Sneak Peak of Provenza

Jessie jots...

Wood floor sneak peak y'all! haha Here, Yew Wai is dry fitting the plank of wood measuring 6 ft long and 7 inch wide. Pretty big compare to the regular engineered wood floor. We chose this on purpose... for the rustic look, for the easier installation, and for expanding the space to give it an illusion of being larger. People asked why we didn't hire a contractor? In the States, contracting work is very, very expensive. By doing the wood floor ourselves, we save at least tens of thousands dollars. Plus, what's encouraging for us DIY-ers, all tools and construction materials is easily accessible and affordable. Home Depots and Lowes are a few of the bigger chain stores that carry all construction tools and materials you can ask for.

How did we know how to do this all by ourselves? Yew Wai and I had the experience of building a chair once upon a time. You may laugh at me but that whole chair experience really taught us a lot. Prior to that, I have never in my life touch a table saw, a mullet, nail gun and the likes. Ok maybe just a screwdriver, a hammer and some nails. But no manly-complicated tools. Because I wanted to succeed in class and complete my life-size chair assignment, I forced myself to learn everything - in a flash. At that time, Yew Wai's brute strength was much needed to complete my work. So he was there all the way and from there, we both learned how to shop for tools and what we could use them for. For this home reno projects though, Yew Wai learned all he could with books, youtube videos, pictures, the manufacturer's website, blogs and his colleagues. Because things are so different here compare to what we know in Malaysia, we even carved some time out and attended free classes on how to install tiles and how to paint walls provided by Home Depot. We've gathered enough resources now, so we're ready to dive in with our two feet.

The grey layer you see here is a moisture barrier layer that needs 16 hour to cure, which is the most tiring job. Hushby has now slabbed the whole of downstairs with this thick gooey grey layer. Once dried, it is still sticky to the touch... like duct tapes except that is stronger. This is done to prevent water vapor from the concrete floor which can be damaging to the wood. Thank God we don't have to do it for wooden floor upstairs!

Then we take the wood planks out to dry fit on the floor. Prior to gluing, which needs scraping and leveling out with a trowel before the wood is lock in like Lego toys, dry fitting allows us to see the mixture of wood color and grain that you are about to commit to. We try to randomize the arrangement of the wood planks by opening 3 boxes of wood and mismatch from there. From this process too, we are able to find out how much to cut when it hits the wall.

By the way, the fresh paint is not that noticeable here at night. But you can instantly tell, it is already so much fresher looking compare to the old one.

Butts! Inspired by Butts

48 hours later

We've screwed up a few pieces already, nothing major though because we were still able to salvage it. Third day into doing it, we are now able to install the wood twice the speed. It's actually more time consuming to measure the corners than to install the planks. In my humble opinion, the wood floor turn out to be amazing. Possibly the best investment we've ever made. What a nice contrast with the green tinted wall color, making it look fresh and modern, don't you think? Whenever I go to Seventy-Seven, I now look forward to get barefooted. I simply love the feel of the natural oil-finish wood under my feet and it is so fulfilling!

On Friday, we are aiming to finish the entire kitchen before the fridge is deliver on Saturday. Fingers, toes and tush crossed that we'll get it done.

More to come! Moving out to the new house today, this apartment will be dearly missed for the memories it has created.