Starting the Project

After opening those heavy boxes of wooden planks, I spilled coffee all over the instruction manual. Classic move. Wiped it with my sleeve and thought “guess I’m winging this.” First things first: checked the room temperature because the internet says you gotta let the wood chill for 48 hours indoors.

Floor Prep Chaos

Tore out the old carpet like it owed me money. Sweat dripping everywhere. Found weird stains under it – don’t ask. Swept three times but still stepped on nail strips twice. Laid that foam underlayment pad thingy crooked twice before finally straightening it.

The Clicking Nightmare

Started clicking planks together near the window wall. First row took an hour because the tongue-groove system fought me. Dropped my rubber mallet on my foot. Made ungodly noises angling those planks in, knuckles raw from pushing. Cut three pieces too short using a rusty saw from my grandpa’s garage.

Biggest struggles:

• Trying to keep rows straight after the fifth beer
• Hitting my thumb with the hammer six times
• Realizing halfway I installed backwards
• Dog kept stealing foam padding

Final Stretch

When I reached the doorway, the last plank needed trimming. Measured wrong twice. Left a big gap near the heating pipe and covered it with duct tape temporarily. My back screamed when hammering the baseboards back. Sweat made the wood slippery – almost dropped the whole last row.

Done… Kinda

Now my living room has this weird wavy pattern near the TV stand because I messed up the spacing. Still wobbles when I step near the kitchen entrance. But hey – from a distance it looks fancy! My neighbor Bob came over, laughed at my crooked edges, then asked if I’d do his place next weekend.