Hi friends! I've had so much fun sharing the house with y'all so far. I've gotten a ton of questions about sources from the last couple of posts and Instagram... your main questions being sources for flooring, counter tops, tile and lights! Today I'll tackle the first two- our flooring and countertop selections.

First off, let me say that I jumped in and sourced most of the interior finishings for our house myself (instead of going through the companies our contractor recommended). It was quite the bear of a task, but in the end, I'm really happy we did it- we were able to buy what we wanted at a better price and saved some big money. I plan to write a separate post about the process of sourcing everything myself, though, so stay tuned!

C O U N T E R    T O P S :

In our kitchen, we chose a quartz material. We love the look of marble but it's such a porous stone that I was really worried about staining, chipping, etc. So we chose a quartz that looks a lot like marble. From what I understand, quartz is one of the stronger natural stone counter materials, and I can vouch- ours has already withstood the (accidental) tests of blue food coloring and red wine just fine! The brand is LG Viatera Minuet. We absolutely love it!

Our downstairs bathrooms (including the powder bathroom and our guest bathroom) have furniture type sinks, so those came with their own tops. But upstairs in the kids baths and our master bathroom, we went with an engineered polar white marble. It was a really inexpensive material that basically gave us a pretty, faux marble blank slate. We chose painted vanities in all the baths and really wanted those colors to shine, instead of the counter tops. And while the engineered marble is really pretty, it definitely doesn't try to compete with the cabinets, which is just what we wanted!

H A R D W O O D    F L O O R S :

We chose to do hardwood floors in our entire downstairs (except for the guest bedroom) and in our upstairs hallway. I. am. in. love. with. our. floors. Seriously, guys. One of my favorite things in the house. I am a big fan of gorgeous dark hardwood floors, but I knew that I wanted a) something easier to keep clean (dark hardwoods would show Tucker hair like woah!) and b) something a bit more rustic/farmhouse style. We wanted a wider plank and chose to go with engineered floors as they fit our budget the best. In the end, Mohawk's Woodside Hickory in Harvest Hickory (WEC89-65) was our choice. It's a hand-scraped hickory wood, so it's extremely hard and stands up to scratches and dents. But it's also already got a few nicks and dings in it which give it character... and also helps to hide any new scratches or dents! And I love the variation in the tone of the wood- lots of lighter spots with some golden areas and even some dark knotty spots. It just has so much character! We literally have loved this floor every single minute we've had it. 

For our stairs, we had red oak treads that the paint crew stained to match the hardwood floors (I have no clue the color!). It's amazing how great they look together, especially with that Craftsman-esque chunky bannister!

Later this week, I plan to share more about our kitchen, especially since I gave you some sneak peeks today! What items do you want me to source next? Lights? Tile? Let me know!