Kitchen Floor Surgery



Good morning, everyone! I hope you all have had a great September so far. Thank you for all your sweet messages and well wishes in my last post - I'm really looking forward to getting back to blogging!

I had a wonderful visit with my mother and it was so hard dropping her off at the airport yesterday. Little did I know a couple of weeks ago that we would finally be laying the hardwood that had been stored in the garage for three years.She is such a hardworking person who was more than happy to help us with some really heavy duty work around here. While I thought we would pass some of our time going junking, sewing, or other light weight fun activities, she was instead helping to rip out old subflooring in the kitchen, leveling out dips in the floor, hauling in heavy boxes of hardwood, and assisting in the actual install of the new flooring. Little did I know a couple of weeks ago that we would finally be removing the unsightly "hump" in our kitchen floor and laying the hardwood that had been stored in the garage for three years. I can't even remember how it came about that my mother and I decided that we'd try to coax hubs into performing surgery on our floor {to remove the "hump" that has been there since we bought the house}. Hubs couldn't believe that we'd actually give up junking for such dirty work, but he was on board and so we all tackled the floor together!

You'll see in the first photo above what our original kitchen flooring looked like. Believe me when I say that the photo makes the flooring look a lot nicer than it actually was, and you also can't see the hideous hump in the middle of floor which was the result of the previous owners trying to mesh the kitchen addition with the old part of the house. The hump, {or the protruding backbone of my kitchen as I've called it} has always driven me a little bonkers. First of all, I wasn't sure what was causing it. Second of all, I was worried that there was nothing we could do about it and that it would make laying hardwood flooring a nightmare. I remember one day a couple of years back, I just couldn't take it anymore. I had to find out what was going on with the hump, so I ripped out the linoleum with hubs help. Under the lino was a thin layer of plywood, lots of some kind of concrete patch, and this lovely yellow flooring which nearly burned my eyes out.



What a mess that concrete patch was! I think the previous owner was trying to fill in the big gap between the old and new parts of the house. We had to break it all up with a hammer to remove it.






I was so relieved when we removed that yellow lino...Even the ugly subloor looked better in comparison!



We weren't yet ready to pull up the rest of the flooring to fix the hump or install our hardwood {we were getting ready to host a party and it also just wasn't in our budget at the time} so we just painted over the mess with cheap white paint for the time being. Note to readers: Never use cheap white paint to paint your floors. They will never look clean. But I lived with it like this for two years, sometimes biting my tongue about it, but not often.



To my delight, though, the "hump" underwent major surgery two weeks ago.



Old subflooring was removed,



...the hump was sanded down as far as we could get it,



... and new plywood subflooring was added.



{By the way, who needs a dog house when your husband can sleep under the floor when you're mad at him?}



The hump was just about all gone after all of this, but my mom and I added some floor leveler over the plywood to smooth out a couple of dips caused by the slight height difference between the kitchen addition and dining room. I must say that at the point the photo below was taken, my middle child declared that "our kitchen floor is getting uglier by the day".

See that weird, colorfully wrapped thing hanging from the ceiling? That's the light above our kitchen island that we kept whacking our heads on for two weeks. I thought that if we covered it with something bright and patterned {an old vintage sheet}, we'd still have some sense left by the end of the project.

Yeah...that didn't work.



I was still reluctant to believe that all this subfloor prep work would totally solve the height difference problem, but I can say that now that the 3/4 inch hardwood has been installed, you would never, ever know that we had a hump backed kitchen. Surgery was a complete success!

We still have a little bit of hardwood to lay in front of the french doors because we need to spline a transition door piece {add a "tongue" to the transition piece where it currently just has a groove so that it connects to the flooring properly} - and what do you know - there is only one place to buy splines around here. They were closed when we were working on the flooring this weekend, so we just went as far as we could go. I've since read that you can just make splines yourself, but we didn't know that then.

