Sweat Equity

A year and a half ago, when we redid the kitchen, we had the old wallpaper in the hall removed and the hall painted, all nice. Makes a huge difference. The one thing we didn't change at the time was the carpet, which covered only the stairs and upstairs front hall (a nine-foot by four foot stretch from Avocado's old room to my bedroom, with the front bath on one side and the entry to the livingroom on the other). This carpet--cream colored, give or take, was not in pristine condition when we got here. After five years of occupancy and one dog, it was pretty awful. About two months ago the Spouse and I ripped up the carpet in the hall, which revealed hardwood with an inset pattern to match the living room. Not in brilliant shape, but certainly refinishable.

This weekend we have ripped the carpet and calcifying carpet pads up from the stairs. Whoever put down this carpet (or the several generations of carpet we think must have occupied the stairs) worked on the theory that you cannot have too many staples. Cause, God knows, this is earthquake country, and your carpet might shift and destroy the world or something. It has been today's job to pull out the staples, some of which were so far into the risers that they had to be gouged out. The stairs, unlike the front hall floor, are not in excellent shape; our plan is to sand them, paint them, and put braided carpet treads on them.

I have a wee puncture on one finger, a scrape on another finger, and a big-ass blister in the palm of my hand which came from wielding the screwdriver to prise out staples. Spouse is finishing up the job.

Bit by bit, we are returning some of the charm to this house which was originally surgically removed.