It’s been all action at the house recently. We’ve had tradies on top of tradies. The plasterers were straight in once the living pod was fully lined with plasterboard. We also had plumbers, electricians, tilers, stair installers and balustrade installers.
As soon as the final coat of plaster was sanded, I was in like Flynn with my paint roller, smashing out the living pod overnight. I’ll admit I lost the will to live near the end, and called in a professional paint crew to polish off the final parts.
Then awesomely the Carpet Court contractors came in to lay our flooring. It’s seems like forever since Kylie and I walked into Carpet Court to scope out our flooring options so we were super excited to watch the guys finally lay it in the house. True to its name, the Quick Step laminate went down in our entire living pod and bedroom pod hallway in rapid fashion. And wow, what a transformation. Good-bye ugly, beaten up sub-floor, hello beautiful Oak and European elegance.
After giving it a thorough test, including a slide down the hall in my socks akin to Hugh Grant in Love Actually, we couldn’t be happier with our choice. Under foot it feels incredibly solid and natural, while the soft browney-grey hue compliments the rest of the house sublimely.
We also had the Carpet Court install team in earlier to lay the carpets in our bedrooms. Once again the impact these floor finishes had in the rooms was phenomenal; reinforcing just how vital great flooring is in your home. As soon as the Smart Strand Silk carpet was down, our three bedrooms became luxurious havens. I’m not kidding. The super thick underlay, combined with the plush pile is so decadent underfoot that you could curl up and sleep on it. In fact the first thing Kylie did when she set foot in our bedroom was to roll around on it with a giant grin on her face, content with its spongey goodness, not to mention it officially completed the first full room in the house.
Jason laying the Quick Step laminate in our hallway.
We love the colour we chose – Long Island Oak – matches the timber we have used in the rest of the house perfectly.
Meanwhile in the living pod John was laying the floor at super speed.
It looks so good. It’s super hard wearing too. John demonstrated how hardy by smashing the floor with his hammer – there wasn’t a single dent.
Kylie was super excited to test out the newly laid carpet in our bedroom – it also heralded the completion of the first room in the house. Yusss!
Hi
I see you chose Laminate instead of real wood which surprised me but I’m pleased as I’m building a new home and I’m being pushed this way and that between laminate and wood — with some people giving advice that you MUST have wood in NZ in order to resell, and then others saying No Laminate is fine — and then there are tiles. I’m older and am on my own so if you could give me some advice on why you chose Laminate I’d appreciate it – your home is absolutely amazing and I think you were so brave to just “go build it” — you deserve an amazing home for all of the hard work it seems you put into it on reading your blog here.
Thank you – Marilyn
Hey Marilyn. Thank you, we’re extremely proud of our house, well worth the effort!
It’s funny as we had the same perception about using timber, however after looking at all the options and weighing up the pros and cons, laminate was definitely the way to go for us. And after living in the house now for 18 months, we couldn’t be happier with our decision.
A key factor for us was we wanted a very blonde/light floor that wouldn’t fade which really is only possible with laminate, unless you want to whitewash your timber floors and keep maintaining them.
Another big factor was wear – we wanted visitors to be able to wear heels and not dent the floors. We’ve had a few parties in the house now where there have been 60+ people and there hasn’t been a single dent or stain. It’s so durable and very easy to clean up any spills.
Our main concern was whether it would look ‘fake’. Don’t get me wrong, there are laminate products out there that do look fake, which is why we ended up choosing the top of the line Largo range from Quick-Step (from Carpet Court). It’s up there cost wise and is imported from Belgium. Each board is unique, without any repeats and has an actual grain/texture to it. They are very wide and extremely solid and feel just like timber underfoot. In fact many people think the floor is timber.
So yeah, it really comes down to lifestyle I guess and how annoyed you would be to see a timber floor mark and dent over time. Along with the style of your home. I think laminate in a villa/bungalow would be out of place for example. We are super happy with our choice and don’t believe choosing laminate has impacted the resale value of the house at all.
We didn’t consider tiles for our living areas as it wasn’t the style we were looking for but we did use them extensively in our bathroom and laundry.
Hope that helps, feel free to fire through any more questions that you have. You might like to watch this short video me made when we were choosing the flooring. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7SWybmkzVc
Hi.
I have just purchased the Largo Long Island light oak for my full downstairs of the house. It doesn’t look anything like yours. Are you sure yours is light oak or natural oak?
Sorry if this seems a silly question, I did think I looked slightly different in the shop, unfortunately we couldn’t take a sample home with us.
Your home looks fab!
Stacey
Hey Stacey.
Thank you, very stoked how the house has turned out. The code is LPU1661 – which is saying Natural Oak. Looking back through our records it was called Light Oak 4/5 years ago when we bought it. So I do wonder if the range has been updated since. Sorry, hope you can return/swap!? The Light looks great though