Underfoot and overhead

So the plaster board is all up (as much as we can do, anyway) and the plaster people have been notified. We're on their schedule to get the veneer done in the next few weeks, and I'm excited to see the transformation from the dark grey walls to a light bright white. It's been extra cosy - since the plastering is easier when there aren't switches or plates in place, we've had no overhead lighting for weeks. The change from grey to white (and from plugged in lamps) to ceiling mounted lights is going to be bright!

Will this be us in a month?

Next step is flooring. Last time I talked about it, we were tottering between snazzy bamboo and rustic barnboards. In the interim, we acquired a sand-blasting tool able to shoot out walnut shells to refinish the wood, a softer alternative to sand blasting. Despite doing quick calculations confirming we have enough wood in the barn to do the first floor, we've run into some problems - the sand blaster requires an air compressor 6 times more powerful than the one we own and 2 times more powerful than the biggest compressor we could rent from the hardware store. Additionally, the wood might end up that bright orange-y gold colour after stripping, it's hard to say in advance.

Rhuh-rhoh...

Pros: wood is free, rustic planks from on-site (5" by 14' in some cases) add to the whimsy and eco-friendliness of reclaimed barnboard floors, we would have enough to do the whole house if we wanted to

Cons: Don't know what we are doing or how the finished product might look (aka this could turn into a four month project), the cost of renting tools to do the job might negate the "free materials" aspect, the colour might be ugly, the softwood would wear down more than a commercial finish

With this in mind, we did a quick tour of commercially available products that aren't outrageously expensive. The bamboo flooring mentioned upthread is $4/sq ft (our first floor is about 900 sq ft) so it doesn't matter how lovely the look, how long the boards or how hard wearing the finish is - it's outside our budget (sigh...up until last week I was still cyber stalking that product...). We did find a replacement product at a discount lumber store nearby: a maple pre-finished hardwood that has a strikingly similar colour range as our beloved bamboo. The catch (of course) is that the $2/sq ft product is basically made up of factory ends. When A-grade maple hardwood is marred by knots, gashes or other "unsightly" blemishes, the manufacturer just cuts off the offending bits into a pile of tiny interesting pieces. Since I'm daft and forgot to bring my phone with me, I don't have an image of the 4 foot x 3 foot panel the retailer had made up, although husband and I both thought it looked much like the varigated bamboo. Here are three pieces of sample together as a sample (top option):

Is it eco-friendly if you install end-pieces?

What's the problem? Buy the available maple product, have a lovely floor that stays within budget, get a kitchen.

My problem is that I'm a wood snob, and I have a paradigm that nice hardwood floors = expansive lengths of wood with few visible seams. I can't break the stigma in my head that installing a bajillion 1 foot long (or less!) off cut pieces of maple in my first floor is going to look super cheap and awful.

It boils down to having expensive tastes and no money (again...). It will take a few weeks and a few failed attempts at refinishing the softwood barn boards to change my mind, I expect. Til then!