Floors, surfaces, and design studio drama

Not really dramatic actually. Just fun.

Today we had our appointment with T.A.C. Ceramic Tile Co. (Elkridge, MD) to choose floors and bathroom materials. GIVE US ALL THE OPTIONS YAAAAAS WAIT WHAT IS MONEY I AM UNFAMILIAR WITH THE CONCEPT.

Ahem.

It was pretty fun. But yeah, when you go into one of these you should expect to spend some cash. Each time you get a choice it is the same: The first level is hideous and unacceptable, the next level is decent, then the next levels after that are just a little bit more, so if you’re already spending that money why not do it and go all the way and get something FABULOUS. Or at least that’s the trap it is all too easy to fall into… the design associate was actually very cool about not upselling or trying to wring out the dollars, it’s just the dynamic you wind up feeling in retrospect.

It broke down like this:

• Flooring: In fairness, I should say that the first level wood floors were perfectly great, we were just in love with a thicker and more dramatic type that they had in the model. We came into the appointment already decided to have these – but not to go crazy putting them everywhere. So we extended them into the dining room, but nowhere else. We will actually need to put wood in the upstairs bedroom that will function as an art studio. That’s for practical reasons of not getting paint on carpet. So otherwise, we didn’t extend it elsewhere in the house, as amazing as it seems to have it EVERYWHERE.
• Carpet: Level one carpet is perfectly fine if you don’t mind the standard type of pile carpet. Whatever it is technically called. But neither of us really like that, so we upgraded. In retrospect, this is where most of the money we spent today went – upgraded carpets and wood floors.
• Bathroom: Once we got to the bathroom, these rooms you can essentially go crazy without worrying about it. You’ve got three levels of tile upgrades, but the overall cost is low and the difference not a lot. So you can really feel free to just pick what you like best.
• Kitchen backsplash: We went in wanting what they had in the model (who doesn’t) — a white marble brick type effect that looks amazing. But that was not only the top level upgrade, it was “custom pricing” that would work out to be around $3-4k. Not cool! We went with a smaller marble tile type effect that will look very nice, but at half the cost.

Here are some pics of the materials we selected:

Main level flooring, cabinets, countertop combo:

Basement bar flooring (ceramic, for ease of cleanup with spills, possible floods, etc.). The countertops, cabinets, and carpet on that level are the same as the main ones:

Basement bathroom (I actually like this just as much as the upstairs ones, even at a lower price tier!) We’re going with a nice grey type style, with an accent strip that has a cool vertical pattern. We hadn’t really seen much of that before, and it’s a nice contrast to the horizontal type patterns that are more common.

Upstairs bathrooms — full on polished marble baby LUXURIOUS GLAMAGANZAAAAA

I hope all these look just as great when full sized. I’m sure they will.

And so we left the appointment quite happy and excited. Inevitably, we did think of some other questions once we left the building. Always happens. And although we (read: I) don’t want to spend another dime at this stage, we did not discuss:

• wainscoting in the dining room.
• whether / how to get the kitchen cabinets to rise all the way to the ceiling. Looks better, and above all it removes a huge dust trap

So we’ll get back them on that when they contact us to follow up. But for now, a very successful and fun day!