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Job is done, it is time to sit!
Can you hear that? No, of course not-but I can. I have a little echo in my house, the kind you get when carpet no longer lines the floor.
This was my weekend project, to tear up and take out the carpeting in my hallway and living room. This being manual labor, I wasn’t sure I had it in me- but I am happy to say, six hours later, the patter of the dogs paws echoes throughout the house, boys are doing the sock-slide across the living room and I am hearing an echo of happiness in my soul.
When I bought this house four or five years ago, the carpet was the one thing I absolutely hated. My previous two rentals had hardwood, an allergy sufferer’s dream come true. Sure, mopping them all of the time proved to be a pain in the rear, but I could live with it, especially as I reveled in my colorful thermal socks in the winter months.
So I bought my carpeted house with the goal of one day trading the carpet in for wood floors. I knew it would be awhile, because the kind of floors I wanted to buy would not be cheap. The wait was on, and in the meantime, besides the daily abuse a family of five and a cat does to a carpet, I added two dogs and a cat to the mix. With more pet hair and more stains required more vacuuming and a new slew of swear words that were muttered under my breath as I tried and failed to keep up with it.
I talked with a friend and we wondered out loud about the age of my house and the possibility that the carpet could be hiding wood floors. Inside I laughed, thinking I couldn’t be that lucky. Since then, something nudged at me…what if? With small razor knife, in a corner of the living room and a little peek revealed the revelation I was dying to see-there were hardwood floors.
My sons became my partners as we pulled, rolled and tied carpet. They stooped down with me and removed staples as I carefully pried carpet tack out of the edges of the floor. My oldest son and I moved and rearranged furniture, my youngest son was an excellent sweeper of the dust. We all had to encourage the dogs and cats to stay out of the way, to no avail.
At the end of the afternoon, the boys sat in their chairs, satisfied with the job well done. I surveyed the room and hallway, deciding that I will have to eventually refinish the floor, but I could definitely live with them for now. So much better than the carpet that previously inhabited that space.My house typically overwhelms me, the work that needs to be done versus the money that it costs to repair it that I never seem to have. Sometimes it is the work involved that I don’t know how or, more realistically, that I really have no desire to do. Whether it is major or minor yard work, walls that need to be painted or minor repairs, taking care of it just isn’t my cup of tea. Maintaining it is a must, and I do what I have to do. But the extras, well that is what they are, extras, and they wait.
This task, with the help of my boys, became manageable and the results made me happy. I went to bed sore and tired, and fully satisfied. Maybe I could tackle that other stuff, especially if I feel this good after it is done.
The sounds of success not only echo through the house, but through my heart. I am only as successful as I set myself out to be and my failure is a result of selling myself short.
Yeah! We purchased a house earlier this year & found hardwood under a laminate wood floor. Go figure!
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