Last month we installed Tranquility 5mm Copper Ridge Oak luxury vinyl plank flooring from Lumber Liquidators in our living room and basement.  We replaced white carpeting in the living room and some composite flooring in the basement that had been damaged when our furnace leaked. 

Because vinyl plank is increasingly becoming a popular flooring choice, I thought this review post would help with some of the luxury vinyl plank pros and cons, and help you decide if this flooring is right for your home!

What is Luxury Vinyl Plank?

In a nutshell, luxury vinyl plank is manufactured flooring that is meant to mimic the look of hardwood floors.  It is totally manmade – there’s nothing “wood” about it.  Unlike vinyl flooring of the past, luxury vinyl plank comes in, well, planks as opposed to sheets.  Sometimes it has some texture to it, in an effort to give it more of a hardwood look.

The “luxury” part of this product name is a little misleading, in my opinion.  I don’t really think this flooring is luxurious.  I mean, it’s not glistening marble or anything like that.  That’s just my two cents.  🙂

Why We Chose Luxury Vinyl Plank for Our Home

The completely honest answer to this question is that we chose luxury vinyl plank flooring because the previous owners installed Copper Ridge Oak vinyl plank flooring throughout the rest of the first floor (just not the living room), two months before we purchased the house.  

We wanted cohesive flooring on the first floor since it’s a fairly open floorplan, but we did NOT want to spend money on new floors for the entire first floor.  Because of that, we opted to install the same vinyl plank flooring in the living room.  And, since we also needed to replace the basement flooring, we ran it down there, too.

What are luxury vinyl plank pros and cons?

In the time that I’ve been living with these floors, I’ve been keeping a list of luxury vinyl plank pros and cons so that I could write the most helpful post possible!  As things come to mind, I will update this post, too, so that it continues to be informative.

The Positives of Luxury Vinyl Plank Flooring

There are a lot of positives with luxury vinyl plank flooring!  Just because I am not totally head over heels in love with it doesn’t mean that I don’t recognize its benefits.  Here are what I think are the pros of luxury vinyl plank flooring.

The Price is Right (at least for the product)

We got our 5mm Copper Ridge Oak luxury vinyl plank flooring on sale for $1.99 per square foot.  That is a really good price for flooring!  Even with the added expense of underlayment and other necessary pieces (like trim pieces, threshold pieces, etc.), the price of the flooring was great. 

Carpet, tile, and hardwood ALL can run more expensive than that!

Remember to investigate the quality of the vinyl plank before purchasing.  Of course there are poor vinyl planks on the market and you don’t want to make that mistake!  We got ours on a great sale, so if you’re able to wait until the floor you want goes on sale, too, you can really save a lot.

If you’re hiring an installer to do your floors, prepare yourself that you’ll probably pay as much for installation as you do for the floor – or even more!  One installer quoted us an astronomical amount, and the installer we ultimately used was much more reasonable.  But, installation was still a large part of the money spent on this job.

Luxury Vinyl Plank Installation is Fast

Let’s be honest.  Laying new flooring is pretty disruptive to your life because you have to move everything out of the space where the flooring is being installed, and you may not be able to use the space again for some time (like if stain or grout is drying).

One amazing attribute of luxury vinyl plank flooring is that installation is fast.  For our installer to complete approximately 1200 square feet of space, it took 4.5 days – and that includes removal of the old flooring and baseboards, and installing the flooring underlayment for our click-and-lock flooring. 

The parts that took the longest were making cuts for all of the doors in the basement and undercutting the large stone fireplace that I limewashed in the living room.  (He undercut the stone so that the flooring could slide right underneath and have a seamless transition between stone and floor.)

Of course, installation time can vary depending on factors such as type of vinyl plank (is it click-and-lock or glue down?), whether subfloor needs to be replaced, amount of area being covered, and more!  But, in general, installation of luxury vinyl plank should take less time than installation of other flooring types.

Luxury Vinyl Plank Flooring is Durable

With young kids and a dog, durable flooring is important to me!  The white carpeting in the living room started showing signs of wear practically the second we took ownership of this home.  I am so glad it’s gone!

