Showing posts with label New Floor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Floor. Show all posts

Friday, August 19, 2011

Renovation Failure

When hubby and I bought our house we knew that we were probably going to have to do something about the carpet.  There was new WHITE carpet throughout the whole house.  It sure did look nice for about the first week, but then it became such a hassle.  I spent so much time scrubbing out marks on the carpet.  Not to mention that since my husband is in a wheelchair, we had many a battle between that chair and the white carpet.

Two years after moving in, it was decided that the white carpet had to go.  It was still in good condition, but I felt like it would be so much easier for my husband to get around the house if we had a smooth type surface.  I was also convinced that it would be easier to clean up all the dirt/mud/water that comes off the wheels of his wheelchair if we didn't have carpet. (you will see I was sooo wrong)

So, in January of this year we tore the carpet out and donated the carpet and padding to a fellow employee of mine who was in need.  And....we put down laminate wood floors.

The first couple weeks I was in awe....I would just sit and stare at the new floor with a cocky little grin on my face!  Our floors looked awesome! (see pic below)


I {heart} my floors!!
 But then the "newness" wore off and reality set in.  First of all, dark colored wood floors and white Jack Russell Terrier hair DO NOT MIX!!  I could swiffer the floors every 5 minutes and I would NEVER be able to stay on top of all the white dog hair.

Secondly, the amount of dirt/mud/water that comes off those wheels from hubby's chair is astounding!  If it rains outside....we have puddles of water to clean up.  If he goes out to the lake fishing....we have 1/2 a beach in our living room.  If he goes out to water the plants....we have dried mud particles everywhere!

It is a constant battle!!!

The absolute worst part of having wood floors is that no matter how many times you sweep or swiffer the floors, IT WILL ALWAYS BE DIRTY!  I could walk across our carpet and not realize it was dirty unless I stepped in something or noticed a stain.  But, walking across wood floors (especially in bare feet) is HORRIBLE!  Every little crumb, dog hair, cat hair, piece of dirt, etc. literally sticks to your feet.  Almost magnetized in the same way that a swiffer is.

Thirdly, this is not an ideal situation when you have white furniture.  I don't just "sit" on the couch.  I have to pull my feet up and get comfy.  But every time I do that, the debris from the floor (that are now on the bottom of my feet) gets wiped off onto the white cushions of the furniture.  So not only is the floor always dirty but SO IS THE COUCH!!


White couch.....Ugh!!

Don't get me wrong....wood floors are awesome (and a good selling point to new buyers), but I made a BIG mistake!  This was a total renovation failure!

I can't even begin to tell you how badly I want to rip out the floors and put down carpet again.  Definitely not "white" carpet, but something that would SAVE MY SANITY....because, I'm about to lose it. 

Can someone please convince my husband that this is a good idea?

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Making a house a HOME!

I was looking through some old pictures of our house today and I was amazed at the changes that have taken place in the 2.5 years that we have lived there.  It made me very emotional thinking about all the ways in which we have made our house a "home".

Here are some before/after/current pictures of some of the changes we have made. (editors note:  I apologize for some of the picture quality...some of these came from my phone camera)

Living Room:


Living Room (before)

Living Room (before)

Living Room (just after moving in)
 
Living Room (just after moving in)
 
Living Room (after 1 year)
Painted the walls, swapped some furniture from the family room,
new rug and changed curtains/wall decor

Living Room (current)
Added hardwood floors

Living Room (current)
Changed pillows/wall decor

Dining Room:


Dining Room (before)

Dining Room (just after moving in)
New Light fixture above table


Dining Room (after 1 year)
Painted, changed curtains, new wall decor, tablecloth

Dining Room (current)
added hardwood floors & new table

Kitchen:

Kitchen (before)

Kitchen (before)


Kitchen (before)
 
Kitchen (just after moving in)
added stainless steel appliances
 
Kitchen (after 1 year)
added new floors

Kitchen (current)
painted walls & bar countertop
**Note: the blue is funky in this picture...sorry**

Kitchen (current)
new curtains

  Guest Bedroom:

Guest Bedroom (before)

Guest Bedroom (just after moving in)
 
Guest Bedroom (current)
painted walls, furniture & rearranged furniture
**iphone pic - very dark

 
Guest Bedroom (current)
painted bookcase, new bedspread
**iPhone pic - very dark



Guest Bedroom (current)
new bedspread & curtains
**Note:  wall decor has been added, but I don't have a current photo

Guest Bath:

Guest Bath (before)

Guest Bath (just after moving in)

Guest Bath (after 1 year)
added new floors

Guest Bath (past 3 months)
painted, changed shower curtain & painted cabinet under sink
Note: The green reminded me of toothpaste...didn't like it!


Guest Bath (as of 48 hrs ago)
painted (yet again) and changed shower curtain
Note:  I'm not sold on the yellow yet...and there is too much "white".  I'm thinking of
changing out the shower curtain (yet again) and maybe new rugs.  Plus, the wall decor still needs to be added.


Later this week I will show you the before/after of the outside of the house.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

New Floors

I almost forgot.......here are a couple pics of our new floors.......Love Them!!!