Removing Tile

This lovely tile stretched all the way from the kitchen, around the corner in the TV room and down the entry way right up to the front door, carrying with it bright pink grout.

Not okay.

For obvious reasons that tile had to go. While we had to keep it in the kitchen the rest we hoped would come up easily and reveal more wood flooring. Ha.
First, we tried to hoist it out. And by we I mean my nearly 90 year old Grandfather who is AWESOME:

Go Papa!

As you can see that excersize revealed beneath it a layer of plywood followed by laminate flooring. Great.

So then we tried to get in there with a hand chisel:

Go Husband!

Ugh and double ugh.

So then we called in the Big Guns and our brother-in-law came over for some serious demo.

Almost there...

Hurrah!!

Oh wait. Why is the laminate still there? BECAUSE IT IS SHELLACKED TO THE WOOD BELOW IT AND IT AIN’T COMING OFF!

[Note future project is the above image: paint door or replace door; change out knobs on door and storm door; paint or replace storm door; do SOMETHING with that weird orange glass; paint brick.]

We ended up having to hire a wood flooring expert, who dug out the laminate and replaced just that area with brand new wood.  He was so amazing – you can’t tell the difference between the 1963 wood and the 2007 wood. He’s like the zen master of wood flooring. But more on him later. Behold the finished product:

Gorgeous.

Removing Carpet

I realize there isn’t really anything new to add to the world about the fact that we removed carpet and restored wood floors. I only add it here, because if you’ve done it, you know how instantly gratifying it is.

Just say no to Dusty Rose.

Say "YES!" to hardwood floors!

Yes, it is gratifying, especially since the entire main floor was covered in this nasty pink carpet.  It is fun to roll it back and haul it out.

Fun. Until you get to the tack strip.

Man, that tack strip was everywhere.  It took days to remove and we all were poked 10,000 times with those damn sharp tacks.  AND I had a fever in this picture…just to make sure we all were having super amounts of fun.

But the end result was worth it! Our hardwood flooring guy was a GENIUS. An artist really.  Look what he did!

ooooo

ahhhhhhh

oohhhhhh

So to recap:
BEFORE

Living Room: Before

And AFTER:

Living Room: AFTER

Lovely.