Pst. Turns out I need internet to share on the blog! After a few mishaps with our cable company I’ve resorted to running down the street to a coffee shop to hit publish so this post is just a few demo shots. Hoping to be back up and running by this weekend : )
Happy Demo Day! Our most anticipated day yet of homeownership. We luckily did not have to do anything crazy with walls or moving electrical, but our story involves plumbing and 45 year old carpet.
Did I just lose you after that? Don’t worry I won’t share those detail pictures : )
So, we left off with a tour of the before-as-is-when-we-opened-the-door house. Today we’re ripping it apart! Approximately 7 or 8 minutes (literally) into physically being at the house, I was opening windows and going out to stare at the yard and deck. When I came back in and turned the corner, I saw THIS.
This man wastes no time! Our plan was to rip out the old white carpet in the living room, dining room, master and staircase so we could replace it with wood, and we gave ourselves two days to get it done. We followed a simple pattern: Rip up 3′ sections of the carpet with a crowbar and knife and roll it up. Rip up 3′ sections of the carpet pad with a crowbar and knife and pull it up. Remove tack strips with a small crowbar and hammer. Repeat. We got lucky and did not have to fight with too many staples, but went around with some needle nose pliers and flat head screw driver later on to get them all up.
So, we kept cutting and rolling…
and cutting and rolling (sorry garbage man!)…
until we hit our first speed bump. The stairs.
Upon peeling back two pieces, we discovered that the whole staircase was unfinished underneath and would require many and many o’ benjamins to convert. This house was built in 1979 and was not finished with a single inch of hardwood floor anywhere. We would need to replace each tread and riser and completely redo the spindles (which break more easily than you’d think) since they were nailed into the plywood below. On top of that, we would need to match our hardwoods to it, which, without spoiling anything, would be nearly impossible for my inner perfectionist. So, first punch to the gut was taken, and we decided to keep the stairs carpeted for now (but we will be replacing the carpeting once our budget allows for it.)
Back to the fun stuff… removing vanities! This house has 2.5 bathrooms and none of them have been remodeled since it was built. The cabinets and hardware match the kitchen cabinets, and the countertops are laminate with a plastic ball (technical term) faucet handle.
We would have loved to keep the master vanity for the time being (our master bedroom layout is very similar to Young House Love’s and we love how they updated their vanity in “phase 1”) but since we chose to lay the hardwood into the vanity nook and walk-in closet, we didn’t want to be limited to the layout of the current set-up when we changed out the vanity. So, it had to go.
The number of awkward mirror pics in this house is just going to keep going up. Fair warning.
Matt turned off the water, removed the sink, covered the pipes and pulled up the countertop all very carefully so the cabinets could be saved/donated.
It wasn’t until all of that work was done that we realized the builder had nailed the crap out of the cabinet to each wall, on top of the plumbing coming from the side (usually comes from the back), and we’d have to completely rip it apart just to save the walls. Sorry cabinet. RIP.
Anyone want to come help me clean this up? Bueller… Bueller… Again, sorry garbage man!
After that, we were left with this blank slate. We have some big plans in our heads for a new vanity, but with the amount of work in the rest of the house we’re going to sleep on it and put it on our list for later. I’ll just let you know, in my head it looks fabulous (famous last words). It also does not involve that light fixture in case you were worried. Although at least it’s even now which is an improvement (see above).
So, get excited : P
Next we moved on to the half bath, but I’m going to leave you at that, because I’m late for a hot date with the shop vac to clean up the rooms so the hardwoods can go down! : )
Awkward mirror pic, out.
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