Adventures in Homeownership

It's been an interesting (and busy) couple of weeks, as far as our house is concerned. As I mentioned in my Ketchup Post, we scheduled our new cork floor installation for the week of August 20, and we have a number of preparation steps to complete before that happens.

I've actually FINALLY painted (two coats) three of our new six-panel doors that we installed forever ago. I must say, they're looking nice. Too bad I still have eight more (upstairs) to go. *whimper*

In the middle of all of this...

...THIS happened. That is a gigantic branch down on our deck, in case you couldn't tell. In fact, it's actually two gigantic branches. The photo above was taken after Michael ran out into the pouring rain to pull our table and chairs out from underneath it (we were worried that the weight could end up cracking the tiles on top of the table).

The top one had come down first, and when the lower one was bearing the extra weight, it buckled, too. Awesome.

For some perspective on how big this mamma-jamma is, here's Nora's little house sitting beneath it. Anyway, the most troublesome thing was that the branches didn't come COMPLETELY down (which, of course, is a really good thing in many cases). We have a chainsaw now, but still couldn't easily get up that high. Thankfully, our neighbor came over with a pole saw and was a huge help. Even so, it took a week to get the backyard cleared and the limbs down completely.

Last week, it looked like this:

Again, I say... awesome. But Michael chipped away at it throughout the week and then he and our next door neighbor took care of the rest yesterday.

Our backyard is looking a bit different these days. Poor old tree.

The good news is that we now have some extra (and free) fire wood for the winter. The bad news is that all of the time spent on tackling the tree severely cut into the prep time for the floor installation. Which means we need to catch up. Michael started a small patch on Friday night, and I set out to tackle some of it last night. (Michael would've helped, but he had some work (work work) to do last night, and I figured I'd do what I could.)

Well, we've put in a total of about three hours at this point, and here's where we're at:

That's only 25 sq. ft. of floor cleared, mind you. And we have a total of 340 sq. ft.

Those of you who follow me on Instagram have already seen this photo and my plea, but it's worth repeating for all of you: If you're ever thinking about gluing some kind of flooring to your subfloor, DON'T.DO.IT. Because I, and any future owners of your house BEG YOU not to. The subfloor is so jacked up from the removal that we're going to need to put new subfloor down anyway (over top of this old stuff, apparently), but that doesn't save us from having to chip away at this parquet piece by freaking piece.

We have a floor scraper (basically a flat shovel) that we've been using to pop up tiles, too, and it's helpful--when it works. But some (most?) of the tiles are glued down so tightly that there is no getting under them without a mallet and chisel. And it is HARD WORK. By the end of two hours, my back was killing me, my shirt was soaked with sweat, and I had multiple blisters forming on my right hand (despite wearing work gloves). In fact, I *still* don't have feeling in my fingertips.

You can imagine how excited I am to get back to it tonight.

Our flooring guy originally quoted us $750 for demo/removal of the old floor. If I knew that it was going to be only $750, I would--after testing this out on my own--GLADLY pay that money. However, after seeing what this is like, I know there is no way in hell we could get away with paying only $750. In fact, now that we know that we need a new subfloor, that adds costs to the job already. We're hoping that by ripping it out ourselves, we can at least cancel out that added expense. Ugh.

So, pardon me if I'm quiet in the blog world these next couple of weeks.

Has anyone ripped out a glued-down floor from a wooden subfloor with success? Any trees down in your yards from the summer's storms?

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Ketchup Day

It has been a really, really long time since I've done a "Ketchup Day" post. But as I sit here and think about what it is that I want/need to write about, it is a hodge-podge of stuff so I was having trouble coming up with a title. Then it occurred to me--it's Ketchup Day. Because I'm catching up, you know.
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We made the leap and ordered CORK FLOORS for our entryway, kitchen, and half bath. I am still so nervous about the whole thing, because this wasn't an easy decision. It is the largest investment we've made in our home so far, and I just really, really want to love it when it's all said and done.

Obviously, in an ideal world, I think we'd all love to have gorgeous, continuous flooring all throughout our homes. But we're not dealing with a new build; our house is 40 years old. An "open floor plan," we do not have. We wouldn't have been able to match our existing hardwoods in a way that was satisfactory or affordable for us, so we had to look at other options. We couldn't get behind the idea of tile, so... we're taking a chance on the road less traveled with the cork.

