Monday, April 30, 2012

Flooring choices...

So, you know when you schedule your flooring meeting and you think, "I don't want to spend more than XXX dollars," well good luck when you go to the flooring meeting.

That pretty hardwood that complements your foyer? It's extra. So is the upgraded carpet, tile, and a lot of other things. We ending up surpassing our initial budget for flooring by more than $2500, but it is pretty easy to do.

We went to Rite Rug, and our sales lady Susan was pretty helpful. It is pretty overwhelming to stare at colors and try to figure out how it all turns out. After a while, we started looking like these guys:


She said "hard, wood." Heh-heh-heh. 

Yes, the Rite Rug appointment was more challenging than getting those guys a date. But we made some decisions, and learned a lot. Here is what we chose: 

Maple Cognac cabinets with Uba Tuba granite and tile backsplash. We have upgraded Brazillian Cherry hardwood in the hall and downstairs areas, and vinyl in the kitchen (hardwood and tile were another $3000 in the kitchen and morning room, and to be honest, we weren't that crazy about the tile we saw). 

Here's a photo of how it should look (we don't have the diamond-shaped mosaic, only the pewter clip the Rite Rug lady is holding on the backsplash): 


We were surprised that we chose a vinyl as dark as we did, but that wasn't the only surprise we had in store. We found out that the upgraded master bath (with the seat in the shower) didn't automatically come with the fancy tile they had in the model. That was another $1150. I could see the disappointment on Lauren's face, so we went ahead and pulled the trigger on that. Here's how it will look:



We stayed with the white marble sinks in all the bathrooms, but did upgrade the cabinets (Andover Maple Spice) and the ceramic in the secondary showers as well.


Then came the biggest sticker shock of all. I had a feeling we'd have to upgrade our carpets, but we didn't quite realize what we faced. The basic carpet only had a 5 year warranty, and didn't pass our test. But the level 1 upgrade (which had a 10 year warranty) was $2000 more (to do it throughout the home). We went ahead and did the level 2 upgrade, which actually felt significantly nicer and was $800 more on top of that. Oh, if you are considering the level 3 upgrade, prepare for $4200 or so.


See that carpet - there must be flecks of gold in there. 

All in all, we left a little surprised at the additional cost, but we had run some numbers beforehand and extended our budget a little. And, we should be pretty satisfied with the carpet. It's soft enough to sleep on (of course we might have to do that at first...). What surprised you about your flooring meetings?



9 comments:

  1. Same budget shock here. We totally blew our budget on our flooring, but we do love what we picked. I was surprised at the prices and also at the limited choices. Other thing we learned: some of the engineered flooring is just as expensive as hardwood. Who knew?

    ReplyDelete
  2. You're all right! Same deal. We had a budget in mind and knew what we wanted. It ended up being twice as much as we wanted to spend so we went home and calculated what it would cost over 30 years and decided to save ourselves over 10 grand just by choosing to pay for the flooring we want afterwards when Lowe's or Home Depot has a 0% financing flooring event. We priced it out and we will pay the same price for way better carpeting and way better padding. We did go with the upgrade tile in the bathroom because that does end up being worth the cost but the carpeting and hardwood....you can find better in the big stores and NOT pay interest. We'll start out with the ugly standards but will have exactly what we want within a year after closing. We think it's worth the inconvenience.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh man! We havent had our flooring meeting yet....not looking forward to it after what you told us. I'm thinking like Charissa, go basic and do it yourself afterwards for less cost....not to mention not financing it over the next 30 years.
    Great choices on the backsplash. I love the maple cognac cabinets, but cant convince my wife to go the shade darker from the maple spice. As for your kitchen flooring, I don't think its too dark at all. Besides, dark hides dirt better.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks everyone for your thoughts. It was a definite learning experience. We upgraded some, but we can still go back and do more later (we expect to be in this house for a looong time....)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Where can we see the floor plan of the main floor bedroom and extra large pantry?

      Delete
  5. We had the same experience. I originally selected the "B" level tile and it was hideous. Ultimately we took a similar approach, upgraded the items that made sense (carpeting to get the warranty for instance) and will swap out the vinyl in the spare bath and laundry room for MUCH cheaper later. Also, the granite prices in the bathrooms are WAY overpriced. You can get much better deals at Home Depot or Lowe's post construction. It's very easy to get carried away with the upgrades :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I am dreading my flooring meeting this Saturday! In Maryland, Ryan Homes has you go to one place for ceramic tile and another place for carpeting. We have a 9am and a 5pm appointment. I have until tomorrow to make my final decision on the cabinets, so I will be prepared to choose tile for the kitchen. http://ryanhomesjourney.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  7. That we spent over 10K in flooring! We love our choices and would do it all over again though. Plus the hardwood we chose had a 50 yr lifetime. and the carpets had a 15 yr warranty.

    We didn't take the counter top upgrade though. The granite choices we had was 'not what I really really wanted at all. We opted for the free vinyl after finding out from 3rd party contractors we can do gorgeous Quartz countertops post construction for less than what we would pay for the Granite upgrade.

    ReplyDelete
  8. When you are looking for floor installations for your residential or commercial property then look no further than one of our Flooring Installers. This is great place to find hardwood flooring installation experts, and companies that care about quality and service. If you want more info click here link : engineered hardwoods

    ReplyDelete