I’m going to show you what we accomplished today, but you won’t want to miss tomorrow’s post. Miss Sally sent me some pictures of her American Girl dolls all dressed up and I just got something from Kathie! Thank you ladies!
Yep, as my title says, we started on the flooring today… about 9:00 this morning and stopped at 7:15 this evening! Let me just tell you, I’m so glad Sally and Kathie sent those pictures, because this puppy is pooped and I’m already wondering how I will make it out of bed tomorrow, much less, think about what to write for a post. I always do make it out of bed so don’t worry… but I am very tired and sore. Someone asked if I used knee pads when putting down the flooring… no…see that pillow in a few of the pictures? That is my knee cushion… I slide around the floor on it.. on my knees. It REALLY helps… except in the sticky area.
I do most of the plank laying and the measuring and my hubby does the cutting and shaving off pieces with a utility knife when needed. He gets the planks out of the boxes for me and lays them along the floor as I’m using them. There is LOTS of up and down and laying on the floor… that’s what makes you so tired… all the up and down movement. We make a pretty good team and brainstorm when we hit a problem.
As I show the pictures today, I’ll try to describe the sitting room and what’s off to the sides… it’s just the big room in the back of the house. When you come into my house, you’re in the living room/dining room and the kitchen is straight ahead… if you go to the sink and turn left you’ll be in the big hallway… there is a small hallway that goes off to the left and to the upstairs and to the basement. On the right just a few steps down the hall is the bathroom… a few more steps and you’ll find my hubby’s office on the right and our bedroom is across from it on the left… then you are in the big sitting room… and Rebecca’s room is off to the left with the hall closet at the end of the room and the computer area to the right. That’s the area where the big picture window is… Maybe that will help you when you see the pictures. I took some from the kitchen looking down the hallway to the sitting room and I took some from the closet at the end of the room looking back at the kitchen.
It’s always a great feeling when you get that first row down… but there were 2 floor vents (that still have to be painted) but we put them down so we didn’t accidentally fall in the hole in the floor. (Ask me why we do that??) :o(
You can see the flooring in the doorway of Rebecca’s room. Those planks were called Ashwood and what we got on sale was called Moonlight. It’s one shade lighter than the Ashwood. It wasn’t worth the extra expense to have it the same… although what we put down in our bedroom was the Moonlight, so it does match at the doorway.
…and then the planks really started moving along…
This is at the end of the room… that door you see open on the left is Rebecca’s old room.
The big antique Wardrobe that Gloria gave us had all of our blankets and pillows and sheets in it. We had moved it to the middle of the room so I could paint, but we needed to empty it so we could move it back in place on top of the planks. It is held together by pegs so you have to be careful to move it slow and steady like. You can’t lift up on it or it will come apart. So we emptied it onto the bed in the new guest room…
My hubby put some big furniture movers under the feet of the wardrobe but it will still a bit tricky when moving the piece onto the flooring, so as not to mash the edge of the vinyl planks.
Ahhh… back in place… We aren’t going to leave those movers under the Wardrobe… just for now they’re staying.
Now we could start putting down planks in front of the Wardrobe…
Here’s a long look down the hall at what we accomplished so far…
There’s my pillow for my knees… that’s the bathroom doorway…and the next door on the right is my hubby’s office. We couldn’t feather in the new planks with the old because they didn’t match up as we came down the hall. They were two different colors too, so that wouldn’t have worked. There will be a threshold across there to separate the 2 shades of planks.
Here’s a picture looking at the hallway from the cedar closet at the end…
With each plank that went down, we got more and more excited… we’ve been living with those plywood floors in the sitting room (peel and stick tiles were down about as far as the Wardrobe).
We stopped when we made it to the other wall… you have to tap the planks in place from side to side and end to end with a tapper… so you don’t have any cracks showing… we had a few problem areas that took time and tedious skimming off the edges along the walls to make them fit…
If you read my first post on the Loose Lay Vinyl Plank Flooring, (Perfect Flooring for Imperfect Floors) I told all about the planks… they are heavy…about 5 pounds each and about 1/4″ thick… they have a rubber like backing that helps them grip the floor. They aren’t glued down… they are just held in place with gravity and being butted up against each other from end to end and side to side. We did, however, buy some adhesive the last time we got these planks. They recommend you use this temporary (and removable if need be) adhesive if you have a really long room, and glue a few planks to keep them all in place. We used the adhesive under the first planks we laid along the wall, because the wall was slightly wavy and we needed the planks to be held in place as tightly as possible as we tapped on the ones laying in front of them…
The planks are flexible…and are 48″ long x 9″ wide… A box of 9 covers 24 square feet. We have 9 boxes left and I hope “I” estimated and measured correctly. We still have to finish the floor in front of the big window and back to the computer area… Then we are hoping to have enough to do my hubby’s office…it’s tiny and the hallway that goes to the basement…
My hubby uses some antique snippers he got at St. Mary’s Antique Mall for cutting them. They are super tough to cut through, but he is strong! :o)
A utility knife, rulers and straight edges, pencils, and a few other things are needed.
