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Tuesday, December 18, 2018

New House Journal: New Hardwoods and Carpet

This post is probably way more exciting for me personally than for any of you readers, but it's part of my documenting the progress of our new house. When we first walked into the Entry, other than notice the shiny ceilings, was the fact that the formal living and dining rooms were covered in carpet. Now I have nothing against carpet as you will see, but I really wanted hardwood floors this next time around.


As you may remember, my Hubby was the one who found this house, and I just wasn't wanting to make a move now. To get on board I knew we needed to make some changes. New hardwoods, new carpet in the Bedrooms, and the rest of the woodwork needed to be painted some shade of white. We debated on hardwoods throughout the house, but I would have wanted room size rugs in the bedrooms, so we just went with carpet. More about my choice on that in a minute.





I had in my head what I wanted for the wood floors from the beginning; actually from when we bought our current home almost 5 years ago. It only took me 20 minutes at the shop to narrow my decision. Our choice was going to have to exist alongside the Bamboo flooring that was in the Kitchen and Hearth room. I didn't want to do the same thing, but it needed to compliment and color match what was already there. You can see both from the Entry Hall, and they actually meet up in the Dining Room and Kitchen doorway. It needed to be the same color and hue, but I didn't want the contrast of color within the Bamboo planks.


Listing Photo showing Bamboo Flooring


I ended up painting the Living Room the same color as our current house, Smokey Taupe by Ben Moore. It looks darker in this house because the woodwork is much lighter, so there is more of a contrast. I needed to use this color again because of my weird linen Chesterfield Sofas. They have a funny khaki cast to them and this color pretty much works with them.



The drapes are the same Penney's Supreme draperies in "Linen" that I've had before. They are a good basic lined drape, and won't break the bank if you have several huge windows. 



The new hardwoods make such a major difference in the look of these two spaces, I'm beyond happy with the choice and workmanship. They match the Bamboo perfectly and the installer did an excellent job. They are Hickory and made in the USA from Shaw Floors.


Shaw Lincolnville Western Sky

Lincolnville Hardwood - Western Sky Swatch




Shaw Flooring Photo

Lincolnville Hardwood - Western Sky Room Scene Image


The Dining Room, which was being used as an office, threw me a little when we looked at listing photos. I wasn't sure what that room was supposed to be. And I hesitate to use the listing photos because I don't want to come off as being critical about the previous owner's choices or decor. It was just a personal issue about carpets versus hardwoods. I actually thought her decor was pretty cool. She had an interesting modern vibe with color and pattern. 


Listing Photo of Living Room



I have the same "Linen" draperies in the Dining Room, and if you noticed the color of the paint below the chair rail looking a little lighter, it is. The more I looked at the Smokey Taupe, the bigger the contrast became. So I repainted using Agreeable Gray from Sherwin Williams and I'm much happier with the look. The draperies are a little different color, but once I get my huge patterned black rug in here I think all the colors will work together. Same style but bigger area rug will also be in the Living Room.




This is a pic from last Christmas of the Dining Room here at our current place, and you can sort of see the design in the rug has a lot of color and pattern. It will be going in the DR at the new house so I hope it will bring all the shades together, since it contains several  colors of tan, gray, cream and an interesting blue/green.




On to the carpet choice and many of you will scratch your heads over this one. I've had a ton of different carpets in the many houses we've lived in and I went with something that is practical and understated. If you think it looks like "office carpet" well... But I wanted something "tweedy" in a medium to darker variegated shade. This is a variegated "Loop" from Shaw Carpet called Harbor Fog in shades of brown, gray and cream. I love it. Just what I had in mind.




I'm really super tired of traffic patterns, vacuum tracks, and looking dirty because you just walked through it. Living with some elderly cats has also influenced decision to be more functional. We have hairball issues, enough said. With the light woodwork I didn't want the rooms to look too feminine, so I wanted a "masculine" look in the carpet to offset it.




Riviera Ii Cmh Carpets - Harbor Fog Gallery Image 5


As I said last post we're making great progress. We painted two more rooms in the basement which will be storage temporarily, but I'm hoping when I can get organized they will be more fully functioning. They got a coat of a cream colored paint that was matched to what was there for an easy spruce up. The basement has white woodwork and beautiful 6 panel solid wood doors, so it's nice to see those spaces brightened and cleaned up.

We did wallpaper in Hubby's small dated Master Bath that really made a HUGE difference in the look, so I'll share that and a few other projects soon. Hope you're having a wonderful week before Christmas. I'm taking this week off to organize for Christmas and to try to get this house in some kind of passable order. Right now I still have some pumpkins and Fall decor lined up waiting to be packed away. It's bad, folks. I don't know the last time I vacuumed or dusted, maybe before Thanksgiving. yikes.

