ALLL about our LVP flooring decision

When touring our (now) home, I knew instantly that I would not want to live with it's current floor. In pictures it didn't look terrible, but I knew having a white based tile could not be an option. We had just lived with white tile and no matter how much I cleaned, it never looked good. Especially the grout. It showed every speck of dirt and with two tiny little boys...there is always dirt. Also, having a baby learn to sit up/crawl/walk on tile was not my favorite. Lots of boo-boos. 

Anyways, we knew this needed to be our home, but the floors needed changed. The tile was everywhere but the bedrooms. We bought the house in May but didn't move in til late July (part of the plan) so that gave me 2 months to read all.the.things and get samples from all.the.stores on every type of flooring imaginable.

We definitely didn't want carpet throughout the living areas so it was between hardwood, wood-look tile, laminate and luxury vinyl plank (LVP). Hardwood was obviously the most beautiful but was more than we wanted to spend and we didn't think we'd get our money back in resale for the area we're in. I nixed out the wood look tile mostly because I didn't want something so hard again and I honestly couldn't imagine the look Richard would give me if I said, "Hey honey, I hate this tile. Let's rip it out and put in a different tile." That left us with laminate and LVP.

Very early on I fell HARD for this Copper Sands Oak laminate from Lumber Liquidators. It was very inexpensive, had lots of texture to it (a must for me) and was the perfect mid-tone color. I wanted warm, but not orangey, and old looking but not rustic. I also found some good stuff from Costco, and Flooring Liquidators but never fell in love with anything from Home Depot or Lowes. Copper Sands Oak was the top laminate contender for me.



However, it wasn't water resistant. We considered leaving the tile in our kitchen and bathroom areas and just replacing the living area. While there is an "okay" cut off spot separating our kitchen, in my heart I knew it would look best being continuous and seamless. I had heard horror stories from my friends about their laminate getting torn up from getting wet, so I looked into water resistant brands like Pergo outlast. I fell in love with Harvest Cherry and Prairie Ridge Oak


Harvest Cherry


Prarie Ridge Oak

I felt pretty settled on these moving forward, but I still needed to research LVP. I had heard GREAT things about it from my hairdresser (thanks Jenn!) as well as most of the workers in the flooring stores. However, I just never really liked the samples in the stores. Everything was just too flat (no texture, shiny, felt plasticky). Also, since LVP is a newer product it was really hard to find something that wasn't super trendy like gray or something really rustic.

I swear I looked online for hours and hours and hours. I'd finally decide on some samples to order only to have them look/feel very different in real life vs on the screen. I ordered a few samples from Floor and Decor but was still scared about making a decision based on a tiny 5x5 sample square. However, just for funsies this was the final contender: Satchel Farms Oak Matte

So it was between Pergo Outlast (laminate) or the Floor and Decor (LVP) products. Before pulling the trigger on a product, we booked a guy to install and had him come out to give us a quote for both. He looked at the existing tile in our home and since it was level, didn't have deep grout lines, and in good condition said he could install the LVP right over the top of it.

....WHAT?!

That would literally save us thousands of dollars in demo costs. But of course, we were skeptical. The "right" thing to do would be to rip out the tile, but the idea was so tempting. He assured us that he's done it many times before and after researching a bit, most LVP fine print say that it's kind of made to do that. It's a part of the warranty. That money we'd be able to save could be put towards paying off my student loan and that's what did it for me, LVP it was! We had him take off and re-install the baseboards and install in the kitchen, dining room, living room, and both bathrooms.

For those of you unfamiliar with LVP, it is a click and lock product similar to laminate however it is 100% waterproof. It is similar to good ol' linoleum with a greatly improved look. The trick is finding one with a lot of very deep texture to it doesn't look so fake and cheesy. The Floor and Decor option was looking like the winner but I was still terrified of ordering from a company that didn't have any representation in the central valley. If something went wrong I don't even know what I'd do. I guess I'm old school but I like dealing with a person face to face if there's issues and not a customer service hotline.

So, Richard and I went out for one last shopping trip around town and stopped into A&M Flooring. They had a huge selection so he was sure there would be something I would like. He was right, but the showroom was pretty intimidating so I thought the products would more than likely be out of our price range. Richard assured me that since we were saving so much on the install, we could afford to go up a little bit per square foot. I started just grabbing every LVP sample I liked without looking at prices. Naturally I grabbed samples in the $5-7/sq foot range. However, there was a sample that I really, really, liked. It was a little over our budget but I took it home anyways. I stared at it for 2 days straight and only liked it more. After googling about it all weekend I found it for almost a DOLLAR/sq foot cheaper at a different store but really felt comfortable with A&M. Plus they let me tear up their showroom for like two hours and answered all of my crazy questions ;)

So Richard being the superhero he is, called A&M and was able to get them to MATCH THE PRICE! He then took the liberty to pull the trigger because he knows his wife and knew I would more than likely never be able to.

