My New ARTHaven–The Floor

The second of two posts for today, after a busy day over at our new house, overseeing the arrival of the scaffolding and my new kitchen.

Today Chris laid the laminate floor in the main section of my ARTHaven – he will be laying the rest (the office section) tomorrow.

From this…..

via this:

The laminate flooring. Quite a few of the packs were damaged; in one case, the corners of every piece had been knocked off! Andy said that out of 12 packs, only 5 were perfect, and when I remarked that I thought the packaging was inadequate (they are very heavy) he said that when the packaging is intact, it is very strong, and that the blame lay in the hands of the careless warehouse workers and delivery people. Such a shame, and such a waste. However, between them Andy and Chris were able to make the best of it, and cut off the damaged parts, managing to use the majority of it.

Starting to lay the floor.

The laminate is laid over a soft underlay that looks for all the world like that soft packaging material. When I went over to the house the other day, it was lying on top of the bathroom tiles in the entrance lobby:

When laid on the floor and taped together, it looks like this:

Once the laminate is laid on top of it, it gives a lovely soft springy feel.

Here is Chris laying the floor.

To this:

Finally, the laminate laying completed. Chris explained that a tiny gap is left all around the edges, and then a finishing strip is added, attached to the wall. The laminate sheets are closely fitted together and won’t come apart, and the whole floor “floats,” not attached to anything, and this allows for small amounts of movement, expansion and contraction, etc. If it were fixed, it might buckle, or the pieces might pull apart.

I think the effect is stunning. It is beautifully light, and will look gorgeous with the white units. The continuous work surface will be painted to match the floor, and if I feel energetic enough I might add some graining – that is, if I can find the graining kit!! That’s a big “if” given the state of our house at the moment – boxes everywhere, and not too sure what I’ve packed and what I haven’t!

My original plan for this floor was to have a similar finish, but in vinyl. I was persuaded that a laminate floor would give much better service. I tend to shunt myself around on my big office chair and Chris said the castors on that would soon make short work of vinyl, but this laminate floor should last for many years. It’s a sealed surface and very easy to keep clean. I love the effect, and the satiny feel of it, and the slight resilience as you walk on it. It’s like a dance floor!! (Shoshi’s DANCEHaven? Well, noooo, I don’t think so…)

Chris will finish laying the floor in the office section of the room tomorrow. First thing, Andy is going shopping, and will buy the edging, and also the castors for the moveable units. He’s also going to pick up the en-suite bathroom floor tiles, and get the tiles for the kitchen splashbacks. (I meant to mention in my other post that I’ve chosen the colours for the paintwork that’s needed – a soft light olive green for the kitchen/utility room, with a darker shade of the same below dado height, and magnolia for the hall, landing and stairs, with mushroom below. All the gloss paintwork will remain cream – it’s in good decorative order and doesn’t need replacing.)

Every time we go over, my hubby loads the car with banana boxes full of my art stuff. The room here is now looking very different as the towers of boxes diminish. Some of them are much too heavy (full of books) so need re-packing so my poor hubby can actually lift them! My new trolley is now over at the new house, in the spare bedroom along with all the boxes as they arrive, and the made-up units which will be installed as soon as the final touches to the floor are done. Once I can start unpacking the boxes, they will be unpacked in situ in the spare bedroom, and the contents wheeled into the ARTHaven on the trolley. Much the easiest way, and it means I can organise which boxes to open when, and do the whole process in a more organised fashion. Each box has a list of contents written on the side.

Today the electrician came, and he and Andy sorted out the number and location of power points in my ARTHaven (and in the rest of the house). All will be at mid-height and accessible above the work surface, both in the ARTHaven proper, and in my office. No more grovelling under the desk! Bliss!

The work surface is going to be a bit higher than I first thought, to allow for the added height of the castors on the moveable units which will slot underneath the various work stations around the room. The idea is that I cannot sit in more than one place at any one time, so why waste the space underneath the work surface when I’m not actually sitting at it? When I want to sit in any particular place, I will simply pull out the unit on castors, which will give me an instant extra working surface beside me, with full access to the storage shelves beneath. I just hope it isn’t too high for me to sit at using my old wheelchair which I had anticipated using upstairs – adding 2 or 3 inches to the height might make this impractical, but I shan’t know till I try it. The only alternative would have been for Andy to cut a couple of inches off the bottom of each moveable unit, but this wouldn’t have been a good idea as it would have reduced storage space, and added a lot more work for no great benefit. I am sure it will be fine in the end.

By the time I go again on Thursday, great progress will probably have been made. I wish I could go over each day but it’s not possible, and I have to be here on Wednesday anyway, because that’s when Wonderwoman comes, and my Tesco online order is delivered. 9.30 on Thursday is my hospital appointment, and we will go on to the house after that.