Salt Oak and more

The opportunity has arisen to do more to our home and the starting focus is the floors. A couple of years ago the master bathroom got tiled but other than that, the floors in our home were the same as when we moved in with vinyl in the kitchen, hall/entry and the second bathroom and carpet everywhere else ... a pale soft green that was getting old. We checked around and for the most part flooring suppliers have people they recommend to do the install but they are separate and you have to deal with them separately.

Empire Flooring on the other hand provides the whole package, both the flooring and the installation as well as coming to the home with samples and would move the furniture. We contacted them and a fellow came out, definitely a salesman type but nice enough. Anyway, we already have a nice salt oak finish furniture in our living room and bedroom so I took a small shelf from the credenza to hold against the flooring samples he brought and wham, right out of the box was a perfect match. After an additional few minutes to choose a ceramic tile for the kitchen and bathroom we were set.

Although like many flooring installers, they will move the furniture itself,  the homeowner has to empty the cabinets, bookshelves, etc so that all the contents are out of the way so for the next couple of weeks we packed stuff up! It was like what we went through when we had the place painted a couple of years ago. This time we had a couple come in and help for some of the time, Geoff and I are NOT getting any younger for sure.

While we were having the carpet pulled up, it was the perfect time to have an outlet put in the middle of the living room for our power recliners, no more cord trailing across the floor. We got this set up with our favorite electrician, Dennis Shepherd Inc. and they came in to cut a channel for the wiring and place the outlet. They really tried to keep the dust down but a word of warning, when you cut into concrete, there is a fine dust that gets everywhere!!! I think we spent the next six weeks dealing with dust and there is probably a bit of it hiding somewhere here still.

While we were at it we did some downsizing and sorting out of stuff and decided to replace our office furniture, both Geoff's and mine, which was at least twenty years old. We checked and found that we could get the same style and finish still in Sauder Salt Oak furniture that we got before and since we are quite happy with it we measured the rooms carefully and chose our furniture.

For those who have never seen our home, we each have an office area. Mine is what would be a small bedroom and Geoff's is the dining room since we eat in the kitchen which is probably the biggest room in the house.

Out with the old, in with the new! Previously we had also had the doorway between the kitchen and Geoff's office blocked on both sides by cabinets. The ones on the kitchen side had become a problem for me as I could no longer manage to reach the higher shelves or the back of the cabinet easily and stuff was sitting back there getting old soooo ... we got rid of all the cabinets and added a new one on the kitchen back wall that  matches the kitchen cabinets and a lower one that is a window seat in place of the chest freezer which I had the same problem with. It looks and works better than ever!

Geoff's office and the closet in my office had also held large file cabinets and since I have cut back my genealogy work considerably they were no longer needed so out they went. Smaller file cabinets went in my office closet and the wall in Geoff's office now has a cabinet and an upright freezer.

There are other odds and ends to do and another post or two will explain what got in the way!