Up & Out with the Old

The demolition process begins!

During the holiday season, my husband took some time off of work to spend it with our boys.  As any good parent would do, we decided the perfect way to celebrate working so hard during the school year was to have the kids tear up the flooring in our home.

They were so excited.

First we had to remove all the trim around the floors and doorways.  You can see the standard-1990s-builder-oak-trim in some of the pictures below.  Ick.


What appears to be white moulding is really the sheet rock behind the removed trim.  For 12 years I longed for the big thick white moulding to frame my floors and doors.  Finally, I was seeing this become a reality.

This is the carpet coming up in the living and dining rooms. 

To the right is our front entry hall.  More oak. 

Lucky us.

When our home was built in 1999 the really cool snap & lock floating floors weren't designed yet.  These laminate wood planks were stapled into place with the biggest staples ever.  Each staple was then stapled along the edge of each plank about an 1 1/2 to 2 inches apart. 

My oldest boy thought tearing out those staples was just awesome.
(Insert sarcasm font).

The only way to get each of those ginormous staples out of the sub flooring was to wedge a screwdriver underneath the top of the staple and then whack it with a hammer. 

The first 276 times were fun, then...not so much.

With the carpet removed from the family room, the boys still had the bedroom hallway carpet to pull up.

Look at all that oak.  OOOO baby.

As soon as I got off of work, I would put on the work clothes and help my Master Demolition Dudes pull up all the carpet staples. 
So.  Many.  Staples. 
A long and tedious project, but extremely important to get them out before laying the new floors.

 

One of our very first home updates came when we covered up the builder basic (read : cheap) linoleum in the kitchen.  These were commercial grade laminate tile designed to last 20 years.  Or 5, if you have boys. 
This was quite the chore as we had to pull up the tile, linoleum and the linoleum sub flooring. 

The pain of difficulty was eased when we had to purchase a new power tool.

I love a good do-it-yourself project and very rarely become upset during the in between stages.  Before starting any project I can clearly see the end result and it always helps keep me calm during the mayhem.  With all that being said, when all the floors were pulled up and our boys were walking around in pajamas with their shoes on because it was unsafe to be barefoot, I felt like the worst mother in the world.  I had removed the safe environment from my children.

As the new floors went down, their beauty erased those bad parenting feelings. Whew. 

Next time, I will show you our laying down of the new floors dreams coming true.

Inspiring Spaces

Every Friday  I hope to bring you some of my favorite inspiring pieces I've come across during the week.  I say "hope to" as I'm a busy mom and may not always have the time.  Super Mom - yes, Super Mom with a lot of spare time, no.

Here are some of my favorites I stumbled across this week.  I hope they inspire you to do at least one change in your home this weekend.

I love the big, white, fluffy comforter on this bed.  It invites me to curl up into it.

 I love, love, LOVE these floors.  A perfect combination of old and new is showcased with the wood floors and crisp white of the room.  Great design includes attention to little details.  The molding on the backside of each step in the staircase proves no detail is too small.

Here the octagon shape in the bookcase is carried through into the floor design. 

I love the boldness of the color as it defines a tiny corner that could otherwise be overlooked.

Those tiles ROCK.

Thank you for taking the time to enjoy what has inspired me this week.  A good rule to remember - even though something may not be your style you can always pull something from it that you do like; whether it be color, shape or the way something is laid out.

Take what inspires and go DO.

Enjoy your weekend!

Bathroom Remodel : Laying Tile

Laying tile floor was something I had never done before and I was amazed at how relatively easy it was to do!  A majority of the work was done in a single weekend.

First step was removing the linoleum and bringing the floor down to the subflooring.

We also removed all the trim, including the trim around the doors

After exposing the subflooring, we laid down cement board.  This is a vital step in laying down tile in a wet environment.

<-- Here my husband is nailing the cement board down to the subflooring.

I began laying the tile in the center of the room.  This gave me an idea on how the tiles would lay out.

I simply continued the pattern.  Once all the tiles were laid out, I had to cut some tiles to fit.  This requires a wet saw.

This is the wet saw in action.  OOOOOOO - power tools!

With the tiles cut and laid out, I labeled each and every one so once I removed them to lay down the tile cement I would know exactly where each one went.  I also color coded the labels by row.

I suppose I can be a tad organized.

The 2x4 scrap wood was used to ensure the tiles were level.  Once I laid a row down in the cement I gently tapped the wood with a rubber mallet to ensure each tile laid down evenly. 

Nothing could ruin the room quicker than having the tile uneven and spending the next umpteen years tripping over a corner that didn't lay flat.  Imagine all the ruined pedicures!  Tragedy I tell you!

After drying time, next on the agenda is spreading mortar inbetween the tile.  Mortar can come in many, many, MANY different colors.  Choose the right color to enhance what you are doing in the room.  I chose one that blended well with the tile.

Once the mortar has dried, it is time to rinse the floors.  Don't panic!  It's suppose to look like this.

Rinse, repeat.  Rinse, repeat.  Rinse, repeat.  It's every shampoo-er's nightmare.

The tile will eventually become clear after several rinse and repeats.

The final step is sealing the floor.

As complicated as it may look, it truly was a lot simpler than I anticipated.  You can do this!

Next on the remodel : Installing everything important to a bathroom.