Vinyl Plank Floors: Hubby's Room

I have only been on the fringes of blogland for over a month.  For  three weeks I had that 'creeping-chest-crud virus' that has hit so many this season in Chicagoland. Despite my flu-shot in November, this one hit me hard. I did peek at peoples' blogs, but rarely commented, because typing took too much effort.

Meanwhile...

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The last two weeks we have begun a huge whole house remodel. Here all my plants migrated to the livingroom window.

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This is part of my spring decorating in the kitchen--at the moment, as every room is a disaster.

Today, I looked around and I really couldn't find a few square feet to take a picture as we are doing the bedrooms' fruitbasket upset.

After thirty-two years in this house, many changes are needed. Not just for looks, but for safety, health, easy maintenance and OMG...simply to change things. This house was built in 1974, and we moved here in 1984. We basically haven't redone much since the late 1980s other than new windows, doors, woodwork, and changes in paint and paper.

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Hubby decided to work around some of the furniture in his bedroom.  He painted the ceilings, removed all the old shelving brackets and wallpapered.

Our house is small by today's standards, 1400 square feet on one floor, but now perfect for retirees. It's hard to believe we raised two boys and had two businesses in this house over the years.

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My poor porch which has even more stuff on it now. It's still cold here (snow forecasted for today) so we aren't using it. Furniture, bedding, treasures, lumber, 6-foot fish(2)--don't ask, and all the extras you need for remodeling.

Every corner of the house has been affected, because of moving so many things out of the way. We are proceeding one room at a time, as we are doing the work ourselves.

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Here is the bank of cabinets from the master---which is moving to hubby's room. Sorry for the blur, but my eyes are bad closerange and it looked fine in the viewer and we moved the shelves and dressers immediately after I took this.

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Here is the hallway---with what was in his room. We just finished swapping furniture between my snoring husband's bedroom and mine. (We do visits--though, lol), and this is the pieces in the hall before we moved them.

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After the walls and ceiling were done, hubby laid new subfloor (1/4"plywood) and an interlocking vinyl plank flooring system. This is the first piece starting at the wall. The planks are 6"x36" long. He cut some in half to stagger the edges and mix up the pattern. Every plank seemed to look different.

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Vinyl plank uses NO GLUE and that's a plus in installation. Hubby says, hard part in the beginning it floats, so you need to constantly check to make sure your joints have stayed together. I stood on many edges for him while he gently tapped them into place. But, basically it is a one man job, eventually he used a full box of tile to take my place. It took him a day and a half to complete the floor and the moldings, and he is sixty-eight. The compressor was used for nailing the moldings. The vac was used to constantly clean your surfaces while laying the plank. The tiniest bit of dirt or foreign matter on the floor can damage the edges. Once they are locked in though it is a smooth, seamless floating surface

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 The plank wallpaper has a hint of moss green between gray-white-beige weathered planks.

The new trim was finally finished (project begun years ago) and the walls with new weathered plank wallpaper and paint.

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We have the option of hanging curtains over the blinds in very cold winters under the valances hubby has made for most of the windows in the house.

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 In the last ten years we have replaced all the woodwork with bulls-eye corners and ribbed moldings throughout the house, along with the new windows and doors.

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We moved the NEW for him, OLD furniture in.  We will probably give the dressers a NEW coat of min-wax stain sealer in Spring when the windows can be opened. These are my childhood dressers purchased in 1962 from Goldblatt's, a Chicago chain at that time. I chose the oak over the fussy white girly furniture, and it has served us well, as it is solid oak except for the backs and bottoms.
We added the all oak bookcases a few years ago. Some of his boxes will be covered with the wallpaper. Cords need to be corralled, and the toys (LOL) he is a doting grandparent, and they need to be put away. For the first time, he has empty drawers--and we will be tweaking his closet later.

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We still have to 'stage the room', as I will replace all the plastic containers with NEW linen look storage boxes etc, add a small rug and coordinate the linens.

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This empty wall will be filled with OLD nature and wildlife pictures, we have quite a collection. Maybe a few OLD antiques here and there---an antique powder horn, probably more.

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This lamp was an OLD thrift store find, a vintage Stiffel solid brass lamp base for $15.00 and it's perfect for a man's room.

