And now for the trim!

After approximately 8 billion years, we finished the floors last Friday!!! This week we've been working on the trim, which proved a bit more difficult than we anticipated (which seems par for the course in this remodel thus far.)

Finished floors with a rug and some cut trim

First, the miter box we had wasn't large enough for any of the trim we had. We went looking for a larger one, but if they make them, they do not sell them at the local home improvement stores. So we investigated how much a miter saw would cost - they are useful afterall. Saws large enough to cut the trim we have run AT LEAST 350$, and generally more like 500$. So that was out.

We rented the saw from Home Depot on tuesday, and made most of the cuts we needed in the 4 hour period before Alex needed to head to work. The thing was huge, and barely fit in the car.

On day 1, I only got this many pieces done before a thunder shower

Next it was time to stain the wood, but it decided to rain for three days straight, which made things a little tricky. I briefly considered using the basement, but the poor ventilation + the pilot light made me reconsider.

I finally finished the staining yesterday, and this morning put on the first coat of polyurethane. I hope to finish the second later today (we got the quick drying) and then rent the finish nailer for tomorrow.

The downhill slope isn't ideal for drying, but our whole yard is a mountain

What might throw a wrench in this plan, however, is that we need to make cuts in most of the trim for outlets, since the new baseboard is taller than the old and the outlets are placed stupidly. We can't do this without extension boxes however, which we don't actually have. Naturally.

Crafty Rug Options

Along with the lost couch, the yellow chevron (yes, it's super trendy, and I still love it) rug order was cancelled. Ethical rugs are even tricker to find because they are often made by children. There seem to be a few options out there for us.

1) Find a rug that has the Good Weave label. This is an international organization that certifies rugs as not made by child labor. While this is certainly a step in the right direction, there are many more concerns than JUST child labor when it comes to the ethical manufacturing of goods. The organization has acknowledged this and is overhauling their standards, but for now I'd like to explore other options.

2) FLOR is a modular carpet tile system that is relatively inexpensive (7-20$ per tile, which covers 19.7 X 19.7 ''), recyclable, and sometimes made from renewed or recycled materials. The company is a little vague about where their products are made, though I believe at least some of their manufacturing occurs in a Georgia facility. I used to really like their designs, but lately things have gotten slightly horrible. What is this???

Still, their solid colors are lovely and functional. I've had FLOR before in a previous home, and I'll also say it was super easy to clean.

3) I could make a rug! I'm most intrigued by this one, but of course it's also the most work. The House of Smiths Blog has a nice tutorial on how to take an IKEA rug and make it Chevron print. Apartment Therapy also ran a piece last year about rope rugs and how you could make one yourself. There are two tutorials I found online that'd be helpful for rope rug weaving: This one from the Free People blog, and This one from Flax and Twine. I think I like the hula hoop method better, and I could then sew a bunch of the circles together to approximate something like this:

I'd tone down the pom-poms and neon colors, and maybe have fewer, larger circles in an asymmetrical arrangement, but this is certainly a starting point. It's also a great use for Alex's 405 old tee shirts that never seem to make it into the rag pile.