New floors!

Today I have discovered it is possible to have genuinely affectionate feelings towards laminate flooring. Because I do, I really really love our new floors.

In case you cannot recall, our house was a mix of yellow laminate - lounge, black sheet lino (over broken white tiles) - entry and kitchen/study and gross discoloured carpet - bedrooms.

*SHUDDER*

As part of our reno, we decided the mismatched flooring had to go. We choose Quickstep Classic Laminate in Midnight Oak Brown from Carpet Court. At $25 per sqm (including underlay), it was a great price as well as an awesome look. The boards themselves are about 1200 long and have a thin black edge; they are a matt texture with heaps of variance in print and are perfectly rustic while still being ultra modern. 

It is very hard to photograph the floors :( They are a muted brown oak, with a bit of a white washed look. This overexposed pic shows the closest to true colour. 

The study. Ignore the colour testing on the door, still haven't decided on what shade we will paint them

I had the pleasure of installing the majority of the lounge and kitchen boards as I am on holidays from work. In keeping with our renovation tradition so far, I googled/youtubed then just kinda went for it. It turned out to be extremely frustrating until I got the hang of how to install the subsequent rows. Tip: use a smaller board to clip together the two edges you want to meet, this keeps the two long boards lined up so the tongue&groove can work properly. 

Needless to say, I am covered in scratches and I even split my finger with the hammer. Fun times! I learnt to use to drop saw all by myself (no no, don't applaud me too loudly while you are at work - people will think you are weird).

Underlay down in entrance

Things are progressing

Study prep

Hall progress. You can see where we staggered the boards at the end in preparation for renovating the front guest room (aka the Stank Room)

Tim championed the hall and study floor install on the weekend and by the end we had a great system going. I am excellent at measuring for the end cuts; Tim's skills lie in tapping the boards in. Good teamwork all round. 

Done!!! SOOOOO HAPPY ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!

You may have noticed we also replaced the old wooden venetian on the front lounge window for 50mm Long Island PVC venetians from Bunnings. They really brighten up the room and give an updated, clean look.

 Next up will be painting and installing skirting boards - you guessed it, they will be white! We also have to decide on a colour for the internal doors and paint those as well.

It's all finally coming together!!!