Flooring Crisis Over. Repeat: Flooring Crisis Over.

After the dramatics of the Home Depot installers who said I couldn't have the flooring I wanted (sight unseen) I approached the flooring store with some trepidation. I fully expected to have to spend MUCH more money, and anticipated the same hand-wringing about the horrors of my unknown sub-flooring, or some other reason why this was going to be a Big, Big Job.

I selected a similar product - I'm now all about the wood-look vinyl plank floating floor - and they called yesterday to set an appointment for the measuring today at 11. Remember the Horrified Flooring Measuring Guy? The guy who showed up with his tablet and fancy measuring device, and moaned aloud about all the ANGLES in my condo, and took over an hour to draw out an elaborate measure on his tablet? I figured today's measure would take about as long, and thought I knew what to expect.

A very friendly guy with the most delightful Italian accent knocked on the door right on time. He introduced himself, greeted the dogs, opened a loose-leaf notebook and pulled out a pen and steel tape. He had the place measured in ten minutes, and then we discussed the logistics. He is not a third party Measuring Guy, he's the guy who will be doing the installation. I asked if he needed to pull up the carpet to check the subflooring, and he looked at me with such puzzlement, I thought we had a language barrier. I explained that the previous company had refused the job, citing the potential unknown horrors beneath the carpet, and he just shook his head and said that it's a new product and maybe some people just don't know how to work with it.

He was amused by the idea that the subfloor had to be pristine and perfect or he couldn't do the job; if there were spots that needed to be leveled, he'd level them, and he shrugged - no big deal. He was in and out in 30 minutes, and said I'd have the final quote for the job in a couple of days. I have a preliminary quote that is very comparable to Home Depot's total price, but the division of the cost is interesting. The material cost per foot is quite a bit higher, but the labor cost is far less. Home Depot's installer broke out every little thing and charged for it - my second floor condo was an upcharge, because, STAIRS! They charged for moving furniture, they charged big bucks for disposal of the old carpet, and on and on. This company does not. I asked the salesman on Thursday about additional charges and he said, "Do you have a grand piano?" "No." "Pool table?" "No." "Waterbed?" "No." "Then there are no extra charges for moving furniture."

So we'll see how the final quote comes in, but so far, I'm very happy - I like my flooring choice very much, they will do the same material throughout the entire condo.

Cabinet sample at bottom, Silestone kitchen countertop upper left, Laminate master bath and built-in living room storage countertop on the right. Flooring is Baroque Flooring LVT New World, in Red Oak Natural. It's amazing stuff, seriously - it FEELS LIKE wood. It has a wood grain. Yet it's virtually indestructible and has a 25 year warranty. I do not fear the canine accidental emissions.

I also have a tentative timeline for this project, and basically, I'm not going to have a kitchen counter in place until the end of September. Had I gone with laminate instead of talking myself into Silestone this would not be the case, but Silestone is installed by a separate company. The cabinets are put in place, then the countertop people come out and make a template for the new counter. Then the factory makes and ships it, and they come out again to put it in place. The very last step is the plumbing and electrical hook-up of the sink and dishwasher. So yes, September is going to be the month of take-out and paper plates. But boy, it's going to be FAB-ulous when it's finally done!

Murphy is looking particularly handsome today. You'd never guess that he's been having the upset tummy thing for most of the week. I came home yesterday to an enormous "emission" on my bedroom carpet. I know this is truly TMI, but when I say enormous, I mean it. It comes out with so much force, it's like a firehose of poop. It covered an area nearly as big as his entire body, measured from chest to tail and side to side. I cannot get rid of this carpet fast enough.

Sophie is obviously not sure about any of this, but she thinks the nice Italian man was very, very nice.