So yesterday I mentioned we were in the throes of ripping out our flooring, which made a few people ask “Hey, didn’t you just build that house? What gives?”
It’s true, we did just build our house less than a year ago. And when I say ‘we’ I don’t mean ‘we’ because ‘we’ are not nearly handy enough to build a house. We went through a builder, and if you’ve ever done the same, you’ll know that some upgrades (like flooring) come RIDICULOUSLY overpriced. I’m talking over three times what it would cost to hire it out ourselves.
We even asked the builder not to put any flooring in at all, but yeah right. They don’t work that way. So we opted for the cheapest possible floors, knowing full well that they would be coming out as soon as we got a chance to put in what we really wanted.
It’s a hugebungous pain to do it this way. But it will all be worth it, I’m sure of it. I think. I’m pretty sure. Ask me in two weeks, when we have floors again.
And now – to paraphrase Jay-Z – If you’ve got flooring problems, I feel bad for you son, I’ve got 99 problems, but a floor ain’t one (because I don’t currently have floors).
Here is one solution to a floor you hate, paint it! Suzan at Simply Vintageous stenciled her entire floor, and the results are eye-popping! I like that she kept the rest of her furniture simple and white to not compete with the pattern.
Karen was dead-set on reviving her bathroom with a next-to-nothing budget. She wanted a weathered wood floor, so she simply painted one right on the surface of the sub-floor! Check out her technique on her blog Redoux Interiors, she walks you through all the steps.
Yep, that’s just paint!
Even though she dreams of someday gutting this teensy bathroom, Julia is in the “work-with-what-you-got” phase. And what she’s got is an unattached piece of linoleum that serves as both her bathroom floor and a cover to hide the trap-door to the crawl-space that lies underneath.
So she jazzed it up in the meantime with a funky design that she likes so much, it is also the header of her blog: Just Something I Whipped Up! Super cute.
9 Comments
Colyn
February 17, 2015 at 1:58 PMRE: the builder’s floor options. I suspected that you had a contract that stipulated a floor had to go in — I understand that happens. And that you have limited choices. Unfortunately it’s an example of how wasteful procedures can be (not you personally). Too bad they wouldn’t accept a legal clause that said “We will put in a floor later and don’t hold XYZ Co. liable for flooring even if we pay for it.” It’s all about profits.
Lindsey @ Better After
February 17, 2015 at 11:33 PMYes, that’s exactly right! It’s such a joke, and so wasteful too. I would have happily signed a waiver!
Suzan
February 17, 2015 at 3:28 PMThanks SO much for the feature Lindsey !!!
Love the others as well – good luck with yours ( and if we could lay floors ourselves I never would have stencilled mine LOL )
xoxo
Danni@SiloHillFarm
February 17, 2015 at 4:24 PMLove, love, love Suzan’s floor!
LeeAnn
February 17, 2015 at 4:34 PMI like all of them! Those are pretty amazing.
karen
February 17, 2015 at 7:20 PMThank you so much for the shout out!! How fun to see how many people had been by from your blog. Sharing on my FB page too.
Havok
February 17, 2015 at 9:21 PMI didn’t know there were so many awesome things to do to floors!! Sucks that you’ve already had to re-do yours, but at least you knew that going in!
Bee
February 18, 2015 at 4:21 PMWe built our own home in 1994 and couldn’t afford the finishes we wanted because we were trying to build the house without going into debt. Twenty years later, we have really enjoyed upgrading the kitchen, the bathroom, and the master bedroom floor. You are enjoying the same thing! Nice.
Julia
February 18, 2015 at 8:28 PMHi Lindsey! Thanks so much for featuring me! I am so glad you like the floor. I hope your new ones come out well. I am sure they will look awesome. – Julia