For the last several weeks it may seem like everything I have been working on and sharing are craft ideas and simple decor. Well, that is because that is what I HAVE been working on because the money for larger projects is being used to pay for our new floors and windows.
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My husband, on the other hand, has been very busy taking apart the floors in the family room, removing old rotten floor boards, rebuilding the floor joists, and installing a new laminate floor.
We went with a rustic warm pecan colored laminate that compliments the stone fireplace.
For those of you who are new to the blog, last August we had a large 100 foot oak tree fall on our house. The insurance paid for most of our repairs but it took until this January to get it all finished up.
In the meantime, we found more long term water damage in our family room around the fireplace, walls and flooring. The walls in this room are a dated, black, rough sawn paneling so it didn’t show the water damage going on. In the end we found rotten floorboards, rotten wood around the windows, and rotten floor joists.
We also had our son’s wedding this year so the extensive work just had to wait until we had the time and money to tackle it.
In June and July, around his very busy medical practice schedule, my husband worked every weekend to rebuild the floors in this room and to install the new laminate flooring. The floors needed to be repaired and leveled before the windows could be installed.
And finally yesterday, the workers arrived to install our beautiful new windows!
The large custom windows make the view so much better.
I absolutely adore the new additional natural light and the modern sleek look of the full windows. Not only were these window sizes a custom order, but we had to order them with tempered glass to be able to get them in the floor to ceiling size.
Of course the dogs are loving their enhanced full view of all of the dogs and neighbors walking the neighborhood too.
We are just getting started on the planned changes for this room.
We honestly haven’t decided yet what the walls we be in the end. We are considering just painting the rough paneling for a rustic look to go with the stone fireplace. But we are also considering new sheetrock walls, or even changing it to shiplap walls.
What we do know for now is that we are going to take a break on this room for the rest of this year. My husband needs a break from home construction projects to work on the “Rat Rod” in the garage (a much more fun project for him).
And we need to refill the piggy bank before tackling any new labor intensive and budget stretching projects.
I am getting a craft room out of this project too!
As for me, I will be busy in the next few weeks converting one of the walk-in closets in this room to my own personal craft room (yeah for me!!) and completing some furniture upgrade projects for this room.

My future craft room!
I also have the challenge of finding space for our additional large dog kennel we purchased this year. I need to figure out how to hide it while still making this room a more inviting and relaxing space. It seems a new floor plan and inspirational mood board project are also needed!
Even without construction going on, the rest of this year is sure to be a busy time.
“A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.” Proverbs 14:30
Wow, that’s a beautiful new window. And yes your dogs will love it, ours love standing at the sliding door where they can see down the street to everything that moves so they can bark bark bark. Thanks for linking up to Waste Not Wednesday, and good luck with the rest of your renovations!
Thanks Toni.
Your new floors and windows look lovely.
Thanks Claire. I am still in awe with them when I walk by the room, especially with all the natural light coming in. I think we made a good decision, didn’t like writing that check of course, but still a good decision.