What lies beheath?
Have you ever pulled up carpet and crossed your fingers and toes (and everything else) that there are hardwoods under there???
I have.
Remember the hideous carpet that we have in our den and throughout our upstairs, that I am desperate to replace?
Now that we are about to start our kitchen wall tear down, I had the perfect opportunity to check what's going on underneath the carpet.
We finally pulled up a corner and took a peak.
And.
Wait for it....................................
We hit hardwood!
Jackpot.
Or so I thought.
It is original fir under the carpet, which is lovely and wonderful, except for the fact that we have oak throughout the rest of the main floor.
Fir and oak apparently aren't compatible. At least not butted up against each other. The wood grains are very different and the planks are different widths as well, so it would like all crazy-town if the two woods ran into each other.
I had a few heart breaking moments when both Chris and our contractor explained to me that even if we refinished it to match the oak color, that the grain, the boards and the overall look would be too different from the oak to use it in such a close vicinity.
I think I shed a tear, or two.
I was so excited when we found hardwoods. It seemed like I had won the old house jackpot, but somehow I still lost because I can't use them.
Right now we have a floor three-way. We have medium oak in the office/living/dining rooms, which meets the cork tiles in the kitchen, which runs into the carpet/hidden fir floors in the den.
When we tear down the wall, we are going to expose a large part of the floor that right now has no flooring (since the wall has been there since the house was built). So we have no choice but to address the floor. We had a few options...
1. Patch the oak in the dining room and patch the cork tiles in the kitchen & refinish the fir in the den
2. Lay all new flooring in the kitchen (like tile), patch the oak in the dining room, and refinish the fir in the den
3. Lay all new oak in the kitchen and den
Option 1 was not desirable, as patching 2 types of floors would not look seamless at all, and the colors would probably not match AT ALL. The cork varies in color dramatically throughout our kitchen due to the light hitting it and fading it, so it would similar to a patchwork quilt- but on the floor.
Option 2 was on the table for a while, but Chris really hates tile floors in kitchens. Who knew? He hates the cold feeling on his feet (who can blame him) and since radiant floors were not in the budget, we had to cross off this option as well.
We really hate that we have a flooring 3 way. Having all different textures, feels and looks and we don't want it to be like that. We really wanted to cut down on the craziness going on in this area, so we wanted to simplify- which brought us to Option 3.
Option 3 was the one that we both loved for a couple reasons. Obviously, I was ecstatic about getting rid of any part of that carpet but also I love the idea of having one type of flooring throughout the while main level of our home. There is something that feels so unifying about that.
So in the end, we chose to go all-oak all-the-time.
Don't fear. We are not tearing up the firs, we are just laying new oak over them so the whole main floor will match (the firs are actually set lower than the oaks).
The firs will stay in this house forever, unseen and unused. They will be our little secret.
If we ever sell this house, I am going to have to make a list of things that are "hidden" here- I'm probably going to have to start hiding things so the list is longer than "there are original fir floors under the oak in the den."
How cool would it be to get a list like that? Maybe I can convince Chris to build in a secret passageway when we finish out the basement, or a bookshelf that is a secret door.... oh the possibilities!
Maybe I can convince him it would increase our value?
I have.
Remember the hideous carpet that we have in our den and throughout our upstairs, that I am desperate to replace?
 |
| How could we forget? |
We finally pulled up a corner and took a peak.
And.
Wait for it....................................
We hit hardwood!
Jackpot.
Or so I thought.
It is original fir under the carpet, which is lovely and wonderful, except for the fact that we have oak throughout the rest of the main floor.
Fir and oak apparently aren't compatible. At least not butted up against each other. The wood grains are very different and the planks are different widths as well, so it would like all crazy-town if the two woods ran into each other.
I had a few heart breaking moments when both Chris and our contractor explained to me that even if we refinished it to match the oak color, that the grain, the boards and the overall look would be too different from the oak to use it in such a close vicinity.
I think I shed a tear, or two.
I was so excited when we found hardwoods. It seemed like I had won the old house jackpot, but somehow I still lost because I can't use them.
Right now we have a floor three-way. We have medium oak in the office/living/dining rooms, which meets the cork tiles in the kitchen, which runs into the carpet/hidden fir floors in the den.
When we tear down the wall, we are going to expose a large part of the floor that right now has no flooring (since the wall has been there since the house was built). So we have no choice but to address the floor. We had a few options...
1. Patch the oak in the dining room and patch the cork tiles in the kitchen & refinish the fir in the den
2. Lay all new flooring in the kitchen (like tile), patch the oak in the dining room, and refinish the fir in the den
3. Lay all new oak in the kitchen and den
Option 1 was not desirable, as patching 2 types of floors would not look seamless at all, and the colors would probably not match AT ALL. The cork varies in color dramatically throughout our kitchen due to the light hitting it and fading it, so it would similar to a patchwork quilt- but on the floor.
Option 2 was on the table for a while, but Chris really hates tile floors in kitchens. Who knew? He hates the cold feeling on his feet (who can blame him) and since radiant floors were not in the budget, we had to cross off this option as well.
We really hate that we have a flooring 3 way. Having all different textures, feels and looks and we don't want it to be like that. We really wanted to cut down on the craziness going on in this area, so we wanted to simplify- which brought us to Option 3.
Option 3 was the one that we both loved for a couple reasons. Obviously, I was ecstatic about getting rid of any part of that carpet but also I love the idea of having one type of flooring throughout the while main level of our home. There is something that feels so unifying about that.
So in the end, we chose to go all-oak all-the-time.
Don't fear. We are not tearing up the firs, we are just laying new oak over them so the whole main floor will match (the firs are actually set lower than the oaks).
The firs will stay in this house forever, unseen and unused. They will be our little secret.
If we ever sell this house, I am going to have to make a list of things that are "hidden" here- I'm probably going to have to start hiding things so the list is longer than "there are original fir floors under the oak in the den."
How cool would it be to get a list like that? Maybe I can convince Chris to build in a secret passageway when we finish out the basement, or a bookshelf that is a secret door.... oh the possibilities!
Maybe I can convince him it would increase our value?
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