I love the NEW windows in our house, they are triple-pane crank-outs, and we have wood or white blinds on all of them for privacy. I simply like the simplicity of the look. They keep the house cool in the Summer, blocking sun and warm in Winter when they are closed. We have our one monster window to replace yet in the living room. Hopefully that will happen next year. That's a homebuilt play area in our backyard for the grand and guests.

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Back to the flooring, why did we go with vinyl?---this was a big decision. First quality vinyl plank is about the same cost as hardwood, so that wasn't really a factor and we knew we had to lay NEW subfloor no matter what.

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We are retirees, but have most of the holidays and our home is in a lake community, so we have lots of summer company. We GREEN garden, do lots of canning and freezing our produce, do crafts and REDO furniture. Hubby does carpentry and has rebuilt the outside of this house and the garage from the slab up---so our floors take a beating with all the traffic in and out.

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The NEW hallway completed.

We had done our basement family room with a similar plank product three years ago,  and it has stood up well to paint, playdoh, kids, scratches, heavy traffic and rough use. We had always planned to do the upstairs in solid oak, but we started asking around about using hardwood in the kitchen, as we wanted the same flooring throughout the whole house.

Everyone we know---and many--who have hardwood in their kitchens---HATE it: the maintenance, the scratches, the stains, and the popping up because of having to use water in a kitchen. One couple we know has already had theirs refinished once and it needs it again in less than fifteen years and they are retired.

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The tile to the left is the smallest bedroom, my son was allergic to dust---so we did a REDO and ripped out his carpeting when we moved in 1984 and did tile, super for a 10 year-old boy.

So---but hardwood is so gorgeous, and our decision continued to waffle.

A visit to our nephew's new home with vinyl plank installed helped. I bent down and touched it, and couldn't tell it wasn't wood, and it was gorgeous. In their last home they had hardwood throughout, but chose vinyl, again because of maintenance. Another upside, it's so quiet: no clicking heels down the hallway, more of a swoosh-swoosh.

Finally we are in our late sixties and this product has a 25-year warranty and it is easy care. We aren't going to be moving, so resale is not an issue. If one plank is damaged, we can replace it.

So the decision was made: the VINYL PLANK over hardwood, which is also GREEN for the planet.

So one bedroom/hallway down and two to go. On to the master bedroom!

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Now the master bedroom dressers are in the living room.

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And I'm sleeping in the extra bedroom/office.

There are  more things added to this room since I took this picture, all the bedding and mountains of pillows, magazines, and clothing from the master bedroom.

Notice the chandelier, hanging from the shelf...can't wait to use that in the bedroom. I got it from Chippy Shabby at the Elkorn Flea Market last June in this post.

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In the master, yesterday the peach carpeting was removed and all the moldings. The corner bump out is the furnace flue. The wall with the lamps has had some cold issues and some moisture issues so we are planning on taking that out---who knows what we may find.

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The opposite closet wall I need to paint all the trim and REDO the ceilings here. So I will be busy doing that while hubby works on the opposite walls.

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The bulk of the largest pieces are now on the porch. The kitchen is the only place that is basically a haven from construction now.

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These little bunnies look scared, all that pounding, etc. An egg to be modpodged eventually.

Sweet vintage blue tulip tablecloth for Spring---I don't iron---we go au-natural around here.

And I think I need a cup of coffee. What are you doing for Spring remodels or spruce ups?



Thanks always for stopping by, I will be happy to answer any questions or comments.

 All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions or posts. Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog without my permission. Thank you for your cooperation, Sandi Magle

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Plans and Teensy Bathroom Cottage Style-BEFORE!

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While Chicagoland did not get hit by the last storm, we are still hampered by snow and residual ice.  Like many---I have taken January off from blogging to work on REDO projects, clean, recycle, donate, and plan...basically spinning my wheels with not much to show for it.

Our DIY plans for this year are for NEW floors in two bedrooms---NEW wall treatments,  basically exchanging bedroom sets, and freshening my teensy bathroom. In Spring we will move on to the kitchen REDO when warm weather hits and we can live/eat/cook on the porch.

So, by posting my before pictures---LOL, maybe I will get started on my COTTAGE STYLE bathroom. This is probably the most personal of my spaces in the house.

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My inspiration, which will stay after the REDO---is my shower curtain---I also used two more for the windows in the bedroom. These were from Walmart a few years ago---and were out of stock instantly. I love the ribbon work, for NEW curtains--they have a vintage vibe.

