Hi everyone,
I’m sorry this week hasn’t been much about dolls or sewing, but WE ARE GETTING NEW FLOORS after walking on icky plywood for 13 years. You’ll just have to bear with me for a few days…
I only wrote one comment yesterday, but I wanted to answer everyone, really I did. When I got out of bed this morning my hubby had already been to town and bought some extra furniture roller carts and had most of the furniture moved to “other” parts of the house…
In case you missed it… WE are putting down the flooring ourselves… $700 plus, just wasn’t in the budget. We started early in the morning and I thought we were ready to get started, but there was STILL so much prep work to be done… Once all the furniture was moved out of the living room and dining room, we found several more areas in the floor that we decided to putty.
My hubby had to trim off the pantry doors and the new flooring made them drag… he had to cut off the trim by the front door, and cut off a piece of trim over by the fireplace.
While he worked on those things, I told him I would tackle the cold air return vent that we moved. When you last saw it, it looked something like this…with the register in…
Well, if you look closely at the right side, it’s a good inch taller than the left side. So I asked my hubby if he could plane it down a little bit and then sand it some for me… I’d do the rest. It was a big job… all of our crooked floors lead to more crooked areas and then you end up with a real mess. It didn’t have to be absolutely perfect, as it’s over in the corner and will never be stepped on.
After he planed it down, it looked like this…
So I got out some scissors (for flooring) and started cutting away at some tiles we had…different thicknesses…
…and built up the area like this… I certainly wouldn’t want to be graded on this job…
…but it will work and no one (but you and me) will ever know what it looks like under there.
So we worked and worked and then gave the floor a final sweep down with the shop vac and decided it was time to begin. It was 4:00 p.m. UGH!
Okay, so let me tell you what we went with… the most incredible thing we’ve seen so far. It’s called Loose Lay flooring and we found it at Karpet Korner in Marion, IL. (about 20 miles from us.) The brand we bought from them was called Happy Feet International. It is a flexible, vinyl plank flooring that is about a quarter of an inch thick… each plank is 8″ wide by 48″ long and weighs about 8 pounds apiece. It’s a real work out putting it down. It all works on the principle of gravity… They have a skid resistant backing which helps grip the floor underneath. They are waterproof, scratch resistant and have a wear layer 22 mils thick. That’s the thickest we had seen anywhere. Here are a few pics to show you…
When we went to Karpet Korner and saw it down at their front entrance, we were sold. It doesn’t require any glue and they don’t click together… you just lay one down against a wall and then follow the wall, using a tapping block and a hammer to make sure they butt up against each other… There is a micro beveled edge on the ends and it is very nice… but I took my pictures at 10:00 at night so it’s hard to see.
We had 425 square feet in our living room and dining room and it was a BIG project. It took us 6 hours to do what I’ll show you. My hubby did the cutting and I did all the laying of the planks. It’s pretty easy to cut the pieces when you get to the end of a wall. He used a utility knife and scored it, snapped it and then cut it apart at the skin….
One neat thing about it, since it’s not glued down, if you see an imperfection underneath it, like an edge sticking up, you can use a knife and pull up that plank and fix what’s wrong underneath and then put the plank back down. That’s exactly what happened to us.. I saw a plank that looked like it was sticking up a bit higher on one side. We lifted it out and sure enough.. there was a nail head that hadn’t gotten hammered down.. we fixed it and put the plank back in place…
The salesman at the store even told us, if you move, you can take your flooring with you… or if you decide you want a different color in one room, move this to another room and buy new flooring in the color you want Try doing that with any other kind of flooring.
Okay, I’ll show you some pictures now, but here’s the catch. When we went to Karpet Korner, I got a little bit bold and asked the owner if I did a review and wrote about it on my blog post and posted it to their facebook page, would he give us a discount. He gave us a 10% discount! I was thrilled and so was my hubby! SOOOOO… when I do my review you’ll have to pretend like you are reading it for the first time and leave another comment…
Oh, another funny thing… my paint was called Sackcloth, and Laura guessed pretty close, when she said, “wouldn’t it be funny if her flooring was called Ashes….then it would be Sackcloth and Ashes.” She wondered what people would say when they learned those 2 names… Well, I have to tell you my flooring is called Ashwood… pretty close, isn’t it? The color is about like barnwood…grayish tones, and hopefully easy to keep clean.
