Makeover Part 2: "Come On-A My House!"

Okay, first you must hear my mood for this post . Click the you tube or you are not allowed to continue (I'm watching you!!! and doing my "Meet the Fockers" Dustin Hoffman gesture ha,ha!)

If you have followed lately you know we have been in project mode. Perhaps you've all ready got to see some of the final product with the dining room. Today I'm here to tell more of the story in pictures and show you some more final pics of the living room.

The line was made with yarn. It had to stretch down the longest part of the flooring so it went from the dining room wall to the laundry room. I did a little under three feet from the wall so I could just trim the wall squares if I needed too but would not have a spot that was too shy of the wall either. Then, you paint the primer on which creates a surface for laying the vinyl. It neutralized the dust that may be left of the floor to keep it from making things stick.
Then, when the primer is dry, the first tile goes down! Sorry the pic is sideways.

From there it's pretty fast progression, stopping to paint more primer though and let it dry before proceeding. Cutting around the vent is the only tough part here.


From here I had to make a decision. We had linoleum in the hallway and we had originally thought we would have our friend puddy the edge smooth and lay the new vinyl right on top and do the same in the kitchen and laundry room. I decided to use the hall linoleum as a trial run to see if I could get it up well enough to just lay it on the floor. It was not easy, the process was to cut and peel it up with the help of a hair drier to warm the glue a bit. The thing about this that convinced me to put the extra work in was one, that the floor would look more smooth, and two that the old glue would help me more with keeping the new stuff secure.


At this point I took a break before heading into the kitchen. I knew that once I started that I'd need convenience foods and mental preparation to have major crazy even more than we had been living with. A kitchen cannot be closed for business for too long! So, I went to paint the laundry room.


I learned a lot about painting red. It's hard to cover light colors with it. I think it took three coats.

Very important to move the heavy stuff on the OLD floor before putting down the new. It was also a great chance to clean out 5 years of dust, goop, toys, dirt off the floor and vacuum out the dryer tube.


I finally got enough coats on to call it good. I chose this color off of a set of red mugs I loved. It's a great Tuscan red. I'm glad I only did the laundry room in this though because it's not a good contrast with the cabinets and it's pretty dark. I like my little punch room though:)

The floor was going to be tricky. You cannot move the appliances out and do the floor under there and work your way back. You have to work from the room back to the wall in order to follow your lines coming down the kitchen. So, the plan was to do the floor under the first part of the appliances and leave the rest in the old linoleum. Someday when we get new stuff, I'll use the vinyl I've saved and lay the rest. Our solution to help me get under there was to pull the appliances forward and lean them back, propping them up with a brick.

Now, it was time to back up and start that kitchen floor. This all took place over days of work btw. I had to prepare to tackle a LOT more peeling up of the old stuff. I won't lie, it was hard. My strategy became peel a row and lay a row. That way, I used the old glue while it was still clean and sticky and I kept the exposed floor covered on both ends as we lived our lives around the project.


The next day I started the harder side. Working around the appliances was tricky and I had to make clean lines at the base of the dishwasher and fridge because there was not propping we could do there.

This is a look back from where I was working. I was all ready thrilled with the stone colors with the stainless steel in the kitchen.

Life going on around us somewhat "normal".

THen came the moment that gave me the most anxiety. The tiles had to go around the island and then come RIGHT BACK TOGETHER STRAIGHT. I was not sure it would, or what I would do if it didn't.
This above is my last process picture. It did come together, it came together perfectly. I was so relieved!!! We propped the stove as we had the laundry appliances and laid tiles as far back as we could.

SO, drum roll, you now get to see the final pics!!!



THEN, on Saturday, while I did a garage sale, Rick and our friend Jake (who knows what he's doing where we don't) laid the living room laminate!! So, here are the final pics of that. I don't have any process ones but if you go back to the links I gave earlier, you will see the crazy we were living with before.







I'm loving the light reflecting!
A lot of trim had to be removed and has to be put back on, floor boards need to be added, the chairs need to be done, and the curtains put up. Then, we are hoping to have a party to thank those who have helped us and who want to just hang out and celebrate it being done. We used money from family for Christmas and birthdays to do this, friends who gave Rick gift cards for his 40th birthday as well, and we finished it off with a little of our tax return. The vinyl cost us about $250 but we have extra to do both bathrooms and replace damages later. That also includes Caedmon's room. The laminate cost $220, the transition border $90 (the VERY expensive part), and the sound barrier for under the laminate was $75. So, doing it all our selves and getting a good deal we really did it very low budget.

Thanks for coming by to see!:)