These planks have a beveled edge on the ends which makes them look nicer…more like real flooring. When laying the planks you MUST put the factory beveled edge to another beveled edge. You don’t want to have a beveled edge butted next to a cut you made free hand… That’s why you see the pieces of blue tape on the ends of my planks in some pictures. When my hubby has to cut a piece, I put a blue piece of tape on the end that is the factory edge so I don’t make any mistakes. It’s just a quick way to see what kind of pieces are available for you to use for the next row. All the cut edges should go against the walls… but definitely not in the middle of your floor.
We started the flooring by coming out of our bedroom doorway and cutting the first plank to fit down that wall. We will put thresholds across each doorway just to keep them in place and a little more secure…
This was our last piece for the night and it gave us fits…it’s that big wall area that I showed you a while back… where we painted the door to upstairs and put up the trim on both sides of that hall area… the plank piece just did not want to fit under that trim…I bet we spent a good hour on this piece… ugh!
Those cracks on the left are where the kitchen flooring joined this new flooring. Those cracks will be covered by a threshold.
Finally…
Here is a look at our hard work looking down the sitting room to the cedar closet…
…and another one…
…and another…
…and here’s looking back from inside the closet looking down the hallway to the kitchen…
There is just a little bit of the old plywood floor showing now… pretty soon there will be no more weekly splinters for us! Hallelujah!
We’ll have to find a new place to do our projects now… we’ve always done our painting and staining and other projects back here because the floor couldn’t be hurt… not too much longer….
I thought I’d show you an 11 second video I took, after I put on some socks and my jammies… I just couldn’t resist…
See you tomorrow!
Blessings, Jeanne
Oh, Jeanne, your new floor looks so nice! How exciting, to finally have one more thing checked off the list!! The Ashwood color is really pretty, too. What a challenge, though, to get everything in just so, and then to get that lovely wardrobe moved in a safe manner. Phew!!
Looking forward to Sally’s and Kathie’s pictures tomorrow.
Very nice, Jeanne! What a difference the new flooring makes! I am seeing your house layout better now that you explained it. So you are calling Rebecca’s old bedroom the guest room now? You certainly have a nice big hall there, not some little dark bowling alley type of hall that a lot of houses have!
Loved your video of those smooth floors! Cute pj’s and slippers!!
Hi, I was reading your post in bed this morning and I think I will stay right here, I am exhausted just looking at all you have gotten done. Looks wonderful!
How beautifully it’s all coming together. I think I’ve been waiting for the flooring as anxiously as you. I’ve always lived in fixer uppers and knowing that you already had the flooring the suspense of when is it time for the floors was nagging at my soul. Can’t wait to see it all done. Decorating for the holidays and having holiday company is going to be special this year. Has the gang from the sewing room investigated yet? LOL
Good morning!
Holy cow, Jeanne! The new look is just priceless! What pleasure you two must have felt looking at and walking on that new floor! And no wonder you were exhausted, but I loved that you had the forethought of doing a little video of the “JM slipper sashay” on the new dance floor. So cute. You know, I would leave those movers under that wonderful old wardrobe. They really aren’t that noticeable and down the line, that piece might need moving again and they will already be there. A little tip: putting a piece of furniture like that onto the movers will NOT be easier as you add more candles to your birthday cakes, if you follow my drift.
So, will all your big projects be completed by the end of the year? What a year this has been for Chez Wiedlocher!
Hope everyone and spouses are doing well.
Anne, I finished that book “Humankind” and am so grateful you suggested it. Thank you.
Joy, your little kids looked so cute yesterday. Thanks for the picture; Rory does look pleased with TWO new friends, Natalie and the doggy. 😁 My Natalie and Dara have been snagged up in customs and sorting for several days now. I can only imagine, with all those cargo ships held up in the LA port, that Christmas shipping and deliveries are going to be a nightmare. We all better get our shopping done ASAP while there are some choices and plenty of time to get through the postal service. As for all our RRFF preorder dolls….they are just getting further and further behind on their estimated shipping times. Big, fat sigh!
