Walking the Plank

OK, clearly I’ve got way too many projects going when I can’t distinguish vinyl plank flooring from vinyl beadboard. Apologies to Kate! What a goof I am.

Here’s the vinyl plank you were looking for.
It’s made by a company called Novalis. It comes in 4x36 strips. While it covers the same square foot of space as a 12x12 square it does it in a different shape.

Words can’t describe how much easier it was to work with this dimension either. I’ve put down more than my share of vinyl flooring and this was one of the easiest jobs ever.

People can talk trash about peel and stick vinyl all they want but I really liked this stuff. Yeah, it can be cheap looking, but I don’t think this stuff is.

I can’t tell you how many times people would stand in the dining room and look in the kitchen and say, “Oh, you put wood down.”

Only after they really looked -- or after I pointed it out -- did they notice it was vinyl. Even then, most people would lean down and touch it! Here it is in our old kitchen so you can see how it looks down.

Wow! I still miss it. That old refrigerator? Not so much! The floor served us well for more than three years. It was comfortable to walk on, very durable and easy to clean. I almost cried when I ripped it up to start prepping for the new porcelain tile. It’s thick but you can cut it with a utility knife. Yet another nice feature.

And I can’t say enough about how much better plank size is to work with than square. It made getting around the awkward edges that cabinetry and doorways create very easy to deal with.
I think both Lowe’s and Home Depot carry it. (And I’m pretty sure it’s Lowe’s because I just saw some of it recently.) It’s something like 98 cents a square foot. They sell in both boxes of 30 and in individual strips which can be pretty convenient.

That’s a little pricey for vinyl, considering you can get some varieties of porcelain at that price and even cheaper, but it’s worth it.

It comes in two shades, this one being the darker of the two. The other is more of a lighter oak color. I still have almost a full box of it and I’m debating whether this might not be a good option for the laundry room floor – when I get around to replacing the crappy tile down there.

Locked Inside My Camera

I finally got that "mystery roll" of film developed. It's funny because after switching to digital just over a year ago, I haven't had that same anticipation of "What'd I get?" In this case, it was more "What did I shoot?"

As it turned out, some pictures from Christmas 2006, a handful of shots of Ozzie and Toby (VERY cute ones, by the way)and finally, a few shots during last year's flooring project. In one, you can see the carpet still on one half while the new laminate is in place on the other half. In another, you can see how bad the dining room hardwood was and why I chose to not tackle resurfacing that.

Just another reason that BEFORE shots are great to have. Thanks to finding that roll of film showed that "durings" can be pretty cool, too.

Got Rugs?

For those of you familiar with last year's flooring saga, you know that there is no longer any carpeting upstairs at This D*mn House. There are just a few area rugs.

But with major overhauls planned for both bedrooms, a few new accent/area rugs are needed. Target and sometimes even Kmart can be places to get a good-looking rug without spending a fortune. (And when you have Yorkie feet and cat litter that are going to trod all over it, it's just not worth plunking down big bucks for such things.)

You are by now also familiar with my penchant for online shopping. So, a few weekends ago, I spent a good deal of time checking out online rug outlets. Mom had seen some rugs in a catalog (one of the millions that This D*mn House receives each year) but thought they were too much, especially when you added in the extra shipping charges the company wanted. I discovered RugsDirect.com.

They had the right sizes and colors at a great price AND with FREE shipping. It's hard to pass that up.

Rugs can be really expensive. (I was shocked and I'm not shocked that easily.) So, suffice it to say that I got two rugs for less than what one would ordinarily cost. And since they seem to always be running a sale of some kind, you're bound to find a bargain.