Finale - for now!

Here are the pictures of the den. The top one was taken with a flash, the bottom with natural light. I am very happy with it, though my daughter just informed me that she still doesn't like the area rug :( I was hoping that it would grow on her, but apparently not.

Well, I really like it. It's simple, works with the furniture and I think that it could easily move into another room when we eventually move (not any time soon, but it's something to consider.)

What do you all think?

Addendum

Well, I can't believe that over a month has past since my last post! Our den is all put back together and we are all enjoying it immensely! (Well, almost all of us. My daughter still dislikes the new furniture arrangement quite adamantly.)

I will post a picture of the "almost finished project" soon. (Don't forget - this was just the first phase. The final phase - which is a hardwood floor - will hopefully be completed by the summer.)

Thank you to everyone who followed along. Besides being loads of fun, a very cool byproduct of the blog was that it was a unique motivational tool for my husband (maybe weapon for me is the better term?) Projects in our home tend to go on for months - yes, even years! - but with daily documentation, there was none of the usual denying the length of time that has occurred in the past ("It has not been two months!") Nifty!

Day 42

Well, what did I tell you? Still no coffee table in the den! But, I don't think he'll be able to stall that much longer. I'll explain...

As you all know, this weekend is Super Bowl Sunday and my daughter has invited some friends over.

What's the connection, you might ask? Well, besides the game and cool commercials, Super Bowl Sunday is about eating. Buffalo wings, chips, beer, etc. Where would we put it all? I mean, you've really got to have that table that sits right smack in the middle of the room - with easy snack access to all - for it to be a truly successful event. Yes!

I never thought I'd say this, but thank goodness for football!

Day 40

Well, once again, we rolled up a pretty formidable sized rug, hauled it out of the den, trudged it through the kitchen, struggled to get it out the door, wormed between whatever car was in the garage and the plywood stacks that leaned on the opposite wall and shoved it into the wagon. All of this, only to hear Mr. P say "that's OK, I don't need to see it if you want to keep it."

Are you kidding me?

I mean, it was awfully sweet of him to take our word for it (about the size discrepancy.) I just wish he would have told us that last week!

So, there we were, back at Bloomies, surrounded by the beautiful rugs in their inventory. There were some moments of weakness (the silk rugs are stunning) and I knew that my husband really wanted to look for a bigger rug, but I just couldn't bear the thought of starting the whole process over again; going through rug after rug, picking one out, getting it in and then out of the car, moving all of the furniture aside, laying the rug, putting the furniture back, deciding if it worked or not and - if it didn't - bringing it back - only to have to start the whole process over again! Just thinking about exhausts me.

If we were going to get out of Bloomies without another rug, I had to make a pretty air tight case. Here is what I went with:
1) We all really like this rug (that, in itself, is pretty amazing!)
2) It fills the room nicely (albeit a tad small)
3) It actually compliments our furniture (which is no easy task, given the busy pattern of our fabric -- which I still happen to love) and,
4) At a certain point, you have to move on.

I made my argument well. My husband agreed (truth be told, I think he was as tired of the rug schlepping as I was) and Mr. P gave us a nice credit.

So, we are almost done with this phase of our "Den Transformation Project" (the next, and final, phase will be when my husband lays down the black walnut floor in the spring - wo-hoo!!)

The remaining items are:
1) The carpet pad needs to be trimmed
2) The coffee table needs to be returned to its rightful place in the middle of the room (my husband hates this coffee table - mark my word, he will find every excuse in the book to keep this chore at bay) and,
3) We have to "repopulate" the stereo closet.

There may be a few more interesting posts yet...

Day 35

This weekend we addressed the rug dilemma (in case you forgot, the second rug we purchased - and love - is substantially smaller then what it was labeled and what we paid for.) We figured we might as well use this as an opportunity to check out some other stores and see what else was out there.

So, we drove downtown to this place that I had found online. We looked through a pile of very boring rugs and actually ended up taking two home. We laid them out, each on top of the next, to see if they worked in the room. Both were exceedingly dull, but my husband really wanted a bigger rug and they were definitely bigger. I was trying desperately to like one of them.

Thank goodness, my son came home, walked into the room and said "I see you got another ugly rug." That was all it took! We realized that we were really compromising. Both rugs went back the next day!

We stopped by Bloomies on the way home to talk with Mr. P. He was, as he always is, a pleasure to deal with: "That's not right! Bring the rug back - I'll take care of it! No problem!" he declared. His deep, Iranian voice accentuated the gravity of the situation. As we stood talking with him, I looked around the room. Every rug was absolutely lovely. It was so obvious that the quality was superior to those at the "Oriental rug specialists" store we had just been to. There was no comparison.

So, next weekend, we roll up my beautiful rug and bring it back to Bloomies. We will either get a price adjustment and keep it (which is what I really want) or look for a similar rug that is larger.

