Catching up

I haven't had a moment to breathe, let alone blog, for the last couple of weeks.  Still, the thought of empty blog space sitting out here on the internet haunts me and I feel compelled to sit and write something just to make the tiny bell inside my mind stop ringing for a while.

The house was beautiful, but there was not a single fence or outbuilding on the property.

This is our fifth year here at LeChat Noir Farm in Salina, but we have never gotten around to most of the home improvement projects that were needed when we first moved in.  We focused our energy on building a barn (and an apartment for our older boys) when we first arrived.  Then we turned our attention to fences and shelters - as we were starting out with exactly zero and though we wanted to free-range the animals .. our neighbors probably would not have appreciated that much free-ranging going on.  

It took over a year for the barn to be completed.

Just as we reached the point of having enough in order to fix things that needed to be fixed in our own living space, Dave was laid off from his job in Tulsa.  He moved away for work temporarily while looking for a new job close to home.  Temporarily turned out to be two years.  Which, I suppose in the grand scheme of things, is actually temporary - but hardly feels so to a mere mortal such as myself.  Needless to say, everything was put on hold for those two years while the kids and I worked to just maintain the place mostly on our own.  Improvement ​ was out of the question.

With Dave back home for the last year or so now, we are finally getting back to our long to-do list.  That list began with exterior doors for the house - the original of which had been in pretty sad shape indeed.  It took a few months more than we expected to get the doors ordered and installed, but with that done we decided (probably foolishly) to tackle the floors in the main living areas of the house.

The entire frame of the front door was badly rotted when we bought the place -- and it did not improve over time.

Most of the house was mainly floored with carpet.  White carpet.  White carpet.  Kids. Muddy animal pens.  Two dogs.  Ten cats.  Oklahoma dust.  Free-range animals. White carpet.  Needless to say - the white carpet was not really white anymore and stood absolutely no chance of becoming white again.  Also, the dust levels inside our house had become ridiculous.  I stopped dusting.  I started laughing and, alternatively, crying. Oklahoma dust.  Then I ripped out the carpet.  That was several months ago.  We have been enjoying  concrete slab floors ever since.

The new front door almost makes the concrete slab floor look good. Almost.

However, as I was saying, we decided to finally tackle the floors... this past weekend.  Er...  We at least bought the tile and supplies and brought said tile and supplies home and unloaded it all into the garage.   Beyond that, we have laid some tile in our bedroom - but are now fully aware that this project is going to take a long, long, long time.

Our little bit of floor installation progress.

It will be completely worth it when we are done, but I can't help but feel a little panic knowing that a lot of our pending outdoor projects will be on hold indefinitely.  

Stay tuned for flooring project updates.  I am sure I will have plenty to say about wood-look plank tile installation and why it is the worst thing ever before we are done.  On the bright side, I am sure I will also have plenty of hints and tips to share so that anyone considering installing one of these floors themselves can avoid our inevitable mistakes and disasters.  ​You're welcome. That's what I'm here for.

Posted by Anita

Floor installer.  Cleaner of mortar splashes.  Getting a major leg workout.