first?

Wow Laurie, that is AMAZING! Your hard work was soooooo worth it- it looks great!

Awesome job! Wow, a lot of hard work but it looks beautiful!!! Your landlord should give you free month's rent :)

So true. Nothing makes ya feel better than doing something hard like that. The floors look awesome. I think I'm inspired to go home today and find a tough, sweaty, but happy I did it myself kind of job :)

Cuz we all know girls RULE!!!

It looks wonderful, Laurie! Congratulations.

Amazing when you see how your hard work pays off, isn't it? Beautiful floors!

Very nice! What year was your house built? Mine was built in 1944 and has very similar floors.

Wonderful job!

You will still have to do diligent dyson duty. The cat hair will migrate to the corners of the room and form tumble-cats that will roll with the slightest draft.

Ya done good, kiddo. Now go rest up!

Gosh - you make me laugh. The whole hobble, Hunchback, Motrin, thing! Good for you. You inspire me!
Incidently, I can't count the number of times I have heard the word " neurotic " in the last few days. Each time I've thought of you and how much that word alone provoked such havoc on you!

It looks fabulous. I am so jealous as I know there is a pile of dust under my carpet pad!

Congrats!!

I just did the same thing in my tiny old house, and found much the same stainage and filth. Plus cracker crumbs....and crayons....and a hole in the floor....

Ew.

The new floors are totally worth it, but daggone was is just the grossest thing ever while in process.

Well done, you!

great job! you totally rock!

Move over, Mr. Dyson.... Mr. Swiffer is the new sheriff in town

Way to go girl!!!! Great job--you are inspiring. Cats will love the feel of cool flooring soon. Spipping and sliding..

And now the felines can amuse you with unintentional smackings into the walls!! Yay You!!

What a fabulous job! Last year I removed the carpet in my bedroom and well it was quite the icky find. Sadly I don't have oak floors but I did lay my own laminate. You rock

I know it's already been said, but...You are AMAZING and your floors are beautiful!!

Wow! Beautiful job. Your landlord should be impressed.

AWESOME!

WOW!!! FANTASTIC job!!! yOur landlord should give you a discount on this months rent to say the very least!!!!!

Wow, that is not a small DYI job! Is the curb stacked w/rolls of ew-carpet and ew-carpet pad? Your energy and tenacity inspire me. The kitties will soon learn the joys of the loong slide. :)

Girl, that is fantastic. I love it, it suits you and your cottage.

We took up the ugly ass lava orange shag when we bought our house. Zoey was too asthmatic to live with it. We shipped her off to her grandfather's. We found loads of volcanic ash from the eruption of Mt. St. Augustine in 1976 and Mt. Spurr in 1992. Lovely. There were many moments of gagging. My skin still crawls. We did not find fine oak floors, but plywood which we painted.

Just this weekend I was harrassing Mark about how we need to get rid of the carpet. Carpet grosses me out. Since we built our house I know for a fact that there is no wood flooring under our carpet. We will have to invest in some type of new flooring. I am seriously considering the concrete acid staining.

YOU ROCK!! The floor is beautiful! Carpet is just another name for large peti-dish of discustingness!

Fantastic job! Boo to your landlord. So now you have me thoroughly hooked on the UK show "How Clean is Your House?", and I thank you so much because it has inspired me to now declutter and clean like an obsessive-compulsive madwoman! Well, that, and I've picked up new slang terms like "manky", and Brit colloquialisms like "You dirty little beggar". Enjoy your nice new floors that you did all by yourself, you ROCK!

CAP, WHERE do you get all of your energy and motivation? Blogging, writing books, dressing zucchini, ripping up carpet, moving furniture?!! I can barely prepare dinner and clean the kitchen after work. You are my inspiration and hero. Please, tell us your secret.

Great job. The floor is beautiful. The landlord should give you some free rent!

Now the fur balls will travel across the floor like tumbleweeds. Fun!

