New Wood Flooring

After 'thinking about it' for well over a year now, Kate and I finally got around to changing out the old carpet and cracked tiles on the first floor of our house to new wood flooring and new tiles.

Originally, we had grand plans to install the wood flooring ourselves. My Dad pulled it off and it looks fantastic in my parents' house. But then I found myself commuting to Longmont every day and Tessa was born....and to our surprise we just didn't have the time or energy to devote to such a project. So after doing some shopping around, we decided to purchase the materials from a local shop called Petersen's Flooring & Design. After another couple of estimates, we chose to let them do the installation as well.

And let me tell you, we couldn't be happier with the results!

The process would take about three days. First thing though, Kate and I had to clear out all the furniture that we could from the first floor. This led to some clever (and not-so-clever) methods of cramming stuff into the upstairs office, a little in the bedroom, some in the hallway, and the rest on the patio outside. In the end, all that was left downstairs was the two-piece couch set and the kitchen fridge.

The first day involved the ripping up of all the carpet and old tiles. (It was a little jarring to come home and find the place all torn up!)






The second day was very impressive as the installers finished the living room, the kitchen, the downstairs bathroom, and part of the foyer hallway. The last day was finishing up the foyer and the 'step' at the base of the stairs.

I was at work most of the time but Kate and Tessa were trapped upstairs while the Petersen's guys did their work. Tessa was a little rattled by all the noise and didn't sleep great but she weathered it pretty well. The cats were another story; I'm pretty certain Rune is still mad at us. :-) I had moved the mini-fridge and the microwave upstairs to the bedroom so Kate could have lunch and snacks during the day. And in the meantime, she got some work done that she needed to upstairs and online.

And as I mentioned, the results were great!








Even Tessa seems to like the new floor!



We went with a bamboo wood that's supposed to be pretty durable and easy on your feet. We made sure to put sticky felt pads on the bottom of all our furniture to avoid scratching. The tiles are a little rougher than the old ones...but Rune in particular likes the way it feels on her fur when she rolls around. :-)

It feels great to have it done at last! In fact, it's galvanized Kate to make progress on the repainting that we wanted to do. I'm hoping to have some time this summer to finish sanding and finishing the stairs that my Dad replaced a couple years back. It's a lot of fun to start getting things done!

As always, thanks for reading! Have yourself a really good day!