Our install guy Trevor (who Richard found thru Home Advisor) got our whole house done in 3 days and he did an outstanding job. We literally could not recommend him more. He was a perfectionist and patient and very reassuring. If anyone wants his contact information, please contact me and I'd love to share.

We ended up going with a brand called Gemcore in the ancient oak color (same sample different lighting)

 

It's a stone center with layers of vinyl around it. It's in our bathroom and the boys splash hard and you'd never know. It also disguises SO MUCH DIRT. I love my vacuum so I don't mind cleaning, but honestly I wouldn't even have to. Water spots don't show, it's slightly cushy on foot and it doesn't dent. The kids ride their little trucks all over the house and drop their forks and spill their water and there hasn't been one sign of it. I will admit it doesn't look as good as laminate or hardwood products. It just doesn't. It doesn't have the beveled edges and as much texture because it's not thick. It's about half the thickness of even the thinnest laminate. However, for the amount of money we were able to save with install (and put towards student loans) we are thrilled with the results.

Anyways, that was the longest story. Here's some pictures!

Before (was so much worse in person. Tile was beige with pink and blue speckles?)

After:

Oh and one last thing. I saw this sample below and LOVED it and for a hot second wished we had shopped around just a liiiiittle bit more. I got the sample home, layed it on the ground and it's like the exact same as our floor lol. I've never felt so relieved and validated. Choose your love and love your choice is applicable for more than just your spouse.

Still a good amount of work to do but we're getting there!

We've (almost) bought a house!

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!

Don't mind the garbage cans. I took this photo during one of the many times when we drive by to stalk the place. Besides, lets be honest, the garbage cans are going to be our boys favorite part about home-ownership anyways lol :)

Well, almost. We're about 90% done with the escrow process but we figured it's time to just make it "internet" official ;)

If you know me, you know I've been dreaming of my first house since I was, like...12? I never dreamt of my wedding, I dreamt of my house. I was one of those weird elementary age girls that would rather watch HGTV than anything else (and mind you, this was even before Trading Spaces)! In fact, the reason I graduated with a marketing degree was because I was hoping to get into real estate as a career but God had other (better) plans for me.

Needless to say, a few months back when we finally had enough money saved up for a down payment, I was anxious as all get out. We're currently in our 5th residence since getting married almost 7 years ago and I'm just really ready to make something our own, especially now that we have our babies.

We are currently renting a condo and are in a lease through the end of July, but we wanted to start looking anyways. Houses go so fast in this sellers market that I wanted to be sure I educated myself on what I liked and didn't like so I would be able to pull the trigger quickly when the time came. In the grand scheme of things, if we had to pay a few thousand dollars to buy out our lease for the perfect house, it would be worth it for us. I couldn't wait to fill our weekends with real life showings after looking at houses online for oh, I don't know...8 years?!

We decided on 3 homes we'd like to look at and gave them to our realtor. One Richard liked, one I liked, and one that was a bit more than we'd want to spend, but were interested in seeing nonetheless. The first house we saw was the expensive house with the 4th bedroom and the beautiful wood floors. We walked in and of course it was beautiful it just didn't feel like a home...we couldn't imagine our family there.

The second house was the one I liked and when we pulled up there was a huge group of people in front of the house.We had an appointment but all the previous appointments were backing up because everyone who went through really liked it and were taking their time. 

The exterior wasn't my favorite, but as soon as we walked in it immediately felt like home and I started to get kind of nervous. We continued to tour the place and everything was just immaculate. You could tell there was great pride of ownership. In fact, all the closets were completely color coordinated! This Mom of the house was my kind of Mom!

We took our time and just didn't really want to leave, just like all the appointments before us. I just kind of stood there thinking and Richard finally got rid of the silence by saying he thought we should really consider making an offer. My heart kind of sank because I knew he was right but I was terrified to commit. This was only our SECOND house that we looked at! This was crazy, right? I just kept thinking, okay...maybe, but still didn't want to leave. I knew I was going to have issues committing so we had been praying to really know when we found a house that was right for us. I don't like to ask for signs from God too much, but in this circumstance I knew I needed to know for sure so I wouldn't doubt myself.

After us talking in the living room about it, the seller walked in through the garage. Awkward.

All of the appointments had been pushed back so far so he didn't realize anyone would still be there. We made a bit of small talk before we turned to leave. I asked him if their closets were seriously always color coordinated or if they just did that for the showings (what a weird, awkward thing to ask, right?) He laughed and said that his wife was a bit OCD. I could relate. Richard then decided to up the awkward factor by asking the guy (why were we still talking to him??) if they were trying to move out soon. I was a little mortified by the weird question, like duh Richard their house is up for sale of course they're trying to move. BUT the the seller said that they were actually in the middle of building a house and that it would be ready at the end of July. THE END OF JULY...when our lease is up.

Richard and I just kind of stared at each other in unbelief and I couldn't help but laugh. That was the obvious answer to prayer we were looking for. We thanked him for letting us into his home and left. I still decided I wanted to see the 3rd house but again, the feeling of "home" was not there. All I could think about was the other house.

I was still so nervous. Did this mean our house hunt was over before it even really began?? We continued to pray about it but the feeling just didn't go away so we started creating our offer. We wrote a letter to the seller (identifying ourselves as the ones they met) and told them about how we'd love to continue the journey they started there. The husband is a sports lover, the wife is totally OCD and they have two little boys. Basically us in a nutshell. We also structured in the offer that we'd be willing to let them rent back the house to us through July. That way they wouldn't have to find temporary housing and we wouldn't have to buy out our lease, win-win!

Turns out this is the detail that got us the house and our offer was accepted the following day. I know that we ran into the sellers for a reason and I know that Richard was prompted to ask them that question for a reason. I'm grateful for our prayers being answered in a way that was clear and recognizable to us. I still have been looking at houses that come up since the start of escrow, and I'll be honest, there have been some nice ones. And we are also sad because we will no longer be in the Fig Garden Ward. But I can truly say I don't have one feeling of regret. I know this is where we need to be and we can't wait to start making this our first home :)

Still Pregnant! 39 weeks + 4 days

Yep. Still going strong over here and I'm not exactly mad about it either. Physically, I'm doing quite well besides some serious swelling and some pelvic pressure here and there. Don't worry, my blood pressure is still lower than average so no pre-eclampsia here. I officially only fit in flip flops and like two pairs of sandals. Also, while my jeans still fit, dresses are about a thousand times more comfortable so I currently just rotate between the 4 or 5 that I own. Also to note, it's been super hot lately! Fresno is on track to be in the 90s this weekend so jeans just aren't compatible with my already overheated self.

I'm still working (much to the dismay of some of my co-workers...) and I'm pretty proud of the fact that I was able to work throughout my whole pregnancy. I know I am a rare one, but working lifts my spirits more than anything else, really... and definitely helps the time to go by. However, if we're being honest, I can't imagine my mind being able to focus on anything else but baby if I am past-due so my last day will probably be tomorrow.

I'm still sleeping well. The most I've woken up a night is two times and I can usually fall right back asleep. There have been  a few times where I'd wake up around 4am and couldn't quite get myself to settle down so I've been taking advantage of it and checking things off the to-do list around the apartment.

Can I also just take a second here and talk about how happy I am that baby boy didn't come before or during the move? Hallelujah! There are still a lot of little things that need to get done (on our end & on management's end), but I'd be totally okay bringing him home to the state of our apartment right now.

It has been super fun opening up all of our clothes and gifts again from the shower and getting things put away in his nursery. I am so blown away by how many people already love and spoiled this baby boy. We were gifted the crib pictured by my in-laws and let me just say that there is nothing more attractive for a nesting mama-to-be than to see her husband assemble a crib :)

In other news, I had my 39 week Doctors appointment yesterday aaaaaaaaaand there's not much to report. I am 2cm dialated and 80% effaced (the last doctor exaggerated). I know those numbers don't necessarily mean anything but I won't lie, I was a bit bummed. The Doctor also swept my membranes in hopes to get things moving along a bit. TMI alert, but he said that I may have some spotting or cramping following the procedure. Did I? Nope. I wasn't even uncomfortable afterwards. This baby is not ready to go anywhere!

