But honestly don't she look purdy?
Of course we waisted no time in commencing the celebrations... that's right we got right to laying down the sub-flooring. All 81 square meters of it! The floor space actually takes up roughly 90 square meters, but we left out 9 for where the bathroom will go. The bathroom will have to be built up slightly to accommodate for the plumbing.
Here's a photo of the sub-flooring going in midway. Gregg sprayed on some red paint where all the existing electrical wires were just to be on the safe side when it came time to screw the boards in place.
Once we finished with that it was time for a trip; hummm France perhaps???
Yes haven't been to France in a while, and not much else to do anyways.
You think I was joking, don't you? Well unfortunately nope, dead serious... we - went - to - France, and it was everything we dreamed it would be. Big, and bright, and *sigh* full of endless possibilities! Oh and I can't forget the prices, yes those prices that are unheard of 10 minutes to the North. Just thinking about it makes me want to shout "VIVE LE CASTORAMA" from our shiney new roof!
Not to build it up any further, Castorama is a hardware store much like a Home Depot or Lowes. So nothing really special if you live around the corner from one, but if you knew all of our other options Castorama would have you shouting too. I was almost embarrassed walking around the store, just knowing that it had been there the whole time while we struggled to find selection or prices that we could afford.
*** Side Rant: The "hardware" and DIY shops in Belgium present you with a few options; usually one poor quality and low cost option and then reasonable quality with an inflated price tag - nothing in between. If you want other options you go to the specialty shops - and no doubt you will over pay there too! Saw an idea that you liked in a magazine? Forget it, chances are you wont find what you need. Might as well stick to the same modern and minimalist design that all Belgians are going for these days! Don't get me wrong, I like their style, we just don't see ourselves going in that direction. ***
So Castorama first came under our radars whilst on a quest for flooring. We were originally planning on installing laminate and indirectly pump some money towards the Quickstep Cycling Team (hey we love them!) but some last minute nerves changed our minds. Luckily the one local DIY store had their wood flooring on sale so we thought heck yes, thats what we want! Long story short the sale price in the shop was listed next to the nice wood, when it should have been placed next to the sorry excuse for wood flooring (Surprise, they only had 2 options available). So after that disappointment we headed off to all sorts of home improvement stores (including ones targeted towards contractors) and came back with a single option - and it was still a bit of a budget stretch.
Jokingly I said "I bet if we lived in France we could find the wood flooring that we're looking for".
Both of us in agreement that joke turned into an internet search, which came up with 3 major hardware chains within France. We chose the larger one, punched the address in our gps, and didn't look back.
Two hours later we were on our way home with a van filled with 88 square meters of Maritime Pine, and huge grins on our faces. Can't wait for our next visit!
The van was saying ouch at the time, but so did we after carrying all those up 2 flights of stairs!
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