Monday, September 9, 2013

Destructive and Carpet...August 18th & 19th 2013




As I mentioned in a previous message, we didn't move any of the living room furniture back into the living room, because we were now considering carpet. We had help finding a carpet company, and had set up an appointment to look at types and colors.

This Sunday began as normal, we went to church, and then lunch with the family. While at my FIL's house, we began talking about changes in the living room we wanted to make. We have these half walls in our living room, that are about 4 feet tall, they separate the living room from the entry way and hall way. The really bad thing is that they are painted a black on top; they collect junk, mail, and other items. From the front of the house we could only enter the living from one area between two load barring poles. The poles were sheet rocked and painted the wall color, which on the entry way was gray and now on the inside was a yellow that we had our friend paint it.

Our thinking was to remove the half walls; the difficulty was with the power outlets and the A/C return vents. We talked it over with FIL and BIL for a long time after lunch. And we knew that we needed to do something before the carpet was installed. And just the next day, the carpet company was coming to take measurements and to show us samples.

Can anyone guess what we did that afternoon? We, hubby and I removed the half walls ourselves. Yes, we did all on our own. No family was going to help, nor wanted to help, so we just did it. We thought no better time than the present.

We began at 3pm and worked until midnight. It took us from 3 to 9pm to just remove the first half wall, the one closest to the basement door. And then the remaining 3 hours to remove the second, the one closest to the kitchen.

I knew it would be messy, but I didn't realize it was going to take so long, and require every muscle in my body for some tasks. The sheetrock was the messiest, as it just crumbled after cutting it. There were nails that were the size of my hand in some of the wood. And they used way more nails than needed. Those half walls were never going anywhere. Some of the time we spent cleaning up and throwing things away. We filled up our garbage container that is on wheels. Plus two additional drum liners of sheetrock.

At one point hubby was using a sledge hammer to knock out some of the wood, I removed more nails than I can count. We must have made quite a noise. Our neighbors were not happy with us.

So the next day and for several other after doing all that physical work, I was sore and achy. I could hardly move on Monday, I felt like I was 100 years old. Oh it hurt. Like I said muscles that I didn't know I had I used and then got sore and achy. Hubby was a little sort in spots too, but not nearly as bad as I was.

When we told family that we had removed the half walls, they didn't think or know that we could do such a thing. But it was us, no one else. A blind man and deafblind women.

Of course removing these half walls then opened up another can of worms of things to do in this living room to get it back to normal. But all things that would improve the look and feel of the area.

Monday August 19th, the carpet company came, took their measurements and showed us the samples. Being that hubby and I can't see a lot of color. Me on good days I can tell the difference between pink and blue, others nope. And hubby not seeing any color, but being able to see patterns. We are a pair. But the sales man came to our home, helped us describe the carpet color, gave us his opinion, and let us keep the carpet samples for a while until we made our decision. We then asked family, and friends of their opinion. I had a picture of what I wanted in my head. I wanted an open airy room that was bright but comfortable, inviting, but relaxing.

Well enough of our home improvements for now...you will have to stay tuned to see what happens and what color we pick.

More to come...

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