We have a flooring front-runner

I went into Halifax earlier this week on a mission to find hardwood flooring. I came home with nine samples (I like making my life as difficult as possible!). Each time I laid them out and then narrowed them down to a couple of favourites, there’s one that made the cut each time. I don’t want to say that it’s the winner quite yet, but it’s definitely the front-runner.

So here it is – from Fuzion Flooring’s Classical Elegance collection, Oak Serenade…

I like this hardwood best for a few reasons:

• The colour is a greyish-brown that will hopefully not show too much sand and dirt!
• The graining in the oak will help to conceal dings and scratches more than a less grainy wood like birch or maple.
• The planks are 7-1/2” wide – love wide planks!
• The colour and graining aren’t in-your-face, so hopefully the floor will take second stage to the more interesting aspects of the house – like the views :-)
• It goes great with the tile that I love – Ceragres Wood 2 in Dust. The hardwood and tile will meet in places, and I’d like them to have a somewhat seamless transition rather than an obvious change of materials & colour. Here’s the Oak Serenade hardwood with the Wood 2 tile. And a rock ;-)

Before I commit to the hardwood, I’m going to buy one box so I can see how much colour and grain variation there is in the full-size planks. After my previous hardwood front-runner not turning out to be what I expected, I don’t want to take any chances. We need about 2,000 sq ft of hardwood, so definitely don’t want to screw this up!

Next up in the decision-making process – finalizing the tiles for the upstairs bathroom.

A home for cucamelons

What, you may be wondering, is a cucamelon? Well, it’s really pretty much what it sounds like – it’s a tiny cucumber that looks like a tiny watermelon.

Source

I’d never heard of cucamelons till last Tuesday. when someone brought a bowl of them to rug hooking. I was a bit apprehensive biting into the first one, but it was actually pretty good. Kind of like a cucumber dipped in vinegar – not exactly pickled, but with a bit of an acidic zing. I popped a few more into my mouth, and brought home one cucamelon to try growing my own from the seeds.

Problem is…. where can I put a garden? Right next to the ocean isn’t the greatest spot for growing fruits & veggies. Too windy, mist from salty water, not to mention that the ground is pretty solid ‘cause it’s pretty much all rock.

And then I had an idea. A couple of weeks ago, work started on our septic field. First they dug out a small road…

Then cleared the area where the septic field is going.

 

Then they trucked in soil and sand – supervised by site foredogs Gizmo & Sassy ;-)

Once they finish the septic field, they’ll toss grass seed over it, and we’ll end up with a big patch of grass in the middle of the trees. What to do with a big patch of grass in the middle of the trees…. light bulb moment!

It’s the perfect spot for a little garden! With raised beds so the roots don’t go down too low, and with a fence around it to stop the deer from eating the plants. Similar to this, but on a smaller scale.

That should keep my cucamelons safe :-) And I’m thinking of planting raspberry & blackberry bushes, and I’m going to try this method to propagate hydrangeas. Plus I might try growing peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, and bok choy. Ummm, but first we have to finish the house!

I’m floored

Choosing the right flooring is hard. It’s not like choosing a paint colour, where it’s a relatively easy and inexpensive fix if you choose the wrong colour (trust me on this, it’s happened to me more than once!) Once flooring goes down, it’s down for good. So no screw-ups allowed – which is making this already-hard decision even harder!

We have to go with an engineered hardwood because of the radiant in-floor heating. I thought I’d found what I wanted – Preverco’s hard maple in Chamonix. Except when I tried out the sample in the house, it looked too dark.

Then I tried out a sample of Beaulieu’s European white oak in Chardonnay.

Except this is what was in the box of samples planks. Most of the planks were like the middle one, which I think looks kinda weird – too stripey.

So looks like it’s back to the drawing board for the hardwood. We need a wood that’ll stand up to the dogs, (likely either wire brushed or distressed), matte finish, wide plank, not too expensive… the hardwood search continues.

I can’t tell you how many tile sample boards I’ve lugged back and forth. At one point, I had about 20 of them in the back of the car. And how many winners were there? Well, a few actually – till I decided that they were too grey. Now I’m leaning towards tiles that are more on the brown side. These are a couple that could work in the entry and closet and under the fireplace– Ceragres Wood 2 and Ceratec Biarritz.

Ceragres - Wood 2

Ceragres - Wood 2

Ceratec - Biarritz

Ceratec - Biarritz

And that doesn’t even touch on all the tile decisions still to be made for the bathrooms. UGH! Making decisions is definitely NOT my forté!