Goodbye Nasty

Now that we finally finished painting, we could finally pull up the nasty old carpet. We had been using the carpet as our dropcloth, because, hey, it was there, and we weren't planning to keep it. After all, a nasty variegated avocado green/brown/orangish carpet doesn't exactly go with the teal walls...

A picture of the carpet from our first day:


I think I left out the part where it still smelled of old lady - kinda like a powder puff, but older.

We started in the hallway, since it was the smallest bit of carpet and thus easier to deal with. The carpet came up no problem; the carpet padding was stapled within an inch of its life. Using pry bars, screwdrivers, pliers -- or whatever ever else worked! -- we gradually got all those staples out of our floor. And then, as a treat, we got to pull up the tacking strip, which was only nailed down with the biggest nails I've ever seen!

But it was worthwhile, because underneath we found...

Beautiful, almost pristine hardwood floors! There were a couple of water spots by the bathroom, but who cares? We didn't have to redo the floor!


All the things that look like fuzzballs in this picture are actually staples.

So then we started on the living room/dining room and it was basically the same deal. Carpet, no problem. Carpet pad, stapled like crazy. Tacking strips, biggest nails ever.



While we were working on the living room, Evan's parents showed up and helped us finish up.


Evan and his dad toss the nasty carpet.


Evan's mom pulling up the carpet padding.

And within an hour of them showing up, the four of us removed all the carpet bits and all the staples. And that was that.


A pretty floor.


Copper approves, even though we wouldn't let him chew on the tacking strips.

And it was a good thing we finished so quickly. Right after we took out the last bit of carpeting -- it snowed!