Also, the Tranquility brand Copper Ridge Oak flooring that we chose is 100% waterproof, which is amazing for our basement especially.  Hello – we already had a water issue down there!  It’s nice to have peace of mind that if we have another problem down there our flooring won’t be ruined.

Not all luxury vinyl plank is waterproof; some is water resistant.  That means that for a certain amount of time (usually a set amount of hours), the flooring will be okay with water on it, but after that time it could be ruined.  It seems to me that if you’re going to install luxury vinyl plank, you might as well get a waterproof type!

Another thing we love about our new flooring is that it is extremely difficult to scratch – much unlike hardwoods!  (I know all about scratches in hardwood floors! We had a ton and I even wrote a post on the easiest way to fix scratches in hardwood floors.)  We’ve slid furniture across it, my kids do all their crazy kid stuff on it, and my dog runs around like a madman, and it doesn’t show a single scratch.  

Luxury vinyl plank’s durability is, in my opinion, the best thing going for it.  If you want flooring that you can install and not think about again for at least 25 years, luxury vinyl plank is a great choice for you.

The Flooring is Very Warm

One luxury vinyl plank pro that I never expected is that the flooring is very warm to the touch.  It is so comfortable to walk on and does not ever seem to get cold.  Our hardwoods in our old house were cold all winter, and don’t even get me started on how cold the tile floor was!  That is not the case with our new vinyl flooring.

Vinyl Plank Flooring is Easy to Clean

This stuff could not be easier to clean!  I use my dry Swiffer on it regularly to gather up all those dust bunnies, and then I mop with Murphy’s Oil Soap once in a while.

Swiffer WetJet also works, as does liquid cleaner made just for vinyl floors.  

I haven’t noticed any film on my flooring like I would get on my hardwoods sometimes after cleaning, so I’m liking how easy these are to maintain!

The Negatives of Luxury Vinyl Plank Flooring

While there are a lot of positives associated with luxury vinyl plank flooring, there are also some definite negatives.  These are the drawbacks that I’ve noticed so far.

Luxury Vinyl Plank Can’t be Refinished

Unlike hardwood floors, when luxury vinyl plank is worn out, it can’t be refinished.  You just have to rip it out and start over again. 

While this is definitely a drawback of the flooring, the same thing is true for carpeting and tile, so it’s not a unique drawback by any stretch.  It’s just something to keep in mind when weighing your options.

Renovating Can Cause Problems

Unlike hardwoods that can always be replaced and filled in when needed, the style of luxury vinyl plank you choose can be available one day and then gone the next.

This is EXACTLY what happened in our house!  The previous owners installed Tranquility Copper Ridge Oak flooring in October 2019.  In January 2020 we went to purchase that same flooring to run it into the living room, and we found out that the style the previous owners installed had been discontinued, and replaced with a new style that was not compatible with the old style (in terms of click and lock mechanism).  

Luckily the areas are separated by a couple of stairs, so we didn’t need the floors to physically connect.  However, when we had the newer Copper Ridge Oak flooring installed, we noticed that it is slightly darker than last year’s version and the planks are slightly wider.  

These slight differences drive me nuts!  

Plus, we would like to renovate the kitchen and mudroom at some point, but we realize that doing so will have a huge impact on the flooring.  We won’t be able to replace the flooring with the same flooring that’s already there (since it’s not available), and because the flooring seamlessly flows from room to room, we will have to install threshold pieces in some strange spots.

The Repeat in Patterns Looks Cheap

This may be my overly-analytical tendencies talking here, but I really don’t like how I can pick out repeat patterns in the luxury vinyl plank floors.  In our basement there’s one spot where two identical planks are very close to each other, and the matching “knots” in the wood stick out like a sore thumb to me!

If you’re installing the flooring yourself, you will probably pay attention to that type of detail, but an installer who is working quickly to get the job done likely will not.  

It’s not a dealbreaker, but it is a giveaway that your flooring is vinyl.  That’s all I’m trying to get across here.

