Before we started this next project, we fixed and painted all the walls (Sherwin-Williams Useful Gray - LOVE IT).. then we opened up a new can of smells with - NEW FLOORS!!!
When I say I've been waiting for this for a long time, I literally mean since BEFORE we moved in in 2007.
The people who lived in the house before us not only had cats, smoked, had 2 kids under 10, deep fried every meal, and were just in general trashy rednecks... (I can say this with certainty. We had their kids when we worked at the daycare back in the day) but she also 'cleaned' with bleach... aka she spilled it on the carpet.
That plus the other 10+ years of renters living in the house just made for nasty gnarly ass carpet.
This was the last phase to get the smell and grossness out of the house, and I knew it would make a huge difference visually, so I was pretty pumped to get started.
We decided on wide plank, hand-scraped, engineered hardwood.
- Wide Plank - Because it takes fewer pieces to complete the project
- Hand-scraped - because it hides the imperfections in the floor. You can't tell when you're looking at the floor if its not level or if the floors are supposed to look like that.
- Engineered - because our house isn't worthy of real wood. It was built in the 70's. We're surrounded by cows. I'm not trying to win a Southern Living beautification award.
AND - it was in our budget.
We found some we liked at Lumber Liquidators and they were having a sale! They had the floors we wanted in-stock and were doing a warehouse clearance, so we were able to get it at 0.70/sq ft cheaper than the sale price! I'd been watching the LL site for a while for sales and it definitely paid off.
We were doing the install ourselves. And by 'we' I mean N. Alone. Cause I am useless until February.
He ripped out the carpet and was disgusted by the subfloor. It was so stained and nasty it was almost unbelievable. So he painted it with a Kilz primer to block the smell in and prevent future smells.
Before shots -
Nasty Sub Floor -
SO GROSS!!!
So, he primed the floor, then laid roofing tar paper (its the same as the expensive flooring underlayment, just smells a little when you put it in), then he was ready to start with the actual flooring.
It took a while to find the center of the room, but once he found it, it was just a long process of nailing each piece in.
In Progress Shots:
It took a full week (plus a few days..) for him to get it all in, cause he was being a perfectionist but the end result is totally worth it!
Finished Shots:
We love it! The dog slides all over the place but the smell is gone and it feels so much cleaner. Totally worth the effort and the money.
Up Next - The Nursery
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