Floored … The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Like many bloggers, I am a bit shy and reluctant when it comes to showing the hideous bits of my home that aren’t always “picture perfect”.  But, that is life, right?  A home is to be lived in and a bit rough around the edges at times.  As of late – like, lets be real here, the last two months – our home has been in shambles and in stages of ripping out cabinets, ugly 18 year old Berber carpet, painting, more painting and boxing up things that really aren’t needed anymore.  But the end results feel so great!  And I am beginning to feel a heavy weight being lifted from my shoulders….for the time being…till the next project is started. 

As I have shared in recent posts, we have been wanting to put down laminate floors in our living and dining rooms of our home.  This post is about just that…come along.

 

Here comes the “being real” part of this post.  No matter HOW much I vacuumed and cleaned the beige Berber, there was always the feeling that they really weren’t getting that clean at all.  Enter now the evidence above…..grotesquely dirty, dirty carpet …and yes, there HAD been an area rug there.  Bet you wouldn’t have guessed that one, eh? 

Let the games begin…..rip out that stuff!  No remorse here either!  Adios, good riddance, auf wiedersehen, so long….and I am not even feeling the remorse over this break-up.  Not. One. Bit.

My husband is pretty handy when it comes to remodeling and he replaced the pinkish rock like tile (it was popular back in the 80’s…like big hair, Angel Flights and Ditto pants) and now the fireplace surround has a pretty ceramic tile in muted earthy tones.  Love!

 

The picture below shows the lovely dated tile.  So not missing that break up either! 

After months of searching for laminate (and boy I did not know just how many there were to pick from), we decided on a Mannington laminate floor in a butterscotch Hickory color.  I wanted one that had a cottage feel to it and one that would look nice with the new tile and our furniture.  We also liked the planking look of this floor.  It is pretty close to looking like real wood, too.

 

Our installers were wonderful and did an amazing job laying the floor down.  If you need a good referral and live in the Central Valley of California, just let me know.  We could not be any more pleased with their work.

 

All I needed to do now is to mop and get the floors ready to have the furniture moved back in. 

And here is what the rooms look like with everything put back into place.  The area rugs are from Lowe’s and are an Olefin product that looks like natural sisal, but is much softer than a true sisal rug.  Less messy, too.

Many of you shared with me how much you love having hardwood floors or laminate and I do appreciate all of the feedback that you provided.  We asked ourselves “what took us so long to do this?!”  Now that it is all done, we notice a huge difference in the feel of the rooms –very cozy - and how the house doesn’t smell like old carpet any more.  We also paid extra for a really good thick padding which keeps the noise down when walking on the floor.  As for the Scotties, well, they seem to be liking the floor as much as us as they can be found napping in certain spots during the day.

 

 Next Wednesday I will be sharing with you the next remodel that we did.  It has something to do with the items below and I will share “the scoop” about all of that then.  Stay tuned as there will be a give-away right around the corner.  Something rusty, metal and with a cute face on it!

Till next time….

Smiles for you!

Today I am linking up with "A Favorite Thing" at Claudia's blog, Mockingbird Hill.  Stop on by to see what other favorite things are being shared!