That floor though...

The sink really has changed everything. The first noticeable change in our plans was the floor. I mentioned we found a dark, espresso type luxury vinyl plank on clearance at our neighborhood Lowe's. What I didn't tell you, but am about to, is how we ended up securing enough of said clearance flooring to complete the entire downstairs.

Our first purchase was whatever our neighborhood Lowe's had on the clearance cart in the aisle. We spent a total of $46 and it was enough to do the kitchen and almost complete the bathroom. The next day my husband returned to the store for underlayment (thin wood you place between the bare floor and the flooring you are installing) and saw some more. He worked out a deal with the department manager and paid 14c/square foot for the few boxes they had left. Our kitchen floor, including the two sheets of underlayment at $15/each) was a total cost of $53.

Our wheels started turning. Maybe we could find enough on sale to do the entire downstairs... Could we? I began looking. Lowe's has a neat feature on their website that you can view (mostly) accurate inventory levels of items. I was able to view where else we could buy this clearanced, discontinued LVP we were after at the website price of 27c/square foot. Still a great deal if we could find all we needed. And, judging by the numbers on their website, we might be able to find enough for the entire downstairs after all. So we started driving around.

At the Lowe's in Madison, Tennessee we were able to get just one box. Each box has 36 pieces. The pieces are 6" x 24", so each piece is a square foot. One box = 36 square feet. We headed to the store in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee which is where we hit the mother load. The website said they had several hundred pieces so we went in with a basket. We walked around the flooring section and didn't see it at all. I suggested maybe the website inventory numbers lag behind real time and that was why. My husband saw the department manager handy and he went to ask her. He told her the name, the Casa Italia, and then I chimed in with the model number. She perked up and said, "Ok, follow me."

On the way towards the back where she was leading us she asked how much we wanted. My husband said, "We'll take all you got." She smiled. Remember, we are pushing a basket. We rounded the corner and there stood a pallet of clearanced flooring, half of which was the type we were looking for. We were committed at this point.

Our flat cart loaded down with our floor

The department manager looked at an associate with her and told him, "Go get them a flat cart." She began to move the other flooring boxes off of the ones we needed and the flat cart arrived in short order. She began loading the cart up with all the boxes and pieces she had. My husband asked how much was there and she just kept loading the cart. It was comical. Once we said we wanted it all it was ours.

My husband installing the underlayment

We took our flat cart up to the front, paid for the flooring, and headed to the parking lot. We were in my crossover SUV. I was hoping it could carry all that weight. At my husband's suggestion we loaded it all in the backseat rather than the hatchback to keep the weight centered more. We did make it home, I just drove slowly and tried to brake early. It took the three of us many trips to take it all inside. As our house was a confusing mess with all the work we were doing we simply piled it up in the corner of our bedroom. I jokingly now call that corner our flooring department.

My husband and our youngest installing the floor

Rico supervised

We kept out what we needed for the kitchen and began to work on it. My husband laid the underlayment and he and our daughter began laying the floor. It cut easily with a utility blade for places where full pieces wouldn't work and went in fairly quickly. When it was done we stood back and viewed it with the new countertops and sink. Yup, it was pretty...

It's pretty

Still pretty

Stay tuned for more of our crazy DIY adventures!

Be well, y'all.