Well, not really. But I did play in a lot of dust this weekend...sawdust! As the previous post states, I took on another DIY project...laminate flooring. We've been tossing around the idea of ripping up the carpet in the living room and dining room and replacing it with wood flooring. Last weekend, Menard's was having a Crazy Days sale and they had a very good deal on laminate flooring. Rather than buying for the living/dining room like we originally planned, we decided to get enough to do the kids' rooms. So much for plans! Plus, Spencer's allergies are in full force right now and taking the carpet out can only help with that.
On Wednesday night, we started clearing out his room, filling the hallway, Syd's room and our room with all his stuff. It was amazing how much stuff a 7-year old can collect.
This is our room with his toy box, dresser, and mattress on the floor, and various other odds and ends.
This is the hallway, seen from Spencer's room. His bookshelf, extra bedding, clothes and various odds and ends are here.
Syd's room got his box spring, bedside table, lamp, and various odds and ends. It's all the "various odds and ends" that killed us!
Here's my blank pallette, sans carpet. The carpet only took about 10 minutes to pull up. I vacuumed and cleaned up some old drywall mud from when the house was built. All in all, the subfloor was in excellent condition.
As of Friday night, the room was ready for work. Saturday morning rolled around and I got started around 7:30am. My goal was to get the project done on Saturday, as Sunday was gonna be busy with an MSU Alumni picnic and Christine getting last minute things ready for school starting on Monday. While she kept the kids entertained without losing her sanity, I progressed all day at laying flooring. I wished I would have kept a little handheld counter to count the number of times I went up and down the stairs that day. All I know is my legs are still feeling it at nearly 10pm Sunday night. I'd measure, come downstairs into the garage and make my cuts. Then back upstairs to put the floor down. I think I finally laid the last piece around 5pm. Then I cut the quarter round trim to go around the perimeter. That only took about 45 minutes to put down and nail in place. At that point, every muscle in my body was telling me to stop. My knees were shot, my back was shot and I think I had inhaled too much sawdust. On Sunday, we got everything back into his room except the old bookshelf and toy box. We're going to get a smaller bookshelf and put the toy box in the basement. Just trying to de-clutter a little bit. I'm sure it won't take long for Spencer to start collecting new stuff!
Looking into his room from the hallway
In his room, looking toward the hallway and into the closet. The closet was the area that took the most time, getting the planks cut to fit around the stub wall that framed the closet door. I think I trimmed and cut one plank about 5 times, shaving a little off each cut to make it fit snug around the wall.
Another angle, looking toward the window and bed.
We're gonna see how this floor looks after a while and how it holds up before progressing on Syd's room. Plus, my knees need a few days to recover! Now that I've got practice on laying the floor, I suppose it'll be easier to tackle the larger living/dining room areas down the road.
