First Reno: Family Room flooring

We got the keys to our new place on Friday October 11th.  It just so happened that Mom and my sister Vicki were visiting and they were more than happy to come check out the new place.

Our official move-in date with movers was October 23rd, so we decided to do our first reno job while the place was empty.  There is very old and dusty feeling carpets throughout the house.... so dusty feeling that I've taken to wearing crocs around the house.  That in itself is momentus because i'm morally opposed to crocs, especially out in public.  So just imagine if you will the ick factor that my feet were feeling ... yes... even through socks.  I digress...

We choose to do only one room of flooring work considering time, budget and not wanting to be so tired we would be mistaken for zombies...  The room we choose was the family room right next to the kitchen.  We figured other than the kitchen it was the room that would be most frequently used and would benefit from the carpet removal the most.  The kitchen has ugly vinyl, but that I can wash :)

Before:  With the icky, wrinkly, pinkish carpets

After:  New flooring with some of our furniture tossed in.

Another shot of the new floor with a new couch we bought.

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The flooring we used is a brand called Allure and it's not laminate, it's vinyl, but not the vinyl with the peel and stick edging, this kind is newer.  It's a thicker click together kind of vinyl, but it can still be scored with an exacto knife, straight edge and then bend it back and the extra piece snaps off.  It's a bit tricky to do at first, but we got the hang of it and finished the floor in two days and maybe spend 3 or 4 hours in each session.  John said it was hard on the fingers and hands, but he wasn't working with gloves.

I enjoy walking bare feet on this stuff, it feels good.  I really like that it doesn't have the same sound as laminate.

Thanks to Vicki and Mom for helping us pick the colour!