Wednesday, January 29, 2014

living room- quick before and after


when rose lived here- so much pink, squishy carpeting, pastels, carousels...


we feared the fireplace might be pink too, but it was just pink by association... phew!


one day we'll manage to eliminate all of the lilac, but for now, it's still on the front door, and i'll randomly spot it someplace. out!


first night at house...



what a sad, icky carpet



the stairs looked like they'd been partied on by a rat or something.


however, we were getting excited anyway, doing the back-to-back photos:)





ok, getting started now. we pulled up the carpet which was pretty simple, and came up without a fight. the intense work was really all ahead of us, mainly the de-staple/de-nail work, which was brutal!


feeling far less excited now... i'm on the floor pulling out 8,000 staples and tocco's ripping up the nasty bits of long spiked wood around the perimeter. these jobs were tough! maybe we had the wrong tools... though i can't imagine which tool we are without these days.


hours (days? ;) later we were able to do the final sweep... hooray!



we arranged a contractor to come sand it while we were at work. we popped over for a look, and were blown away. a perfect hardwood floor! now that the work is done i'm actually pretty thrilled it was preserved under that carpet for decades. no stains, nothing broken, no patches, just a really pretty floor...



cut to two months later. the view this morning:

(still missing some artwork, a rug, and I want to replace that tv console with something nicer, but it's getting there.)
What a difference. And those stairs (they got their own full day of work) and are pretty perfect now.



ahhhhh

FIN!





3 comments:

  1. What a HUGE huge huge difference!!!! You guys did an awesome job!! (Have you checked Craigslist for a new tv console? I bet you'd be able to find something cheap to re-finish how you want? YHL is always finding mid-century furniture on CL I feel like.) Keep the post coming! I love reading them and seeing all of the progress you guys are making!

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  2. So fun to see your home come together on this blog. It's looking great! Russ and I just bought a place outside Richmond so I may come here for tips.

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    1. Congratulations!! It's a ton of work, but it's not nearly as hard to renovate as I thought. I'd love to see what you and Russ do with your space.

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