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...

The Odds and Ends

Doing home renovations has a habit of prying every last ounce of energy from you. What starts as a jolted day hopped up on high hopes and triple Americanos ends with little more than dragging yourself into a warm shower while anxiously awaiting sleep. Thoughts of the day's work and tomorrow's promise to keep you awake if only for a few minutes more, thus depleting even more strength. Blogging can compound the issue as there is a never-ending list of things we've accomplished that regretfully don't always make it to the blog.

While my better half spends the day in San Jose putting in another day's work, I am spending the time researching more information for our upcoming tasks, updating the blog and, of course, finding some pool time with the best kid around. While I'm here, I'll take a minute to share all of those delightful little projects that show up unexpectedly and consume hours on end like a circus side show. Sure, they aren't the main act, but attending to them does infact make a little difference that goes a long way.

The builder's of our townhome community had an affinity for wood trim and built-in cabinetry. Both popular, trendy items in 1996 (the year of our home's conception), but not really looking that great after fourteen years. And nowhere near the unique, modern approach we're taking with our new digs. While we hadn't immediately anticipated ripping out wall cabinetry, it became apparent that if we ever intended to do so we might as well do it now so that we could extend our new IKEA Tundra flooring into the voided coves for a finished look. One such cabinet resided in the upstairs hallway:
While we both liked the extra storage space it offered, it would clash immensely with our flooring and our furnishings. An hour of dismantling (via screws) and lugging it downstairs and into the garage (where it will serve as a storage cupboard and eventually be joined by the matching kitchen cabinets) gave the hallway a new open feel that will get some accent paint and modern shelving in the not-too-distant future. The second cabinet to go served as a linen closet between the Master Bedroom and the en-suite bathroom. Less of a cabinet and more of some trim with attached cabinet doors, Nate unscrewed the doors and did the same on the trim, giving way to an open closet with freshly painted shelving (yes, we had the painters give a fresh coat to every corner!). A future trip to IKEA will probably see us covering this open shelving area with a system of industrial hooks, pullies and textiles to offer us a modern look and privacy for storing a bunch of junk (aka. toiletries and cleaners). Being rid of this built-in allowed for Nate to avoid having to precisely cut the Tundra flooring to fit around cabinetry while allowing him to extend it into the hallway and closet spaces giving the area a finished look (pictures to come).

We've been debating a few details, such as the floor trim to use. While IKEA offers a matching Tundra trim (which we utilized as a stairnose piece already), Nate wasn't keen on the look. Likewise, we weren't impressed with the assortment of trims at Home Depot, which were either too small or too intricately detailed. A nice, flat piece of 4" trim (painted to match the walls) will work perfectly for the look we're trying to achieve and should be readily available and inexpensive at a lumber supply store. Once they are installed sometime in the next few days, the floors will no longer lack the trim and the upstairs will be complete:

Burnt out lightbulbs are a petpeeve, so a trip to the local Orchard Hardware Supply led to the purchase of numerous bright, energy efficient bulbs to replace those darkened areas. Also on the list were sets of new doorstoppers (which were altogether missing and necessary to avoid drywall damage- apparently not a concern to the previous owners!), more cleaning supplies and a welcome mat. It will be great to call this place home next weekend when we move in... for now, it's pool time!

For the Love of Floors!

A week has come and gone and we now have fresh paint and new floors to show for it.

The pro's came in to take over our otherwise miserable job of cleaning the atrociously dirty walls and painting them. What they accomplished in two days would have taken us several weeks- along with ample sneezing, tennis elbow and crooked necks from peering up at the vaulted ceilings. We were thrilled to no end to see the home in a new, fresh light of light 'Swiss Coffee White' (a great bright shade for walls, and superb for trim).

After several evenings of work (though not many keeping in mind we own a townhome and don't want to make enemies with our neighbors so quickly), Nate has just about finished the entire upper floors of our new home. We chose IKEA's Dark Tundra flooring at $1.15/sq. ft... an unbelievably extraordinary price that gave us the value and modern looks combo. Reminiscent of an exotic zebra-wood, we kind of fell in love with it the minute we saw it.
While the first day was slow as Nate became accustomed to the work,
the second day picked up. A good deal of finesse is required, along with a rhythm that comes from laying floor board after floor board. Of the 25 Ikea Tundra boxes we purchased, 2 of them were probably a wash through human error alone. Nate did a meticulous job measuring and planning, nonetheless some boards were not quite salvagable for use after a few hacks with the table saw. We had assumed that it was safe to give an extra 10% to error, so this keeps up with our own experience thus far. The most tedious and time consuming areas are, not surprisingly, areas with doorways and other obstacles. In other words, our upstairs filled with four doorways, five closets and a staircase railing were as tough a job as we would expect. The downstairs would be a piece of cake after these angles!


