Late last week we were finally able to start installing our hardwood floors at the new house. It’s going well (we’re getting it done with our own four hands), but it’s proving to be a time intensive project – which is not necessarily the type of project you want to take on when you’re short on time (we’re scheduled to move in this weekend and would like to be completely done with four bedrooms and a long hallway by then – egads!). So once we’re breathing a bit easier and a bit further along, we’ll write up a play-by-play of how it all (literally) is going down. ‘Til then, enjoy this still-dusty pic of the first room we have officially completed: our master (well, we still have to get the baseboards and quarter round in).
As much as our timeline has me sweating bullets, it’s nothing compared to the Cathy-comic style perspiration that I was feeling during the first step of this project: just getting the dang wood home. Allow me to paint sketch you a picture. Lumber Liquidators called me to say my order was in and ready for pick up. Clara was napping so Sherry stayed home with her and I ran off to rent the $19 truck from Lowe’s or Home Depot that they suggested to pick up our lumber (it was a pretty huge order that definitely wouldn’t fit in our car – and renting a truck from blue or orange was cheaper than LL’s delivery service, so they recommended that). Off I went to Lowe’s, where I purchased all of my quarter-round molding for the four bedrooms and the hallway we were tackling (Lowe’s doesn’t let you rent their truck unless you’re making a purchase, but since I needed that stuff anyway it worked out well). Then I headed down the street to Lumber Liquidators.
Now, I knew my order would be bigger than our kitchen’s cork floor (which I was just barely able to fit in our Altima, btw) but I was still a bit shocked when I saw the massive stack of boxes being trucked out on a forklift. Was that really all ours? Gulp. It made me very glad I had rented the truck….
…that is, until they started to lower the load onto the truck bed and I noticed one of the tires was squishing down a little more than the other three from the added weight. It definitely wasn’t flat, it was just a little lower than the others on air. Which was enough to turn me into a Nervous Nelly (not to be confused with regular Nelly). But the Lumber Liquidator guys were great and forklifted my materials in a way that seemed to take the brunt of the weight off that tire – and we all agreed it looked okay enough to take it slow and drive the three short miles down the road to the new house.
Well, it turned out to be one of the longest 3 mile drives of my life. First of all, the load proved to be pretty unbalanced. Between my worries about the tire and the fact that the boxes of flooring were stacked pretty high (and not strapped together as tightly as they initially appeared to be), every time I turned I could see the boxes lean one way or the other. And this was despite taking turns at like five miles per hour with my hazards on in the right lane.
After a few turns I got a sense of how to shift the load back to an even-ish center, which thankfully squelched the visions that I had of myself in an overturned Lowe’s truck watching my new hardwood floor boards get strewn across the road and crushed by oncoming traffic. And since there were just a handful of turns between me and home, I figured it would be smooth (albeit slow) sailing the rest of the way.
Then it started to rain.
In all of my stress about the unbalanced load, I failed to notice the storm clouds that had rolled in without any warning. Awesome. It wasn’t just a drizzle, it was a sudden downpour… and I had dozens of boxes of hardwood floors being protected by nothing but cardboard in my truck bed. Hello blood pressure spike!
Luckily a previous occupant of the Lowe’s truck had left a large plastic drop cloth in the truck bed (something finally went my way!) so I was able to pull off onto a side street and cover everything before it got too wet. Of course it took me a few more death-defying turns to get off and back on the main road, but crisis mostly averted.
No more than one stoplight later, the rain stopped. Stupid thunderstorm. But it was still a bit windy, so my hasty cover job with the drop cloth was now coming back to haunt me and the plastic was starting to flap loose from the truck bed. Cue a few more turns to stop and remove the drop cloth completely.
I had barely made it a mile from Lumber Liquidators at this point.
My pounding heart was probably visible through my rain-soaked shirt, but fortunately my next two miles were far less eventful. I soon arrived to the new house, a few hairs grayer but with my hardwoods and truck perfectly upright and intact.
