Crusty carpets and a new look

First of all, let me say that carpets have got to be the NASTIEST, dirtiest, stinkiest inventions ever made!  After scrimping and saving for 5 years, Dwayne and I finally took the plunge!  Literally...with masks and scuba gear - we took out our bedroom carpets.  Nah...I'm kidding about the masks and gear, but in all honesty, we should have used them.  It was one of the raunchiest jobs I've done in a long time.  As we pulled and yanked, flecks of microscopic influenzic microbes flicked into our eyeballs.  Dirt flung everywhere and a cloud of dusty germs circled our heads.  BARF!!! 

Just look at that nasty pile of crud.  And that came from only half our room! 

After 13 hours of blood, sweat and tears (and Dwayne swore he was sweating splinters!) we finally crawled into bed and gazed down at our beautiful new floor.  Neither of us could move a muscle, each frozen in the exact same position in which we fell onto the bed.  It was worth the hard work. (below)

Day 2 brought us to "my girl room".  (above)  Formerly Erica's room but has recently become my retreat ... when Dwayne's snoring is too reverberous (is that a word?  If not...it should be! tee hee) for my earplugs to drown out so I can sleep.  Have I mentioned that we had been using Jacob and Cameron's room for making all the cuts in the wood and quarter round?  Oh I guess I didn't. 
So....as J & C's room slowly disappeared under a blanket of sawdust, we continued our carpet shredding, ripping in the "girl" room.  I had plans for this room, all tucked away in my brain.  I could NOT wait to get that room done!!  It took us 3 1/2 hours.  Yup!  That's it! 

We had half a day left after finishing this room, so we tackled the "sawdust" room!  Wowzers!  What a freakin mess.  The whole room was one color....sawdust!  Every last corner, inch, space, crack and crevice was covered.  Oh and don't let me forget to mention that we did not empty the room prior to making this disaster, so all the bedding, linens, comforters, etc that was normally stored under the bed was now ruined! In retrospect I wish I had taken a picture of the room before we cleaned it, but I didn't.  Oops. 

  But I did get this shot of it half prepared for the new floor.  This room was awkward, as we couldn't take out all the furniture so we had to keep moving things out of the way to get the old out and the new in.  We finished everything, cleaned the whole upstairs and were admiring our hard work by the middle of the 3rd day.  What a difference!  It may seem crazy, but the rooms seem bigger now with the new floors.

What I learned during this project.  1) wear masks 2) be ready to spend more money that first anticipated 3) Dwayne and I make a great team 4) and the pain involved is well worth the reward.
Now, all we need are guests, to come enjoy their new guest room and admire our accomplishments!