What's under there???

Happy Blizzard Everyone,


Sorry it has been a bit, but we are back!  We have thrown ourselves into the excitement and craziness of home renovations, thus neglecting our blog, but building great stories.  This blog will focus on our new bedroom.

Post carpet, pre-linoleum removal

Let's start a month and a half ago when we bought the house.  Picture this; white walls, brown window trim, not 1 but 2 layers of carpet, and that is right, not 1 but 2 layers of linoleum.  With the help of our parents we ripped out the carpet, linoleum and disintegrating carpet padding from the room.  After that we pondered what to do with the room and tackled other projects in the meantime.


Flash forward to last week...


When Katie left for a week of training on the road for work, Willie decided to tackle the bedroom before she got back.  After much deliberation Willie decided to go the less than easy route of sanding the floor.  Did we mention the floor also had not 1 but 2 layers of paint on it?  It did.  After a mere 15 hours of sanding, 2 days of rental of the Varathane ezV Floor Sander from Menards and a layer of sawdust over the house, the beautiful pine plank floors appeared.  With four coats of Varathane Water Based Crystal Clear Floor Varnish  the beautiful yellow came out in the pine and brought back memories of our time in the old houses of Vermont.  It is hard to even imagine what the room looked like before, if not for the transition into the hallways where the memory of painted floors remains.  That is the next project on Willie's long list that is rapidly getting shorter.

4 hours into sanding, 11 hours to go

With the floor just finishing drying from the varnish and Willie still needing to trim the room, Katie returned from her week away and couldn't believe her eyes.  With a speedy finish we re-painted the window trim and Willie completed the floor trim (after Katie convinced him that after all the work he had done, it was okay to pay full price for pine trim from the store instead of paying half the price for non-matching oak trim at the re-store).  Then with a record breaking finish we completed a last minute room swap, moving all of our furniture from the extra bedroom into our new bedroom, and moving the guest furniture into the extra bedroom right as Katie's sister Alyson walked in the door for her weekend stay.  


As a bonus, Willie also found brand new Levolor cordless window blinds at the Habitat Restore for $6 for a pair with their retail value at $150 a pair.  If you ever need items for your house, check out the Habitat Restore in your area.  Also, it has been great to see those of you who have stopped by to visit, and we just want you all to know that you are welcome to stop by at any time.


Renovation costs include eZ Sander Rental and pads (2 days), purchasing a palm sander and pads, belt sander pads, varnish, paint, trim, and blinds.
Total hours of renovation = 24 hours
Total cost of renovation = $245.00


Check out the photos below to see the in progress, and after photos of the bedroom.  

post palm sanding the edges, pre-varnish

completed room