Hello Pretty Floors!

I cannot describe how wonderful it is to walk on clean floors.  Yes, that is a luxury in this house.  Our old floors were gummy and dirty no matter how much I cleaned them and would discolour your feet!  Now our floors are smooth, gum-less, and I can walk around barefoot again, woot!  Putting in new subfloors involved picking up about 12 sheets of OSB (Oriented Strand Board) and screwing it to the old subfloor.  We staggered the way we layed each sheet to make for a stronger floor.  We went from the old subfloor...

To the new subfloor...

We had shopped around for flooring and sales for a while and finally came across some floating bamboo floors that were $1.99/sq ft on clearance.  And with a couple Home Depot Gift Certificates we could put towards it, that was a deal we were pretty happy with!  We really wanted to get bamboo for their sustainability.  We also had to buy the foam padding that they suggest you put under a floating floor. 

When it came to choosing the stain, we knew we didn't want a stain that would be too trendy (ex. something on either end of the dark/light scale).  Even though we love the look of really dark floors, and also saw some neat "ghost" bamboo floors, we opted for something a little more traditional.  It fit with the house more and we hope that they will have more longevity. 

Laying the first row of boards was the most important and time consuming.  It was essential to measure and measure again, to make sure everything was level and straight.  It was also the most time consuming because there were a few cut-outs to make.

After the first row was put down, installation was super easy.  The only cuts that had to be made were the excess pieces on either end of the row, and also around the heating vents.  I like to think we work well as a team - so our strategy was for me lay out a row, making sure each piece was staggered in an aesthetically pleasing way, and Darryl would follow behind me, clicking/ramming them into place. 

So for the weekend, I'll leave you with our new floors...

I'm going to keep it real with you, that's what the floors still look like, with that same pile of leftover bamboo in that same exact spot.  We've since moved onto other projects and have somehow neglected to put the excess away....we'll get to it....

Enjoy your weekend - any exciting plans?!