Hideous Blue Carpet

No, I haven't run off and joined the circus...

Nothing as adventurous as that.  I'm working on a large order of  wreaths for a wedding in California - the bride is using them as centerpieces for her reception.

Between the wreaths, keeping up with my Etsy Shop and antique shop booth and wrangling my lively toddlers...oh, and feeding my Pinterest addiction, I've been an absent blogger.

Oh, and we've been doing a little demo 'round the house. Have you noticed that I barely EVER show pictures of my house? There's a reason..hideous.blue.carpet (among other things)

Here's a little glimpse of said hideous blue carpet...

(This is my husband setting up Max's train set on Christmas Eve)

If you're wondering what the lovely black edge on the fireplace is, it's plumbing insulation that we used to baby proof...we have a 2-sided fireplace, so this is much less expensive (although, not as attractive) than the official childproofing stuff.  

Okay, back on topic...hideous.blue.carpet.  Well, the carpet became even more hideous after several months of leaky sippy cups, crafting, and my husband's "run-in" with the table saw.

Being that we have A LOT of hideous blue carpet to replace, and Bryan is on disability due to his hand until possibly the end of April, we had to be pretty thrifty with our floor shopping.

So...when I found this Mountain Pine Laminate with padding at Lumber Liquidators for $1.49 per sq ft, I was on it like white on rice.

 

If you really like it, it's on sale now for $1.19.  I love it...the price and the floor.  Laminate is ideal for us because the kids ride everything but motorized vehicles through our house.  It looks so real, you have to touch it to know it's not.

We were so excited about the new floor that we forgot to take a picture before ripping out the old carpet.  It's quite unfortunate, as one can not truly appreciate the "after" without a good picture of the "before".

You can see a little of the blue carpet in the middle of the picture.  

Oh, and see the bump out on the right of the fireplace, there's a Christmas tree inside.  The previous homeowner passed away and her kids had no idea she had stored a Christmas tree next to the fireplace.  They didn't offer to move it.

Max is obsessive about everything being picked up....except his toys. For 2 years old, he's actually pretty helpful with holding the dustpan...sweeping is another story.

Floor installation...doing well with 1 hand. Until...

I reminded my husband that I wanted the closet removed. The doors with the big yellow X is was a coat closet, but it just made our already-enormous-2-sided fireplace even more massive looking...so, it has to go...

...in the process of getting rid of the closet, but then my husband wasn't sure if it was a load bearing wall...

...so here's how it looks today...

...uhh, what's that you say? It's the same picture? Why yes, yes it is. 

And stop looking at our brick planter with the fake ivy...I know it's not cute.  There are little rocks under the ivy, so I've left the ivy to protect the rocks from being consumed by small children.

Not much of a transformation, I admit, but it's moving in the right direction.  

I just wanted to show you what I've been up to since I've been MIA lately.

Hope you have a great weekend.

take care -