Here are pictures of my rooms from 2004 to 2009 before all the changes were made (changing lamps, blinds, painting, rearranging furniture, changing floors, changing baseboard trim, adding accessories, etc.) which I still know I have more changes to do. I am open to any suggestions on what else I should do to the rooms when you see the after pictures in the prior post.

Here is a link that might be useful: My floors & walls in the three rooms downstairs before any changes were made

Pretty flooring and cute dogs!

Thank you graywings for your compliments and thank you for taking out your time to post this Christmas day.

I finally took the time out to post the pictures (takes me so long) but I think I chose the wrong day to do so since I can see most people are busy with their families tonight to be on the Internet.

I think you were the one who told me about the Comfortex sheer horizontal blinds that I love so much and have in my family room and a spare room upstairs. Thank you for always sharing and caring.

I just wish I knew that the engineered wood would end up costing me so much more in the long run due to having to wait 48 hours before putting the heavy file cabinets back on the floor. If I went with the 4" solid (preferred the 4" width), I would have been able to install the plywood floor, the store owner would have moved everything and put everything back on right away. I would have not lost so many weeks not getting work done as I had to remove everything out of the rooms.

But it is done now and pretty despite not being the width of choice that I wanted. I have a concrete slab floor so I thought the engineered would be more stable but I keep my rooms at the proper humidity all year and my floor was very dry from testings.

The floors are lovely!

The floors are beautiful, it was worth it !! The dog is so cute; I really like the paint color, everything looks fresh and clean.

Lynn, it looks so beautiful!! Hopefully as time passes the aggravation and expense will fade in your mind as you spend every day in your improved home.

Flooring makes such a huge difference and as mitch says, with the newly painted and trimmed walls everything just looks brand new and so fresh.

Have a great 2010 in your great 'new' space!

Ann

Happyladi, thanks for your compliment. I love the Brazilian Cherry floors but the more I fix up my home, the more I see there is to do.

Mitchdesj and runningplace, thank you both for reminding me that the time, expense and aggravation will soon fade since the floors are beautiful and everything now looks so fresh, clean and brand new as the floor enhances the rooms.

Thanks mitchdesj on the compliments of my little Skeeter who follows me everywhere. He does not shed so I don't have to worry about white hair all over the floor

Thanks Ann for the 2010 New Year wishes.

Beautiful wood flooring, paint, baseboards & tile!! It's so fun to see the pics after reading all your posts in the process. Well done, now you can enjoy it!

Your dogs are adorable : )

Love the new floors! The color is so warm and rich.

I was looking at your family room pix, and wondering if you might consider a re-arrangement? I would move the couch to the window wall. The end table on the end closer to the tall wall (right end of the couch as you look at it). The tv and stand would go into the corner where the stair landing meets the wall (where the couch sits currently). The chair would sit down by the tall end wall.

I think it would be amuch nicer view of the room from the stairs or entering the space, to see the seating welcoming you, rather than the bulky tv and stand. If down the road you replace the tv with a flat screen, that could be hung on the stair wall.

Thank you Laurie_2008 for the compliments on the changes that I have made and on my cute little dogs that are so lovable and really enhance my life.

Les917, thank you for the compliments on my choice of floors and I also feel they are warm and rich and went so well with my decor. I just sometimes wonder if I should have went with the 3.25" width. I chose the wider width feeling with my little dogs, that the less seams the better I would be.

I agree that one day I should buy a flat screen TV that would really free up space by being on the wall rather than the 17 year old oak TV Stand that I bought new rubber wheels for. I will share pics when that happens but for now I am going to spend the money on my kitchen first as prices for LCD screens go down. Then I will be posting and asking for advice.

Les917, you have an eye for detail and furniture arrangement. I agree that the new layout would be so much better for walking into the room but when viewing my room and picturing it I realized that I would be looking into my home office which I do not want to do. I will ask some friends if some silk plants can block that area.

I did look at new TV stands that were more modern and sleek but then if I buy one to fit this TV, it may not fit a new TV in the future so I added rubber wheels instead and decided to fix up the kitchen first. I still need a picture in the family room but I don't want to add framed pictures until I am sure of the set up with my furniture.

I did buy the colorful silk flowers for the coffee table and I love them. I had the white ones in my bedroom and I miss them there but for now, I wanted my family room to have some more accessories and color.

So far I like the arrangement better than the sofa on the wall facing the kitchen since then the TV had to be too close to the kitchen and did not feel like the rooms were separate and the white cable cord really showed up on the floor since where the TV is now, is where the cable cord is. I could of course have it moved to another wall but first I want to be absolutely sure the TV would be permanent there since it is costly for a service call to move the cable jack.