Promises, Promises...

As I like to be a person of my word, I am pleased to say that we made strides on our ever-growing "to do" list here in Museville over the weekend both inside and out. We didn't actually completely finish anything, but sometimes decent progress is very rewarding -- and this is where we stood after the weekend with the living room of the main house:

Not very exciting in and of itself, is it? ... but look a little closer and you'll see something missing - that horrible carpet!

My deceptively heavy antique rug is there, strewn over a chaise, where it has been patiently waiting to be spread out over the floor since I purchased it. I didn't want it laid over the carpet that came with the house, and I knew there was the treasure of hardwood underneath waiting to be revealed. I just didn't know what shape they were in, and honestly, couldn't face another massive project.

*

Until now.

I had lived with this carpet as long as I possibly could, and had spent all the money I was going to having it cleaned and sanitized each month since we moved in -- time to unveil the secrets underneath... I admit I was nervous. This poor house obviously stopped receiving care a long time before we came in a rescued it.


All I could think was, God, please -- no spiders.... I hate spiders...
So far, so good.


And there they were. The 80+ year old 2" oak hardwoods original to the house -- and although in pretty rough shape cosmetically, they were promising structurally.

Now... I have to tell you, if you haven't already figured it out -- I am not a patient person. I have been wanting to rip out this carpet for months, but Poor Tired Husband wasn't coming through on his promises of help. Not that I blame him - Poor Tired Husband didn't want this project house like I did, and I talked him into it -- so it's not always easy to get him excited about all the projects here that have all have one thing in common-- hard work, and lots of it. To his credit, he doesn't complain. Much.

That being said, I've grown tired of the slow progress so I took matters into my own hands. What had been standing in my way was the extremely heavy armoire, the massive book shelving and the sectional and the fact that I couldn't move them alone -

so, tired of waiting,
I just
cut
around
the heavy furniture
with
a utility knife!
HA!

And here's my handiwork. (It's made everyone laugh) If you can't bring Mohammad to the Mountain, bring the mountain to Muhammad...



The people who laid this carpet were staple happy when it came to the padding - I have never seen so many staples. As I peeled back the layers between me and my hardwood floors, I yanked out hundreds of staples with my makeshift handy-dandy tools. The day was quickly turning to evening, and the weekend was slipping by me too quickly.

And then Poor Tired Husband came in - saw the room and began laughing.

Hysterically.

Here, in disbelief, he (and Thing2) inspect my handiwork.

Hey... I told you I was going to get that capet out,

with

or

without

help!

Thing2 is never more than arm's reach away - he has to be in the mix - no matter what it is. Case in point... need I say more? Doesn't look like such a comfortable perch - but he's close to me, and that's where he likes it. Thing1 is smarter and is outside in the fresh air and cool breezes!



The only thing we found in higher quantities than staples was sand. Yep, sand. Beach life and some sand making its way into your house can't be helped, but we were shocked at the amount that we found - at first I thought some crazy person laid carpet over their extremely sandy floors - but then we decided that the sand, over the years, just made its way down through the carpet -- but who comes inside that sandy?! Bleh.

As the sun set, we had all the carpet pulled up, including under the furniture (thanks to the muscle power of PTH) except for under the bookshelving. We're going to pull that up next weekend when we take on the project of painting those shelves and adding a substantial top moulding -- a project for you to see later -- but for now? The rest of that nasty carpet is up, and thankfully (and FINALLY) in the dumpster - the miles of tack strips and staples removed, the raised nails hammered down and the hardwood floor that had been hidden away for far too long was once again front and center. We went to bed with the task of taking closer inspection of the condition of the floors in the morning.
*
Goodnight living room.


The next day, Monday, with its soft morning light showed much work to be done. So an Orbitz sander is now on the list, and decisions for the stain color need to be made, but surprisingly, very little repair needs to be done.
I'm very pleased.


But first things first -- finishing painting the walls, raising and hanging the new rods, the new blinds, putting up the crown moulding and putting the room back together!
*
Stay tuned for the update on what we did to the exterior of Museville over the weekend! I told you I was going to get stuff checked off that list --
and I did!