Monday, July 8, 2013

Renovation Step #2- Goodbye Carpet, Hello TV...

You know how they say that your mattress doubles in weight after 10 years? I wonder if the same if true for carpets.  The carpets in my sewing room were almost 13 years old, so they had some age to them, and removing them was the next step in the renovation.

To recap, after painting, the room looked like this...

Sewing Room after paint
Having never before pulled up carpeting, I sort of assumed you'd cut the existing carpet in strips and just roll it up along with the pad and cart it away.  I naively thought the pad just laid under the carpet.  I had no idea it was held in place with a bazillion staples, each of which had to be removed!  I was smart enough to know that there were tack strips around the outer wall; however, I was unprepared for just how sharp those things are.  We had to break them down into smaller pieces to throw away (one of my jobs), but really, have you ever tried to grab one of them?  There's no place to hold them because nails stick out both sides.  Hauling the carpet away was heavy, but having never moved new carpet, I can't say if the old is heavier than the new stuff.  Removing the old carpet wasn't a terrible job, just dirty and much more time consuming than I expected.  Then again, every job is more time consuming than I expect.  It's my thing.

Sewing Room with the carpet removed
My husband took the next day to sand all the rough patches on the floor and to remove the baseboards.  Initially I thought we could leave them in place, install the floor and just put quarter round up, but we decided it'd be better to put the floor under it.

So the carpet/floor cleanup took one weekend and the following weekend was spent picking up cabinets and installing the TV.  What I expected to take a few hours mounting the television, ended up taking about 7 hours.  However, when I think about all the steps involved it makes sense.  We had to install a new electrical outlet and a new media outlet, move the coax cable, pull all the media cables through the wall, install the TV mount, hang the TV and fix some of the sheet rock.  Actually I'm surprised it didn't take the whole weekend!

New wall mount and cables
The TV's not actually a new purchase.  My husband got a new TV for Christmas last year and the old one was moved up to my sewing room.  I'm excited that there's just enough space to the left of it for me to make a little wall hanging.  Because the ceiling is slanted in here, wall space is at a premium, so it's hard to find room to hang quilts.


Step by step, it's slowly getting done.  Actually, the cabinets have been installed, the floor is almost done and I ordered the counter tops today (but I'll share those pictures soon).  It's still probably going to be another 6 weeks or so before it's completely finished, but that'll be here before I know it.  Besides, patience is a virtue!

Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.
Colossians 3:12 (NLT) 

5 comments:

  1. I know you are excited to get it finished and moved in. Since I moved my longarm upstairs I have decided that room needs a new coat of paint and have someone coming to paint this week. I am painting it Pigtail Pink... only on the knee wall.. all other will be white. If I did the painting, it would take a gazillion weeks. :)

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  2. What a lot of work! It is really going to be worth it, though. We used to watch DIY programs that would give a difficulty rating and maybe a time approximation and we would laugh. They didn't allow repeated trips to the DIY store to buy more or return, etc! I'm really enjoying your progress posts--it is fun to see the room transform.

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  3. I enjoyed reading your post and then I got to the bit about the quilts and wallhangings and felt I should ask if you had considered using two sleeves on your quilt - one at the top and another at the bottom and then threading dowel through each end and attaching to the wall so that you could hang your beautiful creations on the sloped ceilings. Hope it gets finished soon and you are happy in your new space.

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  4. Love being able to follow the progress Dee. Looking good so far.

    See you tomorrow.

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  5. It does take more time than you think it would. Especially if you are doing it yourselves after work hours and on weekends! Those six weeks will fly by.

    Nan

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