When it comes to projects that Corey and I have completed in our house, one of the things we get asked about more than anything else is our flooring. We installed the Style Selections luxury vinyl plank flooring from Lowe’s in Jackson’s room a little over two years ago, and in our living room and dining room about a year ago. We frequently get asked if we still like it, how it’s holding up with dogs, and how we clean it.
Well, I’m nothing if not helpful…so here’s what we think after living with this floor for more than two years:
Bottom line?
We love it.
I could just leave it at that, but I’ll elaborate.
We were pretty eager to get this flooring installed because we hate (hate hate hate) carpet and couldn’t wait to get it out of our house. We wanted something that mimicked the appearance of wood but was a little less precious (we are pretty hard on our floors with two dogs, a toddler, and very little time to devote to upkeep), and we wanted something cheap. My sister installed this same flooring in her home a couple of years before we did, and she was constantly singing its praises, so we figured we would give it a shot.
As I’ve mentioned in previous posts about the flooring, it is a breeze to install. Other than having Corey’s help with prep work and moving furniture, I installed all of the flooring in our house by myself. It’s pretty idiot-proof, and I honestly worried it wouldn’t be very durable with how simple it was – but that’s been far from the truth! I’m pretty passionate about telling the world how awesome this stuff is (I promise they’re not paying me to say this!), so here are some answers to the questions we get most frequently about our floor.
How is it holding up?
The flooring definitely has some dings and scratches from the dogs, but they’re far less noticeable than I would imagine they would be on real wood flooring. You can only see the scratches when the light hits the floor just right, and even then they aren’t bad enough to bother me.
There are a few imperfections from installation – which are totally our fault. I blame this on not taking as much time as we should have with ensuring the floor was completely clean and free of bumps or dirt. There is one board where there was clearly a raised spot in the concrete that I missed, and you can see how it’s affecting the board.
There are a couple of other boards that are peeling up on the edges due to some dust or imperfections underneath them. I think there are two in the whole house.
So, is it possible to fix the issues?
Yes! The beauty of this flooring is that the fix for both of these issues is extremely simple – all I have to do is pull up the board, fix the floor underneath, and lay a new one. We even have some extra boards in the workshop, I just haven’t gotten around to fixing the issues because it doesn’t actively bother me. I plan on trying to add some adhesive to the peeling-up boards before I replace them, just to see how it works, but the other one will need to be replaced.
We have only ever had to replace one plank so far, and it happened the day after we installed the floor. Corey dropped a glass on the floor at just the right angle, it shattered, and it cut up the vinyl pretty bad. We popped a new board into place and you can’t tell the difference – if we had scratched up brand new hardwood flooring, it would not have been that simple of a fix!
How does it look in real life?
I totally understand this concern – it’s so cheap that it almost seems too good to be true (ours cost about $1.50 per square foot)! I can promise you that the flooring looks just as good in person as it does in the photos. We have fooled many, many people who visit our house and don’t believe us when we tell them that it’s not real wood. My sister has had delivery men insist on keeping booties on and laying down protective covering on her floor when bringing in large things because they’re afraid of messing up her nice wood floor!
Does it feel like real wood?
Short answer – not really.
It definitely doesn’t feel like hardwood, but it also doesn’t feel like vinyl flooring. It’s got a wood-grain texture on it, and the vinyl is really high-quality, so it feels nothing like the vinyl flooring that we have in our kitchen. It’s thicker, nicer, and much more realistic feeling. I would say that when you’re walking on it, it feels similar to the texture of hardwood, but it’s cold like tile or concrete. It’s not unpleasant to sit or even lie down on, and I’d say it’s just as comfortable to walk or sit on as hardwood would be.
How do you clean it?
I clean it just like I clean the tile and other vinyl flooring in my home – I vacuum regularly, and I use my steam mop to clean once a week or so. If I’m in a rush and don’t want to pull out the steam mop, I’ll just grab my spray mop and use Mrs. Meyers All-Purpose cleaner to do a quick cleaning.
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We have been more than happy with this flooring since we installed it, and we can’t wait until we muster up the money and energy to carry it into the kitchen (and the rest of the rooms upstairs)! If you’re looking for an affordable, easy-to-install, and durable option for your house, vinyl plank flooring is your friend. Promise.
Have you ever tried luxury vinyl plank flooring? Do you love it as much as I do?
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