Flooring and Trim, Room By Room, Through A Whole Home

A dated green vinyl floor running through the kitchen and living area — original, dated, and past the point of a simple refinish. The kind of floor that photographs fine and feels tired every day you live on it.

Pulled back to the original hardwood subfloor, with the old wall insulation exposed alongside it. Seeing what is actually under a floor before committing to a plan is what keeps a flooring job from turning into a surprise halfway through.

New framing where the old structure needed it, and fresh insulation in the exterior walls while everything was already open. A flooring job is the right time to fix what is behind the walls too, not just what is underfoot.

Walls closed back in over the new framing and insulation, ready for paint and trim. Every room went through the same sequence — open it up, fix what is wrong, close it back in properly — before a single plank of new flooring went down.

New plank flooring, fresh paint, and trim finished throughout. One room done — the same sequence would repeat through the rest of the house.

In the living area, custom wainscoting went in over the lower walls alongside the flooring — sanded, leveled, and staged piece by piece before installation. Wainscoting is unforgiving of an out-of-level wall, so most of the work here happens before the first board goes up.

The living area finished with plank flooring throughout, crisp white wainscoting and casing, and doors trimmed to match. The same room that started as a demo site is now the one that ties the whole renovation together.