Jun 3, 2011

The Before and Aftermath- Renovation Nightmares!!

Get your thinking caps on readers, 'cause I need some help.

To recap, hubby Chris and I moved back to his home state of Maine in December 2009. The next day there was a blizzard- perhaps I should have taken that as a GIANT red flag... but I digress.

We bought an old, very large, empty-for-2-years farmhouse. It had been a boys' home for 8 years, and was owned by the state housing commission (read "absolutely NO improvements" at all). Yes, stupid us. It was cold and snowy, and Chris and I ended up making our bedroom in the odd middle room in the house for four reasons. 1. It had an adjacent bathroom; 2. the front of the house, which as 4 bedrooms, HAS NO bathrooms; 3. close to the boys room;  and 4. it was the cutoff for one of the five heat zones.


This room, approximately 14x14, has large closets with shelves, plus two other small bedrooms located off it (which are basically dressing rooms for Chris and I) It had HORRIBLE orange carpet, worn and dirty and old. We cleaned it a few times, but basically left it as it was. Why?? Lack of motivation- homesickness and winter weather. Lack of money. Lack of vision. Well, not really, we have lots of ideas, but nothing has come of them yet, other than I took down all of the wallpaper and painted the room a very pale sage green (because I had the paint from our old house and didn't have to buy it- I'm all about using what I have).


So, I get it into my head recently that I am SICK of this gross, 1980's carpet. Now, I knew from looking under the rug previously that the floor had some damage. It also had black stuff on it. But I decided I'd rather have a clean floor than a nasty carpet.  I rationalized- it's not winter, I'll just walk on the bare floor. Or buy some runners. Or paint it. Um, yeah right.


The carpet was so old and worn that it wasn't really even stiff anymore. The gluey stuff on the back, that makes it stiff, has broken down. So had the carpet pad. It just disintegrated. Throw in some dirt, and it's what you see below. I pulled out staple after staple, plus tack strips (OUCH).

I found remnants of old tile and glue. The felt paper was at least just glued with glue, and not black mastic, like in our house in Pa. WHO glues tile over wood???? I removed all of the loose felt paper, but in some areas it it stuck. And there are patched areas.

Checo out the gap between the bottom of the doors and the floor- what. the. heck.

 
This is the worst of it here.



There is a patched area in a corner that was padded with newspaper date 8/23/87. I'm thinking the carpet is actually older than that.
So, now what? Paint? What color? What do I do about the beadboard, the trim, the doors?? Hubby said I can't paint the beadboard, but I may veto that one. I need a designer. I need HGTV. Send David Bromstad pronto.

Help.

4 comments:

Gigi said...

Oh my! What a mess. Orange carpet - I'm thinking 70's not 80's! Have you thought about putting a vinegar solution on it to see if the stuff will dissolve and then re-finishing the wood or painting it? And as for beadboard - yes, I'd say you can paint it. Go! But good luck - this looks like a monster-job; but one I'm sure you will master and make it gorgeous!

Terri Kahrs said...

OMG! My heart aches for you!!! Are you sure that newspaper was from 1987 not 1897?!?!?

OK . . . . 1st the floor. Painting stores and departments sell a product called TSP. You add it to water and use it to clean up wood (floors, cabinets, etc.) to get it ready for painting. 2nd . . . after you've used the TSP, get a good deck quality paint in the color of your choice and paint the floor. You can even mask out a border pattern and use two colors to create a rug effect. 3rd . . . you can paint the beadboard, but only after you've primed it first.

This entire process is going to take a lot of time, elbow grease and tears, but I think the results could be well worth the effort. Good luck! Hugs, Terri

Lili said...

So much hard work ahead of you on top of what you've already done. Oh dear, I'm no help at all, but I sure hope we get to see the "after" pics! ~Lili

cinnibonbon said...

OMGosh girl!!!! BUT look at the bright side and get yourself a copy of "Country Living" Sand thos babies down and paint them white or some very pale watered down color and add a detail or two perhaps. I think painted floor are beautiful and there are plenty of tutuorials on the web!!!!! So excited for this--but I know its a monster task.