Somewhere in the midst of the flooring mayhem (which took up about 8 hours of time on Friday and another 10 hours on Saturday), our shiny new Samsung refrigerator was delivered. Having hoped to avoid a new fridge purchase right away, our dreams were dashed by the most disgusting food-storing spot I've seen to date (as you may recall from my previous post). Luckily, the new bottom-mounted freezer is sleek, black, the highest Energy-Star rating possible and all around splendid. And for little more than $700, I think I pulled off a great score: Besides that, this is our first ever brand-spanking-new refrigerator, complete with the new fridge smell. Someone ought to make Smelly Trees of New Fridge Smell... can't get enough of it (though that's soon to change).

After some coffee time, some park time (me taking our exceptional kiddo out of the house so he might actually enjoy his weekend time) and a few store runs, the house was really coming along. In lieu of a stairnose piece for the upstairs floor leading down the steps, Nate chose to use a standard IKEA threshold kit that matches our Tundra flooring to serve as the top of the steps. Despite our best efforts, he appeared so enamored with his choice that we couldn't pull him away from prayer:


We'll have the molding up in the coming days, and we'll have to make a decision on the staircase carpeting (a saga in and of itself) in the coming week. For now, the walls are slick and like-new, the floors upstairs are va-va-voom and the place is really coming together. With the trim to come and the downstairs on tap for its own makeover in the Tundra wood, the place is really coming along...

On the Third Day...

The sun was shining and the temps were creeping up into the triple digits, yet there we were at the new home, armed with cleaning supplies and wrenches and hammers- ready for a full day's work. One might think that ripping up old carpeting is cake-walk, and one would be wrong in so thinking. I was proven completely whacky when I failed to consider the task of carefully prying off every last glue holding on to the fourteen year-old floor boards for dear life. The act of ensuring that each and every floorboard was free of glue and debris was no insignificant oversight.

Nate, being the methodical planner that he is, luckily had a way with a hammer. As a teenager, he apparently worked for a construction company one frigid Alaskan winter. It was during this experience that he was entrusted with some nails to "make sure the floorboards don't suqeak." Thanks to his personal repertoire of screwing long nails into bare floors to prevent those annoying sounds that have a habit of making themselves apparent when one is trying to watch a movie or get some sleep, our son and I spent some time walking the gangways of each board and marking with a Sharpie those that needed nails.
But really, any excuse to use a new drill is good enough for Nate, and I swear he was nearly giggling as he hunched over the black marks and drilled away.

After a bit more work prepping, it became apparent that our garage was sorely lacking (or so I was told). A new shop vacuum was just what the doctor ordered and didn't do any damage to our wallet. The place was beginning to look like a blank canvas. In the morning, the painters would arrive to give the place a fresh coat. For now, floors were completely prepped, house was cleaned and trim was off. A good feeling to know that for the next two days, we'd resume our daily lives 30 miles away while someone else did some work on the new place.

Day One: DESTRUCTION!

After taking the keys and garage door opener on Friday evening to our new digs

we were eager to get started on the mandatory work necessary prior to actual move-in date. When we purchased the place, we knew that the entire infrastructure would need new paint from top to bottom, and in between every nook and cranny. While we entertained the thought of doing the paint job ourselves (we aren't exactly ones to shy away from old fashioned, down and dirty sprucing up!), we quickly discovered the cost of the paints, ladders necessary to reach the vaulted ceilings throughout and paint sprayers to be pretty darn pricy. What's more, it would eat away at our time like a moth through a sweater.

Nate joined Angie's List (our new favorite site!) and found a fantastic painter hailed as the best one around with a hundred reviews. He met us last week to give us our estimate: $1900 to include cleaning of the walls (talk about cobwebbs!), prepping and covering of floors, and full paint on ceilings, walls and trim. Nate was nearly jumping for joy when the guy said he'd also fill in all nail holes left from our dismantling of the old wall trim. He did an actual LEAP in the air when the painter also agreed to take away the old carpet for us which was soon to be torn out by us. We aren't ones to throw $1900 bucks into the air, but we knew a great deal when it jumps into our laps so we took it!

With a big sigh of relief knowing that one of the necessary immediate jobs would be handled, we could move on to the next thing. Cleaning the place would take more than a single day's operation by my estimations. Ripping up the old carpet which covered the fifteen stairs and the entire second floor (approx. 900 square feet), along with tackling the undercarpet foam and glue and dismantling the wall trim would all take a while. We gave ourselves the weekend to get the job done. Lucky for us, it's a three-day for Labor Day.


