So close, I can taste it

We spent this past weekend doing the most painful thing we have had to do. 

Laying 1,000 square feet of bamboo floors.

We started on Sunday, laying down four rows.  You have to establish a base to work off of.  It should be just a few rows.  We needed to get down four to go around a bump out pillar and make sure that the flooring was straight all the way across.

This had to dry for at lease 24 hours.  We let it sit until the next weekend.  On Friday, we swept and mopped the concrete again and started. 

That was about 8 hours of work.  We had a few spots where the floor was unlevel, so we placed the heavy buckets of glue there to hold it down.  We finished almost everything by Saturday around 10:30 p.m.  After a good 12 hours of back-breaking work! All that we had to do on Sunday was inside the refrigerator cabinet and in the pantry.

We used three rolls of blue tape!  The tape helps hold the boards together while we were working on another area.  Those little guys would slide around and leave tiny gaps, so the tape was helpful.  But a bit of a pain to get up.  OK, the tape wasn't a pain, but my knees were definitely hurting by day 3, so any movement that wasn't laying on a couch was pain!

Here is the kitchen floor, with my beautiful, antiqued cabinets. 

And from the other side.

The dining room.

And this is what it looks like right now. We put down paper for people to walk on.  There won't be very many people in the house besides us (plumber, carpet guy, trim guy to install the front door), but it's nice for us to have too.  I took my shoes off so many times on Sunday!  Walking to and from the garage cutting the baseboards.

It's almost done.  I can just imagine what kinds of meals I can make in my kitchen.  What my couch will look like in the living room!  

This is what is left:

-The grinder pump needs to be finished and turned on. (they were working on this yesterday at 6 when I stopped by the house.  Unless MAJOR catastrophe hits, it will be done today)

-The driveway needs to be poured.  They framed it Friday and promised to come back Monday.  They did not.  I heard they were pouring someone else's foundation, but would be out today.  We'll see.

-Granite in the master bathroom counter tops.  It's been two weeks, and they haven't gotten to ours.  Apparently all the great things we told everyone about them got them too busy and they haven't had time... (Today?  Tomorrow?)

-Plumber needs to install all the fixtures.  This cant be done until grinder pump and counters are in.

-Level the lot. [again] My uncle did it, but the rain washed it all away.  So he will be out next tuesday/wednesday.  (depending on the weather.  These April showers are killing me.)

-Sod.  Of course this is waiting on the grinder pump, driveway, and of course, leveling. We are planning to have it delivered Thursday of next week.

-Install the front door.  He will be there on Wednesday to take care of that.  Can't wait.

Then we can move in.

Green and gorgeous

We picked up our bamboo flooring last week.  We bought it at Lumber Liquidators, and they don't deliver.  So, we borrowed a truck.  How hard could it be, right?  

It was an interesting challenge to say the least.  We waited while another couple got theirs loaded into their truck. How much did they order? we asked each other.  Ours should be a little more than that, right?

No.

Not.

Even.

Close.

Just to give a proper reference, This is an F-250 (not a small truck) and Brad is 6'4" (not a short guy).  We only had to drive a few miles.  It was rush hour, so the interstate would have probably been a good option (we could have sat in traffic inching along).  Instead, we went the back roads, avoiding major streets.  Brad drove while I stared out the window behind me, making tiny gasping noises every time the pile swayed.  It was an odd experience, having 20 smiling versions of Ty Pennington's face staring back at me.  

We made it to the house without incident, except, at that point, we had to unload it.  All fifty boxes.  And they each weighed about 20 lbs.  My arms were tired and I had a bruise on my hip by the time we finished.  And, we haven't even installed it yet.

The bamboo will cover the entire great room (about 1,100 sq. ft.) and run into the pantry.  But, the thing with wood/bamboo floors, you have to have them in the house to acclimate them to the temperature for a couple of days.  As of this writing, we don't have heat/air turned on.  (We should have gotten it today, but at the pace our electrician works, I'm not holding my breath).

Here is a close-up of the wood.  It's so dark, that the characteristics you normally have in bamboo are almost unseen, making it look more like wood than bamboo.  But the bamboo is a renewable resource (hence the 'green' reference in the title) and cheaper.  We paid $3.39/ sq. ft.  The color is called Sambuca.