Luxury Vinyl Plank Stairs Can be Tricky!

WHO KNEW?  But seriously – if you have stairs that need luxury vinyl plank, choose carefully!

Some vinyl planks have coordinating vinyl plank stair treads and/or risers that match the vinyl plank flooring being put down.  This gives you a cohesive look that is (from what they tell me) durable.

Some vinyl plank varieties do not have any stair products, however, so you either have to lay vinyl plank flooring on the treads and use stair nose pieces to cover the edges (HELLO TRIP HAZARD and unpleasant look), or you have to try and match stain to the vinyl flooring to finish wooden treads and risers.

The flooring we used has vinyl treads and risers, and we intended to use them on our stairs.  When the carpeting was removed, however, we realized that the treads were in good shape and we decided to stain them to “match” the floors. 

Getting a match was practically impossible and our stairs ended up slightly darker than the floors.  They’re not so dark that I’m willing to redo this project, however.  It does bother me that they’re not a precise match though!

All-in-all, luxury vinyl plank flooring seems like a good choice for people who want an alternative to carpet or tile, and who appreciate durability and low cost.  The drawbacks are definite drawbacks and could be dealbreakers for some people, so make sure to carefully consider whether vinyl plank floors are right for you!

If you have any thoughts on luxury vinyl plank pros and cons, I’d love to hear from you!  Please add a comment below and let me know what you think, or ask any questions and I will do my best to answer them!

-Bre

As I sit down to write this post, I can’t help but feel like I’m having an out-of-body experience.  Is it really me writing this?  Is this actually happening?  

The news is still fresh as I share it with all of you, so it hasn’t completely sunk in yet; hence the strange feelings accompanying me as I click away at the keyboard.

My family is moving from the only home we’ve known.

We’re leaving our beloved home in Illinois to move to the Milwaukee area.  My husband accepted a new position there and we’re going to be closer to some of our family, so it’s a positive change. 

But it’s really freaking sad, too.

Sorry, there’s just no other way to put it.

My husband and I bought this 92-year-old home back in 2009 when we were practically still babies.  The day after we closed, we found out we were having a baby of our own.  So much excitement at once, and the timing could not have been better.

The house had good bones, as they say, but was in really, really rough shape. (Did the double “really” drive it home enough?)  Throughout the ten years we’ve been here, we’ve renovated, remodeled, and redone every single room – including the outdoor spaces and all of the mechanicals.  

We brought both of our babies home to this house, and our home became the setting for many special occasions and memories, like baptism parties, holiday gatherings, and most recently, a pre-party for my sister’s wedding.  

But the life that happened here on a regular basis is, perhaps, even more memorable.  Watching the kids learn to ride their bikes on the driveway, blowing out candles on birthday cakes at the kitchen table, and reading stories before bedtime – that’s the good stuff.

Along the way we made wonderful friends that are going to be so difficult to leave behind.  Their friendship is part of the fabric of this home.  Their laughter and presence within helped make it such a happy place. 

My children are so upset – they can’t believe we’re making them leave their house and their school.  (If any of you have tips on transitioning kids to a new school, especially in the middle of the year, please share them with me!  Comment below or email me – [email protected])  Their sadness is making me have an even more difficult time coming to terms with all of this. 

In my heart, I really felt like we’d live here forever.  At the risk of sounding like a total freak, I actually envisioned grandkids visiting me in this house a long, long time from now! 

But, truthfully, nestled amongst all of those heavy feelings is a small seed of excitement for a change and some more projects.  I can never sit still for long, so a new fixer upper is appealing to me and getting my mind thinking happy thoughts.  

Of course we don’t have a house in Wisconsin yet, but I’ll be sure to keep you posted on where we land.  Until then, please send good house selling vibes my way.  It’s a really tough market right now and we need all the help we can get!

Plus . . . I really don’t want to have to clean my house every single day for the foreseeable future.  🙂  

So, here’s to hoping that love brings us home to a new space that we can make our own, and that love brings a wonderful new family to the one we’ve worked so hard to fill with joy over the last ten.

