Amazing.

It doesn't get much more amazing than these before/after photos of our floors. But first, I'll extend the suspense by writing a bit about them.

The floors in our house are just planks of old growth pine. There's no subfloor. And while old growth pine is much harder than new pine, it's still a soft-ish wood.

Additionally, all of the floors had been covered with tile, linoleum, carpet, and more. They had been through water damage and leaks. They had a gazillion nails and staples pounded into them (remember this from 18 months ago?).

Our expectations were pretty low. We knew there would be irregularities in the wood. We thought parts might turn out OK. But wow. Just wow. We hired a terrific contractor, who is EPA certified for all of that nasty old dust (maybe there was lead, maybe there was asbestos). Three days later, it was like magic.

So here are the pics. Amazing.

Stairs before:

 

Stairs after:

 

Hallway before:

 

Hallway after:

 

Front room before:

 

Front room after:

Master bedroom before:

Master bedroom after (with bonus Mike!):

Next up: lighting and trim!

I just couldn't take it any more

Our kitchen floor was dissolving.

Exhibit A


Exhibit B


Exhibit C


Exhibit D


Exhibit E


It wasn't really worth it for us to truly fix the floor, as the kitchen is going to be gutted down to the studs once we move upstairs. But it was driving me crazy.

Every time I walked into the kitchen barefoot (and not pregnant), pieces of crappy peel and stick tile would stick to my feet. Our large area rug was constantly being shoved up against the wall by dog derbies. Mopping the floor was a joke as the dirt would collect in the dents and holes, and mop water only served to detach more of the tile.

So we priced out the cheapest outdoor carpet we could find: $0.44 per square foot. It looked like this:


While my putting could use some improvement, I wasn't interested in practicing in the kitchen.

The next step up was gray, so we went for it. Since this was to be a temporary solution, our plan was to staple it down in the corners and glue the middle with carpet glue.

Partway through:


Finished:


I never thought I'd carpet a kitchen, but it does the job for now. My feet are much happier.

The master bedroom

While Mike was ripping up the floors in the bathroom, I entertained myself by removing the carpet from the room that will become our master bedroom. Here are the results...

For some reason, the POs (previous owners) chose to sand, finish, and varnish only the outside edge. The lighter-colored chunk is unfinished oak. We stopped asking the "why" question about a week ago.




Oh, and this is what we found behind this room's drop ceiling. Check out the wiring that runs across the top of the wall, and the extremely unsafe-looking ceiling fan.