The Pride Of the_may_hem
271
- Scandinavian
- HDB (BTO)
- ~1,300 sqft
- 4 br
- Living with Family
Our proudest achievement for this renovation has to be the larch wood floor. After deciding to adopt the Scandi theme, we knew that a light wood floor was a key ingredient to get the look right. We were well aware of the downside of wood flooring but then again there is also no such thing as a perfect floor material. We chose engineered wood over solid wood as the former has a better resistance to moisture & it also is more stable in that it wouldn't expand or contract as easily as the latter. Furthermore, we aimed to use natural materials as much as possible so a wood lookalike material is out of the question. Generally the common types of wood for flooring in Scandinavia are oak, douglas fir, pine & larch. This is because they are light-coloured & readily available in that region. In Singapore it is also easy to find oak floor in many homes as it is considered to be hardy & has a more homogeneous look. We didn't consider pine as it is the softest wood among the four plus it has too much knots for our liking. Douglas fir & larch look quite similar but larch is the stronger wood, though not as strong as oak. In the end we favoured larch over oak for its grains & knots, which look more interesting & exciting. We do not have young children or pets at home, so we're more confident with the upkeep of a "weaker' wood floor. Anyway if it's good enough for Gaia in NTU, it's good enough for us! 
It took us quite a while before we finally found one company that could supply & install this larch wood floor. Because who has ever heard of larch wood in the first place, especially in this part of the world? Naturally the cost of the project was a reflection of this rarity. In fact we were told that we're probably one of two families in Singapore to own this type of wood floor. Nevertheless there was still a ton of things to do before we could get the look of our dream home. But without this larch wood we felt that the vibe would not have been complete. Having lived in this home for almost a year, we're glad to report that it has been great walking on this floor everyday. So far it has not given us any problem. On the contrary it has been evolving in response to the environment. It felt like we've brought nature into this house & the floor breathes together with us. We sometimes found ourselves admiring at the grains as no two planks looked exactly the same. Inevitably there are minor scratches & small dents along the way as we sometimes dropped things carelessly. But that is something we've already anticipated & were prepared to live with in exchange for a natural living floor. For a bigger damage we could always choose to replace that particular plank but thankfully that hasn't happened. In conclusion we would encourage anyone who likes wood flooring to try the real thing. Engineered wood is the way to go for our tropical climate and most importantly get a good installer! Thanks for reading & hope to see you again!
- 21 May
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