Flooring Showroom- Counters, Cabinets, Flooring and More

First of all, let me say, thank God I went into the showroom beforehand to look at all of our options. It allowed us to have a chance to talk about what we wanted in each room and to do some research about what would be best in our home. For example, of course we love the look of hardwood floors throughout - I freakin' hate carpet - but with dogs, having hardwood floors is not the best option. It's a very expensive upgrade and I don't want it to look ruined a year after we move into the house. I even entertained the idea of putting doggie socks on our pups (yes, they do exist) and then realized how ridiculous that idea was.

First Floor

The kitchen is probably the most important room in the house for me and Scott. We love to cook. When we have people over we usually gravitate toward the food and wine, thus the kitchen. So this is where we started. We decided in the beginning with our builder that we wanted granite so we had already placed that upgrade in. We just had to pick out which one we liked. For some reason I just don't love most granites. They're beautiful when I see them in kitchens but it's extremely hard for me to visualize the finished product. Scott and I originally picked out the Maple Espresso cabinets for the kitchen but did a lot of talking after that first appointment and decided that we would have our white kitchen like we had always wanted. When we finally decided on a granite - Santa Cecelia was the only one we both liked - we took the slab over to the cabinets and didn't love it with any of the ones we originally liked. It actually looked really beautiful with the Cherry Java cabinets (what do ya know... another upgrade!) We had the options of picking out a backsplash but didn't even entertain the idea knowing that we could install this on our own for less. Our showroom consultant just said to tell our Project Manager to "lightly glue" the 4 in of granite on the wall so we could remove it to place the backsplash. 

Since we had the cabinets and the counter top we had to find a floor that would work. One of the hardest decisions for us was to figure out what flooring we wanted for the majority of the first level. Since the Dunkirk is a pretty open floorplan, we wanted as few flooring breaks as possible. As I said, we would have loved to have done the manufactured hardwood throughout but we had to come up with a different plan. A week before when I went to the showroom I saw this tile that looked like wood- literally, I had to touch it. It was beautiful... and it was the most expensive tile option they had. In my head I could hear my mother saying, as she has been for years, "Champagne taste, beer bottle budget!" This is me in a nutshell. So obviously we had to go with something else. Looking at some of the other tile options, we found a few that would work. We put everything on the floor together so we could see. We ended up going with the Heathland Raffia tile for the foyer, kitchen, morning room, family entry and 1st floor powder room. With this we chose the bone grout. It's going to be a lot of tile, and I'm kind of nervous that the house is going to feel cold but with some area rugs and the gold hues in the tile hopefully it isn't too bad.

Santa Cecelia granite, Heathland Raffia Tile, bone grout, Cherry Java cabinets, Hickory Deep Java hardwood

One thing we found interesting/annoying at our appointment was that Ryan Homes automatically sets what will come standard in each room. If you want something else, even something that is a cheaper option, you have to pay more to have it. For some reason they have carpet standard in the dining room. Yes, that place that your entire family goes to eat. Who the heck would put carpet in there?!? I'm 26 years old and I still spill my food on the ground from time to time. Anyway, we talked about putting laminate in there (ew, I know, that would have been a horrible choice too) but that would have been an upgrade! So we decided on some manufactured hardwood, which I absolutely LOVE! I would have this throughout the entire house if A) we were rich, and B) we didn't have dogs. It is the Armstrong Hardwood, Rural Living, Hickory Deep Java, 5" planks.

Armstrong Hickory Deep Java

For the great room (living room) Scott and I originally talked about having the manufactured hardwood but our realtor made a good point- how many times do you grab a pillow and blanket and lay on the floor to watch a movie? With our kids, we do it quite often. The family room also converts into a wrestling ring when my husband and the kids are feeling rowdy. With that, we knew the hardwood wouldn't work. We decided to go with carpet (which Ryan Homes sets for this room) but upgraded to the 8lb pad and Shaw Simple Touch Capri. When I saw this carpet I instantly loved it. It is called a twist design and is kind of two-toned, which in my mind means that it will hide any stains better. We also did this in the home office, which we will be converting into a playroom for the kids (yay! for no more toys permanently in our living room!)

Heathland Raffia tile next to Shaw Capri carpet

Second Floor

On the second floor, we decided to go with the standard carpet, color- Thornwood, with an upgraded 8lb pad. Our flooring showroom consultant and our realtor made a good point- why pay the upgrade for better/prettier carpet when the majority of your guests are going to be downstairs in your home? I say if it is that big of a deal to you, got for it, but for us it just wasn't worth the money. 

In the kids bathroom we decided to go with the Bright White counter (which came standard), the Cherry Bordeaux cabinets and Armstrong vinyl- Mocha. We also carried that vinyl flooring into the laundry room and did a Formica Matte White counter.

Bright White counter, Cherry Bordeaux cabinets, Armstrong vinyl- Mocha

Next was the master bath. We originally planned to go with the soaking tub and shower but saw pictures of them and didn't like the look of it. So in our bathroom we were designing an upgraded shower that had a tiled seat and two shower heads. Our Sales Rep, Rob, showed us a master bathroom combination at one of our first meetings that we loved. It was the Sandstone granite and the Maple Espresso cabinets. Carrying those pieces around we found a Level C (upgrade) Heathland Edgewood tile with Marvel Gemstone accents that we loved. We chose the chamois grout (upgrade) to go with it. We also decided for $250 to carry the tile in the shower all the way to the ceiling so we don't get moisture on the wall. All in all we are so excited to see the Master Bath when it is completed!

Maple Espresso cabinets, Sandstone granite, Heathland Edgewood tile with accent row

Close up of the beautiful accents

I actually feel more worn out after typing all this up than I did after the actual appointment. Just have an idea of what you want before going into the appointment and it will be a lot less painful. It can also prevent those really embarrassing couple arguments that I'm sure they deal with frequently in the showroom. We can't wait to see it all come together!