A couple of weeks ago we picked out our carpet and got the installation scheduled for August 10th. We were hoping for something sooner, but they were over a month out on installations. They added us to the cancellation list, though, so on Thursday of last week, we got a call early in the morning asking us if we would like our carpet installed at 8:00 a.m. on Friday. We said yes! And then we worked really hard for the next 24 hours to get everything ready. We had to lay tile in the basement, move lots of furniture, and remove old flooring. In addition to the basement, we got carpet on all of our stairs (three sets), in our bedroom, in Zoe and Eva's bedroom, and on the landings. Thus, our house quickly turned into this:
Our kitchen and living room were overtaken with bedroom furniture with no space to spare. Several people offered to help us, but Scotty's not into the whole "receiving help" thing (and I'm not too big on it, myself) so we were like, "No, we've got this." But then at 7:00 that night, Scotty agreed to let his dad and brother come help us, and thank heavens he did. They saved us hours of work.
(If you ever get new flooring, just pay the dang money to have the old stuff removed and hauled away! Have a yard sale. Donate plasma. Get a second job. Sell your soul. Whatever you need to do).
We worked late into the night. We had an interesting sleeping arrangement for the evening. We had to put the washer, dryer, and Scotty's desk in Nicky's room, so Nicky had to climb over it all to get to his bed. Daisy's room was untouched - we left it alone so the girls would have somewhere to play, so Daisy had her normal sleeping arrangement. Every other room, even the bathrooms, was affected. Eva slept on the tiny piece of couch in the living room that wasn't covered with stuff. Scotty, Zoe, and I slept on our bedroom floor on a memory foam mattress topper. Then we woke up really early and finished cleaning up carpet staples and getting everything vacuumed.
Fortunately, Scotty's mom called us that morning and asked if the kids wanted to come to her house. I didn't think it would be a big deal to have them at home while it was being carpeted, but I hadn't realized that we wouldn't have anywhere to sit. The bathrooms were inaccessible, and the TV was blocked with furniture, and it was 100 degrees outside, and the installer didn't want us to have any air conditioning on because the heat helps the carpet stretch better. Additionally, the job took much longer than anyone expected. I didn't know it until the installer told me, but I picked complicated carpet, plus we had lots of stairs and doorways to work around. So Scotty's mom rescued us by taking the kids! I would have probably ended up hanging out at my mom's house all day, which would have been fine except that my mom had surgery that morning, so I didn't want to be in her space if it could be avoided.
The good news is that the job got done! We have carpet! And what a treat it is! The forest green berber that has been in our house since the 90's is finally gone!
The installers finished around 4:00 on Friday, and then we worked on getting things put back. I went to my Book Club that night (socially distanced in the host's backyard), and while I was gone, Nicky and Scotty got the couch and TV moved to the basement. Then we spent most of Saturday finishing getting everything put back in order. It was an exhausting three days.
We still have a lot of work to do in the basement, but we have a usable family room - or glorified laundry room, as I like to think of it, since the washer and dryer are in there. We decided not to close off a laundry room because it would make everything smaller. There really isn't an ideal way to build a laundry room in our basement. We now need to finish some closets. One of the unfortunate aspects of our home is that there are no storage closets, so we made sure to fit a nice, big closet in the basement. We started working on our basement nearly five years ago, and in doing so, we made our former family room into a bedroom for Daisy and a storage room. So between the storage room (on level 3) and the closet in the basement (level 4), we will have some efficient organizing capabilities.
It's so exciting to have a little more space in our home! And new carpet is a fancy luxury I've not yet known! Though, after how much work it was, I'm now stating that this is the carpet we will die with.
I know you won't forgive me if I don't include some
sort of photo. This is the best I've got for now.
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