Secrets Under The Carpet

Since I didn't have a chance to get a little crafty this week, I thought I "wood" share with you a project I did back in December.  Enter my living room.

When I moved in this house in 2006 I immediately found out that under the wall to wall carpeting there was hardwood floor because I took a small portion of the carpet out by the front door to alleviate any wear marks. After that we decided to pull up the carpet in my daughters room. Clearly I knew the entire house had hardwood flooring under the carpets.  We were cautious about removing all of it in fear that my pets might scratch it. However, we have pine flooring in the den which has showed no effects from their nails so I had pondered the idea of removing all of the carpets in the house. I love hardwood and knowing how much it costs to install it new these days I realized that I had a hidden treasure under the threads..

I had a rug covering the carpet in front of my fireplace to help with flying embers and hiding the sins of a chewed up red marker.. I think you can imagine how much anything red in carpets is an unfortunate event.

So, this past December I decided to rip up the carpets. My family wasn't thrilled with the idea as they thought it would look funny. My husband put his foot down with me entering the bedroom as he didn't want to 'put his foot down on a cold floor in the winter'. Thank goodness there was a seam just as you entered the bedroom which made my job much easier.

I will not sugar coat this post as it was a difficult job for me to do. The floor underneath had at least 1,000 staples in it and not one but two tack strips from previously laid carpets. It was a nail biting experience for sure and one that still gives me a pain or two in my lower back and a bump on my knee from kneeling on a tack or two.

However, the result was tremendous. I couldn't be happier. I did however run into a strange pattern in the floor where apparently the original floor had stopped and a new one began with an entire new stain color. There are a few scratches and one discoloration where water had apparently sat at one time or another. There are a few pieces of molding that need to be added. However, for the time being I absolutely love the results! 

Soon, I'll call someone in to refinish the floor and decide on a final stain color. But, until then I'm content with the look. Oh, and guess what my family said... "It looks great!"