Oakes

Marc and I first met 22 years ago. That is long enough to know in what situations we work well together and which situations we should work separately for the sake of still liking one another at the end of the day. House projects most often fall into category two. That being said, we are capable of doing different projects in close proximity to one another so we can still laugh and talk.

When we moved into our house the entire place was laminate wood floors except the back two bedrooms. I've wanted to put wood floors in those two rooms the entire time we've lived here. It should come as no surprise that such a project is expensive so it had to go on the back burner for a number of years. When we got Michael's referral I saw my opportunity to pounce.

We headed to Home Depot (Home Depot, as a side note, thank you for recognizing veterans and offering a veteran's discount - it means a lot to them. Lowe's, hats off to you as well.) and picked out floor samples. I suggested getting enough samples to just craft a floor ourselves. I thought it was a very Pinterestesque idea, but alas, Marc said no. After getting home, laying the samples out on the existing wood floor, squinting, moving them around a bit, and squinting at them some more we picked one that was a near match.

Our friend Oakes is a man of many talents. One of them is constructing things, he's the owner of A.O. Fletcher Contracting. We asked him if his company would put in the wood floors in the back two bedrooms for us and he said "Pssshhht. I'll just come over and do it with you guys. It'll be my gift to you and a good time to just hang out." Two birds, one stone. I was sold. (Seriously though, we love Oakes).

So one Saturday in May he came over and he and Marc spent 8 hours putting down the floor in Michael's room. I forgot to take "before" pictures of Michael's room, but we got "during" and "after"

Two cute assistants helping

For the record, I didn't shut them in the closet in this photo, they were no longer in the room

Then he came back for another Saturday in June and helped us with the spare room (and I snagged some "before" photos this time!)

I (we) love it.

Oakes - thank you for your time, your talent, your conversation, your laughter, your advice, your faith, and your love for us. Thank you Sarah, Maddox, Cam, and Stella for giving up your husband and dad for two entire days to come help us.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. We. Are. So. Blessed.

(For anyone keeping track, the only remaining item on my "house projects" list is a kitchen back splash.)