It's About Time

Today we gave the go-ahead for the flooring guys to purchase 1500 square feet of Acacia wood flooring for our house.  

 

It will do the entire down stairs and the upstairs landing; we'll keep the carpets in the bedrooms. We're still probably 2 months out from having wood floors in our home though.

 

Its got to be ordered, then delivered, then its got to sit in the house for 2-3 weeks while it acclimatizes to this environment. Then we'll set an install date & it will take 2-3 days to get it installed.

We're having the flooring guys do it all because then it will be done, not partially done for the next 5 years or longer.

Updated photos will be provided as they come.

 

Whats going to be a bugger is moving all our furniture and stuff out of the way. We also still need to remove the existing flooring and get it entirely flat and sealed with Kilz or equivalent.

 

I'm also going to do some painting on the big walls before these are installed so I don't get any paint on them. I really want to try this with light brown/tan paint going up the stairs because the dogs have it all brown now, might as well use a color that might hide it.

Fireplace Insert

When we first looked at this home we marveled that there were 3 fireplaces; this one in the office area, the gas insert in the living area just on the other side of this one, and the wood stove in the kitchen.

 

This one got an insert yesterday. We removed this big ugly old brass cover that works great for keeping out the cold and keeping in the sparks.

 

Its a really big fireplace.

 

We have been dealing with COLD temperatures lately, it is after all, winter in Washington. Yesterday our office was 58* so we found an old insert online that works good enough for now. When I got home from work it was 75* in the office. SCORE.

 

The flooring guys were here again, they are looking for the wood we both like. We thought there would be an actual estimate for costs but they don't have that yet.

Taking Bids

We're taking bids on hardwood flooring for the whole down stairs. Right now the parquet and carpet just aren't doing it for me any longer and I want something beautiful to live with for a good long time, before we move. I DO NOT want to fix up a house just to sell it again.

 

This is the old location of the kitchen, as you can see there is a new one down there.

 

From the kitchen to the front door. It will look a lot different when the floor is new and that wall down there is removed. There will probably be tile inside the front door.

 

This closet will remain, it has a load bearing wall.

 

Getting the stairs done could cost as much as doing all of the entire down stairs.

 

The office area. Tight behind that saddle is a wood burning fireplace, I want tile in front of it.

First Snow

 

Front pasture

 

 

Back pasture

Country Home Refi

 

We are hoping to get a home equity line of credit soon so we can build our barn, install hardwood floors and get new roofing on the old barn & garage. Its been stressful, not knowing, and we're doing everything the bank asks.

Tomorrow there is going to be an appraisal done so today we're cleaning. DH is shampooing carpets and I went around and polished all the wood, including the banister and kitchen cabinets. I broke out the duster and got a good amount of spider webs removed also.

We hope to know soon if the loan goes through

(it better, I paid $550 for the appraisal)

so we can get building on the barn. We will build it anyway but it will be a lot faster if we can do it all at once and I'll be able to use it before we grow old and move.

Hard Decisions

 

We will be redoing the floors soon and need to choose a wood. No carpet, tile, vinyl or fake, we want real hard wood floors.

 

This is Acacia wood, above picture is Karens actual floor and below is the one in the store. I love it for its differing colors, so it will hide dog hair and dirt.

 

This is a google picture, it shows the texture of the floor. Might not be so easy to mop.

 

I LOVE this Hickory flooring, its perfect in every way except its not a HARD wood and the dogs would have it scratched in no time. Can't have that.

 

we should have the financing figured out next week then there will be more updates here. I'm excited, going to be fun & hard doing this.

Farm House Kitchen Table

This is the old floor in the horse trailer.

 

This is those same boards, removed and cut up.

 

These same boards are going to be my new Farm House Kitchen table.

 

This is the top, It will measure approximately 4' X 8' when finished.

 

The top will be separate from the bottom, which will be a frame to hold the legs together

and the top just sitting on top.

 

We used the trailer wood and some real 2x4s for the top. The legs were new wood and the leg frame will use new wood also.

 

We added bread boards to the ends of the top boards to give it a move finished look.

 

There is a frame in a frame, so the top will sit on the other frame and have a couple smaller boards to keep it straight and even.

 

Its mostly complete here but just sitting there, its not screwed/bolted together yet.

 

This is what it looks like right now. I will clean the boards really well tomorrow since they still have dirt and spider webs on them from the barn. Then they will come inside to dry for a while, then I'll start sanding them.

 

This is what the frame will look like when its finished except I'm hoping to find another old 2x4 to use for the leg braces and cross piece.