Day 1

We finally have the keys! It's been a long, painful wait, but it's finally over! The first order of business was to hang the Christmas wreath on the front door - compliments of the realtor - and to take a few moments to bask in the glow of every square inch of this house.

We wasted no time in starting demolition. Curiosity, admittedly, was the driving force behind our decision to rip out all the carpet in the downstairs area. The living room and dining room was covered in brown and white carpet. I assume the desired effect was a sort of marbled look, but instead it more closely resembled baby vomit and the contents of a diaper all smeared together fingerpaint-style. When we were originally looking at the house, we had discovered what appeared to be beautiful hardwood floors in one corner of the living room underneath this highly fashionable carpeting. The more carpet we pulled up, the more beautiful hardwood was revealed! We watched years of filth (and what appeared to be rabbit poo in one corner) make its way out into the garage one armful at a time, and resale value dollar signs quietly slipping into our pockets.

Then, in the middle of the floor, we hit the jackpot. What did we find, you ask? A perfectly symmetrical six foot by six foot section of the floor that had been unceremoniously sawed out and replaced with unpainted, untreated, unsealed particle board sheets. Two of them, to be exact. You can imagine how overjoyed we were to find that this huge section of floor (that no single area rug could possibly aspire to cover) was missing.

Alas, as we saw the dollar signs slipping right back out of our pockets, we resolved to look into Pergo Flooring. In a last ditch effort to redeem my good spirits and my hopes for the house (I must point out that this was done without Ross' permission) I began ripping out the carpet on the stairs as well. The stairs, I am glad to say, are in wonderful condition, and will not have to be replaced. They are beautiful.




Looks like tomorrow the staple removal begins. I don't see why it requires 17 million staples and nails to secure carpeting to the floor. Honestly. Who know what surprises tomorrow will bring!

-Ross and Robyn

On a side note, for those who have never ripped carpet out before, I highly recommend it. In fact, I found it very therapeutic. It was really fun! Though, I have to say that having never owned a place where I've lived, I felt a little naughty doing it! I kept feeling like I was going to get in trouble or charged for it! Tee Hee!!