AD – This post is in partnership with Amtico Flooring.

Hi! I can’t believe we’re half way through February already and that I’m only just getting round to writing my first post of the year. It’s been such a busy start to the year, I’ve found myself with no time left to blog.  So one of the reasons it’s been so busy over here is because we’ve been giving our living room a makeover. We had Amtico flooring fitted two weeks ago and I love it, like really love it!!

If you’ve not heard of Amtico before, it’s a luxury vinyl flooring (LVT) which is designed and made in Britain at their factory in Coventry. If you follow me on Instagram, you’re probably aware of how much I love original wooden floorboards and the hours that I’ve spent in the past sanding and painting them. So Vinyl has never been on my radar, I understand that its strong and durable, easy to clean, quiet and warm underfoot but I certainly wasn’t expecting to be blown away by it like I am! I can’t tell you how much of a difference it’s made. It feels so much cleaner, neater and more sophisticated! It has totally transformed the space.

We have a large open plan living area that gets used a lot, so I needed to make sure the new flooring was both practical and stylish. After viewing several, okay, alllll the samples! We chose the Toulouse Oak from the New Grains signature range, it comes with an amazing lifetime warranty too. I loved the natural, rustic finish and I wasn’t disappointed once it was fitted. There are lots of different unique laying patterns to chose from, I was torn between the traditional parquet and the Halcyon pleat. I decided to go with the Halcyon pleat and it looks fabulous. Let me show you….

So what do you think? You probably need a reminder of how it looked before so here you go…

Once we had decided on the flooring and the layout pattern, Amtico put us in touch with one of their preferred retail partners in the North East, Instinctive flooring. They came to measure up and give us details on the full process and how long it would take. I have to say, they’ve been amazing from start to finish, their fitters were absolute experts and did such a great job.

If you follow me on YouTube you may have seen my weekly vlog showing the step by step fitting process. If not then head over and take a look.

The fitting process.

1. They had to remove the wooden flooring that was already down.

2. 9mm flooring grade plywood is mechanically fixed to floorboards and a primer is applied.

3 & 4. A smoothing compound was applied approximately 3mm thick, this takes around 6 hours to dry before you can walk on it.

It’s looking so much better already, I was so excited for them to start laying the flooring the next day!

The fitters arrived bright and early, around 7.30am and started marking out the laying pattern in preparation for fitting. They asked me to check that I was happy before they went ahead. You can see the pencil marks on the photo below and the layout starting to come together.

The flooring is fitted using an Amtico adhesive. One of the huge advantages of Amtico flooring is that there is no need for beading around the edges or to remove the skirting boards. It is cut with fine precision so that it sits flush against the skirting, this is because the vinyl doesn’t expand and contract with heat. For me this is such a bonus and leaves a perfect finish. You can see the precision around the edges of the door frame where it has been expertly cut on the photo below.

Chester approves too!

The whole process took 5 days, the fitters were professional and super tidy. We had to clear the room completely before hand but we struggled to get the sofa out, so they worked around that which was a huge bonus, nothing was too much trouble. The only messy part was when they lifted the wooden floor that we had down. This created a lot of dust which is to be expected, especially as it’s been down for years. The plywood was cut outside so there was no mess from that and the luxury vinyl tiles don’t create any mess as they are cut using a very sharp blade.

As I said above, I was totally blown away by how amazing it looks. The plan was to put the two rugs back in from before but at the moment I’m loving the simplicity of the space without them, plus I don’t want to cover any of the floor! It has really completed this room and is going to be so much easier to maintain by simply sweeping and mopping. It makes my painted wooden floor boards in the hallway look very shabby, picture that friend that always turns up looking glam, immaculately dressed with perfect hair and makeup, and you suddenly feel totally underdressed…yeah that! So maybe the hallway is next on the list….. After all, I do love a project!

So what do you think? Had you heard of Amtico? Maybe you’re now converted like me. Would love to hear your thoughts and if you have any questions, leave them below.