I'll share photos of the new flooring soon. I still can't believe that finally, FINALLY, we have one room with some nice, shiny flooring. I thank my mother for motivating and helping us to tackle this project while she was here to help and hubs for his skillful execution!




36 comments:

Melissa Miller said...

What a long ordeal Kim!
I'm sooo happy to hear you have a pretty new hardwood floor. I can't wait to see it! Please show us real soon.

~Blessings my friend, ~Melissa :)

September 16, 2009 at 3:47 PM
Michelle Hughes said...

can't wait to see it!
SMiles!
Michelle

September 16, 2009 at 3:58 PM
Rachel~Wildflower Photography Studio and Wildflower Creative said...

SO glad that you are glad and that you had such an nice visit with your mom! :) I simply can't wait to see your new flooring....I know that it will be fab! ;)

Smiles,
Rachel

September 16, 2009 at 4:02 PM
Lisa@Pickles and Cheese said...

Wow, what a project! Great work. Can't wait to see the finished floor. I am so impressed that you were able to take this on!

September 16, 2009 at 4:09 PM
Shanty 2 Chic said...

Yeah! We are so glad you are back... a bit excited to see the new floor!
~Whitney

September 16, 2009 at 4:14 PM
Anonymous said...

Yippie.. you're back!!!! But wait.. look what you've done while away! I love it so far.. ... sorta like plastic surgery..and the wood floors will give it the new young.. snazzy look. Bravo my dear. Can't wait to see the end results!

Olivia

September 16, 2009 at 4:17 PM
Love the Decor! said...

Oh doesn't it feel good to finally get it done!!
Can't wait to see it :)

September 16, 2009 at 4:21 PM
Unknown said...

SO GLAD to have you back! I think it is a case of like daughter like mother. I'm joining the 'can't wait to see it' crowd.

September 16, 2009 at 4:48 PM
Kathy @ Creative Home Expressions said...

Glad to see you back and that you had a nice visit with your Mom. You must be so happy that the floor is done! Looking forward to seeing the pictures.

September 16, 2009 at 5:07 PM
Jennifer {Studio JRU} said...

We are blessed to have moms that have that motivation in them... to tackle projects! I love when my mom comes over to help me... I always get way more done than I imagined I could. Can't wait to see your new floor!!

September 16, 2009 at 5:13 PM
Rae said...

Even woman! I read this entire post in giddy anticipation of the 'after' shots and pft! :)

I'll still congratulate you on your hard work, however. :)

September 16, 2009 at 5:16 PM
Rae said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
September 16, 2009 at 5:20 PM
Rae said...

Evil woman! I read this entire post in giddy anticipation of the 'after' shots and pft! :)

I'll still congratulate you on your hard work, however. :)

September 16, 2009 at 5:20 PM
Kendra@My Insanity said...

Wow! What a big project! I can't wait to see the finished floor!

Off-topic: Did you do your own html, web-design. I love so many things about your page. I like designing mine, but get hung up when I can't figure out how to make the html do what I want it to do. I'd love to know your secret! Thanks!

September 16, 2009 at 5:29 PM
Darlene said...

It sounds like your Mom was a huge help to you on the flooring. I'm glad you got rid of the huge hump and I bet you are loving your new floor. I can't wait to see it!

September 16, 2009 at 6:18 PM
Tracy Watier said...

Oh! All that build up and no after photos!!
Looks like everyone worked HARD... can't wait to see the finished job!

September 16, 2009 at 7:06 PM
~Country Lady~ said...

Hi Kim!! What a job you undertook! I'm so glad you enjoyed your visit with your mom. I really can't wait to see your new flooring. It's good to have you back. Maybe you'll motivate me to get back to some regular blogging. Life sometimes takes over, doesn't it?

September 16, 2009 at 8:17 PM
Michelle, All Home and Love said...

I was so hoping to see the completed pictures at the end! I can't wait to check it out, I'm sure it looks beautiful. You certainly put a ton of work into it.
~Michelle

September 16, 2009 at 8:45 PM
Embellished Bayou said...

