It’s been almost 3 months to the day that Mr. Sanders came into our life. {for a recap click HERE}   And I must have been in a dream world to think that our brand new hard wood floors would look gorgeous forever.  Why might you ask?!  Their names are Boots and Bailey and I have tried to tell them at least a 100 times NOT to dig their claws into the floor as they run {like the road-runner} to the back door.  They never seem to listen.

So, I have finally given up counting and stressing about each new scratch.  Instead we decided to cover them up.  Yep.. you heard me right.

With our trusty list and dimensions in hand, Mr. vB and I headed about an hour away to a great furniture, lighting, carpet, “you name it for the house store”, called Greenfront in Farmville VA.  We had heard they had amazing steals on all kinds of rugs, so we figured it was worth the drive.

2 hours after arriving, Mr. vB and I were the proud owners of FIVE new rugs!  {And all within our budget!}  We picked up 3 hand woven rugs from Pakistan…

and 2 custom cut mountain grass rugs.  We decided to have them bound in a basic black edge, so they would coordinate with the new dining room rug! The guy told us we could come back in 2 weeks to pick em up.

Well it has been more like 4 weeks, but we finally got the remaining 2 rugs tonight!  Are you wondering yet where we have room for all these new rugs?  You will just have to wait to see… I think you’re gonna be impressed!  Here’s a sneak peek!

{Don’t worry girls, you haven’t been replaced.}

I bought a new friend for my favorite Orchid yesterday.  Isn’t she gorgeous??

I’m thinking about naming her Dotty…

On to the weekend plans…Since it is currently pouring snow outside, I have a feeling Mr. vB and I will be spending a lot of time indoors today!

We are {hopefully} finishing up the kitchen cabinets and starting on our new breakfast nook area.  Have I mentioned this new project to you guys yet? {Imagine that- we are starting a new project before finishing others!} It will include a new tile floor, a cute eat in area with a fold down table and 2 chairs, and some extra storage space.  But I am getting ahead of myself.  I need to reveal why the Boots n the Bae weren’t allowed in the kitchen.  Wish it was something really exciting- sorry for the let down.  While Mr.vB and I were putting the fridge back into its cubby on Saturday night we put a BIG nice SCRATCH on the new floors!  I called Mr. Sanders crying, begging, asking him to come back over and work his magic.  Sure enough he did and the scratches are now gone.  But the wet polyurethane required some drying time.  Hence the reason no paws were allowed in the kitchen.

All-right- Happy snow day everyone!  I can hear Mr. vB upstairs starting on the kitchen cabinets.. gotta run!

Introducing for the 1st time…please hold your applause… OUR NEW FLOORS!

As I was typing this post I heard a loud crash upstairs {I’m using the computer in the basement}.  Not knowing what the heck it could be I ran upstairs.  I had opened all the windows on the first floor to air it out a bit, and one of the windows literally fell out of the frame.  And you know it had to crash right onto my new floor leaving 2 nice dents. I knew the floor wasn’t going to stay pristine forever- but jeez!  I’m hoping with a little sandpaper and some stain we can camouflage the dents…. Plus once all the furniture is back in place no one will notice it- right?!

Mr. vB and I are going to spend the weekend trying to get the house back in order.  We need to put some shoe molding down, plus wipe down all the walls and trim! Sounds exciting doesn’t it??  Mr. Sanders said we could put the furniture back in place by Sunday, but the area rugs would have to wait at least 30 days.  Guess that leaves me some time to get all the finishing touches just right!

OMG- the smell coming from our new floors has burnt my nose hairs off.

Mr. vB and I got home about 8pm from our weekend in Myrtle Beach and were immediately welcomed hit in the face by the polyurethane smell.  We didn’t think it was too bad at first, but after about 4 hours of sitting in the basement I was DONE.  I had even stuffed cotton balls up my nostrils to try to curb the smell, but it didn’t work.  When I told Mr. vB that I was going to sleep in my car, I think he knew I meant business. So at 1:30 am we grabbed our bags and headed over to his dad’s house.

We only spent enough time in the house over the past 3 days to grab our work bags, computers, and more clothes.  I am seriously worried that my house will never smell good again and that my nose hairs are permanently gone.  Let’s hope not.

Things were much less uneventful Days 2-4 of the hardwood floor refinishing as Mr. vB and I had packed our bags and headed out of dodge Richmond.  {We coincided this project with our trip to Myrtle Beach to visit Mr. vB’s mom and step dad to celebrate belated Christmas and birthdays.}  From what we heard, the smell from the stain (day 3) and the coats of polyurethane (day 4, 5, and 6) were going to be somewhat unbearable.