We are getting really good at rolling up and transporting rugs :)

Day 31

Garbage pick up today. The last of the old particle board sub floor made it's way into the trash container and is officially gone - wo hoo!

Day 30!

Last night, we all tried out the new furniture arrangement. I have to say, it wasn't as bad as I thought.

Both dogs seemed to like it. They were back to normal - playing tug of war, running around - totally unaffected by the change. Even my daughter seemed to like it (she was the most adamant about not changing things.) It was good to have a "normal" evening after a month of disarray; just hanging out in the den, watching tv and relaxing!

On a totally different note, my wikis and blog class was today! I had a very nice turnout - eight people (not bad, considering the busy schedules everyone has.) We had good conversation with lots of great questions, while we enjoyed some home baked cookies (thanks to my daughter!) and freshly brewed coffee (thank you, Amy!) I think everyone learned a lot and had fun at the same time.

Here's us learning about the vocaroo tool. Do we sound like we're having fun?

Day 29

We finally put most of the furniture back in the room today. The two chairs are now facing the tv and the love seat is sitting in the bay window area (yes, the men have won - at least temporarily.) I'm not sure if I like it, but I have to admit, I'm not sure if I hate it either. We really need to live with it for a few days to see how it feels.

The rug is still an issue. It looks great, but the extra size that we thought we were getting would have really been nice. The call to Bloomies still has to made. We'll see.

Day 26

A few days late on this post (computer issues at home have prevented me from going on line - I feel lost!) Here's where we are: the paint problem was resolved by mixing a leftover can of very, very dark green (my husband calls it "almost black") with the reddish brown "oops" paint from the Home Depot. He was skeptical, but I was pretty sure it would work. I was right (whew!) - the resulting color was the perfect warm, dark brown we were hoping for! Two coats later, Phase 2 of our "Den Transformation Project" was officially done!! Well, almost...

When the new area rug was laid out, my husband discovered that it was substantially smaller than it was supposed to be (about 9 inches length and about 4 inches width.) He was extremely disappointed and is now leaning towards getting a new rug (the idea of going through piles and piles and piles of rugs a third time is killing me!) I happen to think that this one still works. The colors go perfectly and it is still large enough to cover the entire open area around our furniture and then some - which is what we wanted. The extra rug was nice, but not necessary. My husband's point is, that's not what we paid for. Very true.


We will have to call Bloomies and work this out.

Day 25

Last night we hit a road block: it turns out that we can't use the stain we bought because it requires 48 hours to dry! (Why didn't the guy at Home Depot tell us that when we asked him if what we got would work for what we wanted to do? He had no problem mentioning, several times, that he had been a professional painter for over 20 years!) So, now we've got to figure out what color we can use from our stock pile of left over paint that, when mixed with the reddish brown paint, will give us the warm, deep brown color we were hoping for.

I'm afraid that this isn't going the way I had planned it.

When I left the house this morning, all of the furniture was out of the den so that it could be painted today. My husband said to trust him with the color choice. Frankly, I don't, not when it comes to color. If it were anything else - installing a hard wood floor, plumbing, electric, any work on any car - with any of those things it's a no brainer - he is the best! But, color? No, no I don't think so...

Day 23

I came home from work yesterday and found that the "problem child" piece of plywood (by the porch door) was in and looked perfect! The piece for the closet was also in, so our new plywood sub floor is officially done! Wo-hoo!


Next, the dilemma(s) of what to do until the floor gets painted. There are two issues at hand: 1) Do we lay down the new area rug temporarily? and 2) Should we rearrange the furniture when it goes back into the room? As usual, there is much debate about both issues. I am not that passionate about the rug. If everyone is fine living with the pitter-patter of feet and paws moving about the very hard and very loud wood floor, then I'm fine with it, too. However, the furniture arrangement is another matter entirely. Of course, both men want the furniture strategically placed according to optimum TV viewing (they say that's only part of their reasoning) and both women are looking at the flow and decor of the room (maybe more of a feng shui perspective?) We were pretty deadlocked last night.

This one is not going to be settled for a while.

On another note, our little princess returned to the den last night. She was asleep on the sofa looking quite content when I came home from work in the evening. Even though all of the tools were still out - hammer, hand planer, shop vac, etc., somehow she knew that the fuss was over. Dogs are really amazing creatures!

Day 22

Well, the window pieces went in perfectly. It was the piece by the porch door that ended up killing our chance of painting the floor yesterday. I could tell that my husband was really frustrated. He's a perfectionist, but he is also very patient. This piece wore him down. He ended up quitting at about 8 in the evening - he never quits.

