Happy Dance time!

Here I am, in my Snoopy disguise, doing a Happy Dance:

The flooring is all done! I still have a ton of things to dust, wash, polish, whatever...and put away, plus furniture shopping BUT....the floors are done!!!

It hasn't actually taken forever, but when you're living among a mess, it feels that way. It began in the laundry room, at the back end of the kitchen.

 

Where were the washer and dryer during this? Hanging out in the family room, of course!

Now it was time to rip out the old and install the new. The photo on the left is the remnants of the old flooring on our concrete slab.

 

I didn't take a photo of the old laundry tub, but believe me, both the tub, faucet and exposed pips above were ugly. Make that UGLY, all in caps! The tub was on metal legs which I obscured with a fabric skirt attached by Velcro. Here is my new set up that Bill installed in a cabinet! Yay!!!

Next came the craft room and home office. Before we added on 15 years ago, these two rooms were bedrooms. The brown carpeting in the office was here when we moved in 37 years ago. The carpet people told us we'd never see that kind of wear again, they just don't make them like that anymore. we never intended to keep it that long, but you know it goes with juggling your priorities. The salesman came out to measure for carpeting and asked if we had considered Click Lock vinyl flooring for the office. We hadn't. We listened to his recommendations, did some research, looked at samples and picked a color called Knotty Red for both rooms.

 

Here is the office floor during demolition. I freaked at first, thinking that was dirt that accumulated under the carpet and padding. It was deteriorating padding, backing and yes, probably some dirt after 4 decades. Lovely stuff, that old brown tile, eh?

 

I considered taking a before picture of my craft room closet but it was embarrassing. Not just the amount of stuff there, but the disarray. Once it was emptied, I downsized. A lot. And I STILL have a ton of bins. The counters back there held a combination of office and craft room stuff. The living room was Bin City.

 

So where was the office furniture during this? In the family room! The family room was lonely with the washer and dryer moved out.

Ta-dah! The finished floor was worth the hassle!

 Now came more work for us. First the boys came and helped dad get the office furniture back into place, then I had 14 boxes to unpack of office supplies and books. This was after downsizing!

One final day of disruption, the carpeting installation. It was a long day with two general areas that weren't bad, but there were many odd cuts around doorways, around a hutch permanently attached to a wall, and the stairs.

 

The photo I took of the carpeting alone didn't show the true color at all. I was going to rephotograph it this morning but discovered the picture of Colton with his Uncle Billy showed it very well. Our coat closet goes deep and runs under the stairs. Colton wanted no part of being in that cubby under the landing but Uncle Billy and his toys could be there. In fact, he wanted Uncle Billy to stay there. See his hand motioning that?

Two and a half is not to early to put a man to work in this house. Here is a clip of Colton helping Uncle Billy and Grandpa reassemble the table. His daddy is hooking up electronics and laughing off camera.

 

I seem to be wanted in another room as new baseboards are being installed. Then I'm off to dust, wash, polish and replace things throughout the house. The poor family room, feeling lonely again, will be given a treat. I'm calling to have that carpet cleaned in a week or two.

Feel free to stop by and flex your bare toes in the new carpeting. Just don't drink in there yet.