NEW YEAR NEW FLOORS

Happy 2016!

So Excited to be sharing my first post of the new year and boy o boy it's a big one!

Over the holidays while I was pouring over photos of everyone's beautiful Christmas decor on Instagram and blogs my home was in a state of complete disaster. 

My husband and I decided that winter break was the perfect time to replace the flooring in our ENTIRE main floor. He had vacation hours to use, I was off from babysitting for two weeks, and our kids were out of school to help (free labor).

Here are some before shots so you can see all the glorious forms of flooring we were dealing with.

 

We had light colored carpet in my craft room, dining room and family room. Our kitchen had light/stained vinyl flooring. Our entry hall and half bath were hardwood, and our mudroom had another type of wood laminate. Yep, that's four different types of flooring.

My husband and I looked at several flooring options and finally decided on a hand scraped wood laminate. We ordered it at Best Laminate (it was the same exact flooring carried at a name brand store, but less expensive). 

We worked one area at a time.

-Move out furniture

-remove old flooring and baseboards

-lay new flooring

-move on to next room

etc. etc. etc.

Here are some shots during the process.

 Did I mention the million of staples that had to be removed.

 Yes at one point we had a toilet in our kitchen.

Since the baseboards were off and we had some nice weather they all received a fresh coat of paint.

I have to say that my husband is the hardest worker I know. He worked from early morning to late at night on the floors with myself, my dad or our kids assisting him and sometimes all on his own. He had all the flooring installed in a week which was great because all the dust and chaos was really getting to me.

We are in LOVE with the new floors. 

You may have noticed that I also made some other changes to our house. Some spaces received a new coat of paint and we've added some new furniture as well. I'm hoping to post a more detailed look at each room soon.

Thank you for coming by!

LINKING UP TO...

work it wednesday, handymancraftywoman, tipsandtrickstooraganizeyourlife,

the36thavenue, myuncommonsliceofsuburbia,

homestoriesatoz, elizabeth&co, featherednestfriday, thehandmadehangout

new gallery wall

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! We hosted our family gathering again this year which is always fun! 

I apologize for taking another blogging break the last couple of months. I spent that time trying to get some holiday items (banners and wood signs) stocked in my Etsy shop.

I'm back today to share the new gallery wall I completed just in time for Thanksgiving. I previously had some black and white frames on this wall, but after three years I was ready for a change in our family room.

All of the frames and items were gathered from around the house. The wood arrow I made is available in my Etsy shop, but I'm loving it on my wall!

Of course this means another area in our home got a new look as well. I'll share those photos with you later this week!

Have a great week!

linking up this week to...

mondayfunday, thewinthropchronicles, notjustahousewife, abowlfulloflemons,

timetosparkle, themakers, outsidethebox, housewivesofriverton,

greenwillowpond, whatevergoeswednesday, workitwednesday, embracingchange, 

classyclutter, tatertotsandjello, serenitynow

Our new addition...to the family room

I just wanted to pop in today and share the new addition I made to our family room.

 



 

It's the black and sand chevron indoor/outdoor rug from Ballard Designs. It works well with all our brown furniture and black accessories!

 

 

 

 

I'm still looking for ideas on how to address those quarter moon windows in the room. I would love to just cover them up with some built in bookcases on both sides of our fireplace, but the hubby is against the idea. If you have any suggestions I would love to hear from you.

 

Thanks for coming by today!

 

Amy

 

 

linking up this week to...

serentiynow, what'sshakin, lizmarie

Musical furniture

Do you ever feel inspired to just start moving your furniture around? "This might look good in that room" you think to yourself.

Happens to me way too much and it drives my husband CRAZY! So recently when he was on a work trip I decided to do a little rearranging.

We have a dresser that has been with us for awhile. In our last house it was used in my daughter's nursery, then in my craft space, and lastly as a television console in our basement. 

When we moved to our new home I didn't really know what to do with it so I just had it put in our master bedroom. It has sat in our bedroom {empty} for the past year.

Then it hit me one day. Paint that old thing and put it in the family room. It would be perfect for storing all the kids library materials and our collection of magazines.

So my very strong eleven year old daughter and I hauled that thing downstairs. I set up shop in our kitchen {it was way too hot outside} and gave it a fresh coat of white paint. 

Before...

During...

After...

Before painting I gave everything a light sanding. Then I painted the piece and then sanded it again around the edges so some of the black underneath would show through.

I had to have this picture frame when I saw it at Hobby Lobby. $19.99 plus frames were 50% off. Still have to get a photograph in there.

 I am really happy with how my family room is coming together, slowly but surely. The only problem now is the furniture that was here before needs a new home. Everything has temporarily been moved to the living room which currently looks like a garage sale gone badly.

Thanks for listening to my ramblings about my musical furniture addiction. This blog is better than therapy!

                                                                                      Amy

Linking up this week at...myuncommonsliceofsuburbia, elizabeth&co, thewinthropchronicles, abowlfulloflemons, sugarbeecrafts, stringtownhome, naturalnesters, sugaranddots, notjustahousewife, stringtownhome, cleanandscentsible, pincushioncreations, primp, thewellcraftedhome, somedaycrafts, the36thavenue, theshabbycreekcottage, 52mantels, embracingchange, mysimplehomelife, twosasters, sassysites, raisingoranges, lovelycraftyhome, serenitynow, craftomaniac

Family room update

Our family room has been and will be for awhile a work in progress. If you've read any of my earlier posts about our family room you will remember it started out looking like this.



Then this...

And today this...

DIY striped curtain tutorial here

family hand project here

television off

television on

As you can see this room has been through a lot of changes in the nine months we've lived here. The most recent change came about this weekend when I painted all the brown trim white! I hate painting trim it really is no fun at all. But four coats of paint later and the room looks so much brighter!

I still have my to do list for this room and can finally check one more thing off.

• hang flat screen over fireplace
• paint fireplace mantel
• paint room
• hang curtains
• new furniture
• get rug
• hang family photos
• new flooring (eventually)
• paint brown trim white
• what to do with those awkward shaped windows

Not too bad, huh

I only have a few more items to check off!

Before I sign off I want to announce that I am holding my very first linky party next Wednesday! I hope you will all come by and support me by linking up. Please let others know as well. My worst fear is to host a party with no guests!

Thanks for your time today!

                                                                                              Amy