Taking care of Number One

On the list that is.

Yesterday was the first day of install. These guys were super fast and within a couple of hours I was looking at this sight:

The carpet had all been removed and hauled away. The floor had been vacuumed and sprayed down. I was a little surprised how nice looking the stringers were. It made me wish I had attempted to hardwood them myself like I thought about doing a few years ago. I was just afraid of what kind of builder mess I would find under the carpet, and didn't want to pull the carpet up myself just to say "Ah, crap."

By lunch, they had the upstairs mostly done. Enough for me to take this dizzying photo of the difference between the old carpet and the new.

Huge, huge difference.

I'm so glad we went with the darker choice. It all looks amazing.

By the end of their work day even the downstairs looked like this:

They came back this morning and within three hours they had the downstairs totally completed as well.

It's still very strange to me. Darker. Plusher. Still catches me by surprise when I look at it.

If you have eagle eyes, you can see our sectional in pieces in the basement still. I couldn't wait to take some pictures!

Ryan came home and we moved all the computers and furniture back up to this level.  If I never have to move that freaking heavy awkward sectional again, I'll be a happy camper.

Wait, I have my computer and my internet back. I'm already happy!

Deconstruction

The part of the whole carpet process I've been dreading has happened.

We agreed to move our furniture out of the rooms. Mostly because I don't like other people touching my stuff, but also to save money. Let me tell you, I would have been mortified if anyone had seen the mess under my sectional!! Wowzsa. A pack of rats must have went under there and shed all the hair they had! So not nice.

Anyways, early this morning my sitting and dining room looked like this.

And in a surprisingly short amount of time, it now looks like this:

Ninety percent of the stuff from four bedrooms and a hall closet, including doors.

Not so bad really. It took way less time than I thought it would and took up way less space than I thought. We arranged to have the carpet installed in two separate visits, as I really didn't think we had room to put all the furniture from two levels into the other two levels but we did it. We even had time and space to empty Clayton's room, which we weren't going to do until the upstairs carpet was totally installed. The sectional is moved and downstairs. I hope to not move it again until we sell it! Wow, what a heavy awkward piece of furniture.

It will all be worth it though. The carpet we have now is nasty. I don't know as people actually notice the stains, but downstairs they are the most visible.

Even in this picture it's hard to see, but all those dark shaded spots are really stains. Stains that never go away. Having rolling office chairs has not helped this poor carpet either.

I can't wait.

The chairs have been sold. The furniture has been moved. The nasty hair has been vacuumed.

Bring on my new carpet!

Who wants to come help move furniture?

When we first moved into this house I loved everything. The white kitchen cupboards. The black sink and faucet. The wall color. The carpet. Everything.

And everything looked good.

Well of course it did, it was all only a year old. It hadn't met vomiting children. Artistic children. It hadn't met a dog with an upset stomach and a serious hair loss problem. It also hadn't met cats. Cats with claws. Sharp ones. And when those went missing, teeth.

Out of all the calamities that this house has met, the carpet was no match for the cats.

You see, the cats didn't like getting stuck in the bedrooms. They were smart cats. They knew that if their human underlings heard a certain sound, they would come running. That frustrating door that was keeping them from their kibble would open and life would be alright again. What was that sound? Oh, it was only the sound of Berber carpet, the bane of my existence, ripping up, one pop of carpet loop at a time. Lovely.

We attempted to stop the problem quickly. We had them declawed. Bastards were wrecking my carpet. Turns out those bastards weren't just cute and cuddly, they were devious and smart. What happens when you don't have claws to make that certain sound to make your human underling come running? You use your teeth.

Are you picturing toothless cats right now??  Okay, how about I just show you this picture instead.

Exhibit A:

This is the doorway to our room. Isn't it special?

Exhibit B:

This is the entry way to all three upstairs bedrooms. Every last bedroom looks like this. For the last five years.

People, don't install Berber. Ever. Please.

So, after the four thousand dollar cats moved out to my mom's, you would think we would have replaced the carpet.  And we would have liked to, really. We pondered. We delayed. We lived through three little kids having the flu all at once. We potty trained. We got a dog that loses more hair than Ryan. We pushed our computer chairs in and out until the carpet got a couple of creases in it. We steam cleaned and then watched the stains reappear after the carpet dried. Basically, Life happened.

This summer we went to the carpet store and brought home samples. The furthest we've gotten ever in the whole carpet replacement scheme. Ugh, is it ever hard to pick out a color and commit. I have commitment phobia. Now was the time. We had the cash. We had a list. We had to actually decide on something. Then we delayed a little longer.

This last weekend though, we did the deed.

Oh, are you gasping over sticker shock?? Those four thousand dollar cats were actually $6000.00 cats. Awesome ain't it.

You should actually be impressed I picked a carpet color.

I can't wait for it to be installed. We've had a no-cats rule for a year or so. The dog has promised me he'll brush more. The kids are old enough to run to the bathroom. But the best part????

The store we went to has a no-questions asked 60 day replacement warranty if you don't like your carpet for any reason.

Now that's perfect for a commitment-phobe like me!