Finally....the floor!

When I bought this house I wanted new carpet or at least a carpet allowance. Rod didn't push for that too much and of course, Im paying now! I have wanted to do the floor in the living room for over 3 years. It was the original carpet that came in the house and after being in the house for 15 years and normal wear and tear along with the kids, spills, pets and everything else, I knew it was past time!

I actually ordered the flooring from Lumber Liquidators in March and picked it up at their local store. It sat in the house for weeks 'acclimating' to the humidity in the house. We had pulled everything out of the living room, took down the popcorn ceiling, repainted and were ready to get started on the floor.

I rented a air stapler from Home Depot. We laid out 3-4 boxes of flooring planks at a time, so that we could pick different colors so that the difference in color was more spread throughout the room, instead of it being all laid out in the same corner and then a different tint from the next box laid out in the next part that we worked on. It didn't seem like a huge project but after getting started, I wasn't sure if the rows would ever end.

I rented the stapler early Saturday morning, but we were going Easter Egg Hunting from 11a-2p and then I headed to Drews to buy some furniture. Chris was on-call this weekend and got a call after the Easter Egg Hunt, so we really didn't get started on the floor until around 1700 on Saturday. Rod picked up the girls around 1900 and we ended up going until after midnight. We were both tired and I, technically, had to have the stapler back by 0900 but I was so tired that I didn't care if I had to pay a late fee.

We got up Sunday and from 0900 to 1200 we worked and FINISHED the floor! Despite the cuts for the molding around the fireplace, the vents and meeting up with the entry way at the front of the family room and the entry-way into the kitchen, Chris had all of them cut perfectly.

I left to take the stapler back since now I was into overtime and while I was gone, Chris did a few photo-op pics on his own. I didn't realize what he had done until Sunday night at Easter dinner and flipping through my camera to find the picture of the finished floor, did I run across what he had done.

If you can take your eyes off of him long enough you can actually see the floor in the background. The girls at work got a kick out of his picture, and they warned me never to leave my camera alone with him again.

Here is the finished project! I absolutely love it. It gives me great pride in knowing that I supervised this project from the beginning all the way through to the end. I did a pretty darn good job. ha ha. Now I can't wait to place the furniture! I still have to pick out a ceiling fan, trim, tables, a rug and probably new lamps, wall art and of course, a bigger television. Guess I better pick up some more shifts at work, huh?