My pictures look kind of brownish, but it’s not…it’s just the lack of lighting…
Okay here are some pictures of the progress on the floor…
It looks as much like hard wood floors as we were ever going to have, so I am beyond thrilled and my hubby is looking forward to “Splinter-less” feet and can’t wait to walk on it in his socks!
Well, I’m going to have to call it quits…I don’t feel 61 tonight… I feel 91! I’m about as pooped as I have ever been! :o)
We’ll see if we can’t get it finished tomorrow… if I can get out of bed…
Thanks everyone,
See you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
What a difference this is making Jeanne!! Your floor makes the room look like a new house! It is so pretty and natural looking, and seems like it was invented just for you! Can this be put in basements too? I have seen pictures of houses that had wood plank flooring in the basement, but knew it couldn’t really be wood. I love the color you picked out and it will be very easy to decorate with. Now you have to find some pretty rugs to scatter around! That last picture really shows a difference and looks so professionally done! Of course, George, works wonders with his personal “assistant”! This looks like something every do-it-yourselfer can do. I’m sure the hardest and most taxing part was getting the floors even, as in your case, but if that didn’t have to be done, this would have gone much faster, making it a very desirable option, indeed.
I’m happy that you are happy! Take it easy, Jeanne, we are still with you and cheering you on. We can wait a bit for dolly clothes, knowing you have all this to do and then to put everything back. Of course, next thing you know is that “House Beautiful” will be knocking at your door!
Hi Linda,
My mom had an eye appointment so while her eyes are dilating I’m going to try and answer a few comments.
When I got out of bed this morning, I could hardly wait to go see if I still liked the floors. I DO!! Yes, it’s wonderful flooring for basements. They told us if your basement gets wet, you can just take up the floor planks and dry off the basement floor and the planks and then put them back down. Number them or stack them in order because it’s kind of like doing a puzzle.
They said the floors didn’t have to be perfect and ours certainly weren’t, but we decided to make them the best we could. There are still ridges and dips and areas that slope so we’ll see just how good this stuff really works.
I’ll let you “know” when House Beautiful knocks at “my” door. That’s the nicest compliment!
Thank you for the sweet card & ___ too! You are so sweet!
Blessings, Jeanne
Your flooring looks wonderful!! And that truly seems like a great product. I haven’t seen one as thick and the installation seems very versatile. The difference it makes in your room is tremendous. You must be so excited (even though you are tired and probably sore). Thanks for sharing this with us.
Have a good day.
Take care.
Hi Charlotte,
The flooring IS wonderful and we hadn’t seen anything this thick either. It’s flexible enough to hide most imperfections…we have the perfect floors to give this a try.
You got the tired and sore part right. I wanted to keep working last night but absolutely couldn’t. ..
Thank you Charlotte,
Blessings, Jeanne
OH MY ! Your new floors are gorgeous – you will think you are in a new home ! It is amazing how nice floors pull everything together. Happy for you. AND love the hats and fabric. You are one busy lady !
So nice to see how active your dear hubby is. Mine just started chemo for first time and your husband is an inspiration to me.
Thanks so much for your posts.
Hi Linda,
It certainly seems like a new room to me. It looks so much bigger with the floor finished in a pretty pattern.
Oh, you will be my thoughts and prayers as your hubby starts his Chemo treatments. I hope he does well…my hubby is due for his next Cystoscopy and we are praying for good results again.
Thank you Linda,
Blessings, Jeanne
Jeanne, the floors are absolutely beautiful! I can hardly wait to see them in person!
Leann
Thanks Leann,
We feel so blessed to have flooring now! It’s funny, George is in there laying on them now, playing with Reuben. It’s so wonderful to just look at them… :o) Thanks for telling me you like them…
Blessings, Jeanne
Your flooring looks so nice. It will be such a relief for you once it is completed. And I agree with George, splinterless feet is wonderful! 😀
Hi Christine,
Yes, George is excited to walk on the new floors in his barefoot or just socks…
Thanks Christine,
Blessings, Jeanne
Whatever you do seems to help other people — I loved Linda F’s comment above. It really does help to see people get through chemo and get on with their lives. Your floor, and the people working on it, is already doing good work.
The more floor you put down, the better it looks. It’s going to be really lovely and it will be wonderful to see it with furniture. You have some really nice pieces, and now they’ll look their best with your pretty new floor showing them off. I wouldn’t be surprised if you made a couple of sales for the company.
You can pay for this floor with about 10 doll dresses. Maybe by January. That would be a nice gift to yourself.
Thank you, Marilyn,
It’s a good thing my hubby is continuing to keep busy and do as much as he can.
