And Then, Hope Was Restored

The Mini Remodel...

As you can see, recording my progress has gone well. I decided it was time to finally post the pre- and post-remodel photos of my living-room. Please do not judge the before photos. The carpet was in desperate need of replacement, but what is a busy and broke girl to do about it?

I spent the day before my birthday prepping the living-room and hallway for the utter demolish-ment that was about to commence. My Stepdad was arriving at 8:30 AM and I had done none of the prep work. So, I woke up early to tape everything off and get the painting done before we replaced the carpet. As you can see below, I had some help.

Soon after, I was finished. The rooms had been painted, all in one morning, before my Stepdad'a arrival. This was a much more impressive feat than I feel I get credit for. Nonetheless, after he arrived we removed all the baseboards and the disgusting carpet, and got to the work I had been putting off for nearly five years. 

The hallway was the worst part. We spent most of the day trying to figure out how to handle the self-clicking already padded laminate I had purchased. The tiny area was not great for two people to be trying to hammer things together as well as measuring and cutting with the table saw he set up on the front entryway. However, after all the frustration and swearing, the hallway was done and he had taught me how to use the saw to make the floor look more like professionals had done it than two frustrated people who had worked on a floor all day in a condo with no air conditioning on a 90 degree F day. The worst part for me was, since there is a unit below mine, I got extra padding to cut down on sound they would hear from my place. The padding came in a roll, and refused to stay unrolled.

The plan was to finish the next day, my birthday. But, PLOT TWIST! My 15 year old sister had planned on having a boy over and Stepdad's presence was required for this event. So, I was on my own. With a table saw. Unsupervised. Besides a few pieces I needed Stepdad's help to cut, for which I went to his house to beg for assistance, I did all of the rest on my own! It looks amazing! And I would like to add, that after 9 months or however long it has been, the floor is still standing up great!

The hardest part, besides the rolling orange pad that you can see above, was trying to keep the boards looking staggered. My moment of pride was this:

I had managed to cut a teeny tiny piece to fit perfectly and prevent some ridiculous looking gap in my beautiful new floor. 

At any rate, we managed to get the living room the way the S.O. wanted for his "office" and I wanted for my living, and we have been happy with it since. 

Since then, we have also added the wall decorations and cleaned up a bit. I am sure more photos will appear in future postings. The only issue with the floor so far has been some gaps forming in the hallway, where Stepdad and I got frustrated and just nailed a few pieces in. I have been using wood-floor gap fill on it and have had no issues so far.

And the Rest of It...

The rest of domestication has been horrible. I have not even finished cleaning the house from the flooring debacle where we moved everything out of the effected area and into the rest of the condo. The newest update is the S.O. is moving out soon to try the sweet freedom of living on his own for a while. I am trying to finish up school by December, am now job hunting, and trying to catch up on the domestic hell I have created for myself. Hoping to be a bit better and recording all the inevitable misadventures as this all happens, so you can come along on this absurd adventure with me.