Jeanne, hope today is a little easier on your body. Boy, you and George really have your system finely tuned.
Take care!
Hi Sally, I am glad you enjoyed the book. Makes you think how we are manipulated by the way things are written, especially in the media digital and print.
Dear Jeanne, the floors look great! You could open up a business called Floors R Us (laugh).
I hope that as you ease into Thanksgiving and Christmas, you will have time to rest. I can hardly believe there are two months left in the year (starting on Monday).
Love how nice the floor looks with the new paint. Everything is coming together so well. And on to the “We don’t sit Much,” room. I can just see you and George looking around the house and not being able to find anything else on which to lay your hands. It’s really looking wonderful. Let the decorating begin! 🙂
Hi Joy, I saw your comment about Poppets and Posies showing the RRFF. showing the Rubies, but not the Siblies. All the links are here. including the siblies
http://poppetsandposies.blogspot.com/p/ruby-red-ff.html
Laura, this is great. I enjoyed reading about the face sculpts. Thank you so much.
I couldn’t remember if they also showed the Siblies, but guess they do. Great! 🙂
Thank you Jeanne for the tour of your lovely home- the side that confused me. I had no idea your house had that many rooms “ that a way” down the hallway.
I think I’m getting the layout with your descriptions. Your home must be an L shape design.
Anyway, the floor looks great and congratulations on getting the majority of laying it down done. You and George are a great team!
Loved the video – your Jammie’s and socks are so cute!!
I love comfy pj’s. I just received my Irish red plaid night shirt ( needs shortening though) and I’ll be toasty warm once it’s altered.
Blessings tomorrow on the end work – or the closer to the end of the renovations!
The mere size of all the painting and flooring makes me hurt. Hope you have a BIG bottle of Advil. You made it sound like just a room you were working on…but my goodness girl it was a huge area all together! Love , love, the color of the flooring and it blends so well with the darker version and the awesome grey.
Now you will have to join a gym to keep all those muscles working😵💫🤗 You and George get the King and Queen of house flipping award!
Love what you have done, the colour is great. You and George make a fantastic team
The floor will be wonderful, Jeanne. I’m sure you will be delighted to everything finished. Cute jammies and socks, too. It is great that your home will have it’s new look in time for Thanksgiving and Christmas. You’ll need to pull out all the decorating stops this years.
Looking forward to seeing sofa sisters photos tomorrow.
Lovely work! Your dolls will be so proud of their new surroundings 😊
I can’t imagine how thrilled you must be at getting your flooring finished. Looking forward to pictures of the finished sitting room. I like the arrangement of your house. It has real character.
It’s going to be a busy week here next week. David goes for his knee surgery on Tuesday and Chelsy (our Cocker) goes for surgery on Thursday. And while Chelsy is having her surgery David will have his first PT. We made the appointment today. He had to do that before the final okay for surgery. I’m feeling a bit stressed since I have to get everyone where they need to be and back home again. In the meantime I have two more Chorale rehearsals, one this evening and the other next Thursday and then the concert on Sunday, November 7. I am glad the concert is more a Thanksgiving concert this year rather than Christmas which would have put rehearsals and the performance in the midst of both of David’s knee surgeries. Not to mention that we often do our Christmas concerts twice.
Looking forward to seeing Sally and Kathie’s pictures. I’m hoping to take some pictures in the next couple days of some of my girls in their new wearing attire. I hoped to get them done before this but I was slow in finishing the outfits. Worst part is I’m not sure exactly why that was.
The wind is blowing fiercely here today. It is a north wind but a pleasant one. The humidity is down and the temps are in the 70s and it’s sunny. A beautiful day in the neighborhood.
I love the color of your floors! The grey walls are nice, too. I’m planning to paint my walls soon, and you’ve inspired me so I’m going to use grey as well. You have done a great job.
A great change. Very elegant and modern. You and your husband are titans of work. Congratulations.
Hi Jeanne
I’ve been MIA lately sorry… Just wanted to leave a quick comment. I LOVE the new floor and I can tell by your dancing feet you are loving it too. Every day walking into my kitchen onto my new floor I think about you. I love how easy it is to care for and yes I have done the sock slide too. Sold Giggi the other day and bought something really fun. I’ll send a photo if you like. Happy almost friday!
Hugs
Ingrid