One, Two, Three, Floor!

Most things we do involve weeks/months of forethought and planning and decision making. What we did this weekend did not. If you follow me on Instagram you may have gotten a sneak peak.

In less than a day, we ripped up our entire main floor, and started the process of installing a new laminate floor. No thanks to me, however, because I would have waited. The hubby, on the other hand,  knew that if we didn't get er done asap, we might never. Fair point well made.

What prompted us to rip up our 2.5 year old laminate floors to install new laminate floors? Well, we've never particularly liked the ones that came with our home. The colour was more of a reddish brown (not cherry, but like a warm brown) and they just weren't our style. The boards were the kind of laminate planks that look seamless, with one board "faking" the look of multiple planks. Long story short, smooth surface, no grooves, and very laminatey looking. No likey.

After our experience with these floors, however, we did know that any future upgrade would be laminate. There is certainly some sort of taboo associated with laminate, however with two dogs and a lot of furniture relocation, we've come to appreciate the durability of laminate flooring. Granted, water is NOT its friend (same goes for all wood type flooring, mind you), but nothing seems to stand against scratches like a laminate product.

Even with all that said, we would not have made the couple thousand dollar investment for new floors for a home that we might not be in for more than a couple more years, nor to change something that was purely a matter of preference and not something that needed to be done. But, when the flooring is free, and you spend $40 in supplies, how can you say no?

How did we get free flooring? I happen to have a pretty amazing job and am surrounded by some of the most stunning interior design in the city. I get to look at pretty homes on a daily basis, and sometimes, when they decide to change something, I luck out.

Recently, they decided to change out the colour schemes of the homes we sell, and so the floors, cabinets and countertops were ripped up and replaced. Nothing wrong with them, just a new colour scheme about to go in. A BUNCH of flooring was on its way to the trash, so something had to be done.

I decided to give them a new home, and after 3 trips of loading and unloading the vehicle, we had a garage floor of almost-new laminate planks. We had to take double the flooring that we needed (from two separate homes) because of the amount of breakage and wastage. Even then, we were ALMOST short (only two usable boards left at the end). Trying to sift through the piles for good boards was a task, and installing even more tedious. I'm sure had the boards been straight from the box, the install time would have been half what it was.

My rock star of a man put in a good 40 plus hours as he worked away, used a hand saw to cut all the detail pieces for around the edges, and totally kicked his own butt. He was, and still is, completely exhausted. Every bone in his body aches. His hands look like decrepit claws. I feel so bad for him.

But, after all is said and done, our floors look AMAZING! A massive improvement from what we had before. I had always wanted light grey flooring if we ever were to upgrade, but I must say, I'm really liking the moody dark brown.

We are STILL working on finishing up. Last night we put our wall unit back together, and this week we'll be putting the baseboards back on, and touching up the walls by the baseboards, and then we will be DUNZO!

I'm excited to share the before and after photos with you. I had no idea how much of a difference the new floors would make. Slowly but surely, this townhouse is starting to feel so much more like home.

Have you ever installed flooring before?