the great floor debacle of 2009
I really can’t begin to count the number of times that Mr. M and I have visited flooring stores in 2009… thought we knew what we wanted… and then completely changed our minds and stalled on the whole process. We’d love to replace all of the flooring downstairs somehow, but each time we thought in big numbers, our pocketbooks would shy away from commitment and we’d conveniently forget about the whole ordeal for the time being. That is… until the urge popped back in our brains… and we’d head out to yet another store in search of the perfect answer.
.
All of our hemming and hawing came to an end when we got moving on transforming our “extra room” (aka. the den or downstairs room w/o a door), as it will soon be the office so that the office can become the nursery. The previous residents of the home had let their large dog enjoy that room a bit too much… and the need to tear out and replace the carpet has always been on the fix-it agenda. We decided that the room would be the perfect spot to test out the flooring we liked in a large sample setting, without much agony about doing it all at once. Back again we went to the stores, but this time, when we saw the price tag broken down for our little 164 sq. ft. room, we ran away from our handscraped hardwood for good. No matter what kind of deal we were getting on it, it would be a long long time before we plopped down enough to finish downstairs, and it just seemed silly to spend so much so close to baby time.
.
So, ladies and gents, we went with the not-so-hip-nor-HGTV-esque option: Pergo. I was shocked myself, to find something that was in the colors we wanted, a texture that we liked, and that lacked the super laminate look, but we did! And the fact that I won’t have to be scared to death of scratching it or messing it up… well that is just the bonus. Now we can’t brag about investing in hardwood, but that’s pretty much the only thing that we lost by putting it in. We ordered our boxes of “Olivewood” online, shipped them to the store for free, and picked them up for Saturday of lots and lots of fun…
.
.
.
.
Once the padding was all down and sealed, it was time to start laying down the floor boards. We got down two rows before Mr. M decided to switch saws (from his table saw to his miter saw), so we got a little bit of a break in the action while we set-up the saw and got it ready for action.
.
.
Once the saw was up and running, we were back into installation mania! It only took about 2 hours to install the rest of the floor, with Mr. M making all of the awesome end cuts and me sliding up and down the floor on my kneepads clicking everything into place. And you know what, we’re both really really happy with the end result! I’ll post some more finished photos when the baseboards are in and the office begins to move downstairs… but for now just know that the great floor debacle of 2009 is finally over… just in time for 2010 to begin!
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
ep
Amanda
Aubrey @ My Simpl...
Julie
Michelle
Janet
Katie
It is kind of awesome that I took the exact same pictures on Sunday while my Chris was installing our floors!!! So funny. They look amazing! Also, Chris got kneepads but ditched them after 20 minutes because they were uncomfortable….and with all the walking back and forth from the living room to the garage to cut the wood, they just kept sliding down.
I can’t wait to see the finished room….and the nursery!!!
I love the color you chose! I think it looks great. Glad you were able to find something you like
that’s a great color you choose. my bestie got pergo floors for her living room and she loves them. they look really nice and i have a blast sliding around on them in my socks. lol
The floor looks really good! I like the color. I wish that we were as handy as you and Mr. M. Hopefully, someday we can learn how to install a mantel without our parents help. LOL
That looks great, Kim! Good job, you guys! I cracked up at your post’s title–it could also describe us. We even know the flooring we want, and the colors–we just haven’t taken the plunge yet with the money. But oh, Marmoleum, how I love you! Someday you will be ours. Until then, I will enjoy your new floor vicariously.
I actually love that stuff! It was in my old condo and it looks and feels like wood, but it’s more absorbent (for shoes with heels, dropped objects, etc.), isn’t as noisy when you walk across it in shoes, and you don’t have to freak out about messing it up like with real hardwood (which is what i have now). I seriously have a heart attack every time I drop something!! plus, if a piece DOES get damaged, it’s pretty easy to just replace that piece! Great choice!!