Goodbye Mauve Carpet...

We did one of my favorite updates on the house just as school was letting out and it has made a world of difference: We got rid of more mauve carpet.

Lets go down memory lane for just a minute. When we moved in three years ago - it was all mauve carpet (and a few areas of fake wood).


A year and a half ago we ripped out our first batch of carpet and laid hardwood. It felt so good. But it made it that much harder to put up with the mauve carpet we had left. Another year and a half passed and we were ready to replace another chunk of carpet. We had company coming for Steve's parent's anniversary so we figured we would push the project into high gear to get it done before they arrived, so we didn't have to cringe when we saw them walking without shoes on!

I'm a list person and my projects come with complete lists of tasks that need to be completed. There was a slight snowball effect when it came to removing all the upstairs carpet, as well as the stairs and Bennett's room. It started with the massive cabinet in our loft upstairs. I knew I didn't want the cabinet long term, which meant we needed to remove it so we could carpet underneath it. This was a task and a half.



This cabinet was a single unit and it was heavy. I figured it was still in great condition and it would be great storage in the garage.

We started by emptying all the books and random items that ended up in it over the two years.


I didn't realize just how much stuff was in there - Steve asked halfway through emptying, "Where are you planning on putting all these books?" Great question, didn't think that through completely. I just knew the unit had to go in order to get carpet, so out it went.

We called some strong men over to lend a hand (and a back) and I honestly thought they would just carry it down the stairs. This is where it got a little hairy...I've come to the conclusion that the unit was either assembled upstairs, or the staircase didn't have a railing yet. It was that difficult.

These guys seriously worked at this. They shuffled and slid and moved lights. Changed positions. Took it back to the top of the stairs and reevaluated. Steve at this point was probably cursing me under his breath wondering why in the world could we not just keep the cabinet upstairs until the day we die. I was ready and willing to cut the thing into toothpicks to get it out of the house! But these patient helpers kept coming up with new solutions...and you know what...one of those solutions worked.

It is now happily situated in the garage full of goodness (i.e. power tools and such).

With the cabinet removal checked off my list, I moved on to painting the staircase. And after that was complete, we were ready to carpet.

Tears of joy were shed (only slightly exaggerating) as I saw the workers cut that carpet, roll it and carry it out on their shoulders. Watching the dirt fall out of it as they carried it out was enough to make me throw up in my mouth just a bit!

In all it's gray glory - it's done! (We've only got our bedroom and the playroom left, wahoo!)



And because a project is never truly complete...I've got some work to do upstairs where the cabinet once stood.


Add it to my task list!