New Flooring – lots of pics

This Labor Day weekend, Mike and I laboured!   We pulled the 15 year old carpeting up and put down new flooring.  What I anticipated to be a one-day job, and Mike anticipated to be a two-day job, actually took us four days; and we’re still not done.  Of course, neither of us took into consideration that 8 doorways, a fireplace hearth and a bay window would require so much extra time to get the cuts right. (or that whoever put the padding down loved their staple gun as much as they did!)

The flooring is down, and like most home remodeling projects, it has snowballed into needing new baseboards.  But that’s a project for another time.

Below is the project, over the course of 4 days.  Would I do it again….in a heartbeat and I am looking forward to getting the rest of the carpeting in the house pulled and replaced.  Although it took more work than I anticipated, I have been breathing so much easier, have had almost no congestion, and haven’t had one asthma attack since we got the carpet out of the house.  I’d say it was one of those long overdue projects!

The pics:

This is the old rug, 15 years which spanned five dogs and three cats and three humans.

Starting to pull up the carpeting in the hallway

The mess underneath the carpet.

The carpet in the living room is almost all pulled

Sweeping up staples and bits for the umpteenth millionth time.

End of the day and time to take a well deserved break

Finally starting to lay the new flooring

Kneepads were a very worthwhile investment!

Have I mentioned I don't do chaos well?

Neither one of us wanted to move the aquarium, so we waited until we were almost up to it to drain it. It now resides in the kitchen, on the vinyl where sloshing on the floor won't do any damage.

Starting to feel more normal and Little Bear has reclaimed the couch as his perch.

Looking more like home!

Even my laptop desk is back in place and accessible!

And if you’ve made it through all these pics, here’s a closeup of the actual flooring.  Swiftlock25, in Fireside Oak.  (mom this pics for you)

Swiftlock 25, Fireside Oak

Now I’m off to the studio, my mind is overflowing with ideas and projects and I feel a need to touch textiles, not more flooring!

I heard a rumour

I heard a rumour…………………………….

A whisper in the night………………………….

A tickle in my ear…………………………..

It told me if I looked deep enough and uncovered the mess, I may find an old friend…………………………..

Welcome back my old friend, I’ve missed you………………….

It’s good to have you back in your proper spot and uncovered……..now let’s get back to working together!

Sunday Morning Walk

Come with me on a Sunday morning walk around the front yard.  Pull up a cup of coffee if you like, as I’ve taken lots of pictures to share this morning.

The roses on the front side of the studio are first year plantings and seem to love the east facing location:

Yesterday the butterfly bush was bringing in beautiful yellow and blue butterflies.  I’ve got to look up which species they were.

Beside the butterfly bush is an area I really need to tend to.  Somewhere in that mess are 5 hosta plants!

Of course I don’t know what the plant is that’s taken over.  Here’s a closeup and if you know what it’s called, please tell me!

By now the sun is almost above the tree line.  It won’t be long before the temps start climbing today.

When I came home last week, I found the crepe myrtle in full bloom.

And I see today the spiders have been busy building webs in the rock pile.  One day this rock pile will be moved to line all the gardens, but it’s one stone at a time here moving them.

We used the first few loads of rock to build rock walls.  They make a nice background for some late blooming coneflowers.  The big bed of coneflowers has gone to seed now, almost time to harvest the seeds.

I was suprised by the veining in the clematis this morning.  I don’t recall seeing this much definition in years past.  I wonder if it’s because the plant is aging, or if it has something to do with our lack of rain?  Once again the rain goes 5 miles north of us and 5 miles south of us, but we’re in the middle of a band of dryness.

As always, my faithful girl is waiting for me when I come back from a walk.  Today the little noisemaker was outside with her!  But he’s not making much  noise, apparently he barked himself hoarse while I was on vacation and his voice hasn’t returned properly yet.

Hope you enjoyed the walk this morning!