Weekend Warriors

Those of you that know me well know that I like to watch HGTV.  We haven't had cable for 5 years, so the first thing I do when I get into my hotel room when I am traveling is turn on HGTV.  I enjoy watching the transformations take place and the satisfaction people have when the projects are done.  They always show the projects in process too, but let's face it, the proportion of time spent on the before and the after is equal to if not more time than is spent on the actual rennovations.  As a viewer, I like it that way.  I don't want to see the mess.  I want to see the finished product.  I am realizing that as a homeowner, I am much the same way.  Unfortunately, this isn't television.

This weekend, we embarked on our first major home improvement effort.  Since moving into our house two years ago, we've piddled with improvements like putting a backsplash in the kitchen, replacing some light fixtures, planting flowers and getting new appliances.  However, we've never taken on a project as big as the one we just started. 

Before we even moved in, our biggest problem with this house was the floors.  75% of the floors were covered in white carpet.  No, it wasn't bright white, but it was close enough that it shows every speck of dirt, and it's impossible to completely irradicate any trace of a liquid that spilled on it.  So, we knew when we moved in that we were going to keep the carpet until it was so discolored we couldn't stand it anymore.  Two years later, the time has come for the carpet on the first floor of our house, and we started demolishing the old floors yesterday to prepare for new hardwood floors. 

When we first started, it was fun.  The kids were getting into it, picking up the tiles from the entry way and putting them in the trash.  Barrett even got out his hammer and beat on a few of the tiles first; even though he wasn't strong enough to break them, hitting them gave him a sense of satisfaction. 

 

Then, it started getting really messy and started going downhill.  By the end of the day, we'd had to pick up a dumpster bag (which is a genius idea) for all of the trash and I was in tears over the amount of dust that was covering every inch of my house.  Billy worked so hard (and was particularly hard on his hands) that he could barely grip a fork today at breakfast.  It isn't helping any of this that I came down with bronchitis, so I am pretty much useless (hence why I am sitting here writing this blog post while Billy continues to work). 

So, after a whole day of work yesterday, Billy and my dad managed to clear out the tile from the entry way.  When we started, I thought we'd be done in a couple of hours.  I didn't expect us to be cleaning up after the kids went to bed. 

Today has gone more smoothly.  We tore up the carpet in the dining room and Billy started trying to level one side of the floor that slopes down.  When that was done, we transferred the furniture to the dining room and cleared out the living room.  The living room has by far been the easiest part of the project so far.  We cleared probably 4 times as much space today in about half of the time it took yesterday. 

We cut out some center peices of carpet so we would have something on the floors until Billy and his dad start the hardwood installation next Saturday.  Since I didn't really feel like hacking in public this evening, we stayed home for the Super Bowl, ordered pizza, and had a picnic in the living room on the carpet square Billy kept for the living room.  It was pretty perfect actually.  I definitely can't wait until this home improvement project is done, but I am so thankful to have a husband that's willing to do the backbreaking work while still keeping our home livable for the rest of the family.  It definitely makes up for the dust storm that took over my house yesterday!