You Have to See This Kitchen Floor and Our Experience with Floor & Decor

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Floor & Decor. All opinions are 100% mine.

Taking on a kitchen remodel and looking for reasons to check out Floor & Decor? We purchased our flooring and backsplash from them and installed our own floors with ease. Take a look at how our experience with Floor & Decor from shopping to installation went!

Why I Chose Floor & Decor

10 years ago when we bought our home, it was a basic manufactured home. Nothing fancy, but it was ours. The builders put carpet in the dining area of the kitchen and the main kitchen area had linoleum. I was insistent that we put in tile floors throughout the kitchen/dining area and bathrooms, and so we did.

However, immediately the grout and tiles had a hard time adhering after having the floor installed and then reinstalled, we found out that the joists to our house were not the right size to support the tile. The grout cracked, the tiles began to break and in general, we were just very unhappy with the flooring. At that point we didn’t have the funds to fix it, so we lived with these floors for 10 years, mending what we could.

We had noticed that a Floor & Decor had opened closer to our home and decided to take a stroll in one day. Walking in was a bit overwhelming, but immediately the associates greeted us and showed us around. We hadn’t even decided at this point to redo our floor, but we knew that when we did, we would be coming back to Floor & Decor because their customer service was incredible. Other awesome things that sold us on Floor & Decor was their top-quality products at rock-bottom prices, the massive in-stock product they had and the free design services available to all!

Our Experience with Floor & Decor

It took very little discussion before Jason and I decided that we were in fact going to put in new floors (and a backsplash). We set a budget to complete both the floors and the backsplash and went back to Floor & Decor. Walking in with the intent to purchase was less overwhelming. We went back towards the flooring and immediately the associates started talking us through our wants and helped us pick the floor that best fit our needs as well.

I initially wanted wood floors. I was dead set on them, but after talking with the Floor & Decor associates, I realized that what our family would benefit most from would be luxury vinyl that was waterproof. With 2 drooly, hairy dogs, 2 messy kids and living close to open fields Duralux Windmill Oak Ridge Core Luxury Vinyl was the best fit for us.

We put our square footage measurements into their online calculator and grabbed 21 boxes of this flooring and then moved to the tile, where another awesome associate helped us pick out our backsplash. Both the associates walked around with us, helping to ensure we purchased everything we needed to DIY this kitchen and were incredible throughout the experience. I felt like we had personal shoppers that were helping us design the kitchen of our dreams. It was awesome.

Prepping for The Floor Installation

We were committed at this point. The floors were purchased and now it was time to get the old ones out. We were told we could install over our old floors, but unfortunately the install of the tile was not done correctly and in order to remove the baseboards, the tile had to be yanked out. So we did. We chipped and chiseled and in the 1/2 of the kitchen that was originally linoleum, the tiles and grout came up super easy.

However, on the 1/2 of the floor that was originally carpet, we ended up having to remove a second layer of subfloor because it was so glued down that nothing (and we used a million different power tools and techniques) was going to bring it up. It took my husband and brother-in-law about an hour to get that section of the floor up. We cleaned up the mess and laid a new 2nd layer of subfloor down to even out the kitchen and dining floors and then it was time to lay the new floors!

Installing Duralux Luxury Vinyl

We purchased enough vinyl to also complete the entryway to our home and figured that we would start there, since it was a small area. We grabbed the razor knife, tape measure, the rubber mallet (not pictured, but ESSENTIAL), straight edge and a few other tools and got too it.

Installation was a learning curve. The planks are designed to snap after being scoured, and it does work, but it takes some serious strength, especially if the cut is not in the center of the plank or if you have an odd angle to cut. Never fear, we found a great solution and were able to get those cuts perfect.

We used a jigsaw to make those tough cuts and it was perfection. The vinyl cut smoothly and truthfully, we felt like using the jigsaw made the process go much quicker than the scouring and snapping. From there placing each plank is super simple.

Starting in the left corner of your space, you place the first plank, use the rubber mallet and some spacers to set the floor in the exact right place and then begin snapping each plank into the last. The rubber mallet helps to gently fit everything together and it came with a small crowbar to help align everything perfectly. We just continued cutting, placing and snapping the planks into each other until the floor was finished.

The Finished Floor!

The floor came out amazing. It looks incredible and in total took us about 10 hours to complete the kitchen, dining area, entryway, a small hallway and a 1/2 bath. Not too bad considering we had never done this before and we have a lot of odd shaped spaces to work with. We still have to trim with some quarter round under the cabinets and put on the baseboards, but updating these floors was just what our home needed.

I love the kitchen so much now. Instead of walking into a dark and ugly space that I had so many hopes for, we are walking into a bright space with pride because we did it. We put the work in and we have the kitchen floors we have always dreamed of. I cannot wait to show you the full kitchen remodel in a few weeks and show you how we got the backsplash done too!