Posted by jsexton – October 10, 2006 9:43 PM

One of the choices we got stuck on (actually it was me who got stuck), was the color of the wood floor. We're planning wood floors in the kitchen, dining room and eating area. Angelique felt a dark wood floor was the best fit for the rest of our design, and Gretchen was going along with that idea.

I wasn't loving it. But I played along for a while and tried to be a good team player. Dark wood floors look very cool and sophisticated, but I really like bright, shiny, natural oak floors. They warm up a room and seem to enhance the natural lighting. I worried that dark floors would have a dampening effect on the room. Also, our entryway has oak flooring, so by sticking with the natural look we could save some money.

Angelique, making sure the details are covered.

All along Angelique recommended that an illustration of the room would help us finalize our choices. Now she suggested two illustrations (one with a dark floor, the other with a light floor) that would clearly show us how each choice would look. We weren't completely sold on the need for these illustrations, otherwise known as perspective-drawings-to-scale. We discussed them several times, went back and forth, and finally decided to go ahead with them.

In hindsight, this is the one choice so far that we weren't happy with. The illustrations were sort of a waste of time, and they were expensive. We could have made our decision about the floor just as easily by looking at photos of other kitchens.

Ultimately we decided on the natural oak flooring. Lesson learned on the illustrations. We can skip those for our next kitchen remodel-- that is, if we live through this one!