Barbara! I also find myself saying "You didrty beggar!" about thirty times a day. hehehehehe.

The floor has some areas that are scratched and others that need refinishing, well the whole floor needs it. But for a rental, I think I did a good job. I'll probably buy some beeswax polish and treat the floors a little with that to help them along, and I still need to get pieces of wood cut to replace the strips used between the carpet and the kitchen floor. A little work left, but it's not too much. And so worth it!

That is awesome! I soooooo wish I had wood under my nasty nasty carpet. I love how it only cost you less than 15 bucks to reveal beautiful wood floors! Plus, what a great workout and such a fulfilling project.

Congratulations!

I hear you on the "don't give me advice, I already have my own ideas." In times like that, anything other than complete and utter agreement with me is just annoying.

You have renewed enthusiasm for cleaning my office at work. Unfortunately, doing so while drinking wine probably is not a good idea.

Enjoy your new floors.

Beautiful!!! Clean and shiny! Happy for ya, Laurie!

you did an amazing job! the floors look great!
you have accomplished so much (and I'm not just talking about the floors here) - congratulations!

It looks wonderful! We tore up all the carpets in our ancient house 'cause it's a billion times easier to clean cat barf and butt scoots off of hardwood. It's also about a billion times more sanitary, as you probably found out, whatever falls on a carpet stays in a carpet. For-ever.

GAWGEOUS!

Girl, you are AWESOME! Congratulations on making another part of your life beautiful and worthy of you!

You are AMAZING!!! The mere thought of such an undertaking would have me curled up in a corner with a Diet Cherry Vanilla Coke fortified with a double shot of Appletons and petting a ball of angora.

Poor Bob - not that you will get 'em, but the wood floor goddess may find a dust bunny or two to bestow on Bob to ease her into his good graces.

Lovely results! You've gone from a student apartment look to sleek and fashionable. Good job. This is inspiring me to tackle the red rug on my sunporch.

Oh, WOW! Be proud; be very proud.

Great Job Laurie! Go you!

Fabulous job Laurie! I'm curious though: how much were the quotes you were getting for a "professional" to do this in comparison to your $14.86?

The house I rent was built in 1946 and I have original hardwoods too. I love them! It's much easier to keep the cat hair under control than with carpet.

Your floor looks fantastic! Wow, what an undertaking. Congratulations on doing such a bang up job, that's mighty impressive work.

My fave activities are ripping up ancient filthy carpet and cleaning ancient filthy floors. :0/ Thank goodness for masks and gloves.

Well done. :0)

RAWR!!!

(that's you roaring. awesome!)

That looks wonderful, Laurie! You should definitely send your landlord a bill. If he balks tell him how when he next rents it he'll be able to ask for more because of how nice it looks now.

It looks beautiful! And after many many years of being my dad's helper in many a home remodeling project (including being the stringer monkey and climbing up stairs that no longer existed for a day), I can tell you....you did a great job!! And you did it in a very methodical and smart way. I love those floors. I love wood floors anyway, and especially old wood floors like that. My parents house has that in the upstairs and it was great until we had a roof incident with a Florida storm and the floors were ruined.

Bevvy -- for just this room, it was $850 (cheapest) to fully refinish, which included sanding and staining and sealing the floor, all of which it really needs.

If I owned this house, I would definitely do it (and pull up the rest of the carpet). But I decided to stop with the living room, and I'll just add some beeswax to it to smooth it out a little in the rougher spots.

For right now, I got the cleanliness I wanted (and the look) at a price I could afford. I do however have a pile of ancient grody carpet out back if anyone wants it!! LOL

Those floors look fantastic! Great job!

My childhood home had horrible dark DARK brown shag over beautiful wood floors too! What were people thinking in the 70s???? My mom and I spent several days removing it together and getting sweaty and cursing. Those tackstrips are OBNOXIOUS!

I can hear you roar from here!

