We just put in a new floor. We meaning Chris did. And I cheered him on. My man who does everything.

Naming this post was tricky. Should I call it Grounded? This was a project we had planned to do in August after we traveled around the world during my sabbatical (more on that in another post I have yet to write). But…Covid. So I feel kind of grounded — literally — no flights in sight.

I decided to go with the title Floored because it is, after all, about a floor, and I’m floored by my husband’s talent (yet again).

We figured if we were sheltering at home we might as well get going on the plans that bring joy. Furthermore, removing the carpet will cut down on dust and will make the place look nicer and will be easier to clean. That’s always nice during allergy season.

With the weather getting nicer and things going well in NY, Chris and I are back to home hopping between NY and MA. For those concerned, we are doing this safely — wearing masks in public and not eating out or anything. We do the journey between houses in a straight shot without stopping. (Before our trips we fuel up at local places with minimal human traffic.)

Last visit Chris pulled up our rug in the hotel we live in. There was decent padding under it, which was good news for us. But the floor had lots of squeaky areas due to old flooring and loose screws, etc.

With the patience of a saint, Chris walked around the area and sunk a bunch of screws to remove the squeaks. He also re-pounded in the nails that had come loose due to water damage over time.

See the old nail in the middle? And the new screws on the top and bottom?

While the job could be tedious, Chris knows how to make it fun:

He focused on half a room at a time, measuring and cutting boards and trim and painting the existing trim before laying it down again.

I was thinking it was looking quite nice, but he had more tricks up his proverbial sleeve.

Apparently our closet door was scraping, and he didn’t want the wood to show the scrapes. To fix this, he put some sandpaper on the floor and moved the door back and forth until it trimmed itself. Then he added a bit more sandpaper and went higher up until scraping was no longer an issue. So smart.

By the end of the second day we had a beautiful new floor.

And yes, now we can practice our dancing in our own home — even with spins. We love it so much, Chris is currently working on doing the same process for our bedroom. Bless his heart.