Then it hit me that I had to unload the darn thing. I had completely failed to think about this step in the process. I was alone. Sherry was still with Clara at home – where it never even rained (cue me screaming “What?! Was the cloud just over my truck?! Am I Eeyore?!”). Clearly I didn’t have a forklift at my disposal, so I sucked it up and started wrestling the boxes one by one off the truck and into the house. All 50 of them…
I think it took me a good hour to get them all unloaded. They were heavy (56 pounds each, I later learned), unwieldy (each one is about five feet long), and they all had to come down from the truck bed, up a few stairs and through a narrow doorway in the garage, before I could stack them in the dining room to acclimate before installation. There was no way in heck I had the energy to take them all upstairs at that point, so that would have to wait for another day. Between nearly giving myself a panic attack driving them home and then hauling 2,800 pounds of wood inside (seriously, I did the math) I figured I earned that much.
That was Clara enjoying the new flooring the day after it arrived. Here’s hoping she enjoys it as much once its out of the box and laid across her floor – because that’s what we’re working on today. Woot!
Tia says
Love the doodles. I have definitely hauled some sketchy loads in my day, not good for the blood pressure. Good job, John on getting ‘er done.
Jenna says
Oh, John. Can’t believe your saga. I LOVED the sketches – I died laughing over the one of you glaring at the tarp flying off. Please add more sketches. :)
CherylM. says
Man… I feel for you John…. 50 boxes of flooring… we had only 35 boxes and they were just soooo heavy… I had to laugh at your drawings it kind of looks like me when I took our old 72 Dodge to Lowes for 50 + bags of mulch last summer…man that 3.6 miles back to the house felt like an eternity! Glad everything went well enough and there were no accidents! Hope your floor goes smooth and easy!!
Alison says
John, you should definately include some of your drawing in the next book you guys put out!!! I love them!!!
Kelly says
Oh my gosh, I giggled the whole way through this post. So sorry it was such a hassle, but it’s great you have such a sense of humor about it!!
Lisa @ Paintbrush & Screwdriver says
Are you going with the same baseboard, or do you plan to “beef it up” a little?
We recently installed new flooring (laminate) and replaced the 70s-era clamshell molding with 1x6s for a Craftsman look. Still haven’t installed the quarter round though – oops!
The master looks great – can’t wait to see it all finished.
YoungHouseLove says
By popping it off and reinstalling it higher it’ll be beefed up and then we’ll add the quarter round (had we left it in place it would have looked puny once we added the height of the new floors) :)
xo
s
Denise says
John, so glad you got the flooring delivered safely to your new home. DIY delivery and relocating is always a nerve wracking process. Cute picture of Clara dancing on the boxes of flooring! About those corner cabinets in the dining room…don’t give up on them until you see Amy Meier’s in the June issue of Better Homes and Gardens Magazine. Love them with solid doors! http://www.amymeierdesign.com/blog/editorial/better-homes-gardens-magazine-many-thanks/
YoungHouseLove says
Those are cool!
xo
s
GreenInOC says
That was harrowing and A LOT of work!
The floors look good though.
Emma E says
I love the drawings, especially your mad face one. Glad you survived the whole ordeal and the flooring is safe. Good luck finishing!
Sharon says
Hey – I was wondering about this when you spray painted the baseboard. Weren’t you worried about chipping the paint when you had to remove it to lay the floors?
YoungHouseLove says
At first we thought we could keep the baseboard in place but we realized it would be oddly short so after we sprayed we popped it off. Thankfully it wasn’t too bad (a few touch ups should have it looking great- and it still beats painting it all by hand after the floor’s installed)!
xo
s
Michelle says
You could have still sprayed the baseboards after the floor was installed by covering the area with those rolls of brown paper and painters tape. Pretty simple, really. Probably would have saved you a heck of a lot of time when you’re in such a crunch.
YoungHouseLove says
Hindsight is 20/20! We didn’t realize we had to pop them all up until after they were all painted and we got the wood home and realized the added thickness would dwarf them :)
xo
s
Aly says
We have a chair in the bathroom at work so sometimes I go in there with my phone to read your posts. I laughed so hard at this I snorted. I can’t imagine what my coworkers are thinking right outside the bathroom door…
Ariane says
Good job John ! For the drawings and for bringing the wood safely back home :) Good luck guys for the floors this week.
