Advanced Flooring/Design Center Selections

Our flooring appointment was today at Advanced Flooring.  When Kristen originally called to schedule my appointment, I had jokingly asked if they "hated babies"?  She replied that she preferred children not to come but couldn't "request they not come".  I understand that the appointment would be much easier without children but that statement in a nutshell sums up my flooring experience at Advanced Flooring.

I HATE my flooring option  choices.  I hate how the appointment went. 

I only have a specific budget for flooring, I based my upgrades on the flooring.  I have been searching other Ryan Homes blogs to get an idea of what I wanted.  I had a particular vision in my head.  In the first 10 minutes of the flooring appointment it all changed. 

The very top of my flooring budget included Level G laminate throughout the first floor (excluding Family Room and study) and Level B carpet in the rest of the house.  If for some miracle I liked Level F laminate we could upgrade to Level C Carpet.  I decided to upgrade the Master Bath to tile level C because I don't think we could get someone to tile for that price.  We would also get vinyl flooring in the secondary bathroom and laundry room.

Let me start and say as we walk in to Advanced Flooring the store is set up with a large desk and a high top island covered with a black colored fabric/carpet.  Inside this island are Ryan homes tile, granite, linoleum and laminate countertop selections.  Directly in back of the island is a room with Ryan homes carpet and hardwood selections.  To the left is another home builder sample selections and to the right was another home builders cabinetry, bathroom and sample selections.  On the floor was another builder hardwood flooring selections.  I think a Ryan Homes rep should go there.  The way it is set up gives a false impression of what you can choose especially if the flooring right under your feet is not an available option.

We sit down with Brenda and she goes through the list of options I chose on my contract.  I advised her of the upgrades to the original contract I thought I would make.  She nodded and made the notation.  She asks if I made my granite choice, I said "no" and she rolls her eyes.  She stated that I was to have had this choice already made and that she only had the granite choices there to choose the other options. 

We get up and stand next to a high top island and she places our kitchen cabinet choice on the table.  She opens one of the drawers of the island and we pick out the granite that I like.  I really like the Caledonia.  We had originally discussed Luna Pearl but in person Caledonia was so pretty.  It has both taupe and gray.

Next we picked out the Master Bathroom tile.  After speaking with my mom, I decided not to get the white Level A tile.  If you choose Level B tile, it's just the same tile with a scroll accent tile.  I do not like dirty white grout so we chose to upgrade the tile to Level C tile.  I'm not crazy about having the accent tile at all and saw to my right a bathroom that had the tile on the diagonal.  I asked if I could get the diagonal tile but no accent tile.  "Ryan Homes doesn't do tile on a diagonal, I could price it for you as a custom upgrade".  It's quite discouraging because it's beautiful and right in front of you.
I agree to do horizontal tile with accent tiles. 

I wanted something neutral that wasn't too gray or too tan.  I chose Castillan Gray with Wisteria Tortoise accent tile.  The tile looked gray with some tan tones in it and the accent tile has greens, taupes, grays and slate colored tiles.

The shower does not come with any shelves or soap dishes so I added an almond color corner soap dish as a $50 upgrade. At the store the almond looked good with the tile, now that I think about it and see the pictures should I have NOT gotten one? This is VERY gray in this picture.  (Edit - changed to the travertine soap dish for $100)

UPDATE:  Upon making my changes with Brenda I have upgraded to the travertine soap dish for $100.  The white shower pan and almond soap dish doesn't really make sense.

Here is a picture of this tile (not the accent tile).  Thank you to the blogger who posted this.

As we start to look at the flooring for the first floor, Brenda starts to explain that Ryan Homes has pulled all of the laminate flooring options out of all of the other design centers due to the fact that laminate could no longer be installed over a concrete slab.  The moisture from the concrete expanded the laminate and caused it to buckle.  Due to this they were forced to put transition strips between each room.  In a larger room you might even see transition strips separating the room.  WHAT?  I have a 5 month old.  Transition strips in each room on the first floor is not an option.  My vision was a large open area with beautiful floors all throughout the first floor.

Brenda sits down and calculates the difference between Level G laminate and Level A hardwood and advises me that it is only an $800 difference between the two and wonders why I am having a difficult time deciding on the Level A upgrade.  I explain I do not like the level A choices and when I say I was wanting something a little darker, Brenda says I would have to go to a Level B hardwood. The level B choices are only hand scraped engineered wood.  The Level B is a $3000 upgrade, so I either have to pay another $800 - $3000 for a floor I hate. 

 If anyone has been playing at home, do you remember my walk-through of the model home?  I hate the hand scraped hardwood.

I'm very hesitant about leaving the laminate choice for hardwood.  One of the incentives in our development was a free granite upgrade.  My budget is very tight that the one large item that I would have to relinquish would be my granite.  I ask her to please show me the laminate before I make a decision.  She reminds me again about Ryan Homes pulling them and that she doesn't have them on the floor, they are in the back.  She says she wants to make sure I want the level G laminate before she goes in the back and pulls them all out and I change my mind.  I am dumbfounded.  She reluctantly goes to the back and gets the laminate.  She comes back and lays them on the island.  She then tells us that they are having a really hard time getting the company to stand behind their warranty.  This statement convinces me to reconsider the laminate. 

We again lay the Level A hardwood against the cabinet choice.  I really do not LOVE any of the choices.  She then says that the reason the model home has upgraded flooring is because none of the Level A hardwood choices match the Espresso cabinets. 

We go look at carpet and I pick a Level B carpet since I can't afford an additional upgrade.  We choose knapsack Level B carpeting.  She calls it a textured plush which I do like.  It has a little more texture than your basic plush carpet.

I give in and agree on a Level B hardwood called Spice Chest.  It's lighter than the model home and you can't see the wavy lines as much on this sample.  You can also see my now Laminate countertop choice in Jamocha since upgrading to Level B hardwood means I have to forfeit my Granite Countertop Incentive.  :(   

Brenda agrees to give me until Monday to finalize my choices.