If you are a regular to my blog you will know that we have spent many DIY years working on our home. We took on a run down 1930's house and have slowly transformed it into a lovely home over the last 13 years.
When we first moved in, we pulled up all the filthy old carpets and lived with bare solid wood flooring that was not in the greatest condition for the first six years, as we were unable to afford carpet. Seven years on, and I absolutely hate the carpets in the bedrooms and the landing. They are so hard to keep clean, trapping all manner of unsavoury bits and the stains from the traffic of five family members and assorted friends, just about drives me wild. I have wanted to rip them up for a few years now and return to wood flooring, ironic really considering how long it took us to be able to afford them. So when I was approached by Direct Wood Flooring with an offer of new wooden floor for any space in our home, I was over the moon. Hubby, not so much (he was going to have to do all the hard work)!
Looking through the extensive selection of hardwood, engineered, parquet, vinyl and laminate flooring available from Direct Wood Flooring, I was really tempted by the beautiful Parquet wooden flooring, but as we decided the upstairs landing was most in urgent need of replacing, that might be a job too much to expect of my long suffering husband. Lots of corners, angles and doorways, does not make for easy laying of parquet flooring. We opted instead for a stunning natural manor oak lacquered engineered wood as this is was the most cost effective and hard wearing for this type of space. We have the original solid wood floorboards in the living room which we have painted white and although I love the worn and lived in nature of the room, I didn't want it on the landing.
You would think by now my husband would remember the importance of getting a before shot ! Nope, I came home from work to find he had already removed the skirting and was just about to start ripping up the carpets. I managed to get this shot just in time. Although this photo doesn't actually show the stains and marks so much you can get the idea of how grubby and unattractive it was.
After removal of the skirting boards, the next job was to take up the carpet.
He wouldn't let me help, apparently it has to be done in a specific way.
This was going to be a fun area. How on earth was he going to edge the wooden flooring to the staircase !
Once the carpet was up and the old underlay removed, it was time for the specialist underlay to go down. We chose the Easy Click Timberlay Complete from Direct Wood Flooring, which is a high quality underlay, suitable for using on floors where there is going to be heavy furniture or as in our case, high footfall. Hubby found it very easy to cut and lay and he used tape to secure the joints.
After laying a section of the underlay, hubby didn't want to put it all down at one time as he knew it was going to take him several days to lay the boards and we didn't want our boys walking backwards and forwards over the underlay in the meantime. Next it was time to have a trial layout of the boards. Its really important to plan how you lay the boards and where to start before you secure them, as you could find yourself at the end of the fitting with a tiny section of floor that needs a board, you wouldn't be able to secure it to anything and the floor layout would look unbalanced. Hubby always starts on the longest wall and staggers the boards to create an even pattern. I particularly love the fact that the boards are cut to random lengths which gives a great overall affect when the floor is laid. Hubby loved it because it cut down on the need to cut lengths himself !
Once hubby was happy that he had the layout right, it was time to start laying the boards proper. Although the boards have an easy installation tongue and grove system, hubby also nailed the boards together to give added security. You can see a video on the Direct Wood Flooring site along with all the specification information of this beautiful flooring.
Here is a short Instagram story I posted last month of hubby securing the boards. Took him a while to get the flooring finished because of work commitments and the Easter holidays, but it is all done now and looks absolutely gorgeous. I will be posting a followup post next week to show you the completed floor. In the meantime, if you are thinking about laying a new wooden or laminate floor in your home, I would highly recommend you pop over to the Direct Wood Flooring website and have a look. If you are also a Pinterest addict, pop over to my boards, where I have created a Fabulous Floors Board to give you some inspiration.
Post in collaboration with Direct Wood Flooring