9:30am saw us up and at 'em at the local East Palo Alto IKEA. After a hearty Swedish breakfast (gotta start the day right!), we were anxious to make our first purchase for our first home: the floors. After years spent perusing our ideal candidates, it was a daunting task when we actually had to finally decide! Being a little tight on money always adds the final punch to the gutt, tauntingly reminding us that we shouldn't get everything we want! Fortunately for us (and the world!), there's IKEA - shining like a beacon of hope and saying 'Yes, You Can!'. We spotted the latest Tundra laminate wood flooring in dark brown. A rich coffee bean color with striations of light brown, the planks are wide and completely do-it-yourself. I knew Nate had longed to lay flooring himself for years, but I was anxious to see if he'd really be up to the task. He meticulously mapped out our new digs, researched the floors online and watched amateur Bob Villa's on YouTube intricately describe the process of laying the IKEA floors. After 24 hours, he felt armed and ready to take on the challenge (phew!).

It's never possible to go to IKEA for one item and walk out. Accordingly, we lost two hours in the store meandering around, checking out possible furniture in our future and admiring the displays. But time was of the essence, so we made our way to the flooring and grabbed enough sets of the planks that we would initially need. It's true that we would have much preferred to buy all of the planks at once- anticipating reflooring the downstairs as well. Needless to say, on a tight budget and tighter time constraints, we splurged on enough to last us for the Master Bedroom, our son's bedroom and the upstairs hallways. That leaves us with mandatory third-bedroom planks in the very near future, in addition to floors for the downstairs living and dining areas. Because it's IKEA, we don't want to hold off too long on buying those... things come and go from style. For now, we have enough on our plate.



After a few trial runs of arranging and rearranging the floors to fit in the back of our '00 Land Rover Disco, we finally worked it all in (and we didn't even take our son's head off in the process!). After a quick stop (for what feels like the hundredth time in a week) at Home Depot for a ladder and various little things, we made it home by 1pm ready to work. Donning my yellow rubber gloves, I was practically salivating at the chance to clean her up and see how she would sparkle for us. I first took to the downstairs, doing the lower floor 1//2 bathroom which didn't take long. I moved on to the kitchen and was anxious to check out the refridgerator first thing. We had noted on multiple previous occasions how there was a strong likelihood of a new fridge purchase in our future. By armed with disinfectant and scrubbers, I felt confident that I could stand up to the task. Afterall, I'd cleaned my share of dirty old fridges in previous rentals. Nothing would compare to this beast. I nearly gag just thinking about the leaves of molded lettuce in the bottom trays, the mildewed and molded freezer which had leaked out a yellow ooze, and the rust-covered inner metal workings of the water and ice maker. I don't even think a gallon of pure bleach could clean this old thing out adequately.




I was prepared to make my case, but after a mere, "Hon, I don't think I'll be able to salvage the fridge," my agreeable husband handed me the car keys. "Drive up to Best Buy and get that fridge that you want." I had never heard those words before, and knew that they alone had the power to put an ooomph in my step. The true joys of home ownership, even at the expense of a new appliance, is still overwhelming! We'll have to wait a few days until it's delivered and we once again feel safe putting our food inside the fridge.

While I was off galavanting around the swanky San Jose shopping district for the fridge, my husband and son were diligently toiling away at home, removing the baseboard trim and carpet. What work they did! Our son thoroughly impressed us with his pro-like use of the crowbar (oh the things you can do with one of those!) and they had the trim removed without doing any damage to the walls (save for one small corner in the upstairs hallway which will need a patching). By the time I returned home, they were carrying down the sheets of cut carpet to the garage. I began my cleaning yet again, using ZAP and CLR on the entire kitchen. After eight hours of crouching down and scrubbing with all my might, the two upstairs bathtubs were starting to resemble basins that you might actually consider laying down in. A little more work on all of the sinks and countertops and the place was coming to together.


Nate and our son had successfully rid the place of the old, torn up and stained grey carpet and padding (an no, we aren't child labor enthusiasts for the record! This kid of ours simply would not stop working!)



The place was starting to look rechristened- you could start to feel how it would look in another day, or two or seven. We were tired by 8pm, and knew tomorrow would be another busy day. Better to get a little shut-eye and come back to take off the carpet glue, remove the nails and finish up the cleaning.

