Merry Christmas & Happy New Year! Did Santa bring you everything that you wanted for Christmas? He (and by HE, I mean Matt) certainly delivered my one Christmas wish… a floor! Yes, that’s right… our epic floor project that stretched out over the past four months has finally come to a close. (Check out Part I and Part II for a recap). Way to end the year on a high note! Whoop!
After looking at every type of flooring from wood to cork to bamboo, we finally decided on vinyl. Why vinyl? It’s moisture resistant, won’t swell or scratch (important with dogs!), was the easiest to install, and was super budget friendly. We found a click and lock vinyl plank that matched the existing wood perfectly. Like it was supposed to be here from the start. Isn’t it awesome? I never thought I’d be so enamored by a floor before!
We started off by using an orbital sander to make sure the floor was completely smooth, then vacuumed and wiped everything down with acetone to make sure it was dry and free of all debris. Per usual, the girls were not at all interested and decided to nap in the cockpit for the afternoon. Their loss.
After the sub floor was prepped and ready to go, Matt started laying out the floor, plank by plank. The click and lock system was fairly easy once you got going and held together pretty tightly. We were going to glue it to the subfloor, but decided to float it instead. Fingers crossed that one serious deck slap won’t make it all pop up like a game of Perfection!
For difficult cuts, Matt used a piece of paper to create a template. Because it was vinyl, he was able to cut it down to size with just a razor knife. Luckily we didn’t have too may of these, and the rest of installation process went pretty much flawlessly.
After he finished, he caulked around the edges and that was that! A Christmas miracle!
It’s unbelievable how homey it feels now with the floor done and the salon table back in place. Hard to believe that we’ve been eating standing up or off our laps for the past four months. Crazy. This is exactly what we needed to get our spirits in order for the long winter ahead.
Here’s the salon in it’s current state. Next project is reupholstering the cushions and making new curtains. The cushions we have now are off a boat from Matt’s shop. They’e brand new and are very comfy, but they don’t fit quite right (look at the big gap on the right hand side by the fridge). We’ll see how that one goes! Also, notice the microwave on the counter? We finally broke down and bought one after not having one for nearly a year. Matt was pro-wave and I was anti-wave. Guess who won?
Just to compare it to what the salon looked like when we first got her. Definitely don’t miss the teal!
