It All Started With a Stove

Our renters moved out in a rush at the end of November and we had had several people look at it but no takers. My mom and dad suggested that we get a new stove (the present stove was the ancient kind with little white push buttons, lots of rust, and built into the cupboards - pretty scary). So we decided to get a standard size stove and hire someone to cut out the stove and move the counters to fit a new one in. What followed? Had to cut into old countertops - new countertops, had to cut into the linoleum - new wood laminate for the kitchen and halls, new baseboard upstairs, repainted kitchen cabinets. Then the carpet looked hideous, so new carpet throughout the house. Wow - didn't see that coming. It looks beautiful now, I think we'll switch places with our renter!

I'm trying to decide which blasted laminate to put in. So I sprinkled dirt on both - which ever one shows the dirt the least is the winner. In the end, none of it mattered. I picked the prettiest one, which was none of those shown below. I don't think I could ever build a custom house - I would go crazy with all the decisions.


This is a totally fake smile. With a total of 1 1/2 youtube videos, Rob spent his whole holiday on Monday figuring out how and laying laminate in the kitchen. His buddy Craig was a trooper and helped him for most of it. I am proud to say, he did an incredible job. What a handyman!

Before


After

Rob did nearly all of what you see above, then ran out of time so we hired someone to come in and finish it. When I called the floor guy, he warned me that he'd done that once before and had to rip out what was done and start over because they had done it all wrong. I got a bit nervous, and met with him the next morning. He said he could finish it that day, which he did. A fantastic little prank presented itself and I decided to tell Rob that I learned we'd have to start all over again and he would charge us $500. When he came home from work I told him to come with me and look at the floor and I'd explain it to him. He walked inside and saw a completely finished and cleaned beautiful laminate floor! Done! I was again proud that he had done such a wonderful job with just a few short tips. We have a really sweet lady moving in and we're happy that it will be such a nice place for her.