Find the reveal post here!
O ne of the features that sold us on this house was the bright, light-filled finished basement. Many homes in our Seattle price range felt small, dark and cramped, so having a lower level with good ceiling height and ample natural light made the house feel much more spacious and functional. That extra daylight downstairs was a major advantage for us.
When I last updated the blog about this space, contractors were building a dividing wall to create a dedicated office in the large room. The downstairs area was very open—too open to be practical—so we chose to split it into two usable rooms. Open floor plans can be lovely, but in this case dividing the area improved the flow and functionality of the whole lower level.
I’ll share more about each of these rooms in future posts, but already we’re delighted with the change. Creating separate spaces has made the basement more functional and, surprisingly, it even feels bigger than before.
After painting the new walls (we don’t have definitive long-term color plans yet, but fresh paint helped tidy the space), we turned our attention to replacing the worn carpet. Under the carpet was old asbestos linoleum tile. Our home inspector advised that the original flooring should remain undisturbed for safety, but could be covered with new flooring.
If you’ve followed this blog for a while, you may remember that a few years ago we worked with Mohawk to install prefinished hickory floors in our previous home. We loved that flooring, so when another opportunity to partner with Mohawk arose for this house, we were eager to work together again.
Because this room needed to be dog-friendly (we now have four dogs who often play in this space), and because the new material had to be installed over the existing asbestos tile, we evaluated several flooring options. Durability, ease of cleaning, and the ability to float over the old floor were key considerations.
After testing many samples and bringing them into different areas of the house to check tones and compatibility with nearby flooring, we chose a high-quality laminate. We wanted a realistic wood look with texture and a matte finish that would still be practical for pets and daily life.
We ultimately fell in love with the Concertina collection in the Smokey Chestnut color. The finish, texture and natural-looking grain give the floor a convincing hardwood appearance while offering the durability and ease of maintenance that laminate provides.
The installers removed the carpet about a week before Christmas and completed the entire laminate installation the very next day. Because this is prefinished, click-lock-style flooring, the process was fast and produced minimal mess and disruption. The installation team was flexible and worked with us to move furniture where needed, so we didn’t have to fully empty the room during the job.
The new flooring transformed the lower level. It brightened the space, feels cleaner and warmer, and gives the entire house a more updated, cohesive look. The realistic texture and color complement our existing finishes and will stand up to active pets and everyday life.
See the full reveal of our new flooring
This post was written as part of the Mohawk Flooring Blogger Campaign; Mohawk provided flooring for our family room to facilitate this review.