My Dream Wood Floor

Here’s a quick ‘how long have you been reading this blog’ check. Remember when Brandon and I installed bamboo flooring in a couple of rooms in our first house?

We were so house-proud. Dark bamboo was especially good against pale pink walls!

It looked equally at home with charcoal gray, too. There are a bunch of options out there for dark bamboo, depending on whether you like it to be almost black, a little warmer with more brown, textured, or smooth. This espresso stain looks the closest to the finish we used all those years ago. Floor & Decor has a bunch of videos on their site, including one all about bamboo flooring.

That home was old (built in 1910), but the second floor was a later addition and we felt like we could deviate a bit from the style of the house. The dark floors were dramatic, and they provided the contrast I tend to love in design. A word of warning though — dark floors, be they wood, bamboo, carpet, or tile, need more frequent cleaning because every speck of dirt, dust, or pet hair shows. Still, they look good enough that I would take the tradeoff.

We’ve put in new flooring in the Victorian too. I was very pregnant when we remodeled the second floor, so I wasn’t about to do the installation myself. We did half of the hallway and got to a stopping point, with the intention of taking a break, having a baby, getting the house rewired, and then continuing on. The electrical work is about 80% done, according to the electricians, but the last 20% is going to see us ripping up a lot of the house to access everything. Poor house. But then we can finish the hallway (and a few other projects that the rewiring had put on hold)!

The solid hardwood I chose for the hall is a skinny Gunstock Oak. I tried to match up our existing wood floor as closely as possible, in color and width. I do sometimes miss the drama of the dark floors in our old house, but a medium tone is beautiful too.

In a different house though? I would kill for a chance to install one of these gray wood finishes. I’ve seen a few of these at the store, and I think this one is my favorite. Installed in a chevron or herringbone pattern? It would be so good.

You know, like in Jacques Dirand’s Paris flat.

Sigh. Total dream floor. Does it really fit in a Chicago Victorian? DON’T CARE. But it doesn’t make sense to randomly add it to a hallway, and so we didn’t. Now if we were ever to replace the floor in the main rooms? It would be a serious contender.