Floors Update

So a little over 2 weeks ago we started the project of staining the concrete on the living room floor. I say started because it was a week-long project. First, Friday night we removed all the furniture from the living room. This was a project in itself because I am pregnant and Vincent didn't want me to strain something. So we moved things creatively. Like with the help of a rolling chair. And those 'EZ Sliders' - those things really do help. Then Saturday the hard work began. My brother David and sis-in-law, Becky came over to help. First, carpet was removed. Then we had to clean the concrete. And this was no easy feat. There was the adhesive from the carpet plus random spray paint all over it. First we took soap and water, cleaned it, and then sucked up the dirty water with a shop vac. That took forever. Then we went to Home Depot and rented a buffer machine. This was what got the glue and paint off the concrete. We had the machine for 4 hours and it took all of that time. Then, of course, we had made plans that Saturday night so we had to stop to get ready. The next day was cleaning the concrete with soap and water again but this time we got smart about it and rented a Rug Doctor from Home Depot to suck up the dirty water. Much faster. After cleaning it completely it had to dry, which took about 4 hours. Of course, Tristan’s birthday party was Sunday so we went to that right after cleaning. Then we got home from the party and were exhausted so we decided Vincent would take that Monday off and work from home as well as work on the floors. Well, he got up and started on the stain. It was supposed to be sprayed on by one of those spray containers that looks like you use to put pesticide on your lawn. It was supposed to be 1 can for the whole floor. Vincent put it on really thick so we ended up using 3 ½ cans on the floor. I was freaking when he called me to tell me that he ran out of stain about a third of the way in. I thought it was going to look awful. But, thankfully, it just made the layer thicker and probably less likely to peel off in the future. I’ll take it. Then we had to wait for the stain to dry. Since he put it on so thick, it took a lot longer than normal. Since we had to continue our work week as normal, we just decided to put off putting on the sealer until the weekend. Did I mention that we decided to put the dining room table in the kitchen?? And that the dining room table fits the kitchen with about 8 inches of room to walk around it? It was awful to try to use the kitchen for Tuesday and Wednesday. Finally I couldn’t take it. On Thursday, I went to Home Depot, got a high-tech mask and put on the sealer myself. I also bought this “non-skid” additive to add to the sealer to make the floors not so slippery. It was easy to do. You put it on with a roller that is the same length as a mop. It took me about 30 minutes. But it took about 12 hours to dry so Friday we were able to move the furniture back in. But the floors look great. The only thing that is annoying is the acoustics right now. The TV has a slight echo because we have yet to buy a rug for the room. I read online where other people mentioned that once they had a rug in there; it really helped out with the acoustics.

Right after we cleaned up everything leftover from the project on Saturday we went to my Aunt’s for the Masdon swim party where my Grandpa from Georgia was the guest of honor. He came back to Texas last year for the first time in like 10 years and this year he came again. It was awesome, since we hardly get to see him. We had a great time besides being exhausted from cleaning up the garage from our project.

Oh and did I mention that while we were storing our living room furniture in the garage during that week, it also happened to hail? I mean, seriously hail?? Like slightly larger than golf balls hail? Yeah, Vincent and I could only sit and watch as both of our cars were destroyed by the hail. That was the closest to crying I’ve ever seen Vincent get. It lasted about 10 minutes but caused some serious damage. Good timing.

And although I don’t have pictures from the living room project, I do have pictures from Mother’s Day. My brother, sis-in-law, nephew, sister and the 4 of us went to brunch thrown by a friend that has a catering company. It was delicious. My sister Naomi took some great pictures. Here are those pictures. She's really good at pictures. I always steal hers  :)