The Tragically Hip

From the moment my husband and I wed, we had a clear picture in our minds of the furnishings we wanted to grace our flat, the artwork that would make its way to our walls and the organized kitchen drawers (that didn't squeak!) to prepare delectable dinners oozing with class. Little did we care that these interior dreams were unattainable at the time. We were young. We had our desires. We were tragically hip at the time (my term for loving things far out of our pricerange). And eventually, we knew they would come to fruition.

Fast forward ten years, three apartments, two homes and four cities later and we have finally made it to the first rung of the ladder- the home purchase. Dwelling in a classic West Coast 1957 mid-century modern home for the previous six years, the life of double-sided fireplaces, hardwoods and floor-to-ceiling windows spoiled us well. We were used to walking to our grocery store and cafe's while being a mere five miles from downtown Seattle. Life was good, but it was still missing that little hope we harbored of fixing up a place of our own.

With a new job and lease on life, the two of us decided to move our little family of three South to sunshine and, with any luck, more mid-century mod's.

What's more, we had saved and were ready to put all of those crispy thousands towards a 10% down payment on our own home. We could almost smell the new hardwoods and feel how smoothly those new kitchen cupboards would roll in and out. Alas, while the Bay Area is known for lots of phenomenal things, cheap is not one of the them. What began as a home search for a midcentury in need of some TLC in the city of San Jose, it quickly turned into the realization that even those were out of our financial picture at the moment. After exploring the residential neighborhoods, it was also becoming apparent that the closer we were to the hub of the action, the better. With some talk about waiting to purchase, we kept looking at new real estate in the downtown area. Soon we were to fall in love with the posh new highrises in the heart of Silicon Valley. With 180 degree views of the city and the dry yellow mountains that keep their watch, these places were extraordinary offering everything from inviting roof-top pools and concierge service to avant-garde cabinetry screaming for scrumptious food. Thanks to the economic downturn and a plethora of empty new condo's, it was technically possible for us to envision forking over our dough for a shiny new pad.

It was hard walking away from that life because- let's face it- you're buying a lifestyle more than anything. Without consciously deciding to keep looking, we did anyway. We found good little spots tucked into downtown corners oozing with life and palm trees. Nothing spectacular. Nothing of the scale of the classic midcenturies or the new urban mods. Nonetheless, they were nice and we could imagine spending some time in them. A tidy two-story townhome popped up with an attached tandem garage, three bedrooms, spacious rooms and vaulted ceilings. At a price comparable to its smaller, single floor two bedrooms. The catch is that it isn't in the posh neighborhood nor is it in the center of town. I take our son to have a look at it, meet a few passersby and notice how the exterior is getting a fresh, vibrant new coat of paint and the maintenance crew is tenderly caring for the lovely walkways and gardens. The outside shows well, though it isn't quite our style. A newer take on the Spanish mission look, the set of 50 townhomes were built in 1996 and sport an array of different bright colors on each home with contrasting garage doors and trims. The windows were painfully far from the floor-to-ceilings that we adore, with those ubiquitous little white panes that were only lacking velveteen bows.

The interior, though in need of several gallons of ammonia and a thorough cleaning, was remarkably light and airy. Sure the downstairs kitchen sports a huge flourescent lighting fixture and the laminate wood floors hardly compare to the laminate's of 2009. The upstairs carpeting is atrocious and the paint is in dire straights. Evenso, it feels like a home, even if it's doesn't have natural hardwoods or floor to ceiling windows. I phone my husband. "Ya, the neighborhood is cute.... what's that? You're cutting out... I said the neighborhood is cute. Really well cared for.... Yup, the cars here are all very nice... no, not any noise that I can hear but probably about 15 blocks from downtown. I need to scope it all out... It's got everything we need." The long pause on the other end, with my subsequent answer, "Yes, I could see us living here." The curveball was pitched and we promptly batted it right out of the park into left field. We put in our offer and after nearly 6 weeks we were moving into our new digs and first home.

All of those years spent perusing our IKEA catalogs and daydreaming, busily circling ideas in Dwell Magazine and watching home show after bloody home show. It was all paying off. We had our spot. It needs work. It lacks many fundamental elements that we find just downright cool. But we're out to prove that we can have it all. Welcome to our blog, where we'll share our progress, pictures and ideas: for everyone; for the drawer; for posterity.

A note: New updates will be in new blog entries. Add yourself to our Viewer list (at side) to get emails when we update the blog. Some pictures will be here, but the bulk of them will be stored on another site more suitable for picture viewing. Just follow the links and you'll be there in a jiffy!

Welcome to Chasing Chic!


Bonnie and Nate