Flooring & Fencing

The past few days have been very productuve around the new house.  I still have not started on the kitchen cabinets but the range was delivered last week, other appliances are being delvered tomorrow, lighting, sink & faucet were delivered weeks ago, the backsplash is on order and we picked up the countertops today.  There is definite progress being made in the kitchen, just not actual movement of things.  We have been focusing on flooring and fencing.

When we bought the home we knew we HAD to replace the ugly blue carpet and cheap sticky tiles as well as get a fence up ASAP.  Being DIY kind of people, we have experience with both but we don't have time to do both.  We decided to hire out the flooring job and DIY the fence.

We started the fence this weekend and thankfully our oldest nephew spent the weekend with us to help.  There was a lot of progress....and a lot of mess.  My yard looks very sad and messy right now.  This was our first weekend here and we have already used a jackhammer and a bobcat with a loud back up beeper.   I am sure people within 2 streets of us are annoyed but the end result will be worth it.  The ugly broken walkway to the dock is gone and the fence holes are dug.  Here are some photos of our progress.

BEFORE:  Our sad little dock and walkway

BEFORE:  Bulky and broken walkway

Goodbye ugly walkway

BEFORE:  Old chain link in gone

Brian had too much fun in the bobcat.  

Progress

My now messy yard.

Brian and Clayton with their silly hats.

Where am I you ask?  Taking all the pictures.  :)  I was out there too trying to get as much done as possible before Clayton went back home.  We got all the holes dug and half the posts set.  Brian has a four day weekend for the 4th so we are hoping to get most of the fence done then....hopefully.

Let's move to flooring.  Out of all the things that have happened the past few months, packing, moving, buying a house, living apart from my husband for two weeks and coordinating all the activities at the new house, only one thing has stressed me out to the point that I thought I was going to lose it.  FLOORING.  It is a huge decision.  It is something you use everyday.  It is one of the first things people will notice when they walk in your home.  It is expensive.  HUGE DECISION.  Here is what we have now.

EEEEK!!  

At first choosing a new floor was not a problem.  I knew I wanted the wood tiles all through out the home.  Easy decision.  I love tile.  It is durable with the dogs and easy to clean but several of our contractor friends and a contractor that came by to bid for work advised against it.  Living on the second story and a settling foundation could cause us to have grout cracking issues.  Then again, we could not have any problems at all.  So do we take the risk and invest the money and maybe have issues forever?  Or do we put down something else?  We decided to go with something else.  Let me say this was a hard compromise for me.  Our options really were limited.  Tile is out.  Carpet is a no way...that stuff is dirty.  Real wood is out living on the water and with pets. So that leaves us with laminate, engineered wood and vinyl.  I hate laminate and vinyl scares me.  All three have come a long way in the past few years.  It was important to us that it LOOK, FEEL AND SOUND real.  The dogs slide around on the smooth laminate and poor Jaxson absolutely hates it so we needed something with texture.  After tons of reading, researching and visiting stores to see and touch products, we decided on luxury vinyl wood planks.  This product is new to me but when it came down to a laminate product or the vinyl, I went with vinyl.  It looks and feels like wood and it is installed just like wood. Over the past year, it has been featured on HGTV several times and has really increased in popularity and quality.  The exact product we decided on is the Engage Essentials plank in Woodland Oak.  Here is a picture of the sample in the store. 

The sample is great and doesn't look cheap at all so I am praying once its installed it still looks real. Again, very scary decision and expensive decision.  It has a classic yet rustic look to it and will go great with our overall vision for the house.  They start installation tomorrow and it will take 2 -3 days for them to finish.  I'll post a progress picture tomorrow.

I hope everyone has a great week and a wonderful holiday weekend!