Flooring Xtra: Inspiration + Selection Process

A while ago I mentioned embarking on a little project at home, involving an update to our downstairs living area. A small space, you may remember a few years ago when it morphed into a living room and kids study area. It worked well up until the point where Roman decided to move his desk into his bedroom. Marlow followed suit, and wanting his own little nook, took over the small workspace under the stairs. Becoming a bit of a dumping ground for unused furniture and excess styling props etc, it's been in limbo ever since and I have been itching to get it back to a functional area - one that can be used as a living room, as well as an additional studio space for my styling. 

The whole area downstairs is carpeted. It's the one thing my husband and I disagreed on when we built - I wanted wooden flooring throughout the house, but because the bedrooms are also downstairs, we went with carpet. While it is quiet and soft underfoot, I can't go past the Scandinavian look and visual appeal of wood flooring. I've lost count of the number times people have asked about our engineered wood flooring upstairs. For those who have asked me, the product is White Ash Pre-finished Engineered Timber Polyurethane flooring and it still current and available through all Flooring Xtra stores. 

At the time of building, it was one of the first elements I decided on and I never looked back. Fast forward several years, and the decision making process for downstairs has been a lot harder, because there are so many more choices nowadays. Thank goodness I was in great hands with the team at Flooring Xtra. They immediately recommended Quick-Step Laminate, a stylish, hardwearing and resilient floor that has a wear resistant, scratch resistant and indentation resistant surface. It's also fast, clean and easy to install thanks to the world-famous, patented Uniclic glue-less installation system. Available in an enormous range of colours and styles, we decided to go with Quick-Step Impressive. 100% water-resistant, the planks are nice and wide, while their shorter length is perfectly suited to our small space. 

The next step was choosing a colour, and as you may remember from this recent Musings + Moodboards post, I started out looking at pale wood, as a way of providing cohesion with our flooring upstairs. However I found myself hankering for a change, and really wanted to showcase a different look for styling purposes. I started a secret inspo board on my Pinterest, and quickly it became evident that I was drawn to darker hues. Here are some examples of the images I pinned.

The Kinfolk Gallery (images 1+2) 

Marie Claire Mason

The Line photographed by Homey Oh My

Graanmarkt 13 

Quick-Step Impressive Classic Oak Brown

Quick-Step Largo Grey Vintage Oak

With beige walls also on the wishlist, it was important that I factored this in to my flooring colour choice. Wanting to create a contrast, I was also drawn to those with grey tones. With a Quick-Step shortlist that included a mix of dark, grey and pale woods, I was still feeling a little overwhelmed, but thankfully I had expert help at hand. Soon launching a new website with an amazing app that allows you to pop in a photo of your space and see how the floor would look, Flooring Xtra did this for me and I found it to be an amazing tool. On closer inspection the greys looked a little cool and some of the pale woods blended in too much with my beige paint swatches. 

For the final step in the process, the team brought over the range of Impressive Laminate samples so that I could see them in my space. This proved invaluable! I was able to narrow it down to two colours, Sandblasted Oak Natural, and Classic Oak Brown, as shown below alongside some of the Flooring Xtra Rug Samples. We then moved the planks to the sliding glass doors and saw how they looked in the light. One of the deciding factors was seeing how great the darker planks looked against our black joinery. Lastly, I got my family on board and the boys were unanimous - they all loved the dark one! 

Installation was super fast, and while the room is unfinished, I wanted to give you little glimpse. Something I couldn't appreciate with carpet, I particularly love seeing the afternoon sun hit the floor. 

Styling & photography by Michelle Halford for TDC 

Next up, I'll be sharing my Dulux paint series, including a reveal of the finished room. 

This post was brought to you in collaboration with Flooring Xtra. I only work with products I love and all opinions are my own. For more information please visit my About Page.