As I requested My Girl to come and help me saw a ‘few’ boards, she said, “Ah, Mom, do you really think it was a good idea to start a new project?” This spoken from the person who is living in a room with a new wall and closet framed out, but that is it, no electrical or drywall…so she might, maybe have had a point.
“Well, this is not exactly a new project, okay it is a new room, but as we needed to special order the wood floor for the attic, it was cheaper to order the wood floor for our bedroom.” Yes, our bedroom is being redone and it is about time too! I actually cannot believe we’ve lived with the past-its-prime-blue-with-pet-stained-(not our pets)-carpet for as long as we did.
Carpet is warmer, so we toyed with new carpet. Carpet is dirtier, so we toyed with wood floors. Wood floors are colder, so we thought about carpet again… finally wood won. Never were we so happy to get rid of any carpet as we were to rip out this stuff! I actually enjoyed the new ambiance in our bedroom, called dusty plywood with a trashcan decor.
Down goes the hard wood, bam goes the nail gun. 95% of the floor was installed by myself, My Girl and Number Two Son. The kids ran the chop saw and cut all the appropriate pieces to length, AND no blood was shed…success. I used the nail gun and ensured that all was fastened down tightly. Anywhere the wood slats did not look as good as say a professional floor layer would do it, we declared that this would just add to the ‘Old World Charm’ of the house. We found ourselves saying that quite a bit in the whole process. Yep, old world charm, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Yes, we did sort of work around our bed, as it took us a week to lay the floor after we got home from work. The weekend came and the heavy hitter arrived to help with the sanding.
We took turns applying the stain and wiping it off. As one pair of knees wore out, we let the other pair jump in and get worn as well. We kept repeating two phrases, “Old world charm” and “We do have Advil don’t we?” 
We had to spend the night upstairs. The last time we did so, we were really cold, so this time we planned ahead and turned the heat on high in that room long before bedtime. The room was so hot, not only were we sweating, but the heat woke up all the ladybugs that hibernate upstairs. Bugs were landing on us all night and even though we knew they were ‘good’ bugs, they were still bugs!
We are really ready to move back into our room. Our ‘closet’ is the library, which is a complete and utter wreck!
The floors are looking great, but they need another coat…tomorrow…more sanding and more varnish…and for us, a few more nights of sleeping with the lady bugs.
The floor is looking great Ellen. When I laid my solid oak floor several years ago the only input I had from the “girls” upon return from their all day shopping trip was to state “that plank is darker than this one – and that one doesn’t blend with this one”. My protestations that “it’s a natural product and that’s how it is” were not greeted with enthusiasm and not being able to stand the long faces anymore re-laid most of it – this time with the help of the “girls” colour co-ordinating the planks! Maybe I should have been sensible and sanded and stained it…………
My knees are feeling the pain, as we did another coat of varnish last night with a brush, but the whole effect is excellent now…cannot wait to sleep in my own bed!
The floors are looking awesome…. Old World Charmish, in fact! Only you would have ladybugs hibernating in your home….. love the little critters, but not to sleep with.
Nice! We are ripping out wall to wall carpet too, to put down wood, when you are done can you please come to our house and do our floors??!!
But of course! I am sure Carmel is lovely this time of the year.