I know a lot of you followed my basement build, so you saw that the theme we were trying to go for was contemporary and modern. Well, now the rest of our house looks old. In an attempt to modernize our house, we will be doing some minor upgrades to things that have been bothering us for a long time.

We are trying to do the upgrades room by room to keep the project manageable. First room to be overhauled is the most used room in the house, the home office. It has an attached bathroom and walk in closet. The carpet is the cheapest berber you can get and is 10 years old. It should've lasted longer but even after getting it professionally cleaned several times over the years, it hasn't lasted. So we decided to rip it out.

Before:










And after Day 1 of renovation:







It's cherry wood laminate flooring. You can definitely tell it's not real wood but that's okay. We still like it a lot.



The plan for this room is:

Laminate flooring
Brushed nickel door levers
Brushed nickel cabinet door knobs
Brushed nickel faucet, flusher, shower door, towel rack, toilet roll holder, etc in the bathroom
Updated window treatments
Paint (same as basement walls)
New Euro Lounger (we had a futon already in there but it is way too big for that room)

May not get to all of these right away due to low budget but we shall see.

 

For the rest of the first floor, the first thing we're doing is replacing the base molding and the door casings. For some reason, the original builder used 2.25" base molding on the tile which reduced down to 1.75" base molding around any carpet. This is way too small. And we don't know why we went with that in the first place. Probably a cost issue.

So here is the before:




And here is a concept I made:





It is 5.25" base molding, a plinth, and a 4" custom door casing molding.

 

Looks good so far. I like the tall base molding, I think I might do something like that in my house. I need to replace my old beat up laminate flooring though.

 

I like it! Looking forward to following the progress.

 

Definitely going to enjoy this thread also. I'm loving the progress.

 

BTW that laminate looks great imo. Usually it's more easier to care for and more durable compared to real hardwood.

 

i really hate carpet... every house i will own from now own will only be hardwood...

 

We don't have carpet in my house and with all the dirt that's tracked in I'd prefer carpet for a bit in my own place. I rather vacuum etc, than sweet. You guys do not know how much I sweep. Rainy days... there's so much dirt that's tracked in the rugs have to go out for a shaking or quit sweeping.

 

I only like carpets for the bedrooms....if you catch my drift

 

Another in progress picture from the end of day 2. Guy only worked a couple hours. He is the same one that did our basement.




And at the end of day 3, floor is complete!









I love the contrast between the maple cabinets and the dark floor.

 

Here is a prototype I made of a header for the door casings that we ended up choosing.

 

Wow that floor looks great.

 

I really like the floor.

 

Very nice!

 

Dude the floor looks amazing! Definitely like the contrast between the floor and cabinets myself. Thanks for fixing up my new office.

 

^ Oh yeah, I forgot you were moving in

 

 

Did you every consider the floor as a DIY project? Years ago I worked with a floor/tile guy for a few months. Both very easy

 

Yeah I wanted to do it myself but me nor anyone in my family had time to do it. So we just got our basement guy to do the floor as well as all the moulding on the first floor.

I plan on doing the laminate floor in other rooms in the house in the future, especially after seeing the process first hand and how easy it is.

 

Looking good.

 

Moulding in the laundry room and den is finished.
















HUGE difference. We are pleased

 

I am pleased too. I love my new home.

Seriously though, that is some great work right there.

 

Very nice, where did you get the molding and laminate from?

 

The side door casings and the laminate flooring are from a local chain called Long Island Paneling Ceilings and Floors.

The header moulding pieces are from Lowe's. It's comprised of 3.5"x11/16" MDF with 2 tiny trim pieces and 1.25"x2" brick moulding.

The plinth blocks are from Home Depot, .75"x3.5"x6".

 

Is the wood flooring in the 2nd pic laminate as well? The casings and molding looks great btw

 

Yup, all the wood flooring shown in the pics above is laminate.