ShellyinAZ says
This has got to be one of my favorite posts ever! It had a little bit of everything… drama, suspense, humor, and a happy ending! Loved the cartoons. They were awesome! I think you missed your calling as an artist. Hope the installing is going better for you than the pick-up!
Robyn T. says
John, welcome to the ” why does this only happen to ME club?” You know we are all in it with you! Loved the drawings and the floor!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks! Is there a secret handshake? :)
-John
Annie R says
I think the secret handshake is a forehead slap… ;)
YoungHouseLove says
Haha!
xo
s
Vanessa says
So sorry to hear you had such a hard time. However, it will make enjoying these floors once they are installed and completely beautiful that much better. You worked hard to get it there!
Elizabeth @ Real Inspired says
Wow, your post and the drawings had me chuckling! Way to go! Glad everything worked out.
Emily G. says
We recently installed wood floors in our new -albeit- small house. 900 square feet of floor was not awesome to haul up the front step. The Hubs has an old back injury so he gets pooped easily, luckily I had my dad’s help and his truck to use as well. No need for an arm day at the gym for a while, that’s for sure.
Alida says
L.O.V.E. the sketches! Also, love the new flooring! Good luck with the installation.
Liz says
I too agree, loved the drawings…. But man oh man, those floors are going to look amazing. I know, lot’s of work ahead of you, sucks! In the end, those results will be rewarding.
When we sold our first home we had two weeks to be out. Our second home wasn’t even built yet. So the four of us shacked up with my parents… Let me tell ya, trying to pack a two storey all furnished home was alot of work. Two boys under 5 and we both worked full time jobs… haha, I was a mess. Then we told our builder to not put floors in, cause we wanted my handy hubby to do it. Plus, why pay the builder that extra. Crazy us!!! We did those floors on the weekend and moved in by the third day…. TIRED, and GRUMPY!!! But, 5yrs later we’d do it all over again, haha.. Yes crazy!!!
Good Luck with the flooring, you two will do great!
Madeline @ Create.Bake.Celebrate says
I know that this was probably not funny at all at the time- but I sure did get a good giggle out of it! I am glad it was smooth sailing after that! Good luck with your time crunch & thanks for the giggle- I needed that on a Tuesday after a long weekend!
Hanna says
Haha! Awwwwww. Classic. And the illustrations were priceless!
I hope you are not Johnny-broken-body this week after hauling all that wood. We are cheering for you two at the flooring marathon finish-line!
Here is a Backyardigans song for you:
Kara says
Loved the reenactments. So dramatic! Can’t wait to see flooring happen; our HOA wouldn’t allow us to install our own hardwood floors (boo) so we’re hoping to give it a try in our next home.
Jenna says
I’m not sure if it’s just me or not, but I can’t access this post when I go directly to younghouselove.com. I only found it through your Facebook link.
YoungHouseLove says
Sometimes that happens when your computer isn’t cache-ing. If you go to clear your browser’s cookies/data/cache it should all catch up :)
xo
s
Lauren says
Sorry it was so hard, but I’m glad it turned out okay and that you can tell a story in such a hilarious way! Good luck with the rest of the flooring.
Dani says
I loved the drawings of your misadventure! That sounded like a day out of my life. My husband and I always joke that our lives could easily be written into Seinfeld episodes.
Carrie W says
I can’t help but laugh!! I’m so sorry for the trouble, but your drawings and story are really funny. Keep up the hard work – it looks great!
BamaCarol says
Love the cartoon reinactment; you are a real artist! Seriously, I don’t think I could draw a stick figure person with that much facial expression. Sorry it was such a bad experience but maybe one day you can look back and laugh.
linda says
Oh my lord, I was laughing so hard! the cartoonish depiction made this so enjoyable! I actually felt your anxiety!!!
kelly says
I am pretty sure this is the way it will go for me once I start flooring my house! Great post and can’t wait to see more from the new house!
Mary | lemongroveblog says
Wow! Look at all that wood! Lots of work, but this is going to look awesome when y’all are done. Good luck getting it all finished before your deadline! :)
Julia says
The drawings are priceless; well done! I’m glad you were able to (after the fact) see the humor in the situation. :-) Thanks for taking us along for the “ride”.