I have to tell you a funny story…yesterday afternoon, we had worked so hard on the prep work, we both were exhausted…and we hadn’t even started putting down the planks yet. So we decided we’d lay down for a bit. My hubby fell asleep but I didn’t. I think I was too excited. My hubby woke up just as my phone dinged…he said, “Is that Cindy asking if we have the floor done yet?” I said, “Well, it was Cindy…should I tell her we decided to take a nap?” …and we started laughing. ..I mean LAUGHING…so much we could hardly breathe.
I like it so much I’ve already asked my hubby if we could continue it into the kitchen…e didn’t say no…just, “let’s wait and see how it goes first…” even if we didn’t do the floors right away, I’d just like to buy the flooring to make sure we could get the same thing…becausee my living room, dining room and kitchen is all one big area.
Thanks Marilyn,
Blessings, Jeanne
Love love love it!! Amazing stuff. Here I was down to guessing cork and you, of course, find a new amazing product. This looks identical to the hardwood flooring my friend had put down that cost, well a ton. The color is perfect. Your home is going to look so wonderful after all the years of splinters. Hurray!
I’ll bet you just slept on the new floor last night. 🙂 Looking forward to more pictures soon.
Wow, I sure hope you can continue it into the kitchen. Would be so great!
Thanks so much Joy,
We love them too! It’s just amazing to see the new floor instead of the plywood. George is in there right now, laying on them, playing with Reuben. He loves them… AND this afternoon I mentioned the “continuing them into the kitchen idea…” AND he said, well, if you can raise another $500 from your dress money, I’ll consider it! That’s almost as good as a YES to me…
We just have the area in front of the fireplace to go and it’s got all these curved areas, so we decided to wait till in the morning when we were fresh…
As far as sleeping on the floors last night… nope, we both needed something softer… but as soon as I got up this morning I had to check them out again to see if they were still as nice as I had remembered last night..,. They were!
Thank you Joy, for the sweet birthday card too!
Blessings, Jeanne
Whoopie! That floor is wonderful! It won’t show the dust and will be easy to clean too! We put a similar floor in the kitchen and really love it. It’s been down 10 years and other than a teeny chip or 2 where something sharp dropped it is like new.
The team of a Super Hero and Wonder Woman are doing a great job! Another plus is that things dropped don’t always break. Enjoy the feeling of accomplishment when you are all through?
HI Kathie,
I mentioned continuing the flooring into the kitchen, and there’s a real possibility of it happening. I need to get sewing to help with it and it just might happen.
I’m glad you like it and I’m glad yours has held up well too… I hope ours does…
We moved the china cabinet back in place, and the blue cabinet…it looks so nice…and a little table with the TV on it… oh, and a floor lamp…
I’ll be glad when it’s done, but it’s been wonderful seeing it change the looks of our house right before our eyes.
Blessings, Jeanne
Jeanne and George, you make a wonderful team. Your floor looks oh so nice and hopefully, by the end of the weekend, you can finally enjoy it totally and start out the next season splinterless and sewing up a frenzy.
My husband was a house painter for a good number of years. He learned that about 90% of the work is preparation and the rest is the icing on the cake. It appears to me that you and George are definitely in the home stretch after all of the prep work you put into getting the floors ready for the tiles. You definitely are inspiration to so many of us. I picture you with that beautiful smile of yours and George with his helping arms and hands…great team, great e-friends. Thank you so much for all you do and share with us.
Blessings.
HI Becky,
We do make a pretty good team. I was just mentioning to George right before we quit for today, that we hadn’t had one tense moment or disagreement during this whole project… He said, “that’s because we prayed before we started!” How true that is… things always go better when you start with prayer! :o)
George is in there right now, laying on the floor, playing with Reuben.. NO splinters anymore… unless you travel to the back of our house in the sitting room, or our bedroom… they both have the plywood floors still.
Now that we have the flooring done as much as we do, we can look back and say we are so glad we took the time to plane down that ridge and putty as many holes as we could, and hammer down any nails we found that stuck up even just a little bit. It made our imperfect floor a little less imperfect than it was a week ago!
Thanks Becky,
Blessings, Jeanne
Jeanne, You two worked so hard. And the result is so beautiful. I agree with Becky, the prep was the hardest. Now you can enjoy these gorgeous new floors. Can’t wait to see more pictures. Thank you for sharing.
