Totally Floored

Since moving into our house in May of 2008, Jared & I have done very little "renovation." Our house was brand new so it didn't need any real upkeep. We bought furniture the first year, added a patio in the summer of 2009, and have done very little since then. When we bought the house, there were very few things that I would have changed on the inside. My major thing was the steps. The steps that lead upstairs, are front and center when the front door is opened. They were carpeted. The first day we looked at the house, I remember loving how bright, fresh, and clean it was. Then I had these nightmares of Jared's work boots on that beautiful white carpet.

Well over the 3 years that we have lived here, he has done pretty well with the carpet. What I didn't mention was our lovely, darling, center of our world dog Dudley. When Dudley was a puppy, he would go pee outside and then come inside, run to the top of the steps, and pee again. Lucky for us, he only weighs 5 pounds, so he pee is more the size of a quarter, not the lake or puddle we would have with a bigger dog. Never the less, it was gross. For a long time, we couldn't figure out when he was doing it. He would go outside, so we figured he was good. As he got older he stopped doing it, but the damage was done. We (Nannie included) used every carpet cleaner known to man to clean that carpet. And for a while it would look okay-but I always hated it.

With the prospect of a little one somewhere hopefully in the near future, I couldn't take it anymore. I wanted that carpet out of there. I did not want to replace it; I wanted hardwood. The plan was to have hardwood in our dining room, and the hallway upstairs. This would flow nicely with the existing hardwood and give our entryway a nice look. Little did we know how hard it would be to find someone who would do the stairs. They needed to be sanded, stained, and finished. Well, we finally found a great carpenter who jumped right on it. Here are some pictures from the project. I took them with my phone, so the quality might not be the best.

Dining Room before

(I didn't think to take pictures before we moved the furniture out)

This is just inside the front door. Notice the dining room to the left and stairs straight ahead. Also of note is Dudley's gate.....

In process of removing carpet...

It took alot of convincing to get him to help me. He worked on the tack strips while I did the staples.

While we waited for help to move the big cabinet, I got this nasty shot. None of these spots were visible on the top side. I guess this is why animal's can always smell where they went. GROSS!

Dining room at sub flooring level. There were no pet stains on this.

Dining room final product!! I love it!!

Stairs before:

Stairs in progress:

Tedious! The tack strips were very difficult. We were trying to do as little damage as possible.

Cleaning...and more cleaning....

Once the carpet was up....on one not quite so beat up!

This is once the carpet and tack strips were up....looking rough!

All stained and ready for paint!

I had agreed to paint the risers once they were stained.....here they are when I first started. For whatever reason the he didn't lay the hallway upstairs until after the stairs were finished, so, you will notice, there is no nosing on the top stair.

A sneak peek of it almost finished. I like how even with limited light it looks so much better painted.

Final product! Well, minus the one piece of trim that goes where the riser meets the tread.

We stayed away for a week while the stairs were done. We were glad to be home. I will post more pics once I get the dust cleaned up and the furniture how I like it. We also need some RUGS!!! I didn't tell Jared that when we discussed the budget for this project!!