... and what Revel Woods is doing to stop the madness.
1. Every single hardwood floor appears to be exactly the same
Brown, light brown, lighter brown, dark brown, gray, dark gray, wide, wider, narrow, brown. Maybe if you blur your eyes enough they turn into a Magic Eye? My eyes hurt just thinking about it.
courtesy: https://joanawithonethesis.wordpress.com/tag/magic-eye/
How are you supposed to know exactly what makes one floor different from another? How are you able to know why one brown floor costs twice as much as another brown floor? Most consumers who are shopping for hardwood flooring online end up with a permanent squint by the end of their shopping session. They also tend to end up with some form of vertigo from how many times they need to click the ‘back’ button to figure out what the differences are in each hardwood floor. This can’t be good for your health – physically or mentally. Plus, why do all this searching on your own?
Though color will always be your ultimate choice (we can’t help you with the incredible creativity that our pre-finished hardwood manufacturers are bringing to the table), we can help you with the constant squinting and back-button trigger finger diagnosis. Revel Woods allows you to filter by shade of color and keeps your options limited to only what truly works for your space. We let you organize each list of favorites by space and can then compare side-by-side specifications using the ‘My List’ functionality. No more awkward dizzy doctor visits for you.
2. Hardwood samples are smaller than your cell phone
It will always amaze me how human beings can shop for 2,000 square feet of a product of any kind by using a sample smaller than the size of your iPhone. We have another post related to this topic here but the bottom line is that when companies send you a sample hardwood flooring piece, it requires a Van Gogh-level of imagination that simply isn’t fair to your right brain. It’s a lot like giving someone a paint-by-number Starry Night canvas. No thanks.
You can actually buy this: https://www.easy123art.com/shop/classic-masterpieces/the-starry-night
At Revel Woods, our sample boxes fit four hardwood samples. But when we use the term “four” it really means eight. We place two notebook-sized hardwood pieces for each product in your sample box and ensure they are not from the same plank of wood. This way you can see how the hardwood floor might vary throughout your space while still allowing them to be portable enough to compare with your cabinets or countertops when shopping. By all means, you’re welcome to advance the creative imagination side of your brain in your free time, but we certainly try not to require that of you. Check out the video below describing how we send samples without hindering your health.
3. You get to checkout only to see what freight costs
Talk about a blood pressure roller coaster. You’ve done all this comparison shopping (hurt your eyes, got vertigo, attempted a Van Gogh-level painting), and you’re finally ready to make a giant purchase only to get to checkout to see the shipping will cost you two more mortgage payments.
We don’t like surprises. In fact, surprises are known for being at the pleasure of the party that is doing the surprising, not the surprise-ee. That’s why we make sure our square footage price calculation includes the cost to deliver the product directly to your driveway. No need to reach for your inhaler at checkout – we got you.
4. You’re not completely sure about where or how your hardwood floor was made
The website seems legit but nowhere does it say where the product is actually made or at what cost to the environment/human lives/etc. You can see where their offices are located but there is no clarity on the integrity of the product itself. Is the finish used safe for your kids? Was the product harvested sustainably?
We pride ourselves on hand-selecting manufacturers based on criteria that not only includes how the product is forested and finished, but also how that particular manufacturer treats their employees. Our manufacturers are based in the US and Canada and we have personally visited our manufacturing facilities (and do so regularly) because we believe that what you put in your home is as important as what you put in your body. For an example of how important this is, check out our Houzz post featuring this gorgeous home:
5. You’ve had to spend the last 6 weeks researching what kind of hardwood floor you can purchase for your home with every contractor, friend, or family member telling you something different
What is engineered hardwood flooring? Is it real wood? What thickness of a hardwood floor allows for sanding/re-finishing? What is the advantage or disadvantage to pre-finished hardwood flooring? What kind of species of hardwood floor will work in a specific climate? What about dogs?
Here comes the vertigo again. The list is endless. And everyone and their mother has an opinion/horror story to share with you on both sides of every aisle.
At Revel Woods, we have a combined 30+ years in the hardwood flooring industry and believe that it is critical that we sell you only what will actually work for your space. That’s why we don’t have an open shopping model. Too many people will purchase hardwood flooring that will later explode in extremely dry or humid climates or will be unidentifiable after two months of their German Shepherd Dog running around on it. We take all of this guess work out of the shopping experience through our quiz-based shopping model to ensure you’re buying the correct species, makeup, sheen, etc of hardwood floor for your space. Selling hardwood flooring is complicated so skip the Advil from hours of research and just take our quick quiz.
6. You haven’t spent any time researching what kind of hardwood floor is right for your home and you end up purchasing something that gets destroyed within a year.
Now there’s a headache-turned-migraine. See #5. Just because a floor looks great or someone says the species is “super hard” doesn’t mean it still won’t show dents or scratches from your 65 pound Golden Retriever. There’s so much that goes into purchasing a hardwood floor and it shouldn’t be done online without the proper consumer education – only to lead you to blurred vision and hours of phone calls making flooring claims overseas. Instead, be proactive about your health – take our quiz to ensure you’re making the right decision (and not giving yourself a permanent headache in a year from now).