And, well, I'm shaking in my boots about it. It's just such a huge change. But I haaaaate the current parquet, so I figure that at the very least, it has to be an improvement. Right? I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but nothing really is.

Here are the photos of the floor I shared when we were going through the process of debating and deciding:

{Cork with our existing hardwoods--which are staying--in the dining room and formal living room/playroom. There will be a transition strip here, just as there would be if we had done tile.}

{Cork next to our carpet that we have just in the family room}

{Cork with the white of our cabinets and with a peek of our countertops}

The floor is scheduled to be installed (by a pro) the week of August 20th. We have a lot of prep work to do leading up to it, including as much demo of the old floor as we can manage on our own. Every square foot of it that we rip up ourselves saves us like $2 or $2.50 so YEAH.

Here's hoping that the cork is everything we dream it will be!
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The Olympics have made me a completely worthless human being. Seriously, if I'm not working or taking care of/playing with Nora, I have my ass parked on the couch in front of the boob tube. It's addicting; I can't turn it off.

I have always loved the Olympics, especially the summer ones. I still vividly remember watching the '96 games while we were at my dad's for the summer. I was 14 and just obsessed! It was so cool back then to have them in the States here; I'd love to have them back again. The worst thing about being in a different time zone from the games is THE SPOILERS! I feel like I can't go anywhere without seeing something Olympics related so I've been staying away from all news sites. And I find it to be completely obnoxious when people announce stuff on Facebook.

I can watch pretty much any event, but my favorites are swimming, gymnastics, diving, the track and field events, and volleyball. I have to say that I'm pretty sick of hearing about the decline of Michael Phelps, but it's nice to see the other American swimmers succeed. And the women's gymnastics last night? Incredible. I cried.The lack of sleep is surely going to catch up with me at some point but for now I am hanging in there. So far, the late nights have been worth it!
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We had a mini family reunion of sorts on Sunday. My cousin and her husband were visiting from Shanghai (where they currently live), so my mom invited a bunch of our extended family members over to her house for a barbecue.

We had great weather and my cousins brought all of their kids, so it was a lot of fun to see all of them run around together. There are five kids who were all born within 20 months of each other, and it was hilarious to see them all interact. I get such joy out of seeing my girl with other kids, because she just seems to love them so much.

{Jake, 18 months & Nora, 22 months}

{Nora, 22 months & Logan, who will be 3 in September. I love the way Nora is looking at her!}

{Ring Around the Rosie}

{The Toddler Club + Michael}

{We also did a big birthday cake for my grandma, who turned 80 in April}

It was one of those perfect summer days that for some reason reminded me a lot of my own childhood. Kids running around outside having fun all day... I didn't want to go home!
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On a final note, I can't believe it's August already. I love summer so much that I'm not ready to begin even thinking about the end of it yet. But I know that before we know it, we'll be welcoming football, apple picking, and crisp mornings and evenings back into our lives. I do love fall; I just don't like what comes after it.

Here's to making the most of the rest of the summer. Cheers to tank tops, shorts, flip flop tan lines, bare feet, sidewalk chalk, cold beers, and sleeping with the windows open!

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Kitchen Floor Debate: Part II

It's actually ridiculous, how hard this floor decision has been on us. I feel like I am being slowly tortured!

I asked, and you answered. (Thank you.) I remained neutral in my last post so as not to influence anybody one way or another. And we received lots and lots of comments about our three options: (non-matching) hardwoods, tile, and cork.

Let me back up for a second and tell you quickly how we got here. We knew when we first walked through this house last year that we hated the parquet and would be replacing it. We assumed right off the bat that we would be doing that with tile. It wasn't until the start of our kitchen remodel that we started to consider hardwoods--especially those that don't match our existing hardwoods in the dining and living rooms. Then we got hung up on that for a while, thinking that was the way to go... but with a DARK hardwood.

There was just always a nagging voice in the back of my head that just didn't like the look of it. Hence the reason we've been dragging our feet on this.

