Surprising Mr. Fun!!

So Mr. Fun went out of town during the month of August to visit with his family and friends in la belle province.  I took upon myself to do a small but impact full reno of our currently outdated, boring and from what I now have discovered, monochromatic family room.

Those that know me, you know that I am cheap and selfish so no one would ever suspect that I would take something like this on knowing I had to use my Vegas money to pay for it.  I didn't even tell Scott or Megan.  I tried not to have too many people know as that would ruin the surprise.

We had spent some time at our friend's cottage this summer and I fell in love with the floors of the place.  They were wood laminate and I could not believe how nice they looked, how durable they were, and how cost effective they could be.  I called my friend's mom secretly to ask what kind they were and where she bought them.  She kindly went to her basement and found a left over box so I was able to get the manufacturer and brand.  I called the same place she used and snuck out to see samples.  I spoke to a terrific salesperson who I told that I secretly wanted to redo the room while my husband was away and they had to guarantee me that they could come and get the installation complete while he was in Quebec. 

I picked out my sample, had a guy come and measure the space, and cashed in my savings bonds all in secret in and around Mr. Fun's schedule.  He left for Quebec on Monday night and I got to work.

I took a picture of the room before - not too bad, just boring and I hated how the carpet always looked dirty even after we had it professionally cleaned.

I needed some muscles to help so I called my friend Jarod to come over for a couple of minutes to move the fireplace and couch with me and had him swear to secrecy.

I pulled up the carpet and under pad that night and threw it all in garage.

I then needed to pull up the tack strip and 1,000,000 million staples from the under pad and previous carpets.  Took me till 12:30am but was done and then vacuumed to make sure the floor was ready.

I spent the next day cutting and rolling up the carpet and under pad for the garage - they will take it if you keep it tidy and in rolls of 32 inches. This was the toughest part of the job to be honest as I had to be in the garage with the humidity sitting at 100%

The flooring arrived the day before install as it has to temper to your house - I was happy to see it arrive as I knew we were on time.

Graham the installer was awesome.  He put the under pad down first and then got to work on the flooring.

What a freaking difference.  I was worried it would be too dark as the rest of the house is hard wood but much lighter - I love it.

Graham offered to help me put the furniture back so that sped up the clean up process.






             

Here is the final version of the room waiting for Mr. Fun to come home.  I bought some new lamps, pillows, area rug, and a coffee table.

What a difference. 

The dark floors actually make the room look so much bigger.  I am so happy that we will have durable, long lasting and easy to clean floors in that room now. 

Since we spend most of time in there, it made sense to do this.  Now, what will Mr. Fun think?  He is not easy to surprise and he is band from surprising me so will he be happy?  Will he like it?  Will he wonder how much it cost? 

I sat and waited till he came home from his trip and videoed his response.  His last line is my favourite. 

http://youtu.be/Lq0P7LhrG9g

Have you ever done anything crazy like this that worked out well?

Side bar - we went to Vegas a week later and this is what I won this on a penny slot machine.  Karma?  Irony?  Anyways, it paid for the room :)