First there was the DIY

As 2016 was coming to an end, I did not post here. I was extra busy.

Today's post is about our end of year DIY home improvement. My next post will be about some traveling we did in the middle of it all. After that, I plan to move on to something more knit-friendly.

On October 28, Mr K and I purchased 22 boxes of 'Smoky Topaz' hickory hardwood flooring (to finally replace the original carpeting in the open main living area of our home we had built 20 years ago). (That carpeting was getting very tired.) He picked the flooring up the next day, and I helped him unload all 22 boxes from his truck and stack them in our downstairs family room. Did you know that hardwood flooring has to sit and get seasoned into its new environment for two weeks before installation?

November 13 was the date of this photo. Great start Mr K!

At about that time, I knew that there was never a better time to re-paint the walls (which actually had been re-painted once since the build). Yet I waited, because I knew, it would be determined, (with or without me). I mean, with all of that baseboard molding being removed...

And, within days of my thinking "I should probably paint", he said it out loud and I got on it...

The old color on the walls was 'Coir'. It was a neutral tone but with a bit of green in it (in the photo above, but hard to really see). The new color I wanted was chalky, and whiter... I picked 'Almond Paste'. 

I did most of the painting before Thanksgiving. Three rooms and a long hallway, a stairway, and a foyer. I finished the very last bit of kitchen painting just as Mr K installed the last of the flooring in the closets -- about a week before Christmas. He finished the baseboard repair and touch-up and replaced the last of the baseboards a couple of days later.

I did a lot of cleaning and holiday decorating as fast as I could!!!

We were able to get a couple of carpet installers here on the 23rd to staple the new carpet runner up the stairway. It was one task that Mr K did not want to do himself.

Here is a new grate for the floor heat. He picked it out and I love it. We are going to replace all of them.

We bought a new area rug for the living room on New Year's Eve and brought it home in the truck. I took most of the photos after all of the Christmas clean-up was finished.

Of course there will always be more to do, but it is looking a lot better than it did two months ago!