In the summer of 2021, my husband and I purchased the home next door to my mom and stepdad.
Never in a million years did I imagine that I would raise my own family on the street where I grew up, in the heart of suburban Centennial, Colorado.
Yet, with two young kids, who spend the bulk of their after-school time and random school days off with their grandparents, the move toward the ‘burbs began to make sense.
The decades-old home had great bones, but very little had been updated by the original owner. We were open to making the place our own through a renovation, so we didn’t mind the wood-paneled family room, unfinished basement, or the brown carpet.
After a year of planning, a year of renovating, and a year of living in our home, I’m largely thrilled with our space, but I regret the flooring choices in three critical areas of our house.
The basement feels uninviting without carpet
Reflecting on the amount of time my husband and I spent in our basements growing up, we knew we wanted to turn ours into a great gathering space for our kids.
I also swore never again to have a carpeted basement after our first home’s basement flooded with sewage.
So, we selected a light-colored, wide luxury vinyl-plank floor. It’s gorgeous. But without carpet, the basement feels cold and unwelcoming. Our children hardly ever play downstairs.
Instead, the basement has largely become where I put the kids’ toys before they relocate them to the front room of the house, where they prefer to play.
An added problem is that our anxious dog, Winnie the Poodle, is terrified of the vinyl-plank flooring.
In the rare instances that we go down to the basement, Winnie refuses to leave the carpeted steps and join us.
Our front room has become the playroom, and its carpet is susceptible to many stains
One of the many things I learned — unfortunately, too late in our renovation — was that our contractor was almost always correct.
He recommended putting wood floors in our front room to match the majority of the first floor and current trends. Instead, we installed a soft, gray carpet.
The room now offers such an inviting feel that our kids have taken over the space. At present, the coffee table is covered in Lego bricks, and the floor is barely navigable due to a flying boat made of blankets.
Initially, I was constantly on alert, trying to intercept markers and crayons from the light-colored carpet before they created stains.
At this point, I’ve lost my resolve. Given that this room is also Winnie’s favorite room, the carpet already bears the scars from his anxiety-induced vomiting anyway.
We’ll likely have to get it replaced in the next few years.
The mudroom would be even better with heated floors
When people visit our home, they “ooh” and “ahh” over our mudroom/laundry room, an enormous space with great light and excellent storage. Prior to our renovation, this space was just a tiny dining room.
We spend a lot of time on this room’s tiled floors in bare feet, either doing laundry or getting into or out of shoes. It can be a little unpleasant during colder months.
After experiencing the luxuries of a heated bathroom floor in our primary suite, I wish we had thought to heat these floors as well.
Our renovation taught me a few lessons
Looking back, it might’ve been helpful to live in our home for a bit before making our flooring choices.
However, it wasn’t feasible with the scope of our renovations, and we had no way of knowing just how much one flooring choice could impact how our family (and dog) use a space.
Once our bank account recovers from the reno, I’ll be purchasing a lot of rugs for our basement to try to make it cozier.
We’ll also probably start putting aside money to replace the flooring in our front room. Given that the room is so unexpectedly popular with our dog and kids, the light carpet doesn’t seem like it’s going to hold up for long.
Maybe one day we’ll even retrofit our mudroom with the heated floors we now know we love so much.
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