Better Than Before

Ta-da! The new floors! (More photos below.)

I've had a pretty good track record for turning this Shack in the Woods into something almost cute, she said oh-so-humbly. Until now ...  The new wood floors are painted a grayish/tan/gray. Maybe not the right call. But, at least better than the laminate that was there before!

The old laminate was an unnatural yellowish pink tan, and whoever put it in decided that they didn't need to bother putting it in the center of the living room because, you know, there was a rug there anyway. Most of the pieces slid around a lot, the glue once holding them in place to the crappy particle board subfloor had been subjected to years of a lack of climate control.

The old flooring ...

The new flooring is the cheapest white pine we could find; no reason to over-invest in a Shack in the Woods. They're 5-inch-wide tongue-and-groove, which is just what I wanted. Of course, they dent easily. Nick's already made his mark when he charged our stray cat at the back door.  (Cat update to come.) But that adds character, right?

But the new floor does have some charm to it. I was going for a cottage look -- and a color that would hide the dirt and dog hair really well. And it does! But the color kinda almost feels ... institutional? Sterile? I guess because it's a cool, rather than warm, color.

Alas, in hindsight, maybe I should have given them a gray/taupe stain rather than paint, but I was nervous about polyurethaning anything because when the humidity hits 90% for days on end in August, some older polyurethaned furniture in the house likes to try to mold. OK, it doesn't try; it gets a thin dust of mold. Just that white mold, not that evil black mold. Did I mention my life isn't quite as glamorous as it once was?

And I was worried that exposed wood grain would compete too much with the exposed wood grain all over the walls ...

So, here's a collection of photos. Notice that I also painted the kitchen/dining table a charcoal color, and that I DO like a lot!

And if we ever do decide the new floor color just ain't right, we know where to get more paint!