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One Room Challenge Week 2 - IHeart Living Room Floor & Trim!

Last week we revealed we are diving into the One Room Challenge hosted by Linda of Calling it Home.  Six hardcore weeks to take a room from blank slate to livable and fabulous. 

The term "blank slate" tends to be used loosely, however, in our case it is spot on.


We have been waiting to install our flooring due to the custom order island in the adjoining kitchen area.  We selected a floating laminate floor for this renovation (more on that in a moment), and it was recommended that the floor be installed around our cabinets vs. under to prevent any possible floor buckling.  Now that the challenge is in full swing and we have SO much to do in such a short amount of time, it was time to get that flooring in STAT.

We began our flooring search and shopping around for options a few months prior to ripping down our wall.  We stopped at a variety of flooring outlets as well as the obvious options such as Lumber Liquidators, Home Depot and Lowes.  We also started ordering samples from a few online flooring sources.


I really wanted to do a hardwood oak floor, however, each sample received the key test.  Have you tried it?  We have two large dogs, three active little boys and a Jen (the clumsiest of us all).  Of course we don't want to have to worry about constant maintenance or even replacing the floors anytime in the near future, so each floor sample was scraped and tapped with a key to test for durability.


Some options definitely performed better than others.  And the real hardwood?  Major sad face because they failed the test big time.  Not to mention they were by far the most expensive options.

Once real hardwoods were out of the picture, the next thing we looked at were color, grain, thickness and warranty.  I still wanted to achieve the look of a hardwood but with maximum durability.  As we eliminated options one by one for being too light, too dark, too orange or too thin, we landed on Cotton Valley Oak from Home Depot.  It was juuuuust right.  Next step was to click the "purchase now" button and take a deep breath.  So scary ordering such a large quantity of something based on a single sample.


The flooring has been waiting patiently for us since.  This past weekend we room-a-zoom-zoomeed to get it installed throughout the entire living area!


We officially have beautiful floors! #milestones

We have installed flooring on a few occasions, and this was by far the easiest.  It receives a homeowner thumbs up!


We will do a separate post to document more of the flooring installation process, as we still have the entire kitchen side to do also.  Word is that our island is being delivered at the end of the week so cross your fingers and toes for us!


We have only lived with the floors for a few days now, so I can't really speak to their long term durability, but so far, we are very happy campers.  Most importantly, they finally made our space feel warm.  Like ooey gooey melt in your mouth roasted marshmallow warm. 

Once the floors were in, we started trimming out the room.  I selected 5" base trim and 3" window and door casing.  A small upgrade from our previous trim, but a big ol' dramatic difference in my eyes. 


We didn't install trim on the back wall as our next step is to start building in the bookcases.  Floor to ceiling goodness is about to go down.  Er up.


Remember the paint color debate?  I had forced myself to pick something because gazing endlessly at 42 swatches each day was making me twitchy.  And I also thought it would be much easier to paint before installing cabinets, flooring, trim and built-ins.  After the color was on the wall, I needed to let myself adjust to it, and convinced myself to give it time.  Most days I am actually really fond of it.  This week is gloomy and paired with the floors, it almost feels too green/muddy.  So now I don't know!  I am going to keep moving on with our original plan, but I totally have a massive internal debate happening...


Other than that, we LOVE everything else happening.


So that is where we are a week later!  Floors and some trim.  SUCH a difference. 


Up next?  I found a mirror I love for above the shoe cabinet and we are in the middle of the classic DIY or buy debate.  Speaking of shoe cabinet, I am planning to give it a little update to break up all of our white furniture and cabinets.  While I work on those items, Bryan is amping up to tackle the big bookcase build.  Let the games begin!




Don't forget to stop in and check out the other fantastic participants also working to makeover an entire space in the same six weeks.  Each Wednesday I feel like a kid on Christmas morning!  #oneroomchallenge