flooring ideas.

Im not even near being done with the HVAC, drywall, painting process, but I can't stop thinking of the flooring I want to go with to tie it all together.

For the most part I have it figured out except for the first floor.

4th floor office room (I think this will look good, but I haven't seen it done yet) I plan on painting the floor white. Its a small room, low ceiling, sort of a getaway and overlooking the city, so I want it to be open and airy. I happen to also like to see some woodgrain, so after I paint it white im going to give it a quick sand so the top of the woodgrain shows through. If its not smooth enough I'll throw some clear polyeurethane on top. Hopefully this doesn't make the floor too busy, if it does, I'll simply keep it all white. I was worried about it getting dirty, but there are 3 other floors to walk through before your dirty feet can even touch this floor.

3rd floor is 2 bedrooms and a bathroom in the middle. Most likely both bedrooms will be getting new hardwood or laminate, the hallway in between may be granite, depending on what I do with the bathroom remodel.

2nd floor I am going to refinish the old wood floor. Perhaps its more of a subfloor (but not plywood, actual strips of pine), but this floor reminds me of the place I lived in over the summer in Brooklyn. I'll keep this a darker wood color most likely.

1st floor is what is making me think, but with the situation at hand, maybe I can get creative with the flooring. It is ground level, but the back of the house is a bit below grade. With the kitchen also in the back, Im worried about any potential water issues, so this kind of rules out wood or laminate, plus tracking water in from the outside. Seems to be a simple fix with some tile, but I don't want to tile the whole first floor as the front will be a bedroom or 2nd living room, wow! Polished cement slab sounds nice...nice and cold. All these stipulations I've created in my head are making things difficult, so I've come up with a plan to combine all three of them. The entrance that leads to the stairs to the 2nd floor may be polished concrete. Easy clean, water is not a problem, pretty contemporary, I get my polished cement fix. The kitchen and dining room is in the same room, so I'll tile 4 feet off the wall that the cabinets are on. The rest of the eating area, hallway, and front room are going to be laminate (I'm thinking a very very light/white-ish color).

Hopefully its not too much, but since I do all of this myself, if I have to change it down the road to sell, not a problem, plus when I change it I can put the latest style down which should help with the sale. I think all this floor talk calls for me to bust out my architectural skills and show the world what I've come up with.

Blogging is tougher than remodeling

Everything is sort of working with me right now with the renovations, and against me with the blog. Camera is MIA again and all my friends with their fancy SLR's are...MIA. And I have no female accomplice to do the bloggins.

However, I pretty much hit the lottery in terms of stuff for the house. I got a TON, litterally a ton, of granite. Amazing, amazing granite slabs. This will probably make the place look like some ritzy hotel from NYC, well thats because they were intended for a ritzy hotel.

Oh yea, I hit the lottery twice actually. I also scored 3 nice Ikea Udden cabinets that are in great shape from some fine folks in Brooklyn. What makes this more awesome, is that I was planning on picking up the Udden wall cabinets and piecing something together for the bottom. It took many trips to scoop them all up, and those damn tolls, but it was worth it. Actual pics to ensue, but here is a teaser:

The only issue now is deciding between this setup for a quick free-standing kitchen, or utilizing my new granite in my kitchen. Otherwise my bar and bathrooms can use some granite.

'Cause God is on my side...

And all the wine is all for me

And all the wine is all for me

And all the wine is all for me

Thanks.