So we got back on the horse again this past weekend and visited another flooring shop. The guy there swayed us to the opposite side of the color spectrum--to lighter flooring to bring more light into our fairly dark kitchen. BUT perhaps he swayed us a little too far to the light. We came home with natural-colored oak hardwood samples, but we also came home with cork. They look nice and bright, BUT... they eliminate a lot of the contrast we were hoping for with our newly painted white cabinets. Also to consider? We plan on getting a white kitchen table and chairs. It would certainly be a lot of white, my friends.

Some of you pointed out that you thought the tiles and cork that we picked out and showed you yesterday were too light with our cabinets. And as much as I love looking at the bright light reflecting off of those light floors... I do think you may be right.

As for the non-matching hardwoods: We are thoroughly convinced that this is not the way to go. We were already pretty convinced prior to putting that out there for you all, but now that we see that you all UNANIMOUSLY voted down the hardwoods, it is settled.

That leaves us with tile and cork. And here's the thing: I love the look of tile. But I absolutely hate everything else about it.

I like the look of cork. But I love everything else about it. For those who are unfamiliar with cork or asked about it, it's very similar to hardwoods, actually. It "behaves" similarly. You can scratch it, you can dent it--but really no more easily than you can oak floors. It is sealed like hardwoods are. And it's fine in high traffic and areas with potential moisture like kitchens or bathrooms. Because cork is actually naturally moisture-resistant. And antibacterial.

SO. After our shopping this weekend, and the narrowing down we did yesterday, I was leaning toward the cork but couldn't get behind the color. The one I posted yesterday--I was just really bothered by the pink undertones. Today, I began thinking that I do like cork... just maybe not THIS cork. And so I went shopping again. I picked up lots and lots of cork samples. I brought them all home, then laid out ALL of the tiles we picked up yesterday, too. We started from scratch (well, at least with the samples we have at home). We looked at everything again with new eyes.

And I'm back with two new favorites. One cork. One tile. Both a bit darker than what I showed you yesterday.

I am naturally leaning toward the cork since I kind of hate tile. Except it's pretty. But I still really hate it. And a lot of you served to reinforce all of the things I hate about tile. Especially the "hard to keep clean" part, because lord knows I am not a good housekeeper.

Here's the darker tile. And no, the tile isn't blurry--that's the way it really looks. Which I kind of find a bit irritating, so if we DO decide to go this route, I might pick a similar color palette but a different tile, because this sort of gives me a migraine to look at.

{Next to our hardwoods}

{Up against cabinets--although the actual cabinets aren't this stark white, we still have to paint this beadboard--and also showing our countertops}

And here is the cork:

{Next to our hardwoods}

{Next to our carpet}

{With cabinets/countertops}

I feel like I am never going to feel 100% certain with this decision, regardless of what we choose. And that's a difficult position to be in. But we are trying to remind ourselves that in the grand scheme of things, I don't think we can really choose wrong--whatever we do will be a gigantic improvement over the ugly parquet.

Now that I've confessed my stance on the whole thing--that we're heavily leaning toward cork--I'm interested to hear what you all think about the darker shades compared to the ones I showed you yesterday. And has anyone else been swayed toward the cork like I have been?

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Kitchen Floor Debate

We've kind of been dragging our feet on this whole kitchen renovation project. In case you hadn't noticed--it has been FIVE MONTHS since we began this thing. There are only a few things coming between us and a finished kitchen. Most of these things are small--trim, closet doors, some minor painting. But there is one BIG thing that has been holding us up for a while now: THE FLOORS.

At first, we were waiting until we had a decent amount of money in the floor fund. But then that happened, and we still didn't move forward. Why? Well, because we can't decide what to do.

Hardwoods. Tile. Cork. There are too many options, and pros and cons with each.

But I'm getting tired of staring at the ugly parquet, so it's time to make some decisions and get things moving. My new goal? To have a new floor in by Nora's birthday (September 11).

Before we pull the trigger on anything, though, I wanted to put our choices out there and give some complete strangers the chance to weigh in. But before I get to the current "finalists" for the floor, I want to give you lay of the land so you can see what we're working with here. Allow me to give you a mini tour.

View from our front entryway. See that parquet? That is what we're getting rid of. The kitchen is at the end of the hallway there.

This is the view to the right of the door, going into the formal living room (currently a playroom for our family). The playroom (and the dining room beyond that) have nice, recently refinished hardwoods that we like and are keeping.

The view with the front door closed, so you can see the relative size of the doorway into the playroom.