My style here is definitely cottage--also known as begged, borrowed, gifted and thrifted.

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This room is so tiny---actually a walk-in closet we made into a REDO bathroom about twenty years ago. Sharing a bathroom with three men was less than ideal. Then, I was blessed to have this one to myself. I'm literally standing in the tub to take this picture.

It has been redone once. A near-miss-tornado lifted the roof shingles and we had water damage in the walls, so we replaced much of the drywall and the window.

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We had a custom counter made for the tiny sink and over the commode. I have never painted the trim or the window yet. We still have one window to REDO in this house and then all will be replaced. It's nice not to hear the traffic a hundred feet away because they are triple-paned insulated glass...a definitely GREEN thing to do, here in Chicagoland.

Junkin' in Grannys' Garage #5

Everything in this post is OLD.

Two more OLD boxes from Grannys' Garage. I say Grannys'--because I'm a Granny, my mom, 4  Grandmas, Great-Grandmas and ocassionally my Great Aunt (who was a great-great Granny in her own lifetime) goodies passed on, passed down. I have often said my style is Begged/Borrowed/Stolen, but in reality it's Goodies-Left-Behind, too!

My mom and I were at an auction back in the late 60's---yes, I was a teenager and already afflicted with the junk-bug. Well, we were seated in the back of the auction hall--and hadn't perused the lots---and this set came up---! We bid, and bid, and bid, and finally got it...I think for like $30.00 which was a lot then, but we weren't reselling--so we were happy.

Until we claimed our box. Every piece was full of flaws---the vinegar seeped from the fissures and everything had cracks/clay issues. They oil still oozes---same issues that's why Oil is on the plate. I have boiled, washed bleached, distilled vinegar, everything to get them clean---to no avail.

The spice jars are not that bad---a few chips on the covers inside, one (Cloves) bad smash, and the cover issues, multiple covers and only one combination to make them all fit.

The four canisters are pretty good---as long as you don't mix up the lids...combinations for lids I think aren't as many as the spice jars, but they only fit just so. Everything has cracks, chips, crazing, and flaws. Now looking at them, I wonder if it wasn't a piece-meal seconds set a pottery worker brought home as there is so much variation in all the glazes, stencil color and even the clay. Usually pieces match better. The whole mess is probably European, hate to blame it on any one country, turn of the century to maybe 1920. I think I will try and sell, as I have only seen one other set in this pattern over the years---and maybe someone will want a few pieces for their set.

Considering minimum wage was $.85 an hour in those days (1966), it was an expensive lesson. The clay goes from gray to buff--with heavy white thick glaze, the stencils are simple and cobalt blue, while the printing was probably transferred on in black in a final firing. With our familial love of blue, my mom had to have it. It was still wrapped in 1967 newspaper...lol and was never used since then.

I would still keep it, if I didn't have Tante Agnes' complete ceramic set with wall rack to work into our kitchen remodel in blue and white.

This is a very OLD pretty set, engraved on heavy glass---the pitcher is perfect and stunning. The glasses have tiny pings and dings, no cracks.

Large etched flowers with cuts to the centers and leaves.

The glass has almost a blue tone---the handle is gorgeous, cuts are meticulous--I have seen similar labeled American Brilliant. Will try and sell-the glasses will be free, as they have tiny pings on the rims. I believe this was my great grandmother's perhaps from the 1930's. I already have multiple glass pitchers.

An extra piece I hadn't finished working on before the holidays. Enamelare soap dish, possibly a reproduction from the 1960-70's. No mark, no major dings or chips, just a rub-off of the enamel on the edge occuring before the kiln.

Size is perfect for a Scrubby and my trusty Lava...soap for cleaning up garden, paint, and glued fingers.  This maybe a keeper, yet--if I keep on.

This also reappeared from a Fall stash.  Chippy, enameled wire soap holder from the farmhouse cottage my parents had---pale green and cream--circa 1920-30s. The curved handle fit over the endge of the cast iron claw-foot tub. Yes, that is a chip---on the towel.

Do you remember, "Who made the Salad? Seven Seas made the salad!" I think this is a 1960's cruet for Seven Seas salad dressing. I'm thinking hard of a REDO for this.

See the "S" in the stopper. Nicely ribbed, I think this was a giveaway or a coupon redeem. Not sure if my mom bought this or actually redeemed a coupon.

