Rooting around online, I found more pictures of Novalis Vinyl Plank Flooring:

Novalis Vinyl Plank Flooring in Golden Oak.

A different installation, Novalis peel-n-stick vinyl plank flooring, also in Golden Oak.
Both of these were posted recently on the GardenWeb Flooring Forum which is a terrific place to research consumer experiences with all types of flooring and building products. […]

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A  few years back, some friends of ours described an inexpensive, solid pine floor installed in a home they visited in East Texas. We never had a chance to see this mythical floor in person, but the mister didn’t need no stinkin’ first hand experience to come up with his own version.
The upstairs gameroom floor is complete:

Our […]

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Someone Who Shall Remain Nameless brought home some uninvited germ-y house guests and, as of this writing, 3 out of 4 Brz’s are feeling mighty rotten. As there seemed no point in keeping the mister awake as one of my lungs tries to make a break for independence, I thought I’d entertain the troops with […]

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A few follow-up pictures:

Leather top all ruined and stuff following the leather dye application.  I tried a deglosser and dye for leather shoes and handbags. Unfortunately, once started there was no way to take it all back despite the ick. 
Very sad…
Rescue procedures are in the works so All Is Not Lost (just in case anyone was worried :)  ) […]

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(I think I’ve ruined my mahogany tables.)
The leather dye was actually a thick, paint-type thing and now they look like a pair of old saddle shoes… only without the nostalgic factor or the tiniest element of cute.
Pictures to follow–
Sniff.
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Another gorgeous day– perfect for an afternoon on the front porch. And since the Mrs. can’t sit still for any length of time, she was soon joined by the set of mahogany tables found last week at the thrift store. The price was right, the condition questionable. Fortunately, an internet search turned up quite a few recommendations for Howard Restor-A-Finish. […]

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So exciting! We’re almost, possibly, very close to being done… how much fun is this?
Some pictures just for grins:

New Kohler toilet with 1 1/2 gallon flush, pedestal sink ($108 from Lowes), Price Pfister high-neck faucet in chrome, medicine cabinet with doors on two sides, chrome bar light with four round bulbs. Tub was too dirty […]

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The laminate installer made an appearance today, bringing us much closer to our goal of a Feb. 1st move-in. One more week of push, push, push and hopefully, the Magnolia house will be ready to rent. Ad goes in the paper Monday.

Cabinets Before: Stained, glazed and polyurethaned but sadly, counter-deficit.

And after: Wilsonart laminate installed on […]

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 We made it over to the house late last night to check on the tile installation.

Couldn’t get back far enough to get a shot of the entire kitchen without stepping on the newly laid tile.

A slightly different angle
Some preliminary ceramic tile photos:

I’m really liking this terracotta color. The texture on this tile is particularly nice.

A […]

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The cabinets are glazed~! For complete DIY instructions, try Ask The Decorator– (includes an excellent video and checklist.)
Marc Bridges is a dear friend and I can’t thank him enough for his help. After a full day cutting hair at one of the swankiest hair studios in Houston (M Salon, on Richmond), he drove to the middle of nowhere […]

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Marc’s on his way over right-this-minute. As soon as he arrives, we’re going over to Magnolia to glaze the kitchen cabinets~ Happy Dance! (The mister would like to point out that, technically speaking, he and Marc will glaze and I will chronicle for posterity via digital imaging although I would like to point out that no […]

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Mr. Brz likes the idea of ceramic tile counters and doesn’t need any elaborate justification. Unfortunately a couple of issues are hindering the advancement of counter materials in Texas from laminate to tile.

Measurement of the stove space shows exactly 30″… no more, no less meaning even the thinnest tile might interfere with stove installation.
The bid […]

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At high noon, the mister heads out the door for an afternoon of fun and profit sanding kitchen cabinet doors. At 12:01, Mrs. Brz heads out the door to visit her mother. At 12:04, the phone rings, child-unit #3 fields an emergency call from a highly agitated Mr. Brz.  At 12:08, a face appears at […]

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It’s time to call the laminate installer to get an estimate for new countertops in the Magnolia house. As much as I love/hate laminate, its really the only choice that makes economic sense for a house at this price point. But while laminate may be inexpensive, it scratches and burns, serious drawbacks for a rent house. Looking at dozens of […]

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An experimental pine floor installed in a rent house kitchen has held up well. Mr. Brz used a combination of 6 and 8″ boards (the type generally used for shelving), beveled the edges and used Miniwax Golden Oak stain to darken it up a bit. Six coats of polyurethane and 2 years later and it looks exactly the same.
We […]

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Dad and DD1 back in ‘87 on the deck he made of salvaged airport landing pads from Ellington Field
My dad use to take me hunting as a kid. As far as I know, he never picked up a rifle after leaving the Marine Corp, but he loved a good bargain and rundown shacks were his specialty. […]

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Flooring is probably one of the trickiest choices in a rental. We’ve switched to hard floors of one type or another in all our units. Carpet isn’t cheap and just looks nasty after a couple of years–even with shampoo, it never looks clean and I *really* don’t like thinking about what’s been ground into those […]

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