Choices

My nights seem to be getting shorter. I seem to wake up and suddenly think about tile choices, appliance choices, kitchen variations, carpet colors and of course the all important “budget”. Did I say budget? I’m just wondering if there is such a thing when it comes to renos.

This will be my last weekend of so called normalcy for the next couple of months. My daughter comes home from Thailand on Monday and on Tuesday the changes will be happening in my humble abode. A monstrous bin arrives in my driveway along with flailing crowbars, pounding sledgehammers and sweaty man muscles.

Josh will arrive very early Tuesday, before I go to work and we will talk about what stays for a while and all that goes. The bin will be here for a while and it shouldn’t be too hard to rip this puppy apart. There’s no drywall, which makes life simpler for Josh and for the fact that drywall has to stay separated in the bin (apparently drywall is not accepted by the dump). For some strange reason I’m not worried about finding “surprises” in this house. The only thing that has me baffled is the little hump in my bedroom floor. It’s not directly over the beam. Which I thought may be the beam crowning. I guess I’ll find out Tuesday when the carpet comes up what that’s all about (I hope it’s not a dead body). We are leaving the insulation in the walls until we get the actual permit from the city. Hopefully that will be a couple of days after the tear down. I’m pretty well living out of boxes now because I’ve had to pack everything up for this reno. It’s not too bad actually. I have had no problem cooking. Luckily my garage is right off the kitchen so it’s easy to access some of my food. (the garage is actually a room right now but will be a garage again after the major reno is done).

I had a major dilemma yesterday, laminate or Bamboo flooring. I’ve had a certain laminate picked out for months now and I haven’t been able to find any others I have liked more. When I was at my little flooring store I found they had floating bamboo flooring for $3.99 a sq ft. I liked it and very much contemplated using that instead of the laminate. I decided to stop into the store where the laminate I liked was and low and behold it was on sale. $2.09 including underlay/vapor barrier and all taxes in. The sale was happening until the following day. I would save $300.00 If I purchased it. There the dilemma began. I had to make a choice quickly. I asked for advice from people, visited the place with the bamboo to see if I could get an even better deal (nope). Went online to find info and reviews on bamboo flooring…that wasn’t great. I looked at the pros and the cons.
My pros for bamboo:
Looks great
Perceived better resale value

Cons:
Scratches easily
Will fade in the sunlight, like all hardwood
Shows foot print marks and marks from my cats paws
It costs more
More maintenance

Pros and cons of laminate

Pros for laminate:
Looks great
Doesn’t scratch, even taking a key and digging into it
Doesn’t show any foot prints or cat prints
Very low maintenance
Doesn’t fade in direct sun
Cost effective
Won’t show dirt as easily
I don’t have to worry about wrecking it and nagging people when they come over

Cons:
Doubtful, but may effect re-sale value of house
It’s not real

So, I chose the laminate and I figure I saved about $2,000 by going with it. I’ve purchased it and they are holding it until I need it. I can take back what I don’t use as long as it’s still in the box unopened. I also had them wave the return policy of 30 days from purchase date.

My Delta faucets have now been ordered. I will get all the sink faucet sets and toilet roll holders for free and will have to pay the employee purchase price for the tub and shower sets (this will be approx. 50% off retail) I figure I’ll save about $1,500.00 plus on all the fixtures. They are top of the line faucets and are beautiful!
I am heading to IKEA this weekend to finalize what I need for my kitchen cupboards. They have a kitchen event until May 28th so I’ll have to order before then. I’ll save 15% off my cabinets in IKEA gift cards, which will pay for my microwave/fan and part of my dishwasher. I have decided to purchase my microwave/fan and dishwasher from IKEA. The reason is I like the microwave and I can get a panel for the front of the dishwasher, which will make it look like the cupboard fronts I’ve picked for the kitchen. It will have a more streamlined look. Apparently the appliances at IKEA are made by Whirlpool. These are an okay brand of appliance and are easy to have serviced. I have also decided to go with a Fisher and Paykel gas stove and fridge from Trail appliances. Two reasons for this. I love the look and fit for the refrigerator and they are also top of the line appliances. It’s not a huge fridge, but the thing I love about it is it has a water dispenser in the door. It’s the smallest fridge I could find with that. I want a cabinet above the refrigerator and this fridge will fit that. The drawers on the inside are very solid and you can definitely tell the difference going from fridge brand to fridge brand in the store. I still have to try to swing a deal for those. I did find the fridge floor model for $500.00 off but it had a little dent in the bottom freezer door and it just wasn’t something I wanted to see every time I went to my fridge.

I have been to my little flooring store about three times and have chosen my tile for the kitchen, the upstairs main bathroom and some for my master suite. I think the most fun will be the main bath. I’ve chosen small hexagon white tile for the floor. White subway tile for the walls and tub area and glass multi green mosaic tile to tie in to the 1950’s green free standing sinks. There will be a boarder of it in the sink area and in the tub area.
The kitchen tile is 12” X 24” porcelain, which looks like cream travertine. It’s beautiful! And at $2.99 sf, very cost effective. I am still not sure what I’d like for my kitchen backsplash but most likely it will be mosaic of some type because that’s what I gravitate towards.

Well, that’s my update for now. It’s coming together. Now if I could only get rid of this knot in my stomach all would be good.