House Renovations - Floors

Josh and I have been remodeling this old 1954 farmhouse now for 2 years.

The day we decided our life wasn't crazy enough and fixing up an old house sounded like fun. 

After two years we have made HUGE progress! 

(But it's still not done) 

Two long full years. 

We have learned a lot about DIY projects.

Some have been major fails while others have turned out pretty awesome! 

We used a ton of blogs to help our journey to what I’ve labeled “Redneck Reno” 

and figured I should finally sit down and post what worked for us and what didn’t. 

So here goes.

Let’s talk about the one area I had the hardest time deciding on. 

Floors

I searched for floor types, colors, stains, durability and ease of installation for months. 

After trying desperately to save the hardwood floors we found under the carpet and linoleum we realized it was a total fail.

I called this house “the house of many flooring” because while most of it was hardwood, it was several kinds of hardwood and worst of all, it seemed like every room went in different directions. 

While my OCD has been tamed greatly with having 6 kids, this drove me INSANE!! 

So the hunt for flooring began.

We helped install a friends flooring that she purchased from Home Depot. It was the cheaper stuff you find that’s tempting to use because.. well.. it’s cheap and they have a good bit of styles to chose from. 

If you take anything away from this blog, please let it be this. 

DO NOT BE TEMPTED TO BUY THE CHEAP FLOORING FROM HOME DEPOT OR LOWES!! 

Just don’t. 

It has pieces of laminate in this very cheap vinyl flooring and anyone who has ever owned a piece of laminate furniture knows what happens when water gets on it. 

It buckles. 

It expands.

It ruins.

So just don’t. 

The way I tested flooring was to get a scrap piece or a sample piece and submerge it in a bucket of water for a week. 

Sound dramatic? 

It’s not. I do not underestimate my children at all now. 

If it changed at all, it got marked off the list.

I searched online. I searched in stores.

I googled Pinterest and design blogs. 

I called companies and got samples.

And then I found it.

I went into my local  Anderson Carpet in Alto.
Here is their facebook page! 

I saw my flooring.

But of course I had to test it. 

So I got a sample piece and went home, honestly expecting the worst. 

I should mention that by the end of day 1 most of my sample flooring had begun to lose shape and buckle. Only one lasted until day 5 before it began to buckle and fall apart. 

So my hopes were pretty low. 

After day 5 I was pretty excited to see nothing on this new flooring sample had changed. And I mean nothing. 

On day 7 it looked exactly like it did when I submerged it in my bucket of water. 

I am fairly confident the heavens opened and God had heard my desperate prayers. 

I went back to Anderson Carpet and was surprised to see they had the same flooring in different colors and designs. 

Now, I choose flooring not based on decor. 

I want classic.

I want timeless.

So as much as my heart wanted a gray flooring, I knew I had to stick to a more natural color flooring. 

I ended up going with 

Chestnut.

Brand was BEAU FLOR (not a typo)

Parkway click 

Luxury vinyl tile collection. 

It’s 47.64” L x 6.95 W x 3.4MM thick. 

Each box comes with 12 planks to a box that covers approx 27.60sqft

Installation was pretty easy! 

You’ll need just a few tools.

We cut our planks with the table saw but any saw will work.

Table saw was just easier and faster for us. 

These planks will dull your blade out so you'll want to replace it when you are done. 

 

It took us longer than we expected because we realized this old house doesn't have even floors OR even walls.
But once we got the hang of linking the planks together it went fairly smoothly.

The way we laid them was doing a solid row in the direction we wanted (which I learned the correct way to pick the direction is by figuring out the greatest length of any row. Because our hallway shows in the living room we had to lay ours opposite from what the current flooring in the main area was laid) no biggy. I prefer them running this way. :)

After many many days we finally finished the majority of the flooring in the main area and hallway.

And all the hard work was well worth it!

Check out the before and afters!

I probably should be get nice professional-ish photos but I haven't yet. Sorry guys. This is real life living)

The beginnig of trying to save the orginal hardwood floos. Before we knocked out the walls. 

The kitchen was just ugly worn plywod. 

Before we had several floors that didn't match

See why I called it the house of many floors? This was just 3! We had 4 more types through the rest of the house! 

Here is another type of flooring we found under carpet! Different direction too! 

We now love our floors! We can steam mop, spill stuff and never have to worry about them being ruined! 

As a huge bonus, they hide dirt almost too well!

The price point was my favorite part of these floors. I will have to get the exact price but I think we ended up paying $2.09 per sqft for this flooring. We got it while it was on sale plus we received a discount for buying in bulk. 

Can't beat that price for amazing flooring that you wont ever have to replace! 

***I am not getting paid to promote this product***

Be sure to follow for other DYI tips including: 

Plywood shiplap
Rock climbing wall in kids bedroom
Inexpensive kitchen countertop makeover
Inexpensive kitchen island using stock cabinets
Inexpensive curtain rods (copy cat version of expensive ones!)
Inexpensive DIY $5 curtains

Creeds birth story

Creeds birth story

Creed Briggston was born on November 3rd after the longest labor of my life. He joins 4 brothers and 1 sister and 2 head over heels in love parents. Here is his birth story.

Contractions started on Halloween. Walking hills with the kids in our neighborhood were met with intense contractions that were pretty spaced out. After a shower however they fizzled out and I was left with random drop to your knees ones. I managed to get several hours of sleep Monday night. Tuesday morning I had random contractions and pains in my girly parts so I decided to walk as much as I could. I walked  4 miles up and down hills.

