Ask DJ Lyons: Home Office Renovations Nearing Finish Line

Thank goodness that my home office renovations is nearing the finish line at last. A job that was just supposed to take 3 or 4 days has turned into nearly 4 weeks.

So as to not drag this out any longer than it has to be, I will lump several of the last days into this one hub.

Why has it taken so long?

The guy who was going to do it for us, Tommy, had applied for a job several months ago. He finally was hired the very day he was supposed to start tearing out the old floor boards in this room. This job is a 7-day-a-week job with no days off from February through April. He goes to work for them at 2 p.m. every afternoon. As a result, he was only available to work for 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours each time he was able to come.

There was also other delays as well; however, that was the main one.

In case this is the first hub you are seeing on this topic, I will briefly catch you up. The room that doubles as my office and my dressing room in our little log cabin in the country bowed toward the center. My husband and I rationalized that perhaps the ground had shifted underneath. Instead, it turns out that there were only some flimsy tree limbs holding up the floor and more than one of them had broken through. Thank goodness we had this done now before I walked into the room one day and found myself falling through the floor.

They totally tore out the entire floor. Then they laid very sturdy floor joists. Then the basic floor. Then my husband and I used filler to stuff the cracks in the logs. Then we caulked where we had placed the filler. This had to dry completely. Then we waited several days for another guy to get us some sandstone-colored chink for us to cover up some black chinking where some built-in chest of drawers had been before. Then we stained the entire room with Colonial Yellow solid stain. Once all this was done and dried, then we called Tommy to let him know we were ready for the Rosewood Laminant to be laid down at last.

So this hub will show you the pictures of this several last days of progress all rolled into one.

My husband and I stained the room with Cabot Colonial Yellow. It was a solid stain that would cover the logs and the chinking that was in between each log.

I wouldn't want to paint walls for a living; however, I loved every minute of this process. It was very exciting to see this room unfold like a rose coming into full bloom.

We thought one gallon of Colonial Yellow stain would be enough. Obviously, it was not. So my husband ran to Lowe's to get some more.  

We just barely had enough with two gallons of Colonial Yellow stain. When we called Lowe's to order some more, we found out they had discontinued this particular color. Thankfully, they still had some at a Lowe's in a nearby city that was about 45 minutes away. I drove to get some the next day in case we ever need to do touch-ups. 

We called Tommy to let him know that we were ready for him and Dal to come and lay the final flooring down. I was so excited! 

Before I left to drive to the nearby city to pick up more stain and to meet my best girlfriend for lunch, I got to see the first strip of Rosewood Laminant laid. I was thrilled out of my gourd. I thought it looked absolutely gorgeous. 

When I got home from the nearby city, I was over the moon with excitement. My husband and I thought the Rosewood Laminant looked amazing!

There was a bit of drama in that Tommy and Dal thought we might need to order one more box. Believe it or not, when I called Lowe's about it, we found out that they were no longer carrying this flooring any longer either. If I had only known, I could have picked some up in the nearby city. 

I was kind of worried about this but tried to remain calm.

I have had that light switch since I was a little girl. I happily hung it back up to lay claim to my beautiful nearly finished home office.

Thankfully, Tommy and Dal had just enough flooring to complete the job. We didn't need another box after all. There are even a few extra strips in case we ever need to replace any of them.

Presenting, Rosewood Laminant covering the entire floor of my home office. I adore the look! 

My husband and I hang the curtains back up and start moving in furniture.

Tommy and Dal did not have time to lay the door still that separates my office from the rest of the house. They said they would come back in a couple of days to do that and to fix one piece of furniture that needed a new back.

On Saturday, February 26th of 2011, the final touch was done. the door still was laid. They fixed the hutch and moved it in.

The next hub you see will be the office completely decorated.

Thanks for visiting and taking this journey with me.