Judi
Thank you Judi,
We have stopped for the night, but we just have the area in front of the fireplace to go… and we MIGHT continue into the kitchen…or at least buy the flooring to match what we have and have it on hand for when we remodel the kitchen. Right now we just the flooring taped off where it meets at the kitchen. It’s all one big room so it really would be NICE if it was all the same flooring.
The prep work was hard, but the bending over and getting up and down about did me in!
We’re almost done…so I think I can make it.
Thanks Judi,
Blessings, Jeanne
Great work. Enjoy your beautiful new floor.
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and I’m inspired to imitate!
We have this product available in N Z Please dear Jeanne, can you ask George what type of ‘putty’ he used.
Thank you for your great photos and for sharing.
Jane
HI Jane,
Well, thank you very much Jane…I AM flattered that you like our floors that much and might copy them.
The putty we used was some my hubby already had, called Rock Hard putty, but he said they have better stuff than this… We just used this because we had it. I’m sure any home store could tell you what is a good putty to use for the flooring you have underneath what you plan to put down.
I’m so happy to have heard from you…and do send ME some pictures if you put some down yourself…
Blessings, Jeanne
Maybe you will be inspired to take shoes off upon entering the house. My family had done that ever since being stationed in Japan. It sure keeps the house cleaner. It looks beautiful already and sure will set off the blue breakfront. It’s even more special because you are doing it yourselves. Great idea to buy more so you can continue it into the kitchen and the whole area. Sewing room, too? Great job!
HI Susette,
I know lots of people who have that rule, but I’m not sure we will do that… I will be careful on it though. George found our old dust mop from when we lived at the Bull Test Station… he was sweeping floor with it, and it was cute! It is kind of neat to say that we did it ourselves… we’ve done everything else on this house…why not the floors?
I’m really hoping we can continue it into the kitchen… it would look so nice!
Sewing room? Oh my goodness, I’d love that… I better get to sewing!!!! $$$!!!
Thanks Susette,
Blessings, Jeanne
Already you are earning the 10%, even if the prospective customer is in NZ.
Maybe it’s time to take a few custom orders (Julie’s black dress with white sleeves comes to mind) and go through your records for all time best sellers and let them inspire you. You have lots of floors to pay for but you’ve found a good solution. You’ll have to sew and lay floors on alternate days or maybe alternate weeks. Just the other day I mentioned that you should make a dress similar to Felicity’s from the slide show. I’ll bet everyone here can think of at least one dress she’d like to see again in a new version.
You need very good heavy duty lotion to keep your hands in good condition for sewing and because good hands deserve good care.
HI Marilyn,
I couldn’t get to sleep very easily last night because I was thinking too much about my floors and then I was trying to figure out how to sew and do home projects at the same time. First I have to get the furniture out of my sewing room… hopefully tomorrow we should be finished. Even if we get more flooring for the kitchen, it will be stored for a while… I just want to get the same color batch and make sure they still have Ashwood…before it’s discontinued.
I WAS thinking of the black dress for Julie… just the other day! :o)
Thanks so much Marilyn,… yes, my hands deserve to be pampered. I told George a little while ago… “I need a vacation!” Today started the 100 mile yard sale for the Labor Day weekend. The one in May is for Memorial Day. We decided to pass this year…and finish what we have going on here. We just have the area in front of the fireplace to go…
Thanks so much Marilyn,
Blessings, Jeanne
Your new flooring is lovely, Jeanne–I’m so glad you finally have a “real” floor in your living and dining rooms! Next pictures should show it with furniture, and after that, we’ll look forward to seeing more dolly sewing projects!
HI Charlotte,
Thank your for your kind comments. I agree… pictures with furniture and when all the pieces are out of my sewing room, it’s back to dolly dresses! YAY!!! Hang on… we’re almost finished!
Thanks Charlotte,
Blessings , Jeanne
Thank you for all of the BEFORE and AFTER photos. First what a blessing that both you and your husband work together as a team and the time, effort and love show. The new flooring is a great improvement and gives your living space a finished, warm and inviting look and feel. So thankful that you are also doing the kitchen as the floor just naturally runs into that room and the overall effect will make your living space look that much larger. Your energy level is amazing Jeanne, I do not think you ever have any downtime unless you are ill.
Just want you to know that I share your joy with the beautiful new flooring and tell your husband that he has done an outstanding job. Soooooooooo if the “Little Darlings” are next to be made, may I request either a Felicity or Mary Ellen dress in the near future. I am most sincere that I want to bid and win one or two of your incredible creations.
God Bless,
Laureen