A kitchen remodeling disaster and how vinegar saved the day (well, kind of)

TGIVF!

Lincoln's face looks like how I feel! 

I have to admit, I'm not feeling very thankful today. We decided to hire someone we knew to do a "soft" kitchen remodel. The work started on Tuesday and he and his helper were supposed to be done by noon yesterday. 

To say this has been a nightmare is putting it mildly, although in light of what's going on in the Philippines, or in some of your lives, for that matter, it's just an inconvenience. But I must say my stress level has not been this high in a long time.

Our soft remodel included painting, ceiling repair, crown molding, a bead board backsplash, cove base, new counters, and a new floor. One of our two counters (we have a small kitchen) has a weird angle to it. It's not your typical 40 degree angle that comes standard with in stock countertops. Well, let's just say the contractors measured wrong and now we have a counter with the wrong angle which is 2" short (thus exposing the top of the dishwasher), and our sink is no longer centered. Yikes. The whole thing has to be scrapped and we have to cut our losses. And this is only one of the many things we're upset about. I'd take pictures and post them, but they'd just upset me for years to come.

Allure vinyl plank flooring

We followed our contractor's recommendation and bought an Allure floor. So far, we're pretty happy with it, with the exception of how easily it shows scratches and scuff marks. At first, my husband was having a fit. So, of course, I went online to look up reviews of the flooring (shouldn't I have done that first?!). For the most part, the Allure vinyl plank flooring gets high marks. But there are also a fair amount of complaints about the scratches/scuff marks, as well as the separation of the planks with changes in weather. What?! The key is making sure the flooring has acclimated to the room temperature for at least 24 hours and that you use heat to seal it when it's laid. Uh oh. Neither was done. Time will tell if we will pay for that mistake, too.


Anyway, I turned to Google to find out what to do about the floor. And guess what? Washing it with vinegar and water was the first solution I found! As with many flooring types, mixing one cup of distilled white vinegar with a gallon of warm water is recommended.

Who knew? Even with this new-type flooring, vinegar comes to the rescue. So that's my tip for this particular Vinegar Friday. Wish vinegar could solve all the other problems!

By the way, the picture at the top of the page is my grandson standing on my new kitchen floor. He's holding my ragdoll cat, Vincent Van Gogh.

Keeping it green and clean with vinegar,

For more great vinegar tips, check out my book VINEGAR FRIDAYS, on sale for just $8.99 on Amazon.com.