Welcome! I’m excited to share the progress in our lower-level family room and show off the new Mohawk flooring. If you missed the before post, you can refer to it to see the earlier state of the room. We’re really pleased with how the floors have transformed the space.
The new flooring was installed the week before Christmas while our home was already full of holiday activity and other projects. I loved how quickly it went in—the transformation felt like a one-day makeover. Because the floors are pre-finished, there was no sanding, staining, or sealing required after installation, which made the process fast and convenient.
Pre-finished flooring is one of the fastest, most noticeable improvements you can make to a room, alongside a fresh coat of paint. We chose Mohawk’s Concertina laminate in Smokey Chestnut and have been delighted with the look and durability. This is our second home with Mohawk pre-finished flooring; we had their natural hickory floors in our previous house and loved them there as well.
Remember the swine-colored walls, pink blinds and old carpet? Fresh paint and new flooring provide such a strong backdrop for a room that the change is dramatic. Updating the floor alters the entire feel of the space because flooring covers so much visual area.
I’m in love with the rustic texture, matte finish and warm tone of these floors. They feel traditional yet current, and the natural grain gives the room a cozy, lived-in vibe without feeling dated.
The new flooring makes this area feel like an added part of the house because we’re naturally drawn to it now. The warmth and texture make it inviting for family time, and the whole room feels cleaner, more comfortable and more stylish.
Besides paint and flooring, we recently added a cozy sofa from Interior Define. I’ll share details about it in a future post. The wooden Persian rug has been in the family for years, and most of the other pieces are ones we already owned. There’s more to do in this room, but it already feels welcoming and comfortable.
We had family visiting just days after the install, so the floors were immediately put to the test. They handled furniture moves, four dogs tracking muddy paws, and lively family activities without issue. We needed a floor that could stand up to everyday use, and these have exceeded our expectations so far.
The wall behind the chairs is a new partition we added; the other side forms a new office, which I’ll show in an upcoming post. I’ll share before-and-after photos of that wall addition so you can see how the layout shifted.
One more look at the before and after:
In addition to the new wall, we painted the walls and fireplace in Benjamin Moore Simply White, added trim around the fireplace to close gaps between the brick and drywall, removed the pink blinds (we’re still deciding on window treatments), and installed the new Mohawk flooring. The result is a much fresher, more cohesive space.
There are still a few things we plan to add or tweak over time, but we’re thrilled with how far this room has come in the past few months.
Thanks to Mohawk for providing the beautiful flooring used in this makeover.