And last but not least....the floors!

So after the countertops, our last thing to do was the floors.  We wanted to rip out all the nasty carpet, but had to go with what we could afford.  So we decided to pull up the laminate in the kitchen, the carpet in the living and hall and leave the bedrooms carpeted for now.  After all the bedrooms weren't as bad (the carpet that is) and its nice having carpet to step out onto when you get out of bed.  We were thinking wood or laminate or maybe even tile.  I kinda liked our laminate before (but it had gotten worn down and needed replacing).  Brad wanted tile.  We were both opposed to real wood (for the sake of money if nothing else).  I was opposed to tile bc it was so hard and cold and concrete-ish...I don't know.  Just didn't like that idea.  Anyway...  so when the guy came out to measure our house, he told us about this (sorta) new vinyl plank.  You can get it to look like anything you wish (tile, wood, whatever) but it was vinyl.  I was a skeptic.  I mean, come on....vinyl?  Like 70's vinyl?  Ummm...no.  But then he said, 'no no you gotta see it.'  He happened to have a piece in his truck he went out to get and holy moly it looked JUST like real wood or laminate or whatever.  And the benefit?  You can get it wet.  You can't really scratch it.  Overall, it is much more durable.  You can mop it.  Technically you can't get laminate or wood wet.  But vinyl?  Yep.  Plus its tons cheaper!  We were sold.  So we went down and picked out our colors and such and the time came to tear it all up.

Throughout all our remodeling stages...the floors were the hardest to live with.  It took the longest (3 days) and put us out the most.  For instance, we had to pull the toilets out, we had to move furniture out, move appliances out (no cooking without the stove/oven!).  It was a mess.  But I knew it would be worth it in the end and sure enough......it most definitely was!


All our new floors were in these few boxes..

First they came in and we talked about what we were doing.  Because Brad pulled up some baseboards and not others when we were repainting, it was a bit confusing.  Some of it needed baseboards (and just baseboards), other needed quarter round (where we already had baseboards).  Some of it was going to be white, other parts stained brown.  Blah blah blah... lots of decisions.  But once it was all ironed out, the started by tearing up the old.

Then they had to level it out which was quite a chore in the older house we live in.  The foundation was still ok but when it was done back in 1977 apparently it was done un-level.  So the guy did the best he could getting it all nice and level.  I could tell he was a perfectionist, which I can appreciate.

Once all leveled, it had to dry.  And then they could come in and do the glue and start adding planks.

Because of all our furniture, though, it had to be done in stages.  So he did the whole kitchen and half the living room one day.  Next day was the rest of the living and the hall plus the bathrooms.  The last day was adding baseboards and quarter round and doing all the finishing touches.

It turned out sooo good.  I took a picture the other day and was looking at the picture thinking this doesn't even look like our house anymore!

In the bathroom, the 'tile' even has grout!  It looks just like tile.  Love it.

Both bathrooms have the same tile actually.  We picked out some that had gray 'flecks' and 'brown' flecks so it would go with whatever.  LOVE it.  Even the guy doing it said he wants to do his bathroom with this now!  LOL

The only ones that don't love it?  The dogs.  They can't run and are quite grumpy about it actually.  Had to even pull out Barkley's old bed to make him a little bit more comfy.  He's still ticked though.  :P