Hard-Grass Flooring

Flooring. The word that stumped us for months.

The ranch house had many many square feet of sub-floor to cover, and we had many many options. But there are two problems with lots of options; first, not being able to decide what we wanted. Second, making a decision (based on those many lovely, luxurious options) and then unsuccessfully attempting to cram the cost into a budget that's just not quite big enough.

And by "cram the cost into a budget that's just not quite big enough" I mean this; we knew we wanted solid hardwood floors. We knew we wanted something dark. This lead us to one conclusion; Brazilian Ebony. Ha! In our dreams. At $8 per square foot, that wasn't happening.

And so, we sort of, somewhat indecisively, settled for Walnut- only to realize that we couldn't afford it unless we downgraded to a thinner, engineered plank. The thin planks aren't as sturdy, so we were worried about quality. We don't ever plan on replacing our flooring, so this was a one time shot- in other words, we knew we'd better get it right the first time.

Brazilian Walnut

And to be totally honest, we weren't all that crazy about the green tones in Walnut. (Weird, right? Walnut has a lot of green in it. You can't see it in the photo above, but it's obvious when you see the large sample in the store.) But it was the darkest colored flooring that we could (maybe) afford. So, finally, after months of debating, we finally made a decision; we'd let God take care of it.

Okay, I know, that's not (technically) a decision. But non-the-less, we committed it to Him in faith, and He never disappoints. Even in trivial little matters like the flooring for our house. It must give Him joy to tend to the needs of his kids, regardless of how small or inconsequential they may be. Or maybe it was just to give us a chance to brag on how great He is to us. Either way, praise the Lord!

Here's how it went down; One night, a couple of months after giving the problem to Him, I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't get back to sleep. This never happens. But there I was, wide awake. So I moseyed on over to the computer and checked Lumber Liquidators. Well, by golly, there just happened to be a terrific deal on carbonized bamboo flooring. By terrific, I mean too-good-to-be-true compared to every other option and price we'd seen. And better yet, it was in a color we knew we liked, because we'd seen the same kind in a friend's house. Not only did we know we liked the look of it (which was always uncertain with other options, since we only had small samples to go by), but get this- it was solid! Not exactly solid hardwood, since bamboo is, in fact, grass. (Yet, interestingly not green, like walnut.) But the point is that these were wide, thick planks, not the thin, small planks of the cheap versions of walnut flooring that we were about to settle for before this little big discovery in the middle of the night.

Carbonized (Horizontal) Bamboo

And even though this variety is more of a mid-toned color, there are a lot of beautiful variations in it (excuse the dust);

And it's a nice contrast to our very dark espresso kitchen cabinetry and stair trim;

So, in the end, we think it works better than having really dark flooring. Balance and contrast is good!

So, waking up in the middle of the night and stumbling upon this great deal was a huge blessing. We placed an order that same day, before the sale ended or stock ran out, and voila; floor problem solved.

Praise Jesus. Has He done anything surprising like this for you guys lately?

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P.S. Lumber Liquidators is a great company to purchase floors from! We definitely recommend them if you're in the market for flooring. See the exact bamboo we ordered here (not necessarily on sale though).

P.S.S. Did I mention that bamboo is eco-friendly, just like another one of my favorite things? (Hint; first word- "cloth". Second word- "diapers".)

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