in our house, and while they are "charming" they really show everything. When we moved into the house and rolled our furniture in on dollies, the wheels left long grooves in the floor because the pine is so soft. It's those kind of things you'll have to think about with pine. I hear bamboo floors are virtually indestructible and pretty inexpensive. I think they come in all types of styles, too. I noticed it at Home Depot the other day priced at less than $3/sq foot, dirt cheap.
ReplyDeletewe have luxury vinyl planks which can be wide, ours have the texture of weathered wood, and it held up to our sicilian mastiff's tough nails...while our bamboo flooring did not hold up to those toes. for looks and durability i'm more impressed with the vinyl than with anything natural.
ReplyDeletewe have stained & polyed pine in our current kitchen and that's been nearly destroyed by those sweet pups in just five years. i'm aiming for a lye/soap finish with the new floors and hope that will be more forgiving. maybe the dogs would all like to wear slippers in the house? we did look at bamboo and vinyl, and i know this sounds really silly, but the sound of feet or shoes on those floors bothers me! (at this point my husband just stares at me until i'm forced to admit i may be just ever so slightly on the picky side.)
ReplyDeleteOnce kids arrive, whatever the dogs have done will pale in comparison anyway. :)
ReplyDeleteI'd be interested in those luxury vinyl planks that LeFiligree mentions above. I've always hated housework (have you ever been to a cemetery and seen a stone that said "I wish I had done more housework"?) and at the age of 66, I want to sew and bead and garden, not baby my floors. But whatever you use, put ceramic tile in the bathrooms and kitchen and use the floor of your choice everywhere else.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to see more pictures of your home-in-progress!
we plan on replacing our flooring with wood grain porcelain tile and underfloor heating. you get the look of wood, but the durability of tile. plus it can be used in every room of the house. it gives a nice flow. you can get it for less than $2 a square foot at home depot.
ReplyDelete