When we left town on Friday (day 2), Mr. Sanders had finished sanding the kitchen and hallway.

Even without the stain and polyurethane IT LOOKED AWESOME!!!

I am so glad we, okay Mr.vB, checked to see what was hiding under that lovely {insert major sarcasm} terracotta tile. Who in their right mind wood have covered up hardwood floor to put down tile??

On Saturday (day 3), Mr. Sanders applied the stain, Minwax- English Chestnut, and then Sunday (day 4) applied the first coat of poly.  By the time we got home on Sunday night, we had a GORGEOUS floor waiting for us!  But man did our house STINK! {more on that to come!}

One day down, Seven more to go….

Mr. Sanders got to work bright and early yesterday morning, and like he promised, had the majority of the floor sanded by early afternoon.

Here’s a before and after shot of the cool transition inlay that Mr. vB installed.

{Since there are Oak Planks in the Living Room, Dining Room, and Hall and then Pine Planks in the Kitchen, we have had to get creative with the transitions and the stain.  We want it to look as seamless as possible}

Mr. vB stopped at home during lunch today and Mr. Sanders painted several stains on the floor for us to examine.  I am pleased with the stain we chose even though it is not the original one I had in mind.

In the meantime we will continue to hang out in our Basement Getaway.  It was a brisk 62 degrees in the basement when we went to sleep last night. I told Mr. vB just to imagine that we were camping.

{This is when I need you to remind me why we did this!!!}

Also thought you guys would get a chuckle out of our make shift kitchen.

Here is the fridge/microwave/coffee center conveniently located with inches of the tub and toilet.

And our Entertainment/Bar/Food/Utensil Center.

It may not be the Ritz, but it’s free.  Can’t beat that!

The Floor Guy starts today!

Mr. vB and I are taking bets on whether or not we are over-estimating or under-estimating the mess that is about to rain down on us. {Literally- remember we are living in the basement!}

I thought you guys would enjoy photos of the 1st floor cleared out..

{I know this photo is dark, but I didn’t want to debut our new kitchen with blue tape everywhere.  Justin You will just have to wait a little longer for the big reveal. Patience.}

We have sealed up all the air vents and cabinets, and taped off the hall to the upstairs and back room with plastic.  We are trying to contain the dust as best as possible, but I know it is going to end up EVERYWHERE!

Also wanted to show you guys the cute Birthday Cake my Mums made for Mr. vB yesterday. My Daddio even hand delivered it!

Stay Tuned to see the progress of the floors.  Mr. Sanders {I’m not kidding- the guy sanding our floors is named Mr. Sanders} says he should be done sanding the majority of the floor by tonight.  The kitchen and hall floor is going to take him a little longer due to the left over grout we couldn’t remove by hand.  Plus I am working up a little post about our new “diggs” in the basement.

Well, to the Basement that is.

Mr. vB and I spent the day yesterday ripping up the remaining tiles in the kitchen and hallway to fully expose our hidden gem.

Here is Before and After…

We’ve also started to pack up the entire first floor as come Thursday, that’s going bye bye too.

Why you might ask??  Well we are getting our hardwood floors refinished! HOORAH, or more like OMG- what am I thinking?!

I’m the kinda girl who loves a clean, organized house.  This is not what we currently live in and I am starting to freak out a bit. The stove and the refrigerator are going to live in the pantry area for a week.  All of the dining room furniture (ie. our new table/chairs and china hutch) and all of the living room furniture (L-shaped sofa, console tables, coffee table, and TV stand) already has or soon will be shoved stored in the sitting room off our master bedroom or down in the basement.  Then we are relocating the guest bed, a full length mirror, and any and all clothes, food, and gadgets that we might need, down to the basement for a week.

{See why I am freaking out?!?!}

Our hope is that it won’t be too dusty from the sanding or too stinky from the stain fumes.  It is really hard to find a place to relocate for a week that will allow 2 90lbs black labs to join you. {No offense Marty or Adrienne- I appreciate the offer to crash at your pad’s sans the pooch’s.  We might have to bite the bullet and pay for the dogs to be boarded if the dust and smell is too overwhelming!  So please don’t turn us away if you see us on your front porch one day!} And for those cat-lover readers of mine, Milo isn’t going to be left home alone.  He has his bags packed to stay a week at my Mums house.  I like to think it will be a mini vacation for him.  No big dogs to chase him around and tons of new rooms for him to explore.

Here’s what our living room and dining room looked like by the time we called it quits tonight.

I feel like Thursday morning is going to be here before we know it and we still have so much to do. {insert deep breath here} I will definitely keep you guys updated as this is going to be QUITE the adventure!