The United Colors of Behr and bestill my heart pine

Thank the goddess!  The staples and tack strips are gone.  Saturday ended my flooring prep saga.  I think I heard cheers from the hardwoods when I pulled up the last tack strip.  Now, I get to move on to stage two, spackling and paint color selections.

I started my morning by stopping at Home Depot (I'm still waiting for them to shout my name when i walk through the doors) to pick up spackle paste and paint samples.  I selected nine different paint samples from Behr's Arts & Crafts decorator line.  Upon returning to the house, I started spackling.  I think I sanded down and covered more holes than the Titanic had rivets.  Now for the color selections....

Living/dining room:

My choice is Fern Grove.  I think the brighter green will make the woodwork pop!  However, I am considering Halls of Ivy as a possible accent wall.  Peat is just too brown and the woodwork will get lost.

My bedroom:

I'm very partial to Blue Metal.  I love a dark bedroom,  Maybe Cabana Blue as an accent wall.

Bedroom #2:

Love Nouveau Copper, but I like Campfire Blaze too.  I think Nouveau Copper will look better with the woodwork.

Kitchen:

The kitchen should be bright and cheerful......yellow does the trick!

Bathroom:

Trying to keep the bathroom clean and neutral.

One for my flooring contractors came by today to give an estimate on refinishing and repairing the hardwoods.  He informed me that the floors are heart pine and that they are the subfloor.  I told him I want to save the original floors.  He is able to get heart pine planks to make repairs, but they will not be cheap.  Apparently the high cost of heart pine is because it is typically reclaimed.  Overall, he provided a wealth of information about my floors and refinishing/repairing them.  He pointed out spots where the floors had previously been repaired around the spots where former walls had stood.  The contractor explained how he would install the new planks to look as though they are original parts of the floor.  Just from talking with him I can tell he takes care and pride in his work.  

I do love my floors, even if they squeak and show plenty of wear and tear.  It would be a crime not to bring them back to life.  

Two more floor refinishing/repair estimates to go.....

Pop goes the nail!

Today was carpet removal day.  I was quite excited, since I knew tearing out the carpet and pad would be exciting.  The chore would allow me get a look into the house's past and tell some of it's story.  My floors certainly had a story to tell.........I was not disappointed.

The day began with yet another trip to Home Depot.  I'm becoming quite the regular there.  At some point soon waiting to hear the staff shout 'Larry!" as I walk in, much like the gang at Cheers used to do when Norm would walk through the door.

My friend are the greatest, and I was fortunate that I had two help with tearing out the carpet.  A thousand thank yous to Lucinda and Autumn.  Lucinda and I began in the front bedroom.  I cut the carpet and she rolled and taped it up.  Once we got the floors exposed it was obvious that they would need to be refinished.  The floor had what looked like a huge discolored square stained into the wood.  We came to the same conclusion......there had been an area rug laying in that spot.

Here are a few before and during shots of the carpet and pad removal.

carpet

carpet

pad

Staples, tack strips, and dirt....YUCK!

The after shots.....

Long before I closed on the house, I  read that pulling staples from hardwood floors is the bane of any homeowner renovating after carpet removal.  True dat!  It's tedious work, but once I got a system going, the work went by quickly.  I found that if I use the point of a putty knife I could pry up several staples, then grip and pull with needle nose pliers.  Larry 1 - Staple 0.  Removing the tack strips was not as hard as I thought it would be.  Again, it's all about finding a system that works for you.  To protect the wood planks, I used a 4" putty knife to wedge under the strip in front of the nail, then hammered the pry bar under the nail and pushed down on the bar.  Pop goes the nail!  I found that I would often have to do the same in the spaces between the nails as well.  

The video will show the system that works for me....

While I removed the staples and tack strips in the front bedroom, Autumn worked on the second bedroom.  She also discovered the same mysterious, square stain on that floor too, in addition to wht remained of someone's sloppy spackling job on the floor.....BONUS!!

