Living Room Floor Continued

Yawwwwwnnnnnnnnnnnn..............I hope this makes sense, because I am exhausted tonight.  Remodeling is much harder work than gardening, at least for me.

I was up and at 'em at 7:30 AM this morning and Travis, our nephew, was here promptly at 8:00 AM to install the floor.  It is truly amazing to see him work; he is so skilled.  I felt completely at ease with the installation part of this job because I knew we were in good hands.

Since we don't quite know what we are going to do with the carpeted upstairs steps, Travis installed the hardwood under the first step so it would look nice.  We have a running debate going right now-should we put hardwood all the way up the stairs across the entire tread, or do we put hardwood on the edges with a carpeted runner?  Well, for now we've decided not to decide and until we do, we'll leave the old carpeting on the steps.

 
   
 We still have all of the living room furniture in the dining room and even though it's only been since Friday afternoon, the experience is getting old.  Everything is crammed and jammed in together, such a mess.  Add to the mess, the plaster dust and carpet dirt on the sub-floor which was exposed and merrily blew around in any breeze created by saws, passing doggies, and pedestrians.  Oh, well, what's the difference, I'll certainly be able to see any spots I've missed when I clean!

The work progressed on very well:

Joel was doing some vacuuming while Travis and Carl debated wood selection.

Remember yesterday I said Carl was uneasy with this transition?  He had lingering doubts this morning, too.  (I can happily report, I had no doubts whatsoever, this looks MUCH better than the old rug.) 

After the first two feet or so were installed, Carl still wasn't sure if this was the right thing to do.  He said it would probably grow on him, and I knew it would eventually.  I know the floor is a bit light in color, but I am sure it will show less dust this way and will probably darken some with age. 

My apologies to Travis, who probably was slowed down a great deal by his 'helpers', but I knew if Carl would get involved with the floor installation he'd also be more at ease with the process, and I was right.  By lunchtime, Carl was pleased with the results they had achieved so far. 

 Joel set up his time lapse camera in the window outside to take pictures of the installation.  The cardboard was to shield the camera from the glare coming off the window.  If I ever figure out how to post a video to the blog, I'll try and post it.  It's really amazing seeing the whole operation in what amounts to fast forward.  (I wish we could make the entire renovation process go that fast!)

As they neared midpoint on the job, it seemed as if the boxes of wood were going down a bit fast, I mentioned it, but they hoped it would be enough.  I finished the dinner dishes and then, in another stunning development on my part, I decided to go buy some paint for the living room.  ( I am absolutely not fond of painting).  Joel and I went to Green Bay around 3PM to Home Depot.  I know I should take paint selection more seriously than I do, but I spotted what I thought would work in less than ten minutes, ("Peach Fizz" is the color, awwww... what a fruity name!) and had two gallons mixed up and we headed home. 

By the time we got home, Travis and Carl only had a small area by the bedroom door and the front hall closet and foyer area left to do, but it was obvious there wasn't enough wood.  So, they finished the front foyer area and I'll have to order more wood next week Monday.  I hope the wood doesn't take tooooo long to come in.

While they were working on the last of the wood which was left, I started masking off the woodwork and trim for painting preparation.  That was also when I discovered I needed some patching plaster and took a chance and called Ann who bought  us some from work.  

Joel's friends stopped in with their new kayak and took it for a spin in the quarry.  Cody and Briana came over later on and prepared to paint the living room with us while I went to town with Ann and bought some pizzas for supper. We had a supper of sorts around 9PM.  Heartfelt thanks to Cody, Briana and Joel; the living room is now sporting one coat of Peach Fizz.  We decided to wait until tomorrow morning to see how the walls look and give them a second coat then if they need it.

I will post pictures of the almost-finished floor tomorrow after I get the drop cloth from painting off and the furniture dusted off and moved back in, hopefully sometime tomorrow...it sure will be nice to get back to a semblance of normal, at least. 

Thank you for your excellent work, Travis!!

Tomorrow is another jam-packed day.  Until then, 

Karen