Home Improvements ~ Surprise Flooring

Guess what. Our home improvement projects aren't done yet. We have another unexpected project ahead of us.

Two days before our carpet installation, my husband discovered that water was leaking from our refrigerator. Yup. And, the leak ruined our kitchen floor. We have laminate in the kitchen and dining room. The seams buckled and as we stepped on the floor we could feel and hear the water underneath.

Thankfully, our homeowners insurance is paying for most, if not all, of the cost to replace our floor. We are not going with laminate again. And we don't want tile. So, we are going with a newer type of floor. It's waterproof, which is awesome! It's a luxury vinyl plank floor. It isn't glued down. It's floated. We chose to go with COREtech Plus. To learn more about this product, click HERE.

At first, we thought we needed a new refrigerator in addition to a new floor. But, it turned out that it was a leak in a water hose. A quick and simple fix. Whew!

Then came the time to choose new flooring again. Should we go with a floor that looks like wood, slate, stone, travertine, or marble? We chose the Noce Travertine. Here's the link to it on the COREtech website - Noce Travertine. In the photo below, it's the sample that's second from the right on the top row.

We received bids from two flooring companies. Now we just need to decide which bid to go with and schedule the installation.

After this is done, our house will have all new flooring except for the bathrooms. And the bathrooms don't need new flooring because they had beautiful tile installed several years ago.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

© 2016 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Home Improvements ~ New Carpet

A week ago today our new carpet was installed. There was a lot of preparation that had to take place before installation. The installers moved the furniture but we had to empty the bookcases and the curio cabinet. We also had to clear out all of the closet floors and move any electronics ourselves such as TV's and computers.

It took a few days to get everything prepared. It pretty much was like moving. We packed boxes full of books and other items.

Oh, hey! There's the box with my family history binders (front box in photo)! I've been looking for that and haven't found it yet. Now I know what kind of box to look for. I'm sure glad I took this photo.

These aren't even all of the boxes we used. We ended up with stacks of boxes, furniture, and other items in our garage and on our back patio. We also had to remove all of the bedding from the beds as part of the preparation too.

We finally finished preparations and on Thursday morning the installers arrived with the new carpet. My husband took the day off of work while the carpet was being installed. We basically spent the day in our kitchen and dining room that was filled with furniture and other items that had been moved in there.

I was glad to see that our computer desk was one of the items that was placed in the dining area, so I set up my laptop there.

The installers moved the furniture and removed all of the old carpet and padding. They used blue tape with corresponding numbers on the walls and pieces of furniture so they would know where to put the furniture after installation.

They also sealed any cracks in the concrete slab and cleaned and swept the concrete in preparation for the new carpet.

They even vacuumed the new carpet after it was installed using their own vacuum!

So, here it is. The new carpet has now been installed. We chose Shaw's English Saddle. You can see it online by clicking HERE.

Our home improvement projects aren't quite complete yet. My husband is going to make a mantel for our fireplace. Yay!

We also have another project to take care of. This was an unexpected project. Our refrigerator started leaking water and by the time it was noticed, our laminate floor in the kitchen was ruined. Sigh....

We thought our refrigerator was going to need to be replaced, but thankfully it was just a water hose that was leaking and was a quick fix. Our home insurance policy is covering most, if not all, of the cost to replace our kitchen and dining room floor. Whew! What a blessing! My husband and I just need to decide on new flooring for that area of our home.

We'd like to get all of these projects completed before our son's wedding in June. Yup, we have a wedding coming up. Actually, two weddings. Our youngest son got engaged recently and his wedding is coming up later this year. Happy times for our family. We truly are blessed.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

© 2016 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

The Sounds of Rushing Water

Last month my husband and I took a trip to Yosemite National Park. I shared a photo of Bridalveil Fall in my previous post.

It was a gorgeous day. The weather was perfect - not too hot and not too cold.

While we were there, I took photos and even some short videos too. I uploaded the videos to my YouTube Channel. I'd like to share three of those videos with you today.

This first one is Bridalveil Fall.

These two are Bridalveil Creek.

 

There's just something so wonderful about listening to the sounds of rushing water. I hope you enjoyed the videos.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

© 2016 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Bridalveil Fall in Yosemite National Park ~ What a Difference a Year Makes!

In April 2015 my husband and I visited Yosemite National Park. Just last Saturday, April 30, 2016 we visited again. What a difference a year makes! We've been in a drought for several years. Thankfully, this past year we've had more rain and snow because of El Nino. I'm grateful for the rain and snow we've received. What a wonderful blessing!

Here's a photo of Bridalveil Fall from this last Saturday's visit.

Bridalveil Fall - April 30, 2016

And here's a photo of Bridalveil Fall from April 2015.

Bridalveil Fall - April 2015

Wow! Such an amazing difference!

I'll share more photos from our visit to Yosemite National Park in future posts.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

© 2016 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved