Our fall 2019 One Room Challenge project is a teen bedroom makeover. For week three, we’re removing the old carpet and installing laminate wood flooring.
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The One Room Challenge
We’re on week three of the One Room Challenge! Check out Week 1 Planning to see what we’re tackling for this six week home decor project and follow along through each post in this series. Be sure to check out the rest of the bloggers and designers on the One Room Challenge blog.
Removing the carpet
When we moved into this house in 2015, I knew I wanted to replace the carpet. It was old and the previous owners had several pets, so it was also in pretty bad condition. At the time our budget was pretty slim, having just bought our first home. I decided the carpet could wait, but if I could go back and have a do-over, I’d replace the carpet before anything else.
We have carpet in our upstairs only – three bedrooms, my craft room, and the landing. The before photos of the carpet don’t really do it justice. The carpet is low-quality, very worn, and has visible stains.
Once we started pulling it up, I realized that it was even worse than I imagined. The carpet and padding were downright gross. (I can’t wait to replace the carpet in the rest of the bedrooms!)
We also removed everything from the closet. After hauling it all out, we also removed the carpet tacks around the room and a few staples that were hanging onto some original 1960s carpet fuzz.
Our floors are terribly creaky. I joke that the kids could never sneak out, but they also can’t go to the bathroom at night without waking the whole house. My husband used a ton of screws to secure the subflooring and now it’s silent.
Before we moved onto the next step, I had to leave a message for the next homeowners, in case they decide to replace the floor. Can you imagine in 10 or 20 years, someone finding this message and hashtag?
Installing the laminate wood flooring
The first step to installing the new floor was to roll out the underlayment, which serves as insulation to reduce the creaking and to make the floor a little softer.
This part went pretty quickly. We just unrolled, cut, and taped.
I knew from the beginning that I wanted the laminate wood flooring to match what we have in the living room. I went with TrafficMaster laminate flooring in Saratoga Hickory. It’s one of the cheapest available, but it looks really nice.
Finishing the floor
We barely managed to squeeze this project into a weekend. We touched up the baseboards with white paint and my husband installed quarter-round that matches the hickory floor.
Technically we aren’t completely done with the floor because we didn’t have time to finish the closet. We were able to put the furniture back in the room Sunday night, so the teen was able to sleep.
Follow along on our teen bedroom makeover!
Week 1: Planning | Week 2: Paint | Week 3 (you’re here)
Week 4: Furniture | Reveal
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Nice makeover and the flooring looks great.
Thanks! We’re really enjoying it.