I am technically due this Sunday, but my next appointment is scheduled for Tuesday the 31st where we will schedule my induction. He doesn't typically let his patients go more than a week overdue so I can at least have assurance that we will meet our baby boy in 10 days or less! Richard would like to doom the poor kid for life by scheduling his birthday on April Fool's day but I will not tolerate such abuse for my peanut even if he is being a stubborn little thing :)

In the meantime, I will be testing out any tried and true wives tales that I can! Baby Rindlisbacher, your Dad and I are sooo excited to meet you :)

Baby's Nursery

I've had a lot of people ask me how I was planning on decorating the nursery so I figured I'd put together a little mood board to show what I have going on in my head. This also helped to ease a bit of my nesting anxiety to see things actually down on "paper" since I won't be able to start actually putting anything together until I'm 38 weeks...yikes!


These are not all the actual pieces that are going in the room (since all I have right now is in boxes), but they are all very, very close to the real thing. Anyone who knows me will NOT be surprised by this mood board at all since navy & green are my favorite colors and are basically what our whole apartment consists of right now haha. Like most people these days, I'm not super into little cartoon animals, pastels or normal "baby" things. I want to make a space that I won't feel like I'll have to re-do as soon as he's a toddler and I think this will be just the ticket! Can't wait to show off the actual space!

Apologies to My Neighborhood

I have not been the nicest to the neighborhood that we currently live in. Don't get me wrong, I love our apartment, our immediate apartment neighbors...and the price! Don't forget the price. However, I have been known to be kind of a downer when it comes to our current location. Anyways, I decided to actually open up my eyes during this morning's run and the neighborhood decided to completely out-do itself.

I mean, geez! Fall, you can stay for as long as you want.

Fall Crafting

So as many of you already know, Richard got a new job. He is a transporter at Community hospital downtown. SO grateful for it, however...there are some downfalls. All of his shifts are graveyard which leaves me husbandless at night. Some of the benefits however, are that while he sleeps during the day, I can get a lot done around the house.

OR...

Waste my Saturday morning making fall wreaths while simultaneously blasting my country station on Pandora, watching Property Brothers and eating my secret stash of brownies. If you know my husband, you know how he feels about crafts, country, HGTV & my excessive sugar intake. Haaaaa

Anyways! Since it's less than a week before Thanksgiving I decided to do a little decorating and a new wreath seemed like an easy solution. Here is what we had before:

BEFORE:

Totally fine. (Except the bow looks really saggy in this picture...hmm) It matches the interior of our apartment. Navy, white & "rustic"y elements. But it's been up there for like 2 months. Time to mix it up.

AFTER:

Here is what you need:

-Twig Wreath
 (I found mine at Joann's for like $5, but they have lighter colored ones at the Dollar Store also)
-Fall Leaves, berries, twigs...etc
-Wax Paper
-Iron
-Small hand towel

Regarding the leaves...go ahead and just pick ones up from off the ground. If you pick them off the tree they will still be too moist to handle. You'll want them partially dried out already.

Also, if you're in an apartment like me...you kind of have to go to surrounding neighborhoods to find trees with suitable leaves and it can get kind of awkward picking leaves off of random peoples trees. Heck, I sort of felt like a criminal just collecting them from off the ground. Once I have kids I bet it will make crafting way less weird. People will see me and be like "Aww, what a great Mom going on a nature walk with her kids!" Instead of, "Um, honey...can you please tell that chick to back off our maple tree?"

Next:

In order to maintain your leaves' beautiful fall color and prevent it from dying, you'll need to coat it in a wax layer. I've seen methods where people melt wax and dip the leaves in it...but I'm way too lazy for that so I use wax paper. Lay your hand towel down and rip off a piece of wax paper to lay on top of it. Fold your wax paper over your leaf on both sides and lay the towel over the top of it.

Iron it for a good 2 minutes on each side. This will transfer the wax onto your leaves. You can keep it on high heat...the towel will protect the wax paper from burning or sticking. This also helps to flatten out any curls on the leaves.

Unconvinced that this does anything? Hold your paper up the the light. You can see that the wax layer has been transferred onto the leaf. Pretty cool huh?

 Start arranging your leaves onto your  wreath. I basically just used the stem to thread it through the twigs. I suppose you could tie it on also, but again...too much work for me :)

And that's pretty much it! I made a little banner thing with some twine just for kicks but I'll probably change that out with a pretty printable version from Pinterest once our printer gets fixed haha. I also sprayed the leaves with a light coat of hairspray just as an added sealant once they were on the wreath.

I had some leftover leaves so I decide to scatter them around in different rooms. Just hot glued this bad boy to my existing candle. I LOVE the colors going on in this leaf...so pretty.

Still need some more twigs to fill up that white vase. However, I'll probably go to a public park for that so I don't get as many stares :)

Happy Thanksgiving!