Famous last words..."I wonder what is under that carpet?"

Those were the words coming out of my dear husbands mouth on day 2 of an 8 day off stretch for him. We had, just moments ago, been discussing what color of bookcases we were going to put in the office...because that was our project for the week... but now, I had been challenged. We had both been wondering what kind of floor was under the living room carpet since the day we moved in. The carpet was an okay carpet, but it was light colored and with 4 kids, it doesn't work very well, stains show up way too easily. So I found a hammer, and pried up the shiny brass threshold, and then pulled back the carpet and pad, and lo and behold found hard wood flooring that matches the hard wood flooring that is in the dining room!

Unlike the dining room which is stained a honey color, this was stained a beautiful dark wood color, perhaps a mahogany or a reddish walnut! SO beautiful. So, as you can well imagine, we had to take up the carpet. We rolled it back...

And then started the day long project of pulling up the 6 million staples that held down the pad (in addition to the extra set of staples that was left from another carpet)...


and pried up the two sets of tack strips that were all along the edge of the room (one from a previous carpet)


We got our 2 oldest boys to help (sorry about the resolution: dark room, phone camera)

And what we found as we pulled the rest of the carpet and pad back was a center rectangle that was unstained. This is commonly found in older homes (mine is from 1898), they did not stain the center of the floor, but just covered it in an area rug. In fact a lot of the homes didn't use the "good wood" for the center, since it would just be covered in a carpet anyway, and would sometimes use just plywood for the center, so we got lucky!


There were just a few areas that are going to need more work than just a sanding and staining. As you can see in the left and right pics below, there was apparantly something built in that is no longer there! We can only speculate as to what it was, but where the hardwood was taken up they put plywood in its place, so we will try and match up some hardwood planks to repair the damaged area. In the picture on the left the white stuff is filler that was smeared in the cracks, so that will also have to be dealt with. As for the middle pic, it looks like water staining, so hopefully it will just sand out and take a staining okay.


So for now, we have finished the "deconstruction" of the carpet, and have put the room back together. We got an area rug for the center and will probably put our work on hold until after the holidays. So here is the semi-"finished" room:


So consider this part one of the living room facelift, I will blog more as we get more done.

Unending webs of work...

Do you ever get caught up in a web of things to do? For example, here is my web... I need to get my kids' clothes sorted and the summer stuff put away, but before I can do that I need their rooms cleaned but before I can do that I have to move my oldest back down to the basement room but before I can do that I have to finish getting it cleaned up and painted but before I do that I need to wash clothes so that the kids have clean clothes to wear but if I do that I need to put them somewhere so I need the drawers cleaned out and sorted.... It's a neverending web of things that need to be done but can't be until something else is done... It is so very frustrating! I need to create a plan of action and follow through with it. I run into these webs everyday. Sometimes its a short time web like I need to fix dinner but before I do that I need to wash dishes but first I have to feed the baby but before that I need to change his diaper and on and on and on! My brain gets very scattered sometimes! Does anyone else feel the same way? So here is what we are gonna do. Find a web in your life. I'm gonna start with the whole organize clothes-cleaning rooms thing. Try and find a start point for your task. And then JUST DO IT! I will keep you updated to my progress! You let me know yours!

Housecleaning vs. Housekeeping vs. Homemaking

Is there a difference? I believe there is. Lets take a look...
Lets start with housecleaning. Well that is fairly self explanatory. Housecleaning is, well, cleaning house. Doing what needs to be done to make the house clean. If you are a mom it means picking up toys and clothes. Picking up the items that are on the floor that don't belong on the floor. Vacuuming or sweeping said floor and making sure it is clean, so washing the floor or carpet when needed. It means taking care of dirty dishes lying about. Making your living space clean. Most people do this daily. There are some who don't and they either don't have kids, pets, or spouses, or they live in a dirty house. But housecleaning is something that generally everyone needs to do on a daily basis.
Now lets look at housekeeping. House - keeping.... keeping house. What does that mean exactly. Well, part of it is the daily house cleaning, because if you are going to keep house, it needs to be kept clean. I also think that part of housekeeping is making it a comfortable living space. So that means going a little beyond the keeping it clean spectrum. Things like adding decor, a flower arrangement, an art piece, a decorative rug or throw pillows. So now we not only have a clean house, it is comfortable and clean. I think it also means making sure that there is toilet paper in the bathroom, light bulbs at the ready should one burn out... essentials like that. Things that you would not expect your hired housecleaner to take care of.
Now how about Homemaking. Making a home. That sounds so much nicer. This in my humble opinion is everything that is described above...the cleaning and the keeping... but then adding the special touches that make it home. What makes a house a home? Well, I think that would vary person to person. For me, its the pictures of my children on the wall, its their artwork on the refrigerator, its my favorite coffee on the shelf, the favorite cereal in the cabinet. The home made craft items made for me by my sister for a Christmas gift hanging on the wall. It means coats for all six of my family members hanging together in the entryway. This is home. It means there is sometimes an occassional doll or truck left on the floor. There is a coffee cup that my dear husband last drank out of in the sink. There are many times little fingerprints on the mirror. It means that a lot of time it isn't possible to have a clean house, but rather a picked up home. Because if there are children present, it becomes cluttered. And they are only children once. My great aunt once gave me a plaque for the wall that read "Cleaning the house while the children are growing is like shoveling snow while it's still snowing". I truly believe this, and my kids prove it to me daily. We try and stay ahead of the clutter, but I don't think we are ever done cleaning.