status report, maybe

earlier this evening, i was chatting with my mom on the phone, when the most amazing idea was suggested by her. i have no idea why i didn't think of it myself; well, ok, maybe a partial notion. but it is a damn fine idear and i'm really excited about it!!

see, when mom was here back in april/may for four weeks, i realized that i really wanted to rip up the old carpet back in the rooms in the addition. it's good carpet, and the best if you are planning to keep it clean and use it in hard wear areas. a short nap, in/outdoor with a self-backing is always the way to go; ya know, if you're gonna go with carpet.

the problem is that not only does carpet do all sorts of mean and nasty things to my allergies by harboring microscopic mold spores and pet dander, but it also provides a lovely breeding ground for all sorts of fecund mites. this particular carpet was a haven for past pet puddles, so i ripped it all up and took a gander at the chip board plywood under it.

now the subflooring is level, and actually in very good shape. yes, it does need to be treated; lest present pets seek those same scents to leave future puddles. but other than that, it's in fine shape! so we talked about what sort of flooring we wanted to lay over the subfloor chip board.

there were a few options we could go with, but the one that appealed the most was to finish the rooms off with peel/press tile. i found some for a reasonable price, in an agreeable pattern. jert and i love the dark green faux marbled look of the individual square foot pieces and think it will look good covering the rooms' floors.

another option we can go with, should the tile not be the way to go, is to paint the floors a deep ivy green. it'll go quite nicely with the peppermint tea green the walls will be painted. the problem with chip board and paint is that for floors, it shows every single speck of dirt. and, since the chip board is textured, it traps dirt nicely too.

*sigh*

i found that out with my lil place on the farm. and my folks' floors are also the same, around their wood burner. a bitch to clean.

so, i'm really hoping the peel/press tile will do the trick! now i know those rooms are not exactly high traffic areas, so i think that once the floors are done, they won't need to be done again {ya know, other than the normal sweep/mop/wax cleaning}.

so the great idea earlier was that when my mom makes it over this way for her much shorter second stint in about a month or two {she'll only be able to stay for a week or ten days} is that my brother can lay the tile!! wahoo! i mean, i'll do most anything like cleaning and such {it's taken me quite some time, not only cuz there's lots to do, but also cuz my energy ebbs and flows, waxes and wanes, fits and starts} but the painting is really mom's forte and i wasn't looking forward to us doing the floors cuz her knees are not so great and time is short and i'm a klutz {we all know this}.

but my brother offered and that would be just perfect!! there are four rooms and a bath in the addition, but the bath is not a concern {i don't think}. and three of those rooms are ready to go! the fourth room is filled with things, but can be emptied when one of the other three rooms is complete. so there really is way more than enough to keep us all busy!

thanks, mic!