2.27.2011

Hi, I'm Erin, and I'm a part-time germophobe.

Yes. Lysol is my best friend. This confession will make more sense as you continue reading, mainly because my germophobic tendencies are responsible for what you are about to see.

To give you a hint, let's just say that I haven't felt the need to wash my hands as often now that the living room floor looks like this:


But let's rewind. Here's what the floor looked like approximately 48 seconds before my germophobia got the better of me we decided to go on a carpet-tearing spree:


It looks innocent enough from this safe distance (and it's even safer if you're looking at from the comfort of your home which may or may not be within 1000 miles of it), but upon close inspection, we discovered stains that made me squirm. Rick, being a gentleman, offered to lay down his jacket over the carpet so I wouldn't have to walk on it, but then decided it would make more sense to just remove said carpet. Not to mention that this alternative would save severe wear and tear on his poor coat. So, down on his knees he went:


When he finished yanking up the carpet itself, we discovered this:


Ew.

Now, I'm sure most carpet pads have stains. In fact, it would probably be unusual for them not to. But the fact that they were not my stains and could have been created by anything from a spilled can of Coke to--(well, we won't go there) was enough cause for me to want to high-tail it out of the room and not come back unless armed with a Hazmat suit. In the interest of not generating yet another eye-roll from my husband, though, I instead forged ahead by crawling around the perimeter of the room yanking out the staples holding the above gem to our hardwood floors. Rick took care of the tack strips and molding that we needed to remove in order to finish the job.

Rick's favorite feature of this picture  is circled above. Can you tell what it is?
 Our downstairs main living area (which flows via double doors from the den to the dining room) is now a clear shot of hardwood flooring from front to back:


I'm ready for my close-up.

Hooray for stain-free floors! :)

Linking this to the Tatertots & Jello weekend wrap-up party!

8 comments :

  1. Amy@ Journey Mum6/01/2011

    Those floors look amazing! Why in the world would anyone cover them up? It's amazing to see a floor in that great a condition, usually you'd have to refinish it. Congrats!!

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  2. Jenn@P&C6/01/2011

    bahahaha no stain is ok unless you made the mess and spilt the food yourself! or other stuff! omg ew!!!!!!!!

    This is why I haaaate renting! ahhh my days of renting homes are totally numbered though! fingers crossed!

    congrats on your gorgeous germ free floors! =)

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  3. Amanda6/01/2011

    What beautiful floors, lucky you!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Karen@StrictlySimple6/01/2011

    So glad that all that worked yielded you some wood floors beneath. At our last house we tore up the family room carpet right after we moved in. Apparently it was the only room (praise the Lord!) that the family allowed their pets to use. Why you ask am I so glad the animals didn't use the house? The carpet smelled like urine. We should have been skeptical of the burning candles every time we came to see the house! As a germophobe you would have been losing your lunch at the condition of the carpet pad. There weren't enough rubber gloves in the Northern hemisphere for me to touch it.

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  5. I love the wood floors. I'm your newest follower. I would love it if you linked your project up to my link party.
    More The Merrier Monday.
    http://diyhshp.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. Rachel6/01/2011

    That would be a JoAnn Fabrics bag if I am not miistaken. :-)

    I have also joined the wonderful world of blogspot.com. I have come to the dark side (and I need your help...I can't figure out how to customize my background and what not...and add tabs to my blog and stuff. All I can figure out is the generic stuff already on the site and what fun is that?

    Awesome floors. I told Adam a few days ago that I wanted to rip up the carpet in the living room and refinish the floors like my Mom did in my room and the Ivy room...he just stared at me for a few seconds and then was like, "Our house was built in 2003...under the carpet is concrete sooo....good luck with that."

    Makes me sad...our carpet is ugly and its the same color in the entire house. It is gonna have to go eventually but we are gonna have to get another dark colored carpet because....well...love Adam to death but the boy can't NOT spill crap on the floor.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Those floors are stunning - I can't imagine ever wanting to cover them up with carpet! And I'm totally with you on the "my" stain thing. It's one thing knowing that the funny spot on my carpet is from the time I knocked over a can of Diet Coke, it's a whole 'nother story to not know where the funny spot came from.

    ReplyDelete
  8. That would be a Joann's bag, naturally. ;)

    Lysol is your bf? Lysol is MY bf. But, that shouldn't come as a surprise. Fellow germaphobe at your service.

    Let's get to the highlight of this post. Those floors make me want to jackhammer my tile. Now. What I wouldn't give for hardwoods in our whole house. Wow! (We ripped up our carpet in the bedrooms years back and laid "wood" (aka high-quality laminate), but the real McCoy all over would be grand...and so un-South Florida like. ;) So weird how there was a time frame of trends when people wanted to cover their hardwood floors. I'll never understand that one. (Pretty sure it was the '70's.)

    I won't go into my first guesses of what those stains were. Ahem. Moving on...

    So, here I am, commenting on a post from over a year ago...because that's just how I roll. (Told you I was going to stalk your blog and catch up. I'm just gettin' crankin'. ;)

    ReplyDelete

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