Floors Floored

Clearly I must have some time on my hands amidst our renovations to relax over a cup of red chai tea with our trusty laptop. While it's utterly tempting to surf the net for new decorating ideas and furnishings, I find myself typing up the latest details of our hard work. Make that my husband's hardwork. While I battled a case of head flu this weekend, Nate saw to it that the flooring in our new home would be completed. While it had taken him quite some time to complete our new Ikea Tundra floors in the upstairs (thanks both to the difficult corners and his gradual acclimation to laying flooring as a novice), the downstairs living and dining areas took only two days to complete. What a payout, too!

The prepping involved clearing the floor of the existing snap-together laminates which, as we agreed, was much easier than the upstairs prepping had been with carpet to rip out. For starters, the laminates came off like puzzle pieces, just as the new laminates were going in. There was no glue, no nails and no under-carpet to worry about. Upon manhandling the old pieces up from their slumber, there only existed the insulated foam padding and cement. Interestingly, the cement did throw us a curveball, as it had some damp (make that slightly wet) paint on it, no doubt left over from when the walls were originally painted with the exposed cement. Thanks to moisture and heat, the paint never sealed on the cement and had, accordingly, sat moist for some 14 years. Lovely! We might have waited days for it to dry, but we opted for a few hours. It obviously wasn't doing any harm- only causing our socks to dirty while we were working.

Along with tearing out the old laminates, we also decided it best to rid ourselves of the salmon-hued marble tiles that surrounded the floor infront of our fireplace. They also surround the fireplace wall itself and will find the same fate as their lower counterparts- though not immediately. Some tiles decided to go out with a bang, though most cooperated. Unfortunately, the tile adhesive underneath was a true you-know-what. A trip to the hardware store to purchase the largest chisel known to man and a couple of good hours work brought it all up.


Laying the Tundra was relatively painless. After laying down the vapor barrier and underpadding, the laminates were ready to go down.
While there was a closet, fireplace and stairwell to work around, much of the open floor plan proved to be a breeze to lay.


Some more things that needed mending were doorstoppers, replacing a leaking faucet with a shiny new one and various little things that really make a big difference in an aging home.


Last but not least (and certainly not inexpensive!) came the staircase. While we had hoped to lay wood on the old carpeted rag-a-muffins, the exposed stairs left little hope that they would be easy, quick or inexpensive to salvage. So, we turned to carpet- the only area of the home with it. Pouring over what kind would work best and the economics of our choice, we settled on the idea of doing commercial grade carpet. Not necessarily what you'd expect in the average home, though cost effective, durable and comfortable enough to represent the modern philosophy. Not just any old office space crew cut carpet would do, though. After pouring over modern lifestyle magazines like cheap cups of coffee, we found a few samples that we were hellbent on finding. Like most things we tragically adore, they were all pricier than the rest of the home's interior combined and/or they were virtually impossible to aquire in the U.S. market. A trip to Bay Area favorite S&G proved fruitful as they tracked down a few Euro style modern commercial grades that were pleasing on our eyes and pockets. The most expensive part was the installation (which after much debate we decided to go pro, thanks to the fact that our staircase is actually mismeasured and the carpet has a pattern... two things that add up to no fun for staircase amateurs). We're ecstatic over our choice, especially as it matches our flooring perfectly.


And so, minus the custom trim that we will be installing in the next week, the floors are complete in the home. And with our latest decorating purchase (a modern sectional sofa), the place is really coming to together nicely...