The floors are in! And they look great. Dusty and in need of a mopping, but otherwise great. 

   
   
As you can tell from the pictures, we didn’t finish painting everything.  But all of the ceilings were done, and just about everything had been primed (the one exception being the wood paneling in the entryway. That paneling is killer and is going to take at least a few coats of primer before it’s ready for paint. Ugh). 

But back to the floors. We decided to install Exalt, a commercial-grade vinyl floor, in Cherry Oak.  It’s actually our own product (Mr. Bunches is in the commercial-flooring business), and besides that, we knew it would be a perfect choice for the space. It’s extremely low maintenance, which is exactly what we wanted since we’re planning to rent the house for a few years before selling it, and it’s waterproof. So no matter what happens (renters aren’t always that kind to their dwellings), we know it will look the same in 10 years as it does today. 

Mr. Bunches and Mini Bunches actually just participated in their first home show this past month and the response to Exalt was awesome.  Mini B was passing out those coupons like she was born to do it!

We had Exalt installed in the entire house except for the bathroom and it took two days (the house is about 1,100 square feet). It’s a floating floor that clicks together and cuts with a utility knife. Here are some progress shots–they started in the kitchen and worked their way around the rest of the house. 

   
After one day they made it almost through the entire living/dining room (you can see the stopping point in the left of the picture below).

 
As with all floors, the main tricky things were the transitions (when one type of floor transitions to another type of floor, usually at the entrance to a room), but luckily we had very few. The bathroom transition came out great:

  
We even had Exalt installed in the sunroom right over the existing tiles (Exalt doesn’t need any type of underlayment and it can go over pretty much anything as long as it’s level). 

  
We can’t get over what a difference just paint and flooring make to a space. It’s really made us see the end vision start to come together. 

   
   
And just for kicks, here are some side-by-side shots to remind us of just how far we’ve come. 

   
 
Kitchen cabinets are going in this week. So excited! After a lot of painting and prep, here’s what the kitchen looks like now. Can’t wait to see what it looks like a few days from now!

   
    
    
 
I cleaned the floors in there too (don’t want a bunch of dust to live forever under the cabinets, right?). Don’t they look great?! Can’t wait to see it all come together.