New Project Series: First Floor Refresh

I’ve been so focused on flooring, I forgot to introduce this new project series! (In fact this post has been sitting for 6 months. Yeesh!) But now, I’ve got a new flooring company and a working budget in place, so I’m ready to talk more about where this first floor home refresh came from and what I plan to do.

Why am I doing this?

Like most people during the pandemic, I’ve been looking at my house a lot. I’ve looked at the inside of it, the outside of it, and the future of it (or rather how long I’m going to be here).

In most of my almost two decades at my house, I’ve done very little in the way of renovations. A coat of paint here, a furniture upcycle there. Outside of replacing or fixing something that’s broken, I have not done a major renovation. My home office renovation was done in pieces over 2 years and involved mostly painting and upcycling furniture. A lot of the construction and interior is still builder-grade original.

But unlike my other endeavors, with this project, I’ll be somewhat hands off, taking after the HGTV designers in the shows we love and sticking to design, shopping, and decision making (and like most owners in those shows, paying).

Finding a flooring company that meets your needs and your floor color (or when your expectations are high, and supply is low)

So I’m putting my previous flooring issues with unnamed big box store behind me. I promise.

Instead I’m taking advice from my mom (because who doesn’t listen to their mom?) and I decided to think about this thing differently. Why not find a company that sells only flooring? Here’s what I learned.

Pick a Flooring Company, not just a company that sells flooring

When I picked out where I wanted to go for flooring I asked members in my neighborhood group. The post looked something like this.

I got several company names and some pictures of business cards. I narrowed those down to three to start. Two were companies that sell flooring (franchises), and one was a flooring company.

First Floor Refresh, Part One: Design

The following video is a first look at my design choices for my next major project: an update on my first floor finishes. I haven’t renovated any areas on my first floor since I moved in (except painting the fireplace). See why I chose the colors and products that I did. And check out after the video for my lessons learned.

Healing and Learning

After my debacle with the “big box store” delivery chain problem, I had to switch gears, re-think, and ultimately put a hold on my first floor refresh project. The main reason I put a hold on the project is due to some health issues that had to be addressed. I wanted to have the floors done in time to address these issues, and then I could work on the other parts of the refresh project.

This did not happen.

Postponed before it began

My first floor refresh project idea all started with a new paint color. I wanted to paint the walls of my whole first floor to lighten things up, but I knew with the amount of windows, and that I wanted to paint the trim as well, I would need a professional.

Then, one of my BFFs suggested wallpaper for the dining room. And then lighting went on sale.

Then a transition from my current laminate flooring broke, and I decided to do the floors. I wanted this to be done professionally, too.

Well, turns out floors should be installed before paint. And all the pretty accents after that.

This started in about February. With the pandemic still raging and only healthcare professionals getting vaccines, I naturally wanted to wait. I had a couple of days off in May and my hectic schedule slowed down then, so I decided on May delivery and installation.

So, while I waited for a break in the pandemic, I put together a complete design scheme with phases included, with floors from a certain big box store.

This is going to be a rant, so fair warning!!