Wide Plank Wood-Look Laminate Flooring Reveal

I’ve been talking about our flooring project for a while now, and today’s the day I’m finally sharing all the details on what we chose!

I went into the hunt for the perfect new flooring with a pretty open mind. I knew I liked the wide-plank, textured wood look, and I also knew that we didn’t have a zillion dollars to spend on this project. Beyond those factors, I was pretty open to the many different colors, materials and styles available.

I looked at photos on Pinterest for inspiration, but the problem was that I loved too many different looks! Check out my Pinterest board for flooring inspiration here – you’ll have ALL the heart eyes, but you’ll also see what I mean about loving lots of different styles. While Pinterest is usually my go-to for finding commonalities in the styles I’m drawn to, this time it wasn’t helping me narrow down my search at all.


After checking out some local stores, I was browsing at Floor & Décor with my mom when she pointed out a unique detail on the Saddle Oak Beveled Laminate by American Spirit that really caught my attention. This particular choice had wide beveled, blackened edges, so where the seams meet, it forms a deep groove emphasized by the dark color.

Photo Source: Floor & Decor

This particular detail conjured up a dreamy image in my head of an old-world cottage, with worn, creaky, hundred-year-old floors. It might not be everyone’s style, but what can I say ? It’s my vibe through and through!

Between the delicious textural details and warm, traditional wood tones (and the clearance price wasn’t too shabby either), I was head over heels and ready to pull the trigger! We purchased enough flooring for the entire first level of our house, plus a few extra boxes in case of mistakes or miscalculations.

Since they have lots of DIY experience, my parents helped Ben and I lay the flooring in our entryway, living room, den and dining room. We followed this helpful tutorial by Floors To Your Home on how to lay locking laminate flooring.


Photo Source: Floor & Decor

The dark beveled edge made it easy to see when the planks weren’t locking correctly because the lighter tone of the locking lip would show through slightly. Some pieces were a little finicky, but overall it was a fairly easy project and went very quickly.

Here are some quick snaps of what it looked like as the flooring was going in (please excuse the blurry cell phone shots):

Progress in the den. Once we pulled up the carpet, we found that these “drop-down steps” were hardwood, so we just stained them to match the new flooring.
Hi, Ben’s legs!
First strip laid in the dining room through the entryway
Progress in the entryway
Looking into the den from the entryway
Looking into the den from the kitchen
Looking into the kitchen from the den. Unfortunately, these tile steps would need to be rebuilt from scratch, so we ultimately hired a professional to handle that task.
More progress in the entryway

After laying the new flooring in the dining room, entryway, den and living room, we were about halfway finished with the first floor. Since the tiled kitchen floor needed to be pulled up, we waited over a year to tackle phase two of the project and ultimately hired a contractor to complete the toughest parts of the job. It was a dusty couple of weeks, but once it was done, we were absolutely thrilled with the end result.

Pulling up the tile in the kitchen
Progress in the kitchen
The new drop-down hardwood steps between the kitchen and the den, stained to match the new flooring

Now we have the same flooring all throughout the first level of the house, and it looks beautiful (if I do say so myself)! I’m really happy with the product we chose and how it ended up looking. It fits in so nicely with the existing character of our home.

I can’t wait to show you more spaces I’ve been working on so you can see how our new floors look in every room. Just wait until you see what a big difference it made in our entryway — the reveal of that space is coming very soon! Be sure to subscribe here so you don’t miss a thing!

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