I love the internet. (tune in at a later date for the "I hate the internet" post...) But for right now I love it. Due to a million reasons I've steered clear of chat rooms and message boards. Too much info in a sea of weirdos. (and yet, I have this blog...)
but today I found my newest love - the message board on DIY.com First of all it's nice to scroll through and see people having home improvement issues too. (see - it's just not me!!) Also I found some great tips for future home projects.
Specifically I was looking for feedback on floors. Not to bore you with too much detail but I want to tear out carpet in the highly non-functional living/dining room area and put in hardwood floors and built-in cabinets/ bookshelves. I've already suckered dad into helping this summer... the question is how much $$ do we need? I was investigating hardwood vs laminate floors. Love hardwood, but 100+lbs dogs probably will force me to go laminate... But on DIY I can get professional feedback and regular-people-I've-already-been-there-done-that feedback too!! So far there's one vote for laminate or hardwood with LOTS of throw rugs. We'll see if anyone else chimes in.
I've been having issues coming to grips with the fact that I'll probably be living in my current house for quite some time. My arguement to home improvement has been "I don't want to invest that kind of money into this house." I keep thinking that, give me a few more years, (like 2) and we'll move out of this house and into one that I really want. Not saying we're moving out of town - just into a better house.
Dont' get me wrong. Our house isn't bad. I just don't love it. Some of you may remember the insane issues I had when trying to buy a flippin' house here in the first place. We have this house because a) it was one of a very few (like 5) that was for sale in our price range and b) it, unlike the other 4 before it, passed inspection. (I'm not kidding) So it wasn't like I had a lot of choices. That combined with the fact that I was off to get married and had already sold my other house forced me to buy it. Renting, you ask? PAH-LEASE. I'm suburban zoo, remember? Try renting a place with 4 cats and 2 big dogs - I couldn't even get away with lying. I rest my case.
So, I finally resigned myself to the fact that I will be here for a while - might as well make the best of it. Tune in later this summer to see if this project actually makes it to fruition. For some reason I'm drawn to the big, expensive projects yet I have no pictures actually hanging on any walls. Apparently that kind of task is too far beneath me. If, however, this project makes it I'll be sure to take "before" and "after" pictures. I forgot to take the "before" pictures when I renovated the bathroom this past summer. Stupid move... It's not nearly as dramatic of a change if you didn't see it before - with the light blue paint, hideous flower border, pink curtains and brown fake tile vinyl flooring from the 80's. (again, not kidding....)
1 comment:
Go for the hardwoods. A) Mom and Dad have 3 dogs (the biggest weighing in at 115 lbs, the smallest at about 65 lbs)and have had hardwoods for 15 years. They just need finished and buffed every few years. They just finished pulling the carpet out of the rest of the downstairs and putting hardwoods in. Definitely worth the investment and will hold up fine. B)Laminate looks like shit, no matter what anyone says.
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