Update: 1/27/16    This piece belonged to my mother or grandmother. The glass itself is finely ribbed and marked on the bottom and has a very light green tint to it.

Visibly marked-trademark used by Owens-Illinois Glass Company from 1929 into the mid- and late 1950s.  It is listed as “Diamond and oval superimposed (entwined) with I in center” although often times, especially on smaller bottles, the center “I” is poorly delineated or virtually illegible.

Side Note: Do you remember when you got 'real' toys in cereal and Crackerjacks, towels in soap boxes, silverplate flatware for little certificates on products, decoder rings from mailing in to Ovaltine, S&H stamps that were redeemable for completely awful goods.

Don't get me started on Sea Monkeys on the back of comic books.

More Goodies! I love this pattern "Danube"by Homer Laughlin China, in Alliance, Ohio. This was made post-WWII and discontinued in 1947.

This was a sales promotion pattern distributed by Cunningham & Pickett, Pattern CP203 I have picked up a few pieces over the years and sold quite a few in my old shop.

The lightblue-green is particularly lovely for today's palette, these pieces are lightly used with only bits of the gold worn. Perfect for Shabby Chic or Cottage Style.

One of the boxes I opened was antique/vintage stock from my shop which was closed almost 10 years ago. I had several of these pedestal bowls, this one has a definite yellow tint to the glass. LOVELY, 1960's Indiana Glass compote diamond-point pedestal bowl candy dish. Will list this---or maybe Mercury glass it.

These can usually be had for under $15.00 and are nice and sturdy, perfect for shower/wedding centerpieces or serving.

These are fun---Lefton's Exclusives-- Chinese pair circa 1956 with rhinestones---as is---these have both lost their heads and been reglued. One stone missing on the boy's cuff---easily replaced. Otherwise in pretty good shape...paint missing from the hair on the girl.

 Really very cute---and all the fingers are there, which is rare.

 Labels are still on the bottom forgot to take a picture of that, might give these to my daughter-in-law...we will see if she wants them. The little red suitcase with the blue metal handle, I snagged at Goodwill for the Grand. Might REDO it up for Valentine's day for her.

Between smoking and drinking my family had a ton of bar and smoking accessories. Engraved wheat patterns on glass were popular during the late 1940's and 50's and apparently made by many makers.  This decanter belonged to my parent's. Two glasses survive, (or maybe more will turn up?)

The decanter is perfect and I dont' think it ever left the closet. Heavy American engraved glass---no luck on finding who made this, unmarked.

Cigarette box--This is a funky piece, wooden cigarette dispenser which also dispensed matches. You pull the top up, and it supposedly feeds a slot to raise the cigarette and match to the top when you push it down. Smells faintly like old tobacco. Red oak with sealed finish, bits of silver paint specks? Must have been my grandparent's.

 

This is how the cigarette (chalk) appears on the top? Not going to buy cigarettes to try this out. A super gloomy day---multiple lights, action setting and maxed tweaking.

Press/cut sugar bowl in great condition. Pretty pattern of fronds and criss/crosses, fans. Deep-cut star on the bottom. I will research the pattern.

FTD Swan porcelain planter, glazed inside. Nice piece for little arrangements. REDO-Think I may find an Ivy in this in spring, lol. Label on the bottom-1986 already vintage.

No luck on finding this basic OLD EAPG pattern, heavy,  smooth on the outside-optic curved panels inside, large starburst on bottom. Has that feel of old glass except on handles, which feel sharp. ???
Maybe one of my readers will recognize it.

I think everyone had a set or two of these, Anchor Hocking Waterford (Waffle) pattern. Nice deep faceted pattern, catches the light. Supposedly only made between 1938-44, but reissued in green in the 50's.



























Pretty, but will probably sell.

Set of OLD Vintage wood spigots---at least 60 years old. From my grandparent's basement. Unused, except for one which is stained from use. My grandfather built a fabulous fancy barroom and then passed away a couple of years later. The handles all turn/work freely, one has a 0 another a 3 pressed into the wood. 

I do love the vintage look of these, and will sell as a set.

So as always, Thanks for peeking into my boxes from Grannys' Garage, and have a great weekend.
I will be happy to try and answer questions or comments.

All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions or posts. Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog without my permission. Thank you for your cooperation, Sandi Magle

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Sandi