Thursday, July 23, 2020

Bringing New Life to Old Floors

Hello dear friends! 
Things have been busy at the Wellman house. What's new you ask? Well for starters, we've made the decision to SELL! 

Yes, you heard that right. Our adorable little home you've watched us paint, spackle, strip, and stain for the past seven years is going on the market. How does this make me feel? To be honest...ALL OF THE EMOTIONS! 

For real. We have put so much love into every inch of this place, the idea of packing up and leaving it behind makes me want to cry a little. On the other hand, Harrison has become a pro at circling the four main rooms that make up the first floor and could really use a bit more space to roam. We always knew that this would be our "starter home", and didn't plan to live here much past the first kid. Time has come to move on. 

It really is perfect for a young couple who want to take that first step to own property, it's big enough, but not too big, has a beautiful yard and is in a very central location with easy access to both I-75 and I-71 (can you tell I've been working on my sales pitch?). 

Since making this bold choice to move into "phase 2" of homeownership, we made a shortlist of things to tackle before selling. First on that list? Refinish the floors. 
Ever since our first walkthrough, the mismatched foyer and kitchen tiles have bugged me. They're close...but not close enough. Since it wasn't an urgent issue, we pretty much just lived with it. But no more! After some investigation, Eric concluded that under those sticky tiles were original hardwoods. Let's bring 'em out and let them LIVE!!! 

A bit of elbow grease, a long nap from Harrison, the help from two FANTASTIC friends, and voila! We have wooden floors! 
The foyer was simply a click together vinyl and only took about 30 minutes to pull up. We could tell it had been finished at some point in time, but the kitchen was a different story. Three layers of linoleum (yes. THREE), one subfloor, and a GAZILLION STAPLES were attached to this poor poor original flooring. 

Bit by bit Eric removed the staples, while I followed closely behind, broom in hand. Something about having rouge staples hanging around with a 1-year-old in the house didn't sound wise to me. 
Because of the incredible scope of this project, we decided to hire the professionals. We did NOT want to try and tackle this DIY style. Since the whole refinishing process would take about four days to complete, we packed up and planned to head to our parent's house for the week. Before leaving though, we had to decide on a stain color. A couple employees from the flooring company swung by the house and laid out our options. 

I wanted something dark, but not too dark, and also not too warm. Out of the four choices we were given (#1 being the lightest, #4 the darkest) #3 spoke to me. 
So after taking down all our fun decor and packing everything we wanted out of the way into the living room, we took one last look, kissed our old floors goodbye, and hit the road. 
One week later, we returned home to beautiful original hardwood floors brought back to their former glory! 

SO PRETTY!!!! 

I couldn't wait to snap photos and Harrison couldn't wait to explore. And as much as I love tackling a good DIY, there's something magical about walking out the door knowing everything will be complete by the time you get back. 
Can you believe these stunners were hiding under that horrible tile all these years????? I adore how much more warmth there seems to be in our home now. Especially in the kitchen, the contrast between the floors and white cabinets makes me absolutely giddy. 
Excuse the mess, things are still in a bit of disarray. 

BUT OMG just LOOK at these before and afters! 
I can't stop looking at them! With all of our projects, I've always prided ourselves on staying true to the character of our old home. The trim is big and bulky, the ceilings are high, and the floors are now absolutely glowing. 

Makes me almost want to ditch the idea of moving and stay here for another seven years...*trips over Harrison's toys taking over the living room*...almost. 

Check out all of our home improvements and decor, by visiting the OUR NEST page.

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