This Room's Name Is Mud

Just when I was riding high on the progress of the mudroom, (soon to be dining room by the way) an obstacle popped out and smacked me in the butt. Upon said smack, I fell down and a fight ensued, causing major suable damages to myself and the obstacle in question.

Ok, so that's a gross exaggeration of a weird metaphor. Let's back this truck up.

On Sunday, Mike was with our carpenter friend and DIY answer man, TJ. And of course, Mike showed off the mudroom floor and talked with him about our plans for the room's floor. (Tile by the door and in the laundry closet, and the remainder of our 3/8" hardwood for the rest.)

But TJ pointed out that since this was the house's main entry point and an extreme high traffic, high dirt, high muddy boots stomping all over the place room - the 3/8" hardwood would quickly wear down. And, being 3/8 and not 3/4 - you can only refinish it a couple times before completely refinishing it down to nothing. He suggested that we tile the entire room.

He's right. He's 100% right. But I have several problems with tiling the entire room.

1. From a design/personal opinion standpoint - I think tile is too cold and unloving for a dining room.
2. We don't have enough leftover kitchen tile to do the entire mudroom, and I don't want to have to buy new tile.
3. The kitchen tile design, although fine for beneath the french door and laundry closet, does not match the color scheme of the room and I'd have to re-think all that.
4. We currently have plenty of leftover 3/8" hardwood from the upstairs to do the mudroom. BUT, that's the only room we could use 3/8 in. The rest of the house we need to do in the more supportive 3/4. So... we'd be left with a whole bunch of 3/8 that we could never ever use anywhere else. (Can you say, a lot of money just sitting around?!)
5. I cannot afford to purchase 3/4 right now. If I was to purchase it, I would want to purchase for the entire amount I need for the entire downstairs anyway.
6. For all those above reasons - this delays the completion of the room.

So Mike and I talked about it back and forth. We went through all the options. We finally decided to just put down the 3/8 with a couple of rows of tile. I will purchase an area rug to help cut down on damage to the floor, and if we indeed need to replace it 5 years down the line, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

It's just the most cost effective, materials effective, time effective solution. And I know it's probably not the best solution - but we're going to just go with it.