4 Weeks Later

I know, I know. Weekly updates were consistent for 5 weeks and for the last 4... nothing. Let's just say we've been a bit busy and in moments of silence we've been resting and enjoying time with our family.

So with 4 weeks of waiting comes quite a few photos as well as things to write about. Grab a cup of apple cider or coffee, wrap up in a blanket, and enjoy reading. We've got a lot to cover!

WEEK OF NOVEMBER 7TH
Mom came to town and my brother Chris drove in from Ohio. The Wednesday before they arrived we started some prep work on the house of doing little things here and there. Knowing that we would be tackling the floors (wood & carpet) before we left for Thanksgiving, we knew we needed to get some details out of the way. The more people the merrier!

Wednesday Night
- Chisel the doors and casings so that the hinges would fit
- Put all the face plates back on the outlets/switches
- Install the doors upstairs for the carpet installers to come the next day

JT chiseling the door to the garage.

Yes, I sell Binford Tools and am Tim Taylor's right hand helper.

Friday all Day
- Examine the carpet installation 
- Clean the upstairs bathroom
- Clean all the windows and put them back together
- Touch up the stain and paint on the stairs

Since mom came into town, we worked one day on the house with all hands on deck and then spent the rest of the weekend enjoying our time together.

Me giving mom the grand tour.

We have way too much fun cleaning windows.

JT painting our patio door white. It's beautiful!

Chris was super helpful with touching up the stairs.

How do you clean your screens?? Vacuum them!

After a very long day of work, we went back the next day for just a few hours and finished the final touches. Here's some afters of the upstairs (including carpet but minus the screens)! We'll save the before/after comparisons for the final post once we're done done :)

The highlight of my weekend with mom was when we saw Emmett! We had lunch with Charlie and he surprised us by bringing my favorite little man. Isn't he a doll?! I just love him to pieces.

I like to think that I'm the one who's making him smile like this but really it's his dad. The boy loves his dad so much!

WEEK OF NOVEMBER 14TH
JT went to San Fransisco for his annual ETS conference and rather than working at the house by myself, I decided to be crafty and catch up on Parenthood episodes! I've seen quite a few things on Pinterest that have caught my DIY eye and decided to make just a few things in time for Christmas.

One is a burlap wreath for our front door. The unique thing about this one is that you can use it all year long!

 The other is my NOEL sign. Thank you Pottery Barn for the inspiration. Total cost $7.

Once JT got back into town we knew we had Friday night to prep all our tools for the laying of our hardwood floors and then Saturday to get as far as we could.

Please note: if you are EVER thinking about laying your own hardwood floors you'll need three things.
1. Patience
2. Persistence
3. Perfection

If you think you'll be lacking in one of those areas, just hire the right people to do the job. I'm blessed to have a wonderful husband that I work tremendously well with. Believe it or not, we haven't fought once during the whole process. What can I say, we just work really well together. It's a blessing!

After reading many articles on the DIY network and watching plenty of videos on YouTube, we felt we were ready to start laying our floors. The one thing we knew was the most important was the first row. You want to measure, measure again, and then remeasure after you install.

After two rows and everything still being on target... we knew we were off to a great start.

JT's job: Using the table saw

Macy's job: measuring

Teamwork: Installation

 

 JT's work station

 

And by 6:41PM we were officially half way in one room! Talk about a long day. Remember, patience is key. Oh, and our backs really hurt by this point.

 Once you get close to the wall you have to use a finish nailer so you don't bang up the walls.

Getting through the front great room was our goal. And we finished! At 1:30AM we called it quits and headed home for the night. We were exhausted and also really excited at what we had accomplished. The end is officially in sight. Just so we can all get a full picture, here's a before and after.

BEFORE

 

AFTER

Okay folks, there's still more to show... but I have to give you something to come back for! If you're thinking about installing your own hardwood floors, we'd love to give advice and answer any questions. Feel free to leave a comment and we'll be sure to help however we can (beside physical labor).

Stay tuned for more in the coming days. We're almost done y'all!