After a much deserved break, Autumn and I were ready to tackle the living/dining area.  Autumn was raring to go.  I almost had to hold her back from discovering what new mysteries lay beneath the carpet.  I think she thought she was Magellen or Vasco de Gama.  I on the other hand, felt a bit more like Coronado, searching for the elusive El Dorado......or in my case pristine hardwoods.  I had already resigned myself to the fact that the floors would have to be refinished, that was a non-issue at this point.  However, I was keeping my fingers crossed, that there would not be a mammoth piece of plywood in the center of the room.  

What we discovered told a story of the house's past.....marks showing where the old walls once stood.  

Careful studying of the wall marks jogged my memory of the Sears Starlight home advertisement I read on the interwebs.  The Starlight home was one of their mail order homes in the 1920's.

Source:  http://www.searshomes.org/index.php/tag/the-starlight/

If, and that's a BIG if, my house is a Sears house, at some point in the past one of the former owners flipped the floor plan.  My dream would be to take the floor plan back to the original, but my money tree didn't make it through the winter.  I do find it very interesting to see the old wall marks.

My next step is to get quotes to have the floors repaired and refinished, as my ultimate goal is to keep the original floors.  Should repair and refinishing turnout to be over budget or impossible, the nuclear option is to cover over the floors with new hardwood or engineered hardwood.  Only time and quotes will tell.

I cannot say thanks enough to Autumn and Lucinda for their help and conversation!  Thank you ladies!

Tune in soon for more of my adventures......

it's about to begin...

Offers!  Inspections!  Appraisals!  Oh my!

I'm almost to the end of the process to purchase a home in New Albany, Indiana.  My closing date is Tuesday, 9 June 2015.  The house is a bungalow that was built in 1928.  All of the original woodwork is still in place.  

original woodwork

The backyard features a large deck, privacy fences and access to the garage.  

Utilities have been set up for the new house and end dates have been set for the apartment.  Luckily, I will be able to close on the house just as school is ending for the summer.  I will have a solid eight weeks to get moved into my house and make as many repairs/changes/improvements as I can before school begins again in August.  I've made need, want, and must do lists of things to fix, do, and wish for.  The lists have been categorized into outside and inside lists.

One of the first things I am going to do is mow the grass.  The current owner does not live in the area, so the grass has not been mowed in a while (at least it wasn't when I had the home inspection on 20 May).  Needless to say, the grass needs to be cut!  I have been debating buying either a battery operated push mower or an old fashioned reel mower.  Both the front and back yards are quite small, so I think I am going to go with the reel mower.  I do plan to get a battery operated weed trimmer/edger, to keep the weeds at bay.  Once the lawn is cut and trimmed, the plan is to move inside and put my touches on the home.

The inside of the house currently has wall to wall carpet in all the rooms except the bathroom and kitchen. I hate carpet, so it is coming up.  I have checked and there are hardwood floors in all the carpeted rooms.  I believe these to be the original hardwood floors.

dining area

living area

One of my favorite things, so far, is the Arts & Crafts style front door.

I am very lucky to have my good friend Autumn offer to help me rip out the carpet and expose the hardwoods.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that there will be no surprises under the carpet.  Should I run into a surprise (missing areas of hardwood, floors that need refinishing, etc.) I will cross that bridge when I come to it.  Painting will be my next task.  I have Arts & Crafts color palates all picked out.  Painting rooms is a pain, but once again, Autumn has offered to come to the rescue!

Actual moving in will begin when the carpet is out and the painting is finished.  

Stay tuned....

Welcome!

Welcome to domi opus! Domi opus means "my home work" in Latin.

Through this blog I plan and hope to keep a record of the work I do to the home I am purchasing.  Please read through, provide fedback, ideas, experiences, etc.  I am looking forward to documenting my experiences as a homeowner!  Thank you for stopping though.