living room - half way done

so, our living / dining room is almost done. the one important thing missing is a modern biult in that we will add to the grey wall and some more art work.

as for the floors:
we ripped out all the carpet and the laminate that was underneath the carpet and refinished the original hard wood floors. no easy job, let me tell you. very time consuming and physically exhausting work. thanks goodness we had the help of family and friends, we could not have done this by ourselves.
if you want more info on how exactly this is done, i'll write it up for you, but it would not be a two-sentense-kind-of-post.
we not only refinished the wood floors in the living/dining room but also all three bedrooms and the hallway...

This picture here happened the day we got the keys. Laura, our real estate agent even stayed and helped us rip out some stuff, she was so excited for us to find the wood floors underneath...

this is what we found. wood floors. worn, old, but wood floors. off to work i say ;)

because the house was built in 1951, there where two holes for the floor heater that markus had to fix. that was one of the most time consuming projects... but it was worth it. he even had to to underneath the house to fix some i don't know whats. i think he had to add some structure, so the floor there would not sink. ask him when you see him, i don't know half the things he did ;)

here the before and after of the holes. he pried out all the boards and mixed the new ones and the old ones to make sure it will look natural. and it does now! by the way, it was a heck of a job just to find this wood floor to buy... it seems the two inch boards are not that popular anymore. and very expensive ;)

here a ghetto picture of me with the heavy sanding machine. i expected it to be dustier than it actually was. that's why i decided to wear the nose/mouth protection thing as a hat. charming, i know ;)

my hot husband, working hard as always! 

James, helping us out putting on a coat of finish. 

before and after living room

aaand another one. if you wonder why all the afters are taken at night - it's when the kids are in bed and i actually have time aaand all their toys are put away. hahaha. 

and one from the dining area view. 

if you wonder how many people helped us here, let me start (and hope i wont forget)

mother in law monika who watched the kids, then physical laborors where father in law ed, brother in law andi, other brother in law mat, friend james, friend hayden, markus and me and who am i forgetting? i'm sure someone else helped. we worked for 3 days pretty much non stop. thanks goodness it's done. but also thanks goodness we did it. it looks lovely!