Remember that little “Under Construction” .gif that was used on websites back in the mid-90s?
I need one of those for the front door of our house!
Kris and I are of the “do it yourself” ilk, but I must admit when we started planning some home renovations – new hard wood flooring, specifically – I got a bit nervous. However, with a little bit of research, we decided that we were capable to handling the task of ripping up old carpet and padding, removing baseboards, sanding floors, painting, and then installing new wood floors in approximately 1000 square feet of space. The first and second floors of our house are truly under construction!
The party started in Kris’s office two weekends ago. He and his dad – who has installed flooring before – began the process and worked out some of the initial kinks.
Phase one was successful, and the bamboo wood planks that we chose couldn’t be prettier. We are thrilled with the quality and the engineering. After all the trim was installed (not done in the photo above), we moved on to my office. The initial phase was cleaning out my office/yarn room (surprise! I have a lot of yarn!) and then ripping up the carpet. While I was in Rhinebeck, Kris and a friend painted my office (I know – isn’t that sweet?) in ivory and a lovely pink-orange-red and then I got back in time to help with the big floor install.
Kris’s main tool was the pneumatic nailer and stapler. And surprisingly, I really took to the loud and powerful table saw. (This surprises even me, but I have to say… table saws are A LOT like sewing machines! just much noisier… and deadlier!) My office doorway is at an angle, which provided an opportunity to try my hand at freehanding the table saw instead of the plain ol’ 90-degree cuts for the planks. This was pretty darn fun!
We finished the office relatively quickly (about 5 or 6 hours) and we are thrilled with the results! The baseboards still need to be painted and attached, and the trim applied.
In the big clean out, I got rid of some furniture and dozens of books, freeing up a lot more space. I foresee a small work table for the swift and my ball winder, and possibly the sewing machine. All the yarn is currently bagged up in my bedroom closet (oh my goodness… I have so much… it’s embarrassing) and will be pulled out and arranged on the shelving soon. This purge mode is still pretty strong, so it’s very possible that I have some big de-stashes in the future…
So, two rooms done and … lots more to go! Next up is the bedroom with the large(ish) walk-in closet. From there, we will move onto the stairs, which will most likely be the biggest challenge yet. Then we move to the first floor where we will be pulling up the existing wood floor that has multiple damages. We have our work cut out for us!
It all looks wonderful! We refinished the floors in our 50-yr-old home last year, and even though it was a huge hassle, I am so glad we tackled the project. I smile every time I come in the door
Good luck with the rest of your project!
Wow–that’s quite the project! The finished rooms *do* look beautiful. I hope you’ll give us a tour of the finished office/stash room!
Nothing beast brand new hardwood. Mmmmm… Looks like you guys did a great job installing it, too. Looks good!
Beats! Nothing *beats* brand new hardwood. Sigh.
I fell in love with the pneumatic nailer and stapler during my 4 yrs in carpentry in High School. Your floor looks great new hardwood is wonderful.
I’m impressed with you DIY skills – it looks awfully nice. And that colour in your office is just brilliant!
Wow.. what beautiful flooring! I’m definitely going to keep bamboo in mind when we finally are able to purchase the home we’re renting & redo the floors. I can’t wait to see your office/craft room when its finished!
The floor looks great! You guys are doing an amazing job!
It looks great! I love bamboo flooring…
That’s excellent! And here I was giving myself a pat on the back for wall paper removal and spackling before the big paint jobs in the house!
Oooh, excellent work! And go you with the saw! They always make me nervous.
Wow, I’m totally impressed! It looks gorgeous.
And is about to inspire me to do some decluttering….
Wow, what a project! Looks like you guys are doing a fantastic job so far
Oh man, your office looks gorgeous! You guys rock!
Too bad your blog doesn’t have a ‘like’ button because I like this… (c:
Ilona
The floor and the room are wonderful! You are both very ambitious and talented people!
Your office looks great! Lovely colors and beautiful flooring – you did a fabulous job!
Man, this looks like some really hard work! It’s amazing to see the transformation in these few pictures though – I think it’s definitely going to make the house look really wonderful, light and modern! I’m glad to see you learning some power tool skills, way to go. I can’t wait to see it, hopefully soon! xoxo
Your floors look wonderful. Good luck with the next phase. I wish my husband was into this kind of re-do. He leans to “we’ll call someone to do that project”. Maybe that is safer though.
What awesome work you all have done. I love the color too. I’m sure it looks even better in person. Floor is really nice. I would love to put wood floor in my house but I will have to do some major research and get major help. Its great and you both should be really proud!!
Good luck! Looks great so far!
Awesome work – you give me hope it can be done. Although I don’t think there’s ever any table-sawing in my future… ***shivers just thinking about it***
your office looks wonderful… and I love the window and the trees outside. looking forward to seeing the yarn ‘n stuff installed
The bamboo flooring is beautiful.
I’m not sure how I missed this post. I have been in love with bamboo floors for a while now and yours look awesome! I’m sure it was a lot of hard work but well worth it!
Your floors look lovely, and you are going to love the bamboo. It will be great for yoga, nice and warm!!!
Thanks for organizing and running Socktoberfest again. I had a blast getting back to sock knitting, and the different patterns and yarns were truly amazing and inspirational. Socktoberfest is probably the single best idea in the world, next to knitting socks, that is!
That is some serious craftsmanship. The Tailor and I are dying (dying, I tell you!) to rip all the horrid beige carpeting up in the house, to reveal the 3/4″ oak we know lies beneath—but we don’t own the house. And I’m kind of obsessed with bamboo right now—I just love the feel of it, and I bet it’s wonderfully smooth under bare feet. Sigh. I’m just going to look at your office photos and dream…
Also, go Lolly with your bad table-sawin’ self!
So how is the floor/stairs/installation coming along???? Seems quiet on your blog but I do know you are bussssy!!
[...] blogged last year about our home renovation projects – we started out with a bamboo wood floor installation, and then did some painting. It’s been a series of projects throughout the months – [...]