Life lately...

Life lately has consisted of my flooring project and everything that goes along with it.  Turns out, it is a lot of work to install about 650 square feet of flooring!  I am forever grateful to my friends who have helped me do this.  

The first step was to rip up all the old carpet and pad.  Once I get my final "after" pics I'll show you the before pics but it was in bad, bad shape.  I thought I was done with the vacuum but I learned you use it a lot when putting new flooring in.  (Notice all my furniture crammed into the dining room and kitchen area...more on this later)

Next we put down the vapor barrier and underlayment.  Took awhile but the dog learned it was ok to walk on.  It was highly entertaining when she was "trapped" in the bedroom by the plastic flooring.  Also, couldn't help but think of the show Dexter when I rolled out this stuff.  During this phase all the trim was also pulled from the wall.

After all the prep was done then the floor was finally ready to go in.  It turned out to look just like I had hoped.

The dog had no trouble walking on the flooring.

Even after the flooring is down the finishing work is a lot.  Pretty sure the prep and finishing up is what takes the longest.  I'm still working on getting the trim re-painted and ready to put back in the wall.  One thing I noticed through the whole process was just how dirty the nooks and crannies of the house get that you never really see.  I am going to be a lot more diligent now to reach those hard to get areas.  I do think carpet holds more of that stuff naturally, like dog hair.  However, I am going to be on a stricter cleaning schedule!

Back to the creative furniture layout.  So the living room furniture was in the kitchen and dining room.  Then the bedroom furniture had to be moved into the living room.  This left yet even more of my bedroom stuff going into my master bathroom and getting all kinds of creative storing my shoes throughout the house.  I do not understand how hoarders do it.  I had a hard time not falling on my face getting around everything, everywhere.

All the things.  Everywhere.  I had to constantly tell myself what the end result would be and that it is all worth it because this went against all my OCD no-clutter style.  Forget asking me where something was...I had no idea.  As I am putting stuff back I am actually really considering if I need that item or not and decluttering as I go.

So...life lately has been cluttered but productive.  I'll post more final pictures when everything is back in its place, including the trim on the wall.  It feels good to get life back in order.  April has some good things in store...more on that, some new favorites, and the floor pics to come!