Be very careful with their darker colors. I have seen three floors that within 4 - 6 months have exhibited major and I mean major color fade in sun light. The contrast between the areas that are touched by sun light and the areas that are not look like completely different floors. Good luck.

Themi, did you end up going with the French Connection floor and if so, how do you like it? I could have written your post, in that I have kids and a husband who wear shoes in the house, and our house is on a raised foundation with slight undulations (ours is a tear-down-to-the-studs remodel). We live near the beach so we constantly have sand in our house and my boys play club soccer so cleats in the house are a constant. Obviously I need a very forgiving floor :)

I'd love your and anyone else's input who has the French Connect floor. Thanks in advance!

I'm chiming in because we are also considering the French Connection (in caffe) and would love some reviews!

I posted above in June looking for feedback on the French Connection but wasn't successful in finding much info. We ended up going with Provenza in the Old World collection, Fawn color and are extremely happy with it so far. It's only been a few weeks but I think it looks great. It's probably a little too rustic/unfinished looking for some people (I've had a few visitors ask me if we're going to oil or finish it - um, it is finished!) but I love it.

Any Garrison floor owners out there?? We are also looking at Garrison engineered hardwood floors...either from the French Connection or DuBois collection. They seem to be decent quality, with a relatively thick wear layer, but would love to hear from someone who owns them. All of the wood flooring reviews seem to be mixed...regardless of manufacturer or price point!

We had dark Garrison French Connection floors installed two years ago and are delighted with them. Zero fading over that time. The Woca products are very expensive and more difficult (the oil is sticky) than Osmo. The installers should have oiled it with Osmo...without that they do look dull. The floors are NOT high maintenance, though expect to "Osmo" them every 1-2 years.

I agree with above post.....STAY AWAY from Garrison at all costs. We bought a brand new house with the Garrison DuBois European Oak floors. It was a spec house and sat on the market for about 12-15 months. The builder claims it was temperature controlled the entire time (big point since we live in Scottsdale). Our entire floor is failing. Multiple areas (as in 30-50% of the entire floor) of delamination and peeling. Garrison rep has come out 2 times and is not standing by their product. claims it was the builders fault. Regardless of whose fault it was, how can a floor fail in 1 year even it was not maintained to the exact standards the manufacturer recommends. the flooring inspector read our humidity at 27% in the house. Garrison recommends 30-50%. So Garrison is essentially saying that because of a 3% humidity difference, their floor fell apart. We are currently seeking legal action against the builder and Garrison

If it was 27% at the time of inspection I might assume it was lower at times. It's well known that wood floors can shrink and crack in very dry climes. This would include warm arid areas and areas where the humidity drops near zero in the deep winter.

IMO you don't have any claim against Garrison. Who installed the floor? I am surprised that your builder or installer didn't recommend the use of a whole home humidifier. Does the home have one installed?

TCModern - What brand did you end up using for your replacement and how has it been? I'm looking for engineered flooring right now. I was originally going to choose Provence from the French Connection, but have seen enough reviews regarding issues that I'm concerned of using this brand completely.

I’d love to know more too...

We love it, and we are a 2 kid, 2 big dog family who is active and lives near the beach. No fading, no problems and it has worn well, given we have not done the proper maintenance- it looks great. In 2015, we used Garrison French Connection in the Oak Caffe color on the ground floor of our house. We had it professionally installed on our concrete foundation, and our installers were meticulous on the prep: they ground down the high spots and then applied a self leveling compound and then glued the floor. This floor has different finishes depending on the color. The caffe has a natural oil finish rather than an aluminum oxide finish, so you're walking on the wood rather than the urethane finish. Likewise, if you scratch it or track in sand, it’s going to wear the wood rather than the urethane. We chose it because it’s easier to hide the scratches. There’s pros and cons to both finishes. If you’re a dog owner, do your research before committing. If i had it to do over again, i would have choosen a little less maintenamce: the same floor in a natural color with the oxide finish, where the light color would not show bad scratches as much as the dark wood, and I could use more potent cleaners to get up pet accidents without stripping the oil finish off. But we also love what we have. so much so, we are now replacing the carpeted stairs and the upstairs carpet with this same floor. 1st picture is after install, the next one is 7 yrs later.