We won't be able to paint the floor until the weekend of the 23rd. That's way too long to leave the room the way it is. Plus, this whole project has totally freaked out one of my pooches. She washed her hands of the room the moment the rug was torn up and spends her evenings held up somewhere upstairs. Bottom line - she is not a happy camper. (In contrast, our other dog is just fine with the living conditions - I am convinced that he could sleep on a bed of nails, as long as it was next to one of us!)

I have proposed repositioning the furniture that is still in the room back to "living conditions" and laying down the new area rug temporarily. This is currently under consideration...

Day 21

Yesterday was a good day. All of the big pieces (of plywood) were screwed down. We're almost there! Only four pieces left to cut and install. Unfortunately, three of those four are next to the bay window, so they'll be a pain - I know my husband is not looking forward to this part. (The fourth is basically a small rectangular piece for the closet - that should be cake for him.)

The exciting part is that we went to Home Depot yesterday and found two gallons of their "oops paint" (honestly, that's what they call it) for the floor. One gallon is a solid, (yellowish) dark brown stain which we'll mix with a gallon of an interior latex that is a lighter (reddish) brown. The result should be a warm, deep brown wood floor. My husband is skeptical, but I think it will give us the look we were hoping for (think a little funky.)

Now, the real issue is whether we'll be able to get the paint down today. If not, it will be another two weeks before we have the opportunity again. It looks pretty grim.

Day 19

School's canceled do to icy road conditions today, so it's a perfect opportunity for me to test the sound tool, Vocaroo.
Here goes!

Wo-hoo! It worked! Pretty cool, huh?
So now, in keeping with the theme of my "Den Transformation Project," I will record the lovely sounds of plywood flooring being cut...



Isn't this fun?!!

Day 18

Another day, another piece of sub floor goes down. If not for the football game tonight (will they ever end??) maybe two - or three! - could get nailed down. But, one is better than none, right?

Only one more day and the weekend arrives. Barring any more football games, we should be able to finish the sub floor by Sunday.

Day 17 - supplemental

Garbage pick up today! Yippee! My husband was able to get rid of a second load of broken up particle board. He said the trash can weighed a ton; nearly knocked him over as he was wheeling it to the street. (I don't doubt it. With the steep grade of our driveway, gravity really kicks in when that puppy is full!) I wonder what the Waste Management guys were thinking!
Which leads me to think -- when we lived in NY, we gave holiday gifts to the sanitation guys. They picked up the trash three days a week there, so you actually got to know them. We'd wave, have some idle chat, etc. Here, they only come once a week. I couldn't tell you what one of them looked like if my life depended on it!
It was very different in suburban NY. In many ways, it was small-townish. Our mailman gave us baby cards when our children were born. We knew the butcher by first name and he knew us, as did the girl who worked at the Italian bakery, and the guys who worked at the fish market. The day before we moved, the pharmacist gave both children going away presents, along with a hand written list of what medications they could and could not take. In contrast, I stopped going to one pharmacy here after about six years of hearing them say "have you ever filled a prescription with us before?"

Day 17

With both of us back at work, it is extremely slow going on the floor. My husband is trying his best to do a little each day, though. Yesterday, I attempted to open the garage door unsuccessfully four times before I realized he had locked it (he has set up shop in the garage since it's too cold to cut wood outside.) Needless to say, I wasn't a happy camper as I attempted to traverse my very steep driveway in the freezing cold with handbag, laptop bag and grocery bags all dangling from my shoulders! The worst thing about it was that I couldn't even complain! After all, he was in the garage cutting plywood for our new floor!

Day 15

Well, the weekend came and went and the sub floor didn't get finished. I had my suspicions (as I mentioned in my previous post) for two main reasons: 1) my husband's knees were killing him from days of kneeling and 2) it was a football game packed weekend.
OK - I'll be honest - it was all football! But, I really couldn't be too upset about it - after all, I wasn't the one doing all the hard labor. It was his vacation, too. He deserved some (well, a lot) of downtime.
His heart was definitely in the right place. Every morning he'd come downstairs, knee pads and work cloths on. Then he'd survey his work - were the pieces he'd already laid down good? Where would he start today? Next, an inventory check - good, all tools were on hand. He was ready to begin. But, first he needed his morning cup of coffee. Then, his second cup. OK, now he was really ready to begin. But, first he had to eat some breakfast (after all, he needed to eat something before beginning a full day of work.) And, that's where we would inevitably get in trouble. For as long as he was chilling a bit to eat breakfast, he might as well turn the TV on...just for a few minutes... just to check the score :)

Day 11 - New Year's Day

Well, for the most part we took it easy today (or, I should say my hubby did.) All of the old particle board sub floor is up and now resides in my garage. It will take weeks to get rid of it - small chunks will be added to the trash can every week until its all gone.
Tomorrow the plywood floor goes down. I think it's a sure bet that we will end up off schedule (I was hoping to have it all done by Sunday.) But, as long as the floor is down, we can throw the area rug on top until we have time to paint it.