Day 7 - Hello Beautiful Hardwood Floors! Don't Mind If I Do!

Today was LOOONNGG.  The longest workday yet.  Mike and I stayed until 11:30 to get the floors completed.  So, that's why I didn't post last night.  Mom and Luke came out again to help which I was again grateful for.  More coats of paint on the cabinets and practice with the gel-stain on spare cabinet doors and I was ready to make the plunge.  I'm worried still that the paint isn't going to be as durable because it isn't oil-based.  They don't make oil-based anymore!  Ugh!  Top coats of Polycrylic on Friday.

And the floors look fabulous!  I'm so happy with them!  I accidentally bought the uber-expensive underlay (which we kept in the kitchen) so it was nice to get to the store and actually return something to HD for less money.  It's usually the opposite.  So the kitchen feels like you're walking on a pillow :)

The only glitch of the day (besides working all day) was that when we laid the new flooring down, the front door, made of steel, wouldn't close (and risked scratching my beautiful new floor!).  You can't cut steel down to size, so we were off to HD to price out exterior doors made of wood.  Turns out they don't carry them anymore, but I had the option of ordering one for the affordable price of $280!  We then zipped over to Habitat for Humanity Re-store and got one with 3 window panes for a whopping $18.  Love that place.

We wanted to get started on the tiling today, but the furnace was off all night and the drywall didn't dry.  On that note, the heating and cooling people worked all day (almost done) which is great because they won't have to cut through the floors later.  They've laid the new vents so we could cut around them.  Cutting a zillion times on the table saw isn't in my top ten favorite things of all time to do...

I have bruises on my hips from carrying these bad boys up the steps at Becky and Mike's and into the truck for transport.  They are HEAVY!

Classy subfloor in the kitchen.

Laying down the first pieces!

Me making the cuts for the wood floor.  This got tedious, but I got really good at it!

Taking measurements.  (Read: I learned how to read a tape measure.)

Here's a shot of the kitchen!  By the time we were done, it was too dark for my camera phone to work :(  But you get the idea.  This, but everywhere!

Don't mind me, just keeping the toilet in the kitchen.  Hey, better than the front yard!

Luke adjusting the space to fit my $18 door.  Bringing this door home from the store was hilarious.  The store is only 2 minutes away, so we shoved it in the back of my little car and bungee cord/mom hangs on to it the whole way home to keep it from slipping out.  It was arguably the windiest day of 2010 in GH and I hit about 3 curbs on our way out of the parking lot!!! (So uncharacteristic of me -- those of you who are aware of my superb driving skills!)

Cabinets are getting close!  It's funny how much time and effort one can put into making something look antiqued and abused.