Jeanine says
This post had me hysterical! I loved the play-by-play illustrations! The floor looks great too!
Sara says
I love the drawings! Sometimes a picture helps explain a situation so much better than words. Good luck with the new house!! xoxo – S
Rebecca says
I’m calling a missed opportunity to have had Roo (neonfresh.com for anyone that hasn’t read her stuff) collaborate with you on drawings. :-) Glad everything turned out well in the end!!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, seriously! John could have been depicted as a miffed cat.
xo
s
Theresa says
The drawings were better than pictures! What flooring is down looks pretty great. Keep up the hard work! (I want to see more :D )
Megan @ Monroe Makeshift says
It looks great so far! I’m sure it will be worth the hassle in the end. Love your reenactments by the way. I do a lot of my own projects by myself – kinda hard to take pictures when you’re holding a pencil in one hand and a tape measure in the the other. I may steal your idea! Too funny!
Meredith says
wow! who knew delivering flooring could be such an adventure? were you able to make it back before the 90 minute time limit? sounds like you were probably cutting it really close! i remember renting that truck once, thinking i could EASILY have it back by 90 minutes and then everything conspired against me and i had to pay extra… not happy about that one!
YoungHouseLove says
Yes, I think I might have been really close (or even a smidge over) but they only charged me for the 90 minute limit.
-John
Nicole says
Wow it looks like a totally different house already!! It’s amazing how much difference flooring and moulding can make!
Alyssa says
Ack!! All that stress talk has ME stressing out!! Anyway, glad it made it to the house safely, can’t wait to see it all installed.
Andrea says
Great play by play, love the drawings. I can’t wait to see the floors all laid out!
Chaney says
Oh my gosh, John! That’s a epic delivery story. I’m so, SO impressed you managed to get all of those boxes in – by yourself! I’m pretty sure I would’ve just sat down on the front step and cried.
Can’t wait to see the floors all installed!
rachel swartley says
Oh man. Trying to drive without spilling something is the worst! For me it’s usually a crock-pot full of something that would stain the van… like chili.
Larissa says
You are a HOSS!!!
And you should write and illustrate children’s book. For realz.
Christine says
Ha! I loved the comic sketches and the “Am I Eeyore?!” just about made me spit coffee all over my laptop. Sorry it was a rough start… I can hardly wait to see the floors done, good luck with the rest of them!
hjc says
So I snort-laughed at your illustrations – sorry to hear of your misadventure. Our weekend was full of working on a rental house for/with our son. It has been empty for year and our “womp-womp” moments were finding out the extent of work that needs to be done. Thankfully, all of our efforts will add up to a security deposit and rent discount, so it’s all good! Your floors are looking great!
Lisa B says
Love the cartoons! I was laughing so hard picturing you with all that craziness! What a toughie you are getting all those boxes unloaded. My husband would have called at least two friends to help with all of that!
Jen B. says
Love it! Have you thought about using the spare room as your bedroom until you get the master painted? Totally wished we had done that when we moved. Was in such a hurry to get things “in their place” when we had the movers, but really, having furniture out of the way for an extra week or two would have been so much easier. I’m sure you’ll be spending most of your pre-move time getting Clara’s room ready to ease the transition! … although kids at that age can be convinced of the fun of “camping out” in another room.
YoungHouseLove says
We have definitely thought about that, but since it typically takes us about a year to choose colors for rooms and get them all painted, we don’t want to rush things (that usually leads to repainting later, which we’ve done at our first house a ton and even twice at our second house). We like to wait until inspiration strikes and we’re 100% sure on color before diving in :)
xo
s
christina @ homemade ocean says
Ohhh my gosh….sorry for the bad luck but holy hilarious storytelling!!!!
THEY LOOK GORGEOUS! Ohhhhh how I yearn for hardwood :(
Kamaila says
It’s funny my husband goes through the same thing as you bc we never have a babysitter when he has to haul something heavy. In the end it’s all worth it, that’s a DIYers life. I can’t wait to see your new floors.
Anele @ Success Along the Weigh says
Those drawings are hilarious though I’m sure going through it was NOT. I think we have the same luck on things like that. Fingers crossed you meet your deadline and all goes well!