I can't wait to see the new floors, I'm sure all your hard work was worth it!

September 16, 2009 at 9:26 PM
Karen Valentine said...

Oh my what a huge project! We recently went through a new flooring project of our own in the master bathroom. We finally after 10 years removed the nasty carpet that was in there and put in tile. (I have no idea what took us so long other than dreading what we would find when we tore up the floor. Yup... it was a mess. So I totally understand what you have been through. Your project however was on a MUCH bigger scale! I can't wait to see the after photos. (You just loved teasing us didn't you???)

Karen
My Desert Cottage

September 16, 2009 at 11:40 PM
Anonymous said...

It looks like you've been busy. Welcome back. I just wanted to let you know , Happy Nester has passed on the Honest Scrap award to you. You can find out more details at
http://happynester.com
I love your blog and just wanted to thank you for inspiring me daily.
Monica

September 17, 2009 at 5:06 AM
Anonymous said...

So glad you are back ...and that your visit was wonderful. I can't wait to see the floors!

September 17, 2009 at 9:16 AM
Anonymous said...

Holy Moly, that was ordeal! I don't know if I would have had the gumption to undertake that. You rock :) Can't wait to see the pics of the finished project.

September 17, 2009 at 9:16 AM
Jan said...

welcome back! can't wait to see the new floor!

September 17, 2009 at 10:02 AM
Christine Edwards said...

That rocks that your mom got you going on the new floor and helped out in such a big way. Isn't it funny how we're able to put up with crap for so long, and when we finally get it done, think "why didn't we do this sooner?". Great job!

September 17, 2009 at 2:27 PM
Lindenhaus said...

I have followed your kitchen makeover from the very beginning, so I can't wait to see the floor reveal!

September 17, 2009 at 4:29 PM
Moore Minutes said...

Can't wait to see it!! I KNOW it will look amazing. ;) What a big, huge nasty job! Good for you guys being hard workers!

September 17, 2009 at 7:10 PM
Sandra said...

Wow lots of work but don't you just love to look at the completed project and feel the satisfaction inside that you did it! This reminds me I have stacks of wood flooring that has been sitting for several months. It will go in our master bedroom, after we empty the whole room of furniture, repaint the walls and then lay the flooring. Thanks for the inspiration!

September 17, 2009 at 10:08 PM
Cami @ Creating Myself said...

What a lot of work!!!! But I'm sure you'll be glad when it's done.

And what a trooper your mother is....to want to help tackle that job instead of doing fun stuff. Welcome back!

September 18, 2009 at 9:00 AM
Miss Mustard Seed said...

You're really making some progress on that kitchen. I bet it will be a happy day when it is finally done. You've really worked wonders!

September 18, 2009 at 9:37 AM
Kim @ Twice Remembered said...

I appreciate all the welcome-backs! Many apologies for the cliff hanger, hehe...We'll be finishing the hardwood tomorrow and I can't wait to share!

September 18, 2009 at 1:08 PM
Its So Very Cheri said...

It will be sooo worth it in the end.

Cheri

September 19, 2009 at 6:50 AM
Jess said...

Love the red cabinets!

September 19, 2009 at 10:59 AM
Roeshel said...

I can't wait to see it. What an ordeal! That picture of him in the floor cracks me up!

:)

Roeshel

September 20, 2009 at 3:59 PM
JunkyJunk said...

Your kitchen is awe inspiring. I adore that ceiling and I'm dying to copy it. Thanks for sharing your hard work & creative ideas.

September 20, 2009 at 11:17 PM
Unknown said...

Hi Kim!

Looked over your blog and as you work on projects such as the kitchen floor, you might want to check out our blogger contest on Old House Web. We’re running a best home blogger contest (for prize of $250 gift certificate to Lowe’s and chance to be a paid contributor to our blog) I think you’d be a great candidate. Please check it out:
http://www.oldhouseweb.com/blog/announcing-old-house-blogger-contest/

September 21, 2009 at 5:54 PM

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