*This is not a sponsored post, and for those that are confused, I've tried to make things a little easier to understand. (insert happy face and a wink here)

xoxo,
Joining in Here:

Sunday at Home at Little Farmstead
Amaze Me Monday at Dwellings
Dishing It and Digging It at DIY180
The Scoop at Cedarhill Farmhouse
Inspiration Monday at Refresh Restyle
Tips and Tutorials at Home Stories A to Z
Inspire Me Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life
Keep in Touch at Let's Add Sprinkles
Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style
Share Your Style at 21 Rosemary Lane
Style Showcase at Shabby Fufu
Wonderful Wednesday at LeCultivateur
Thursday Favorite Things at Follow the Yellow Brick Home
Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

18 comments:

  1. Hardwood floors have been around for the longest time, and this type of flooring is probably one of the oldest forms flooring materials available. Wood never gets out of style; and since woods and trees are available in many forms, types, designs, patterns, grains, consistencies, and colors, you have plenty of options to work with.

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    1. you sound like a professional Helen. I was surprised at how easy it was to choose the right flooring. Not nearly as difficult as I was imagining.

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  2. Debra, I'm excited about your new house. It's a blessing to work on it while not having to live through all the work you are doing! It's truly a lovely place and I sure love your style!

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    1. Thanks Carol, I'm finally getting excited too. The more we do the more I can see my "vision" for it come to life. Sometimes all the work gets in the way, it's easy to focus on that instead of the end result. Thanks for your positive comment, we all need the encouragement with a big job. xo Debra

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  3. Oh, I understand the excitement over both the hardwood floors and the carpet! I love your choices. We have a wool carpet in our MBR that we were told was a commercial grade type, and it is 30 yrs old and still looks good! So yea, I totally get that choice and great colors. This is really looking good, Debra. Pretty soon the fun part of decorating starts!
    Merry Christmas. Enjoy your "week off" time. Ha!

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    1. We had wool carpeting in the house when I started blogging and I know it was at least 30 years old. It still held up and looked pretty good, even though it was time for a change. Amazing how some quality carpet can go through all the wear and tear. Yes, I'm about ready to get down to the fun part! xo have a wonderful Christmas!

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  4. I love all of your choices, Debra! The wood floor is beautiful and I really like the carpet you chose, too! You are making lots of progress...it's going to be a wonderful home for you! Merry Christmas, Debra!

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    1. Thankyou Linda, your comments are always a blessing to me. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas!

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  5. Love all your choices!! The hardwoods look beautiful, I love hickory.....a friend of mine has hickory wood cabinets in her kitchen and they are stunning. Great choice on the carpet, when building my current home I also was tired of traffic patterns and directions of the vacuum cleaner on carpet, so I went with an oatmeal Berber and still love it after 20 years. My felines are not declawed so there are some pulls, but I just clip them!! The pulls, not the felines!!


    You have created a wonderful and warm neutral background that will showcase all your treasures...you are so creative, can't wait to see some finished rooms!! The merriest of Christmas to you...xo

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  6. Hi Debra,
    The wood floors are gorgeous. Love the color and texture. Love the pretty colors for the walls too. The white trim just pops. I know you are getting closer to moving into your new home. I bet it has been nice to be able to live in the old place and work on the new place. That is always the best scenario to have when having to do a renovation. Merry Christmas sweet friend.
    Hugs,
    Kris

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    1. thanks Kris, I know that you guys know all about renovations and diys. An older home presents it's own kind of challenges, and your turned out beautiful. can't wait to see your wall come down and what you do with that space. Have a great Christmas, dear friend!

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  7. Oh Debra, Love your hardwood floors. I completely get it! I was so pleased when we bought this home and actually found the original hardwoods underneath huge deep pile carpet. I hope you enjoy your floors for years to come!
    Merry Christmas!

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    1. thanks Christine, we were hoping there might be hardwoods under that carpet, but no luck there. Have a wonderful Christmas!

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  8. Looks great!!! I put carpet in my master bedroom/closet as well, I used Stainmaster Pet Protect since I have 3 dogs and one of them is 16....nuf said. I also had the same carpet bound into a room sized area rug for the living room. It was expensive but I'm so glad I went with that product, it seriously cleans up great! There's a great spray by Oxy Clean that I swear removes every trace of pet stains....you may want to check it out! I buy 6 at a time from Bed, Bath and Beyond!

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    1. Thanks Debbie, I'll check out that Oxy Clean spray. Hope you're having a wonderful Christmas!

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  9. Love the paint colors you chose. Very restful! Planning on doing some redecorating myself after the holidays. I had to smile when you mentioned your elderly kitties, because we have four, three of which are getting older but still full of love, snuggles and occasional bursts of energy throughout the house! I have found Woolite Insta Clean Oxy Pet Stain Destroyers the absolute best! Smells nice and does a great job cleaning. Merry Christmas, and I hope you get settled into your new home soon.

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  10. The wood floors are gorgeous. Love the color and texture.
    Reference: https://floormost.com/install-bamboo-flooring/

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