Annnnnndddddd....we have hardwoood :)

My mom and I were discussing how funny it is how things change.  When my mom was growing up, everyone had hardwood in their houses, but what everyone really wanted was carpet, because it was expensive and highly coveted; you were doin' well if you had carpet in your house, lol.  Now-a-days, everyone wants hardwood, instead of carpet.  And it really is amazing how many different colors, styles and materials hard"wood" actually comes in.

But, guess what, that decision was already made for us!  Although the previous owner had installed carpet over the wood floor (as we all gasp), there was indeed, beautiful, never been stepped on hardwood, underneath all that white carpet.  Tige and I thought it was going to look just like the hardwood that is in the kitchen...blond oak.  Not our taste, but not hard to fix; we had picked out a gorgeous grey weathered look for our contractor to match.  However, when my dad and I pulled back all the carpet, what was revealed was a gorgeous, varied oak floor.  I'm definitely not a light oak lover, but this floor shows varying pieces of grey, cherry, yellow and a whole host of other shades running throughout.  How can we pass that up!  The other best part about the floor, is that, now we don't have to have the whole thing refinished.   The kitchen is a little worse for wear after 35 years, so that will have to be refinished.  But with the money that we've saved, we are now able to purchase new carpet for the bedrooms!

Here's the semi before, with just a portion of the carpet pulled back, and here's the finished product.  Well, in this picture, almost finished...my dad was pulling the staples out.  Luckily this room wasn't too big, because it definitely was a process.  Not a hard process, but time consuming.  And, if you try this at home, be very careful when pulling staples (make sure to pull straight up) and caret tack strips, because it's very easy to leave large wholes in the floor.  Nothing that a little wood putty can't fix, but it just adds even more time and money.  My dad was a pro at it, you can't even tell where the holes from the staples are!

 Tige and I plan on doing all the demo work for anything that we can't DIY ourselves (ex: installing a kitchen countertop, or anything to do with plumbing or electrial). This will help you save tremendously when having a professional come in; it cuts down on labor time, and usually, that is the most costly thing about a project.

Next up, painting stripes in the guest room!  I'll be finished painting the base color tonight, and will start on the stripes Wednesday!  I'll give you all details then.......