Week 15: Hardwoods Installed!

I’m jumping up and down right now, squealing with excitement!

I have been waiting for this week for oh, about 3 months now.  Ever since I walked in this house and looked around, planning in my head all the things I wanted to do to change this house up, hardwood floors have been a BIG part of that plan.  I wasn’t sure if I could afford to do all hardwoods all over the house, but I hoped I could pull it off.  And I did!  Thanks to some very generous help in the form of a discount from the wonderful folks at Shaw Floors, I was able to get the floor of my dreams.

My 1979 fixer-upper house has the same floors as the high-end HGTV Green home.  Now, that is pretty cool!  I’ve been so blessed to be able to blog, make money, and fix this house up with cash along the way.  Grateful, I am.

Hiring a pro for this job is absolutely THE best decision I’ve made so far.  I found a great installer from a local Shaw dealer and Brent Courtney is a master at installing floors. He did such a fantastic job on my floors and I enjoyed watching the process of how these floors are installed.  He opted to use mostly glue and some nails on this floor and it is installed right on top of the plywood.  This floor won’t go anywhere and should wear like iron for years.

Brent came in early last Monday and got ready to work by using a broom in the living room and getting started on that far wall.

My dad was there watching it all unfold and I couldn’t wait to see the progress.  This was an exciting day!

Brent had the professional tools, a nail gun at the ready.

And a table saw and miter saw for all those many cuts that have to be done when installing wood floors.

He started by snapping a chalk line on the far wall in the living room and this starts the rows straight.

He nailed those boards in and also used Liquid Nails underneath to hold them in place, instead of using his wood glue, because of how close it is to the wall.

He continued that row and moved on.  My particular floors are Shaw Floors Broadmoor, in Mocha.  They are engineered 3/8” Hickory hardwoods, meaning they  have a layer of hardwood on top and underneath is a composite layer.  They are a mixed plank width of 3, 5, and 7” widths.  I absolutely love them!  They also are handscraped and very rustic.

It was obvious from the start that Brent has been doing this a long, long time. In fact, he told me he has been installing hardwoods for 22 years.

He used a trowel to spread out the glue and get the rows started.

He moved from one row to the next and filled in, pressing them together and into the glue for good coverage.

I was secretly thinking to myself that I was SO GLAD that we didn’t try to tackle this ourselves.  We would have still been there at Christmas, trying to get these floors in and you can be sure, they wouldn’t have turned out like they did.  Thank goodness for Brent!

Row by row, plank by plank, they went in.

Using a rubber mallet to coax them into place, each piece was put in by hand.

Brent was probably not used to having someone snap pics while he did his thing, but I did warn him that I’d be blogging this process.  He was fine with that and I told him that he just might get some business from this.

It is a fascinating process to watch. I’ve never seen the glue down method before.

Before long, he was really covering some territory.

Back and forth to the saw on the porch for all the end cuts.

Before long the living room was shaping up and boy, was that a pretty sight. I left him alone to do his job and didn’t hover the whole time.  It was fun to come back and see the progress.  Day one he completed the living room, dining room and kitchen.

Day two he moved upstairs to the master bedroom and worked his way back down the hallway, finishing up my office, master, and hallway all in the 2nd day.  The 3rd day he finished the last bedroom and the foyer areas.

Two and 1/2 days from start to finish, my floors were beautiful and finished! What a relief to have a professional do these floors for me.  And yes,  if you’ll notice, he’s not only a total pro, but a total cutie too.

Are you ready to see all the details?

Coming in the front door, we have the little landing.  Pretty soon, those stairs will be beautiful too. Keep in  mind we still have to add shoe molding around all the baseboards to finish everything off.  Brent did a fantastic job of trimming out all the edges so the shoe molding/quarter round will cover it all.

Walking up the stairs into the living room.

Living room looking so spacious and lovely now.  I can totally see my furniture in here now.

See how precise the cuts around the fireplace are?  I don’t even think I’ll need to add any filler around here, it’s that good.

No seams in the doorways, just beautiful planks everywhere.

Dining room to living room.  I am in love with these floors.  See all the sunshine coming in?  I have to get blinds on these windows pronto.  I even went so far as to take the hardwood floor boxes apart and taped them in the windows to keep the sun and heat out.  It works!

Dining room

Kitchen, ready for cabinets.

Upstairs hallway looking towards master bedroom.

Detail of stairnose.  Pretty!

My beautiful office!

Guest room

Master Bedroom

Master looking towards closet and bath

Hallway looking towards living room.  Every closet has these hardwoods too.  The whole house!

So, that’s the grand tour of the new hardwoods.  I know you’ve all been waiting to see them and I am just over the moon excited to get these floors in.The house really feels like a home now with these in place and every day, I’m dreaming of the day I can move in.

If you are in Atlanta and looking for an installer, I would highly recommend Brent Courtney.  He’s a total pro, knows his stuff and did such a fantastic job on these floors of mine.  You can reach him at Courtney Custom Flooring at 404-697-2603 for an estimate.  I can’t thank him enough for making my house beautiful with these new floors.  I’m a completely satisfied customer!

I hope y’all love these floors as much as I do!

I’ve also started painting the new pine stair treads with porch and floor paint, same color as my doors, Fired Earth.

And they are looking good too.  I had a new friend stop by and help me paint this week.  She reads my blog and was up from Orlando visiting family here in Marietta, where she was raised and we got to meet up.  Now I have a new friend, Beth!

The kitchen and these stairs will be the next projects we take on and then I’ll be working on some smaller details like the bathrooms.  Haven’t done anything in both of those yet.  As much as I’d love to move in soon, I know I’ll be better off finishing up all the small details before I try to move things in.

That’s it for this week!  Big week, huh? Now, let’s hope this kitchen doesn’t kill us.

I’ll be heading to NYC on Wed. a.m., but still have plenty to share while I’m gone!  I’ll be back with lots of pics and I know I’ll have a blast.  Can’t wait to experience the energy of New York again!