new flooring was a non-negotiable as part of downsizing...my brain needed to have one level and one design of flooring that flowed seemlessly vs the three we were getting. turns out Bob needs it too, he just didn't realize it until he experienced it.
because we'd hang out with russ + terrie before we bought this place we were aware of the flooring situation. the tile flooring wasn't installed properly so it was cracking and similar to vacuuming gravel when it was time to sweep [turns out it was a subfloor issue]. the three different types of floorng made it visually cluttered, the kind that can't be cleaned up no matter how many things we put away. and living with the current flooring is less than ideal. the small gaps encouraged too much overlap between indoor and outdoor making it feel too hippie for me.
why the flooring install took so long
the biggest struggle with getting new floors was us. imagine that. we debated on heated floors for so long, all spring and summer and a tiny bit of fall. both contractors, the installer and the heat floor guy, were telling us the cost of heat floors probably wasn't worth it for our setup. it would be more of a luxury than something functional that would help heat our home. ugh.
another contribution of the flooring install taking forever was that I really wanted to find something that was eco-friendly, like I shared here. in the end, sustinability, in the sense of a lasting product surpassed the risk of having to replace a more natural one. I had fallen in love with a luxury vinyl plank option, before we even listed our cincinnati house for sale, so picking which vinyl didn't hold up anything.
initiating the new flooring project
maybe the biggest motivator for initating the flooring project was that I started working at a farm. this got my juices going on our dream barn and as we chatted more about the barn build we ultimately decided to hold off on the lux heated floors and put those resources into our new barn.
so here we are mid demo and we're beyond glad we didnt attempt this ourselves. turns out the current floors are a pile of shoty work on top of shoty work. with each peel back of a layer our flooring guy, Tom, would do...I would slightly cringe. I was working up in the loft and I'd hear him say "there's more happiness over here" and "wow this is bad" and "look at what's going on here". yes this means more money but the real cringe part is that it means more days of living through yet another transition. great.
