French country hardwood flooring for the master bedroom was an unexpected beautiful solution to replacing wall-to-wall carpeting. While searching for pale periwinkle blue and white carpet, I found a gorgeous variegated blue and white RUG that was exactly what I wanted in wall-to-wall carpeting. Then up popped a promotional advertisement for Wide Plank French Oak Light House ¾" Thick Solid Hardwood Flooring for a special buy price!
All at once, the past 5-year search for new carpeting transformed into a fast-tracked ordering process for solid hardwood flooring and a 9x12 rug.
Since the bedroom, closets, and bathroom had to be emptied from all of their contents to install the new flooring, the new hardwood floor project is also an excellent time to clean the rooms from top to bottom, to repaint the walls and trim work, and to refresh the decor.
A look at the old carpet and the existing French Country decor is a good place to start to show how the rooms looked before the new floor. The before photos show real life --- internet boxes and wires, cable TV wires, wall plugs, lamp cords, television and its cords, and good old-fashioned clutter of everyday life.
BEFORE
The wood ceiling beams of the house also reflect French Country building styles of older French houses.
While the carpet does not appear to need replacement, the photo is deceiving. The carpet is over 25 years old with areas that show its age. Earlier this year a sink overflowed in the bathroom area that flooded the surrounding carpet. We were able to pull back the carpet and the pad underneath to allow the subfloor, carpet, and carpet pad to dry over a 2-day period with fans blowing across the soaked section.
Plus, the carpet is a life-proof version that really lived up to its name. Over the years, I was able to remove stains from pet accidents, red-clay from muddy work boots, food spills, etc...
If I could have found a similar life-proof brand in a pale periwinkle blue and white pattern, I would have gladly recovered the floor with wall-to-wall carpeting. Carpet reduces noise, adds insulation, and feels good to walk on barefooted during icy winter days.
AFTER
While the bedroom was empty, we cleaned the room from top to bottom. Very dry damp cloths wiped down every surface of the ceiling beams, wood paneling wall, sheetrock walls, baseboards, door trim, ceiling fan, and light fixtures.
The curtains were lowered, and vacuumed using the upholstery attachment. New blinds are in the plans since these metal mini-blinds are over 25 years old and have become difficult to raise and lower.
HARDWOOD FLOOR SELLING POINTS
② The wood thickness is the exact height, added to the subfloor, needed in my house to line up level with the adjoining tile floor in the kitchen and bathroom areas. No connecting raised thresholds are required which is important since a family member who lives with me uses a motorized scooter to move about.
③ The special price of the hardwood made the cost of the flooring materials just about the same as the life-proof carpet. The installation fee with the materials cost made the cost of the total job more than carpeting, but for much less than usual for solid hardwood.
④ The hardwood is prefinished with 8 layers of sealing. Therefore, there was no sanding or applying sealant needed during the installation. No sanding makes a much cleaner job, and no freshly applied sealant reduces the irritating odors during installation. With no sanding and no added sealant the installation was completed in just one day, saving on labor cost.
⑤ The width of the planks is 5" which gives the boards French Country style. Old French homes sometimes have even wider planks. By running the boards the direction shown, the flow from the bedroom to the bathroom area is not broken by seams.
⑥ The light color of the stain blends easily with white-washed solid pine doors and white painted trim throughout the house. Overhead natural color pine joist beams and ceiling boards darken the rooms more than white painted sheetrock ceilings. The light color of the new floor lightens the feel of the rooms.
The painter was busy today giving the sheetrock walls, baseboards, and door frame trims fresh coats of paint. A massive triple-width French antique armoire sits along this wall in the bedroom. Now is the perfect time to give this wall fresh paint before the armoire is returned to the bedroom.
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The painter returns tomorrow to finish painting and caulking. Some of the bedroom furniture will be moved back into place also tomorrow, but not the bed. We are waiting for the new 9'x12' rug and rug pad to arrive before returning the bed to the bedroom. Shipping delays are the standard these days.
Once everything is back in place I will share the final look of the bedroom and adjoining bathroom. The new floor has inspired me to declutter, to purge, and to rearrange existing items to give the bedroom a fresh look to go with the new French Country hardwood floor and rug.
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Links to the materials and products used for this bedroom hardwood floor and rug are pinned to one of my Pinterest boards. Since material and product links change frequently, links are impossible to keep current on blog posts. Pinterest boards often indicate when a product is no longer available, giving readers up-to-date information.
Floor Section
