We're Floored!

After painting, it was time to do something about the floors.

During our first Home Depot trip, we decided to scan the laminate flooring aisle. Turns out, there was some laminate flooring on-sale and we decided to just purchase it on the spot (this was a big decision-making day).

Here's Kyle, thrilled with our new flooring choice:

Isn't he it pretty?

Being manly, loading up the new flooring.

We ended up buying about 6 more boxes than we needed. This was ok, because we were able to return those without the receipt (that got lost in all the hustle-bustle of remodeling) because we bought it through Home Depot's special order service desk thingie. Hooray!

Here are some photos of the floor remodel in progress:

Bye-bye carpet...

Bye-bye linoleum!

The warehouse phase...glad that's over...
(Notice the fridge in the living room, we kind of liked that!)

Progress!

Ohhh....

Ahhhh...(ignore Clothes Mountain)

So pretty...

Walls: done. Floors: done. Where does that leave us? Just counting down the days until we get married and I can move in and "Kyle's condo" will become "our home". In the meantime, we're picking out decorative items, maping out future purchases at Ikea, and trying not to let the "transition" phase make us both crazy. Once I'm moved in and we're completely settled, I'll post official before and after photos.

In case you're wondering, no we did not put the flooring down ourselves. We were blessed to have Kyle's sister-in-law's Dad (did you follow that?) complete this project for us. He did a FANTASTIC job and we're very excited for the new floors!

Giving it grace: The remodel project has been a source of contention many times for us. Kyle's been living happily in this space as it was long before I came along. That makes remodeling it seem...unnecessary, on it's face. Part of the motivation to remodel was to increase the re-sale value, however. The other motivation was his vow to me to let me make his bachelor pad a home for us to start our life together in. Sounds like fun, right? Enter: pride, control-issues, laziness and mixed expectations and you have a less-than-fun situation on your hands. Fortunately, God has been generous in showing us how we can better serve each other during this time (which glorifies God = everyone wins). God has been swift to help us remove the wedges that build between us as we practice turning petty bickering into productive conversations. I'm learning to trust Kyle to handle things (even if it's at a slower pace that I would do it), and Kyle is learning that it's not enough to just be "less lazy than the next guy". We're both learning about how to make decisions together as a team, and taking joy in the makings of our future first home!