recent events

After much deliberation and silly things like school and jobs and getting married getting in the way, we've finally begun the process of actually putting floors in the house.  If any of you have had the joy of walking through your living room and getting splinters in your feet or living in a construction zone of any kind, you'll know just how exciting this prospect was for us.

Though we initially discounted it for looking too fake - great strides have been made in pictures of wood, apparently - we decided to outfit the living room and adjacent hall with "resilient plank flooring," also known as vinyl strips printed to look like wood.  Water resistant, relatively economical, and requires no more specialized tools than a utility knife, measuring tape, and a carpenter's square.

Each box weighs 37.5 lb.  We checked.

After the requisite 48 hour acclimation, preparation began!  We got mixed messages on what sort of floor prep we needed to do so there was a little bit of trial and error.

"Show me: Sand the floor!"

Hand sanding quickly proved futile.  We probably could have made due but it would have taken all week just to prep the subfloor.

It's tough to get a good shot of a running floor sander.

A floor sander from Home Depot made quick work of an otherwise daunting beginning.  Then the fun part began! Laying vinyl planks in a large room goes remarkably quickly until you get to silly things like floor vents and door jambs.  The vent hole came out rather well though.

Diligently working.

Proud of his handiwork.

Right now, Rob's busy finishing up the last fidgety row of the hallway - the one where every single plank needs to be trimmed and I'm not very much use.  The floor looks great though and it completely transforms the living room.