When I moved in to my little home in 2005, the one thing I really REALLY didn't like was the tile in the kitchen. It's the thing I liked least about the house. Possibly more so than the CARPET in the dining area... really swell plan, that one. Put carpet under the table. Oh - and it'd be really nice if it was also in the walkway where you come in from the garage...
So - over a year ago I purchased tile, grout, kwikset, a tile saw... and I went to the Tile Class THREE TIMES at Home Depot. AND... I took notes.
So - I am reh-DEE to tile my floor.
See? Ugly, HEINOUS tile.
Now. Please don't insult me and say, "It's not that bad."
Look a little closer. It's 9 inch tile. That's a nice little touch, don't ya think? SERIOUSLY?! Who DOES that?
And here's the carpet.
Because I REALLY want to make a believer out of you, I'm giving you a close up. (I have no shame. This is after a SERIOUS steam clean... and yes, I wipe my feet BEFORE I enter my home) But, you may notice the NEW tile I am going to lay down - it's on the floor, next to the cabinet. Pretty, huh?
SO... when Cowboy and I got back from the cabin in Arkansas on Wednesday, he thought he'd pull up the carpet for me. Very sweet. I know, at this point you expect nothing less, and I haven't painted an untrue picture of him.
Carpet pull we did...
And then we discovered WHY the area had carpet... (and yes, that is Cowboy's hand - I'm revealing him in a manner akin to Wilson from Home Improvement...)
Now this house was built in 1984. That is not sheet vinyl from 1984. There is no way. That harkens back to 1971 at the EARLIEST. I'm not kidding. It's the frightening garbage that's in the back bathroom and under the washer and dryer.
And let's talk about pulling it up. I've decided I can keep the temperature in my house at 55. If I get cold, I can just pick up the scraper and work away. In 20 minutes I will have worked up a sweat, AND cleared a 6 inch swath... it might be a very. long. winter...
Oh man. I've been to 'scrape up linoleum' land and it is not pretty... :) It's doable though. they make scraper things with long handles (looks a little like a cross between a snow shovel and a spatula) but I don't know how expensive they are... Maybe you could rent one? I have also been to "thank God we took the time and ripped up all that nasty linoleum" land and it's a beautiful place to be! :) When we pulled our kitchen carpet up, we found out that someone had also stapled through the linoleum into the sub floor... so we couldn't use the scraper thingy because we'd scrape for an inch and then hit a staple... i had some harsh words I wanted to say to that 1970's genius... :)
ReplyDeleteyou go, home improvement girl!!!
ReplyDeleteremember the pink paint at wal-mart??? if you haven't already told cowboy that story, you must go call him right now!!! remember how i found you by following the FOOTPRINTS??? because you not only spilled the paint, you walked through it??? OH! my side hurts just remembering the laughter!!!