And that’s why you paid big bucks for their college education! Somewhere there has to be a payoff! 
6 Likes
@sherpa: I’m dazzled. Do you live near me?? Can you stop by and help? 
2 Likes
My son’s physics degree has paid a lot of dividends, including the calculations for the retaining wall below. We wanted the wall to look like a quarter circle, but constructed from individual straight segments. He asked us our desired radius of the quarter circle and the number of segments we wanted, and then wrote a program to determine the segment lengths, saw cut angles, etc. The wall is built of 13 identical segments made of ipe, a dense South American hardwood.
15 Likes
Beautiful!
Nice payoff! 
Ipe is great. We used it for our decks 20-some years ago and they still look good and are in perfect shape!
4 Likes
Speaking of a very popular floor remodeling choice. Renters are calling grey LVP “soul sucking”! Not exactly shocking. We have toured quite a few starter homes with our kids, and these floors scream “cheap flipper was here.”
2 Likes
Midwest too. I shake my head every time I look at a listing of a 1920’s or so beautiful on the outside home and then see the inside pics that the original hardwoods have been removed or covered with THAT stuff. (I know sometimes flooring has to be changed but …)
2 Likes
Replying to myself here. 
Here is a pic of the materials used in our almost one year old deck! Dekorators decking and invisarail railing (with simple metal railing on the stairs). Can’t believe we spent a small fortune on this project but it is paying off nicely!
8 Likes
We’d look at this stuff installed in gorgeous century old craftsmans or beautiful midcentury moderns and shake our heads…
2 Likes
Invisible railing is very cool!!
2 Likes
Made in Canada by co. called InvisiRail (for those who might be interested in who supplied the glass):
1 Like
I thought I had seen a thread on flooring but I can’t seem to find it. Anyhow…
We need to replace second floor carpeting. First floor is hardwood. While I toyed with the idea of hardwood or LVP on second floor, I think we’re just going to go ahead and carpet it again, mostly for the noise factor. (1) good/bad idea? (2) currently have a light beige color which after many years is horribly dirty. I’m looking at a light flecked color - any reason this is a bad idea? Looks ok to me, but I’m not into interior design and don’t have any clue if this is looks cheap or there is some other reason not to choose it. As in, would people see this and think “ick” or something - I don’t trust my own judgment, I guess. It would also go up the middle of the front stairs, in our foyer. Let me see if I can post a photo.
Oh, and (3) we are in desperate need of painting, but such a project is biting off more than I can chew (even with hiring professionals), though I think I can handle a one or two day carpet installation. Currently trying to thin down the closet contents. I’d like to get the carpet in before the college kids get home for Thanksgiving. Will I regret not painting first?
That looks like a very nice, neutral carpet to me (but I’m also not a designer!!)
2 Likes
I’m not a carpet person. Have you been in any relatives or friends homes where you have really liked their carpet? If so, I’d ask them (especially if in your town) what/where they got it!
It might be a heavy lift but I would really, really try to paint, then carpet. Two reasons:
- Painting before new carpet gives the painters room to not be so careful on with paint on the carpet (though professionals will not have a problem with that).
- Most importantly…I think that your “needed paint job” will look even MORE needed once you have shiny new carpet installed.
6 Likes
I would paint before installation of carpet, too. Even pros can make a mistake.
We too chose to put carpet in our bedrooms because my husband likes to have something warm and fuzzy to walk on when he heads out for the bathroom.
We used a Costco-affiliated contractor who did a great job. We asked the contractor to make the job in two steps with a week in between. They had no problem with that and said that they are used to giving the homeowner a few days after the removal of the old stuff to paint prior to the installation of the new stuff.
4 Likes
Thanks for helping me think through this. What is the benefit of painting in between old carpet removal and new carpet installation (vs painting before old carpet removal)? Just a little easier at the baseboards? I’m pretty sure our second-floor floors are concrete - does carpet removal typically include ripping out the old tacks? I hadn’t thought to ask the carpet people.
Way easier at the baseboards… and when I painted, I did not need to use many drop cloths! Let the paint splatter a tiny bit. Meanwhile, my husband went through the entire floor and fixed the squeaky subfloors! A major benefit of having a window of time to do that.
Carpet replacement usually means ripping out of everything, including the tacks, padding, etc. You will end up with a bare floor.
4 Likes
Anyone have any experience with engineered hardwood flooring? Looks like its a quick install (floating floor maybe) and comes prefinished. They can be sanded once or twice in their lifetime. Cheaper than old school unfinished oak flooring, more expensive (and nicer looking, IMO) than the Pergo-type laminate vinyl floors with the phony woodgrain.
1 Like
Speaking of baseboards - we built our home in early 2001 and the baseboards were a standard 2 inch with a top roll lip config - when I had my first floor replaced, I had all the baseboards pulled and added the newer taller 5" ones…it just made the whole house look newer because it didn’t have the out of date low end standard baseboards. They may be even higher now…but, if you ever wanted to do it, when replacing your flooring, it’s easy for them to do.
6 Likes