In Love With a Floor

If you are one of the lucky people who saw what the floors in my condo looked like when I took possession, then you will not think me odd for what I just did.

I'm sitting here, relaxing with a cup of tea and staring at my floors, thinking, "Damn...I love you."

The first time I saw the floors I was slightly dismayed by the shape they were in, but it took seeing this place without The Renters to know how truly bad they were. The carpet in both bedrooms was deeply stained and worn down, with bits of guinea pig poop waiting to surprise me. The laminate was scratched, and had bits of paint slopped on it, and looked dull from years of cursory care. And in both bathrooms, the seriously-dated linoleum was coming up in chunks.

I owned this place a full month before I ever walked barefoot in it. I actually took an Instagram video of the occasion.

The original plan was to rip everything out and put laminate in all rooms except the bathrooms, which would get fresh linoleum. A trip to the floor showroom, however, had me changing my mind within about ten minutes, when the owner showed me the vinyl flooring that looks like wood grain.

"It's nice..." I demurred, reluctant, as always, to change my mind quickly.

"It's water-safe," he replied.

"Like, if my dishwasher leaks?"

"Safe."

"Bathtub overflows?"

"Safe."

"I can mop it."

"Absolutely."

"Sold. Show me my color options."

It came down to two, with my eventual choice winning because it had the same cool tones as the paint I had chosen (my white is actually a gray-white, which a few people thought I might hate but it's worked out beautifully with all this teal). Friends and family alike looked at my choice with my paint chips and said, "YES. This one."

And it's beautiful. It's easy to maintain--I've mopped it once, and swept here and there. It's not too slippery, as I walk around in socks a lot. And it's one hundred thousand times better than the dirty, beat-up flooring this place had before. I didn't love forking over a few grand for all new floors...but I love the outcome and know that it makes the value of this unit greater than what I bought it for.

The past week-and-a-half has been better, since my rant two weeks ago about not being totally happy here. Getting furniture helps a lot, and I've cleaned up a lot of messes and cleared out a lot of extra junk. I had a couple of lazy weekend mornings to enjoy the quiet and see this place as more of a haven than a burden. Don't get me wrong, I still loathe that stupid dishwasher with the fire of a thousand suns (I have it running as I type this, noisy piece of shit), but damn...I'm in love with my floor.