-Bre

As part of our master bathroom renovation (reveal coming soon!), we made some improvements to our master bedroom, too.  New paint, new moulding, and moving the ceiling light to the center of the room were the “big” fixes.  Of course I had to seize the opportunity to mix up the decor a bit, too, and that required some wall art swaps.  Over the bed I hung some rattan basket wall art, which is a super inexpensive thrift store DIY project!  

This post contains affiliate links.  To read my full disclosure policy, please click here.

Except for in a post on DIY Wrapping Paper Wall Art, I never shared much about our master bedroom because it was totally neglected.  You know how it is – you put everything else first and your own space gets lowest priority.  While our tiny master bedroom isn’t totally finished yet, it is already so much better and feeling like a comfortable space we love to be in!

These rattan baskets hanging on the wall help create a comfortable, cottage feel we wanted.  We started with $4 worth of rattan chargers from Goodwill.  My local Goodwill is always overflowing with these things!  (I also use one on my basement coffee table as a tray of sorts!) 

I got out my trusty Pop Up Spray Shelter, which is a total project saver for spray paint projects (my projects were always being ruined by debris flying onto them!) . . . 

and a can of chalky finish spray paint in Coastal Blue (if you’re curious about chalk paint in spray form, read my review of chalky finish spray paint!), and got to work!  

Once I spray painted two coats on each of the baskets and let them dry, I strung pipe cleaners through the backs of each to serve as hangers for the baskets.  

Then I used my favorite product ever – 3M Command Hooks – to place and hang the painted baskets on the wall above our bed.  

These are so much better than nails because I can take them down with no damage to the wall whenever I want! 

I wasn’t sure if my husband would like these (he’d much prefer to have nothing hanging on any wall!), so I figured the Command Strips were the way to go.  🙂 

Thankfully he really likes them and the basket wall art will stay.  At least for now.  You know I can’t leave something as it is for too long!  (Especially when it cost under $10 for the entire look.) 

P.S. see that embroidered pillow behind Jasper?  My husband’s grandmother made that for our wedding present.  I love having this personal gift on display!  (See how we used other other pillows she made as wall art in my daughter’s tween girl bedroom.)  

Next time you see flat rattan baskets at the thrift store, scoop them up!  They’re super versatile as functional items or as decorative wall art.

-Bre

You May Also Like This Post on 8 Home Decor Essentials to Buy at the Thrift Store

Just about eight weeks ago we started the gut renovation of our upstairs hallway bathroom.  This 1920s bathroom renovation is our attempt at a true-to-period remodel, and I am so excited to share it with you!  It came out better than I envisioned, and my family is so happy with it!

Before and During the Bathroom Renovation

You can see all of the before photos of this bathroom in this blog post (with everything in it being original, except for the yellow paint a previous owner covered the wall tile with), and here’s a picture of the space before it was gutted just to give you an idea of the dramatic improvement! 

Because this bathroom backs up to our master bathroom, and because the master bathroom also needed to be re-done due to shoddy construction in the past, we decided to renovate both of these bathrooms at the same time.  (More on the master bathroom renovation in the future.)

This was pretty darn hectic for me, at first especially.  I had to pick out all of the finishes for two bathrooms really quickly (our contractor was able to start sooner than we had expected), order everything, and manage the chaos of construction, family, and work.  I definitely had one mega breakdown during the process, but in the end, it was all worth it!  (If you’re going through a bathroom renovation anytime soon, check out my post on 5 Tips for How to Survive a Bathroom Renovation!)   

The True-to-Period 1920s Bathroom Renovation All Finished!

Did I mention how happy we are with this bathroom?  🙂 

Bright, fresh, clean, and (most importantly to me), characteristic of the old home we live in.  Let me show you around.  I’ve linked to the products you’ll see in this post, and many of them are affiliate links (you can read my full disclosure policy here).

