Fed Up Being So Practical

I think I'd look on it as a temporary fix and aim to replace it in a couple of years, with the wooden floor you want, as the DGC will be older (at least that would be my excuse). It might be possible to recycle the laminate to another room/the shed, or on Freecycle for example, so your practical nature can still be appeased.

I have a sister who admitted that she never let's not having any money stop her having something she wants. I've got to the stage now where I'm thinking she's right. I struggle along with things for ages that are broken she would not for a moment. It is all done ASAP. I now think that's what I wish I had done. She also has top quality things, worktops, flooring etc. Whereas I try to fix things and struggle on.

4allweknow

Engineered Wood does look good, has a different more solid sound from laminate but it does need looking after and it can chip! I'm going for Amtico for my hall when I get round to replacing carpeting.

Just to say that I had Amtico put down in my Through Lounge in my house some 18years ago. Went for top of their range, so it looked like Parquet and had an excellent border which was designed personally for me (on a computer) in the style and colours I wanted. I never regretted the cost from the moment it was finished. Lovely floor, both to look at (always got comments whenever anyone came into the house), and also so easy to keep - occasional sweep or vacuum, even more occasional wipe over with mop.

It covered my dining area, and also patio doors to garden. At the time, my g.children were all young, so lots of mess. When I sold the house eighteen months ago, it looked exactly as it had when it had been put down, and most definitely was a selling point.

In my flat I have recently had Karndean flooring laid in my large living/dining room and hallway. Note this has a 'lifetime' guarantee. Not my lifetime - that of the floor, and this guarantee can be transferred over to whoever comes to live in this flat after I have gone. Again, so easy to keep looking perfect.

Berylsgranny, my son's place had a lovely wood floor. It soon got scratched, dented and grazed - with kids, dogs, grit and things dropped.

Muggins here crawled around with the brown oil 'renovation dye' to make it look a little better before he moved out. It put us all off wood floors.

Now, at his new place, lesson learned, there's beautiful herringbone wood-effect vinyl planks, practical, washable, dent and scratch free!

We have a solid, not engineered wood floor in lounge and dining room, with rugs, It was laid 12 years ago, It is oiled, not varnished. The only thing I have noticed is slight shrinkage of the odd plank, possibly due to central heating. It should in theory be oiled every couple of years, but we haven’t done this. It has the occasional scratch which isn’t noticeable, but could be re-sanded and oiled if it was bad. I expect it to outlive us.

I was very poor as a child in a one- parent family. I had no choices in my life at all, no bicycle, no toys to speak of, no holidays but we read voraciously as books could be borrowed from the library. This took me to other worlds. I made sure I gained qualifications that equipped me to earn enough money to give me choices, as I was envious of those who were better dressed, more confident and, I thought, as a consequence more happy than I. However, now I can afford to indulge myself I find I waste money on impulse buys, especially clothes, that don’t make me any happier. Although I am very interested in interior design and am pleased with my home, I too had laminate rather than a wood floor in my hall because I thought the wood could be ruined by my grandchildren‘S push chairs and beach stuff being dragged over it. I’m not happy with the plasticky look, so to distract myself I had the walls decorated ain an interesting look from the Farrow & Ball source book which I’m very pleased with. It’s my relationships with friends that please me most: you can’t buy a friend who makes you feel good about yourself, so bug-er our laminate floors!