Tuesday night was a rough evening with a lot of contractions but none really grew in intensity.  After 6 hours of consistent 2 minute contractions I decided to go get check out at the hospital since my labors tend to go quickly and the hospital was 40 minutes away. We got to the hospital around 8pm and was hooked up on the monitors. Contractions were 2 minutes apart and strong. I was only dilated to 1 1/2 and 40% effaced. I was allowed to walk the halls. I walked for 30 minutes and then was hooked up for monitoring for 10. Back and forth for the next few hours.

Finally, the back pain through the contractions were too much and it was suggest I get into the tub. The tub was magical. At first. Within 10 minutes my contractions were 45 seconds apart and strong. I was confident I was in transition. I got out of the tub and was checked. I was the same. No change. Baby was also showing signs of distress after each contraction. I was flipped and flopped around from side to side and onto my hands and knees. The decision was then reached to administer a dose of trubeline to slow contractions down so baby could recover. During this, the discussion of a C-section started. And that's when laboring my 6th child became fun.

Baby recovered a few hours later. It was determined my blood pressure crashed while in the tub and baby's oxygen and blood supply was compromised. Yet the discussion of c-section continued. Minutes turned into hours and before long the doctor on call was pushing for a c-section hard. I wasn't budging. Baby was fine. I was fine. I told him I wasn't a first time mom who would be bullied into an unnecessary c-section because he was tired and wanting to go home. He ordered maternal fetal to come in and check on baby. After the ultrasound showed that baby looked perfect, I was determined even more to avoid a c-section. Luckily, shift change came right after and a new ob came in. She gave me the option of doing the c-section, staying and being hooked up the entire time on the monitors or going home. I immediately checked myself out to finish laboring at home.

I left the hospital with consistent contractions every 5 minutes apart. They stayed all evening. Around 9pm they spaced out to 10 minutes apart. I tried to sleep that night but the back pain and contractions kept me awake. I rocked on the birthing ball, showered, and paced the living room. Around 5am on Thursday morning I lost my mucus plug. The contractions picked up quickly. They were now 2 minutes apart and intense. We called the babysitter and finished getting the kids ready for school. Around 6:30am the contractions had become miserable. The babysitter got there to take the kids to school and we took off to the hospital.

In the car the contractions were met with pressure. Lots and lots of pressure. Because the fear of my daughters birth (who was delivered by my husband because she came so fast) I was paranoid this meant this baby would be born in the car on the way to the hospital 40 minutes away. We were flying. We called 911 to have help getting through the traffic without being stopped. They informed the hospital we were on route and they were waiting on us at the door. The ran me back and immediately checked me. I was floored when they told me I was only dilated to a 4. Baby was low and I assumed my pressure in the car was him dropping very quickly. Contractions were about 2 minutes apart at this point. I was told baby was facing sideways and I crawled into the bed on all fours to help move him. My water was broke about 8am. The contractions really became strong at this point. I labored for the next few hours before being checked and told I was only dilated to 4.5. I asked for an epidural. I avoid the epidural because I know my labors will be longer. It slows things down so much. But I was exhausted. I hadn't slept in a good 24 hours and before that sleep wasn't good, sound sleep. Once I got the epidural I was able to relax a little. My cervix was checked at 3:45pm and I was dilated to a 6.5. I labor really fast from 6cm on so I knew it wouldn't be long before baby was here. I felt the urge to push around 4:00pm. I was checked and it was determined baby was right there, ready to come. My amazing OB was called at 4:05pm to come to the hospital. He arrived at 4:10pm. He walked in, put a drape on the bed and told me I could push. I pushed threw times. A total of 33 seconds and baby Creed was born.

Grabbing a hold of him for the first time knowing that pregnancies before left me with an empty womb and empty arms made that moment so incredible. Knowing that moment is one so many women long for yet never get is not forgotten. I have mourned and wept for missing babies in my arms. Yet this delivery and post delivery was different. When I had Anniston she had issues with weight gain. She was labeled failure to thrive. My body was failing me. My colitis and a bad gallbladder was reeking havoc on my body. I was loosing weight. She was loosing weight. After 9 months, I was forced to give her formula. I'm not against formula. I'm thankful for it. But my entire core loves to nurse and longs for those moments of quietly cradling my sweet baby in my arms while they nurse. That was stolen from me with Anniston. When creed was born, he immediately began sucking. I could see his tongue flipping for the breast, as though he knew I needed that as much as he did. He latched on within a few minutes of being born and the swell of that moment whisked me away. He healed me. He healed the pain of having to stop nursing Anniston before I was ready.

People ask if I'm disappointed with another boy. My answer is no. I'm elated with him. What's between his legs doesn't change my love for him. He is perfect. And he is exactly what I needed. No disappointment could ever come from my entire body knowing that he is exactly what God wanted for my family. So no, I have none.

My support system through the entire delivery was a huge factor in accomplishing my vbac. I almost lost focus, lost the will to keep going but I was surrounded by my amazing husband, the most amazingly best friend (who happens to also be a birth junkie like myself) and my mom. They pushed me to keep going. They rubbed my back, reminded me the pain was going to be worth t soon, 1!/ just there for me. They couldn't take a single ounce of pain away yet they could be my support system. My village. My persistence when I lost mine. My hope when mine was crashing.

My 4th VBAC only worked for me because I knew my rights. I knew my body. I knew what my body could do. Had I not been informed, creed would have been born via c-section on wed morning. But with patience, persistence and the sheer will to have my 4th VBAC, I successfully delivered him the way I knew my body could.
My labor was tough. It rocked my entire body. The pain was intense. And because it lasted for days my determination often swayed to doubt. But I'm thankful I pushed through and was able to have the delivery I always wanted.


Welcome to the world Creed.