Light Fixture | Floating Wall Shelves

Porcelain Sink with Chrome Console | Faucet | Hand Towels | Towel Bar

My husband really didn’t want to install a sink that looked just like the original sink, but I forced him to let us do it.  It was really important to me to have this space look as close to original as it could.  While this sink is gorgeous to me, it, of course, has its drawback – there is NO storage space!  And with two kiddos who come with a lot of “stuff,” storage space is important.  

Because of that, we “hacked” an IKEA Silveran Sink Cabinet (adding legs and a quartz countertop, among other things), and turned it into a vanity of-sorts right next to the console sink.  The Silveran Sink Cabinet is extremely shallow depth at just 9″, so it was the perfect solution for this tight space!  

The period-style faucet also looks so close to original.  It’s weird, but using this sink makes me so happy.  

We managed to save the original medicine cabinet, which is so special to me because it was restored at some point and bears a photograph of the date stamp inside.  I cleaned up the inside of it with spray paint and it’s good as new!  Look at that etching and beveled edges – I swoon!  

Can you believe this mirror is 92 years old?  Incredible.  It’s an actual treasure and I’m thankful we were able to keep it in its home.

Over the toilet is where I got to have some fun.  Floating shelves add functionality, but are also a place to display fun pops of personality.  This is, after all, a kids bathroom, so there has to be some levity in the space.

Floating Wall Shelves | Art Print 

Notice the jar on the far left of the top shelf?  Those are the original knobs from the bathtub!  Like a crazy lady, I asked the contractor to save them for me.  I didn’t know what I was going to do with them, but I think this is a great way to display yet another piece of the original bathroom in this new space.  

I made the faux roman shade for the window by mixing a few tutorials I found online (like this one from Home Stories A to Z and this one from Lantern Lane Designs).  I should have made the no-sew version, but I got cocky and thought it would be no problem to sew.  I was wrong; I am not a seamstress.  But, the shade turned out cute anyway and I adore the Rifle Paper Co. fabric with little jungle animals mixed throughout that I found in this awesome Etsy shop.  

This fabric adds a nice bit of color to the space, and that’s why I went ultra-white on the shower curtain (but with a little texture for some playfulness). 

Fabric | Shower Curtain | Toilet Paper Holder

The shower faucet is the one place where my plan for 1920s originality was foiled.  We purchased an authentic-looking three handle set and had the plumbing done for that, but the inspector said that type of fixture is not allowed (why???) and we had to get a single handle set.  It made no sense to me and made me really upset, but I got over it in the end and tried to find one that looked sort of authentic with its cross-handle styling.  

Valve Trim | Tub Spout | Tub Spout | Shower Arm

Finally, rounding the corner is where the kids’ towels hang, from the most adorable painted towel hooks.  

We purchased all of the tile at Floor & Decor, and I cannot say enough about their great pricing on ceramic tile.  This white subway tile (and accompanying pieces, like bullnose tile, chair rail, and cove base tile) is bargain priced, and the mini-hex floor tile was significantly cheaper than I found it elsewhere.  

They also have a wonderful return policy, so I felt just fine over-buying, knowing that I could return what I didn’t need.  And no, this is not an ad for Floor & Decor at all – I was just really pleased with the tile we purchased for this bathroom!  It gave us the 1920s look we wanted at a really amazing price.  

So there you have it – our 1920s bathroom renovation is now complete!  I hope you like it as much as we do.  I can only hope that this new version of the bathroom lasts as long as the original version! 

1920s Bathroom Source List and Shopping 

If you are curious about any of the products we used in our 1920s bathroom renovation, click on any of the links below for more info or to purchase!

TILE

Black and white hexagon mosaic flooring

White subway tile

White subway bullnose tile

White chair rail tile

White cove base tile

Light gray grout (Cobblestone)

THE BIG STUFF

Cast iron bathtub

Toilet

Sink with chrome console legs

FIXTURES

Sink faucet

Shower head

Tub faucet

Valve trim / tub handle

Toilet paper holder

Towel bar

Vanity light fixture

DECORATIVE ITEMS

Yellow and white bathroom rug

Yellow print hand towels

Painted ceramic towel hooks

White shower curtain with white polka dots

Floating wood shelves

PAINT

Wall paint color