Wood-look Tile Floors

My hands-down favorite flooring is the tile that looks like wood.  You get the look of wood but without worrying about scratches or water damage.  This stuff is bullet proof- you can vacuum, swiffer, steam, bleach, mop….anything goes.  In fact, they told me if the house burned down the floors would be fine!

When we moved in to our house in Florida we had a white tile by the front door then carpet up to the kitchen.  Tile was in the kitchen only and back to carpeting.  It was all chopped up and made me CRAZY. This photo shows the new tile.
The first time we refloored we were assured Pergo was the way to go for 4 kids and 3 dogs but the underlayment wasn’t laid properly and the wood swelled from the cement slab. Thank God because it was the dead wrong flooring choice.

We had Pergo everywhere but the kitchen at that point then we had it all pulled out plus had the kitchen tile removed.  We went with the dark wood tile put in everywhere but the master and planned to do that later when the wallet recovered.

 

 

Having the same flooring from the front to back door makes the space look larger and the rooms flow continuously.

I loved that I never had to stress about any spills or accidents that hit the floor.

I loved that rich, dark Black Walnut when it was freshly cleaned.

Bliss, right? Wrong!

 

This is what we had installed- https://www.lowes.com/pd/Style-Selections-Serso-Black-Walnut-Wood-Look-Porcelain-Floor-And-Wall-Tile-Common-6-in-x-24-in-Actual-5-75-in-x-23-75-in/3815453.  I used the darkest grout color (which hides dirt) and was a smart decision even years later.

However, while I looooooooved the tile my color choice made the upkeep a headache.  I chose the darkest color but we had 3 dogs with black, white and blonde fur.  The light fur showed up on the dark tile requiring me to constantly sweep, run to roomba and swiffer. Kinda exhausting.  It was a love/hate scenario.

I recommend getting tile that matches your dogs or get a variated color pattern if you can’t win like me.  Originally I wanted a barn wood look like this https://www.lowes.com/pd/Emser-Explorer-8-Pack-Paris-Wood-Look-Porcelain-Floor-and-Wall-Tile-Common-12-in-x-24-in-Actual-11-81-in-x-23-62-in/1000048453 but feared if we ever sold it wouldn’t be as widely accepted as a classic dark wood look.  Why I worried about resale in my decision making *when we had zero intent to move* must have had to do with our military past!

We had just added the same tile in the master bedroom so that the entire main floor was complete with the same uniform flooring….and then we put the house up for sale.

And guess what? The flooring was a hit with prospective buyers!  Now I’m in a new house with chippy choppy flooring – tile, wood and carpet.  It makes me crazy.  So someday it’s ALL coming out but it’s gonna be a while 😉