project 760 - phase 1

Pulling up the carpet was the first in a list of things to do that we've affectionately dubbed "Phase 1". (You can see the complete list here.)  During this time we were nomads, moving from place to place, avoiding drywall dust and varathane fumes.

We didn't know where to start, so we chose the messiest job first - drywalling over the popcorn ceiling in the living room and front entrance. This coincided with a dog-sitting gig, so we could move out and leave the job to the experts - Handy Andy (our contractor) and Gary Taper. Sadly no photos exist of the drywall project, but here is Eddie with Aaron.

Our next project was re-finishing the hardwood floors. The floor guy wasn't able to start right away, so in the meantime we got ready to start painting. This plan came to a quick halt after chatting with the paint store lady about all the projects we were tackling, including the floors. It turns out that paint needs to "cure" before it is completely dry. If we painted right before doing the hardwoods, all the dust from sanding the floors would stick to the walls and make a big goopy mess. Disaster averted; Phase 1 delayed.

Eventually it was time for the floor guy to come. All of our worldly possessions had to be jammed into the basement, the kitchen or the bathroom (the only places without hardwood floors). All of our doors, including closet doors, had to be removed. And we had to be out of our house for at least a week while the floors were sanded down, sealed with an oil-based finish, and left to dry. We spent one night in Aaron's parents' basement, a weekend at my cousin's condo, and finally treated ourselves to a few nights at a hotel. It was totally worth it. Our floors look amazing. (Here they are after the sanding, but before the finish was added.)

Total time elapsed since Day 1 - 84 days

aloha!

After our first day of successful renovations, we decided we deserved a break. Here's Aaron enjoying some refreshing coconut water. In Hawaii.

Yes, right before we bought a house, we booked a two week vacation to Hawaii. Because really, who buys a house in January?  And even if you buy a house, don't you have a few months before you actually move in?

Not for us. Our timeline went something like this: book a trip to Hawaii, buy a house two weeks later, move in three weeks after that, leave the country one week after that.

If we had known we were going to buy a house with a February possession date, we probably wouldn't have booked a trip to Hawaii. So we're really glad we didn't know . . . because we would have missed out on a fantastic trip. We swam at Waikiki Beach in Honolulu, hiked through Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island, and watched whales from the balcony of our condo in Maui. All while escaping the coldest weeks of Winnipeg winter.

Then we came home to this:

Yes, that is our bed in the living room. Apparently houses in the 1950s were not built to accommodate queen sized beds, because our box spring wouldn't fit up the stairs no matter how hard we tried.

As for everything else, we couldn't really unpack until we had re-finished the floors, drywalled the living room ceiling, and painted. It would be another three months before all that was done.

project 760 - day 1

The day we got the keys to our house was a very exciting day. And we didn't waste any time starting the renovations! On the first night, we pulled up the carpet.

When we bought the house we knew there were hardwood floors underneath the carpet. I'm an optimist, so I assumed they would be in good condition. In hindsight this was probably naive. But we were lucky.

The good news . . . the floors didn't have any water damage or stains. The bad news . . .the carpet had been in place for over 40 years, and in some spots the underlay was completely stuck on.

There were also a lot of staples to be removed. (My lovely sister helped us with the  job.)

But by the end of Day 1 we had already checked one thing off the list. This was going to be easier than we thought.