View to the left of the door. A little bit of parquet, then our stairs (which are hardwood with a carpet runner, if that matters).

View looking left from standing in the doorway into the kitchen from the entry hallway. The doorway with the baby gate leads into the family room (carpeted).

See?

View of the family room. Pardon the mess.

View from the opposite side of the family room. You can see in the back left there--we have some more parquet to get rid of. To the left there is the entry from our garage, and the open door is our (tiny) powder room. We're considering two things: 1) connecting the kitchen and the garage entry/bathroom with the new flooring. In other words, we'd have sort of a walkway along the back of the room here with the new flooring (we'd tear up a strip of the carpet there). 2) We might leave the separation with the carpet, but expand the garage entryway flooring a little bit out into the family room--maybe a semi-circle type shape over there on the far end of the fireplace. Make sense?

Closer up of the area where we'd want to expand the entry floor (one way or another).

Back into the kitchen (view from the doorway from the family room). HEYY! Look, white cabinets. I don't think I've even shown you guys this yet. Hellooooo, informal kitchen update. :) Straight ahead is the dining room.

Dining room/kitchen doorway, where the traditional hardwood meets the parquet.

Alright, so hopefully that gives you at least an idea of what we're replacing, and where? Let's move on to the flooring choices we've been considering.

At first, we were considering going dark with the new flooring (nice contrast against the white cabinets!) but because we don't get a ton of natural light in this area of the house--thanks to having a lot of trees--we have decided recently that we think we want to go lighter. Really brighten up the space more, and open it up. With that said, let's take a look at some of the top contenders. With each of them, I'll show them to you up against the carpet, up against the hardwood, and up against the white of the cabinets.

TILE #1 - a square 20" tile

(This one above shows the most tile detail.)

(That's a shadow from the doorway on the lower left.)

(Tile on left, cork on right. More about the cork below.)

TILE #2 - a rectangular, but still large tile (I think it's 18" long, don't know the width off hand)

It's actually very similar to the first tile, but the real difference here is the shape. Square vs. rectangular.

With either tile option, we'd be using a darker grout so that it's easier to keep clean (or it'll at least look cleaner, ha).

CORK

This particular cork comes in "planks" instead of squares.

(Cork on right.)

HARDWOODS - A natural colored oak. No stain, just clear poly. I think these are 3.25" planks.

OK, opinions? Here are some of the pros and cons of each we've been discussing.

Tile: Pros
- It's a completely different kind of flooring than what we have in the other rooms.
- Nice for both kitchens and bathrooms
- Neutral. For resale value, most people like tile
- Durable
- If we change the configuration of the kitchen down the line, it will be easier to "patch" areas that were not originally tiled (like under the peninsula or something)

Tile: Cons
- Cold
- Hard--can be uncomfortable to stand on for long periods of time. Small children can hit their heads or teeth on it (ouch ouch), and uncomfy to crawl or sit on.
- If you drop dishes or glass containers, they are most likely goners

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Hardwood: Pros
- Can be refinished in any color down the line. For us, for future owners, whatever.
- Longevity. Hardwoods can (will?) stay pretty much forever.
- "Softer" - for feet and small children
- We have other hardwoods throughout the house
- If you drop something, it stands a chance

Hardwood: Cons
- They wouldn't match our existing hardwoods. We wonder if that will look weird to us (and others)
- Because they don't match, does it look like a bad remodel?
- Hardwoods scratch, dent, etc.
- Would be difficult to "patch" down the line if we change configuration of the kitchen

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Cork: Pros
- Eco-friendly
- Very soft underfoot
- It is "self-healing" if there is a scratch or dent
- Could also be "patched" pretty easily if we do a big kitchen remodel and change layout of the room
- Easier install (floating floor)

Cork: Cons
- Not as common--will others hate it/think it's weird? Is it good/bad for resale?
- I've heard mixed reviews about how it holds up to dogs. Tessa is light, though, so I'm not that worried?

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What are we not thinking of? What are your experiences? What is your opinion based on the pics?

I'm not going to tell you how we're leaning, because I don't want to persuade anyone one way or another. Oh, and we're about 99.9% sure we are hiring someone to do this, regardless of which option we choose, which is why ease of install didn't factor into the pros/cons.

Let the debate start... now. :)

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