Hard Labor, Hard Lessons and Finally Hardwoods

This, my friends, is a welcome sight – after many years of planning, certain carefully worded nagging, a few heartless threats, a lot of hard work, some generous help from a couple of faithful family members, particularly stressful, irritable days that we’ll never get back - our dining room hardwood floor has finally became a reality!

It was worth the wait… Nico finally has his own room and we have reclaimed our office within the last bit of space amongst our congested home.

With Grandma’s dining room furniture passed down for a new family to enjoy, it was finally time to rid ourselves of the last bit of original, decidedly dreary, dreadfully dingy, gray carpet.

Choosing pre-finished hardwoods was a strategic move. Remembering the long hours of labor required to meticulously install our family room floor left us dreading another project so arduous and hence found us repeatedly procrastinating and frequently tinkering with alternate, easier solutions, all the while simply delaying the inevitable.

My insistence prompted Roger to eventually agree to pre-finished hardwoods. More appealing than carpet and seemingly easier to install than unfinished hardwoods we felt confident in our selection – after all, we have two young children now and simply don’t have the time, money or patience to deal with all that comes with unfinished hardwoods. Pre-finished hardwoods clearly appeared to be the next best alternative.

The acquisition of the materials alone proved to be no easy task. I unsuccessfully bribed Nico with 32 suckers during the selection process of an overwhelming array of prefinished hardwoods. I ended up sitting in the car with a screaming two year not really giving a damn about what wood we ended up with and desperately wondering how we were going to survive the countless hours of installation.

But come hell or high water our undeniably dull and definitely dirty gray carpet was leaving once and for all. Very slowly we began to make some progress on the floor. The carpet was removed. The subfloor was replaced. The area was prepped with a moisture barrier. With only a few holes in the wall and a broken outlet the prep work was complete and the wood installation finally began.

Pre-finished hardwoods may reduce the dust and minimize the cost but their allure of easy installation is false advertising when two young children have deemed themselves as eager assistants. Despite my generous bribing which turned into stony threats and a few old fashioned screaming matches Hope and Nico refused to steer clear of the work area. The noisy nailer was simply too much of a curiosity and unfurnished wide open area proved to be too much of a temptation – they simply could not stay away. They claimed the unfinished room as their own rotunda coloring all over the moisture barrier to properly profess their ownership.

Feeling an overwhelming desire to utilize the air compressor to nail my children to the couch and keep them out of our way while working I sought relief from these unruly distractions and enlisted the help of my trusty sister Sarah. While tucking Hope in bed after a particularly grueling day she informed me that I managed to ruin her entire day. In my mature motherly way I retaliated that she successfully spoiled my less than productive day as well. Realizing I had no option but to finish the floor at this point but admitting my scare tactics to steer clear were unsuccessful and recognizing this project was bringing out a less than stellar side of me I admitted defeat and called Sarah to the rescue. Fearing that my children permanently impair my sanity Sarah offered to take the kids to McDonald’s Playland and with an extra pair of hands Warren, Roger and I were left to finish the floor.

This almost finished, albeit delightful floor, speaks to my persistence, Roger’s willingness to concede and compromise, hours of grueling work, the generosity and dependability of a sister and brother-in-law and the resilience of children (despite my brutal demands for compliant behavior during installation they appear to be no worse for the wear).

This is a room where we can finally delight in our perseverance – we have freed up our kitchen counter from endless piles of paper, we can file countless records in proper folders, we now organize mail in structured bins, we can print homework without searching for lost cords and rearranging printers and computers, and the littlest Gronke’s have plenty of room to roam freely, performing acrobatic stunts and emptying toy bins now devoid of tireless threats or unsettled bribes from stressed out, over committed parents.

In the end I have relinquished my duties and will not be making any more strategic pronouncements that involve laborious endeavors which require complete concentration and uninterrupted efforts until the littlest Gronke’s are much, much older. All future projects will be assessed, approved and prioritized based on our ability to outsource the labor!