Here are two pictures of our formal living and dining rooms with carpet (I'm taking this from the front door; you see this room when you look to the left as you walk into our house):
The carpet actually doesn't look too bad from far away. But up close, there were sections that were in pretty bad shape. For example, about a month after Drew was born, Grant got into my fingernail polish and hid behind the dining room table, having a grand time spreading it all over the floor and curtains (which were eventually removed when we painted this spring, and haven't been replaced yet):
And then of course there was this large cat pee stain against the front wall of our house. As soon as we moved here three years ago, Amminadab (our neutered cat) started spraying in a number of places around our house. We didn't notice for a few months, and he eventually became an outdoor cat when we tried a few different things to get him to stop.....and nothing worked. And we got this carpet professionally cleaned about a year ago....even they couldn't get this stain out!
Here's the room after they tore out the carpet and laid the leveling material down. I was shocked by all of the dust. I really wish they had warned us, so I could close doors and cover furniture. All of our downstairs surfaces needed to be wiped down when they were finished.
We chose engineered wood; I haven't taken a close-up picture of the boards, but they're 5-inch planks and it's a dark-colored oak. We think it looks perfect with our furniture and wall color. And it's hand-scraped, meaning that it has some texture to it (thus it's supposed to do a better job of hiding scratches and dents that inevitably will occur with small children).
For a couple of days after it was finished, I was SO careful about the boys walking and playing on it. But now I'm doing better, and we've dragged most of their toys back in there. I've never had wood floors before, and I'm just so afraid of damaging it right now!
Grant keeps shutting the computer and telling me. "that's enough," so pictures of the bathrooms will have to wait.......
7 comments:
Oh my goodness, these are absolutely gorgeous! Your 'after' pictures look like a Pottery Barn catalog! Great job.
And I'm cracking up at Grant - it's so funny when they try to tell us what to do like we do to them. OK, so maybe only the first time is funny... ha ha
Your floors look beautiful. I think you'll really enjoy them!
GORGEOUS! So perfect -you totally transformed your house!
Have you ever read the book 'A Severe Mercy' (I highly recommend) It's a memoir and in it the couple buys a new car and the first thing they do is take a hammer to it -just a ding so they won't live in fear of messing up their perfect car. I've never forgotten that and it helps when I find crayon marks and scratches in the dining table...
:)
oh also we had wood floors in our old house and the kids would pass hours by pulling/sliding each other around on a blanket. I'm sure your boys will find all kinds of ways to enjoy that shiny slippy surface:)
Beautiful! I'm so glad that you posted the pictures!
Just lovely! I think you're really going to enjoy your new floors!! :)
They are so beautiful! We just started the process of "looking", i.e. pricing things out. Now time to save some money.
Wow. Those floors look great! You will love not having carpet in there! Can't wait to see the bathrooms!
Post a Comment