Surprise! More New Floors

Last year, I went to work painting the kid's rooms and took some pictures after all was done. Here you can just make out the floors, which were a light maple that matched the bedroom furniture. We had taken out the rugs a few years earlier and put in laminate floors in a color a little lighter than I'd hoped for, but it looked so much better than what was there before I didn't mind very much.

This is the boy's room now! This is what happened: When I measured the floors to figure out the square footage, I made sure I over-measured rather than under-measure. This would guarantee that I would purchase enough flooring and not have to run to the store to buy more. Then, as an additional precaution, I added 5% to my total for damages and scrap. I calculated that 42 boxes of flooring were needed, so I purchased 44 boxes. Just as my brother-in-law was finishing up, he measured and told me we would be short about 2 boxes. I was puzzled; I couldn't figure out where I'd gone wrong. The closets, maybe? Rather than double-check his measurements, I assumed he was right and purchased another 3 boxes (again figuring it better to buy more than less). As we neared the end, it was apparent that HIS measurements had been off - a total of 40 boxes of flooring were used. Now we had 7 boxes of flooring left over. My hubby asked if we had enough to do the kid's rooms. After measuring I told him we had enough to do one of the bedrooms. So the decision was made, and we went ahead and did the boy's room.


The reason we chose to do this, was because the flooring in the kid's rooms was of very poor quality, and it was badly scratched. I tried all kinds of products to get the scuff marks and scratches out, but laminate isn't like hardwood. The floors were only about 7 years old but they looked terrible, especially against the new shiny floors right outside the bedrooms. Since the flooring was still on sale, hubby decided we may as well do the whole job, so off I went and purchased an additional 7 boxes and did the daughter's room as well.

Of course the bedrooms aren't completed; we still need to get the baseboard installed and everything put away. God willing, that will be done tomorrow. In the meantime, enjoy some pictures of the finished products in the rest of our living areas.

This is the formal living room (the view from the front door):

The formal living room (opposite view):

The dining room:

The family room:

As the work is completed, I'll have additional pictures. Meantime, I think I'll rest a bit today. It's been alot of work, but I'm enjoying the new look of my home very much! It's so warm and inviting; makes me wanna stick around for a long time!

Flooring Project - Work in Progress

Finally I have a chance to post some pictures of the floors and how they've progressed. And boy, have we progressed! It's been a very busy 3 days, and it looks like we'll be done sooner than I'd anticipated.

Here's the living room, with the first row of flooring installed. The baseboards have been ripped out, which took quite a bit of time.

The floor went in a straight line from the front door in the living room to the end of the dining room. It meant moving alot of furniture around.

The china cabinet was moved into the kitchen. Not very comfortable, since it was blocking the pantry and I still needed to cook.

The other furniture ended up in the family room, my daughter's room and our bedroom. There's one table in the garage, but that's all that fit in there. It was getting pretty cramped.

By the end of the day plenty of progress was made. Half the living room was installed...

...and about of a third of the dining room as well.

Of course it meant that the family room was a mess because so much of our furniture was stuffed in there.

Friday was a tough work day, because the mouldings around the doors had to be cut before the floor could be laid down. Once that was done, though, the linen closet floor was installed - a tight fit, to be sure.

The area in front of the bedrooms was finished and the new baseboards were installed today. What a difference the details make! Suddenly the floors look finished, even though there's so much still left to do.

The family room was started today. We're halfway done in there! I really didn't expect that much to get done. My hubby and his brother are burning through that floor!

The living room floor is done, and the baseboards have been installed, though not finished. Half the room needs to be caulked and then it'll be finished.

This is the view from the front door. The furniture has been moved into the living room, so that the family room can be worked on.

The dining room floor is also complete, as is most of the baseboard. We needed to put alot of the furniture in this room, which is why it looks so messy. The mess is the part I hate about home improvement projects.

The last room to be done will be the kitchen. Appliances need to be moved, so we'll need to make space in the other rooms for that to happen. Still, I think the amount of work that has been completed is astounding. We're approaching the finish line!

Stay tuned for more updates!

Flooring Project - Before pics

I believe it's customary to show before and after pictures of home improvement projects; otherwise how will anyone know there was any improvement? So here we go:

This is our formal living room, the first room you see upon entering the house. This was our family room furniture until after Christmas, when I decided a little experiment was in order and I switched out the two rooms. I'm happy with the result of the furniture, but we need to focus on the floors here. They're porcelain tile, and were very beautiful when we first moved into the house 10 years ago. They're a bit dull and worn now.

Here's a better view of the floor.

This is our formal dining room, directly after the living room. Same porcelain tile floors.

The family room, with what used to be the living room furniture. These sofas have been with us 11 years and still look like new. Not bad for a family of 5. Oh, and same floors. Notice also that the baseboards are actually the same tile, cut and attached to the wall. I'm dreading taking those out.

This is the family room just in front of the kitchen. There's a breakfast bar, and once again, same tile floor.

The kitchen. We renovated about 4 years ago, with new cabinets, hardware, granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances. We just kept the floors because, in case you haven't already noticed, they're throughout the main living area of the house which is open to every other room. If we changed the kitchen floor we had to do the rest of the floors also.

This is what I call the bedroom foyer. It's the area in front of all 3 bedrooms and one bathroom.

After looking at the pictures, some may wonder why we would want to change the floors out. In the pictures they seem to be in good condition. Guess again. The tiles have begun cracking in certain areas. Granted, they aren't as bad as some of my neighbor's tiles. Mine are hairline cracks. When tiles are laid on brand new construction floors, and the house begins to shift and settle, this is what happens:

The other thing that really bugs me is how easily these porcelain tiles crack and chip. With kids in the house someone is always dropping something, and this is what the family room floor looks like. The kitchen is worse, which is why I put an area rug in. I couldn't stand looking at it anymore.

The solution: Laminate wood flooring. I know, some people hate the idea of laminate and would not even consider it over hardwood. My reasons for laminate are simple: it's easier to install - we don't even have to remove the tile floors, just lay the laminate on top, saving lots of time. It's less expensive too - the floor we bought already has padding attached, and at $1.295 per square foot it's very economical. Then we have our state insect - the termite. Termites LOVE Florida. I, on the other hand, don't like termites. This floor is virtually indestructable - yet another plus. For my family and budget, it's the way to go.

And I absolutely love the color! They had Brazilian Cherry which is very popular, but to me it's just very dark. This flooring is called Harvest Oak, has alot of grain in it and is a medium toned wood which, in my opinion, goes with just about everything, including the furniture and fixtures we currently have.

The floor needs to acclimate for about 48 hours, which give us time to prep and remove the tile base board. I'll be posting pics as we go along , so be sure to stay tuned for more fun flooring updates!