What I don't get is how many drugs you'd have to have done in the 60's in order to still be so messed up as to want to cover that nice floor with that carpet in the 70's.

Some things will forever remain a mystery... or perhaps the lady of the house was tired of cleaning the wood floors and was convinced that carpet was easier to keep clean. What you don't see....

Oh, how I am cheering you on! Can you feel it? I hope so!

Your new floors are BEAUTIFUL! And I am totally impressed by your do-it-yourselfness.

Oh sweetie!! What a fabulous job you did!! That floor is gorgeous and it makes the room look so different and so beautiful!! WOW!! That must have been seriously back-breaking work but boy, was it worth it!

Aren't wood floors fabulous! I have all wood downstairs and yucky and disgusting carpet upstairs. There's no wood under the upstairs, just plywood. Rats!

I am soooooo proud of you!! I hope that you TAKE IT EASY this weekend and enjoy your new shiny and clean floor!!

Gorgeous floor. You did a great job. You'll find cleaning up handfuls of cat hair much easier now - trust me. And wait till they learn how to run and slide :)

Rock on, Laurie! Enjoy your amazingly beautiful floor, as well as the joy of having accomplished a really tough job!

I think I speak for all the Innernets when I say you really rock butt! Those floors are fab; what on earth was everyone smoking in the 70s when they covered these babies up?

I agree with Leah: you should bill your landlord for your time and materials! Or use it to get that month's free rent others have mentioned. He totaly owes you for improving his place.

I despise carpeting. DEEE-spise. I have had that encounter - the one where you pull it back and think "what-is-that-my-dog-never-peed-there-what-am-i-touching??" - more times than I care to count.

YOU GO! HAH! Hey. Maybe the landlord should be cutting you a check now?

I despise carpeting. DEEE-spise. I have had that encounter - the one where you pull it back and think "what-is-that-my-dog-never-peed-there-what-am-i-touching??" - more times than I care to count.

YOU GO! HAH! Hey. Maybe the landlord should be cutting you a check now?

Holy crap! That's amazing, Laurie! I remember when my parents pulled up the wall-to-wall, padding, and layer of linoleum that covered the oak floors of our 150-year-old townhouse. It was a lot of work, but well worth it.

Wall-to-wall should be banned. It's truly ugly and horrific stuff.

I've been wanting to rip out our carpet but know there is only fugly cement under. Yeah for wood floors! I can't belive there was a time that people thought carpet was the answer.

Great JOB! Very well worth the hard labor.

Oh, and I'm not sure what year the house was built in, but I think it was 1941. Either '41 or '42.

Wow, I love surprises like that. That happened to my mom and dad when they decided to rip out the avocado green hi-lo in our old living and dining rooms. I still remember helping them move all the furniture out to the front yarn so my dad could get the sander thing he borrowed from someone. My mom made me and my brother and sister sit outside on the couch and tell everyone who walked by that no we were not having a yard sale.

You should be so proud of yourself. Think about how much $$$ you saved, and them spend a little of it on yourself. Get some good wine, and some better yarn. You know, that stuff you think you can't afford. Just get a few...you deserve it!

Your new boyfriend will now be Mr. Swiffer! I have been having an affair with him now for YEARS!!! You should get the Swiffer wet mop and also get the Swiffer dry mop as well! One cleans and the other shines! The dry mop picks up cat hair like a dream; much, much better than a broom or vacuum.

Have a great weekend!!

Beauuuuutiful! What a great thing to find hard wood under shit carpet! I'm thinking you need a really cool square coffee table to complete your new room!

Fantastic floor! Great job!

Wow - you are truly an inspiration in soooo many ways. That floor looks fantastic. I think it's hillarious that the cats are suspicious of it! Mine always notices if something is missing or added at her eye level and approaches the area very stealthfully. :-)

CONGRATULATIONS!
Those floors look FABULOUS.
You rock!

(We have 2 things in common now: we have the same purple Dyson and I also have a barely controllable fear of what lurks beneath my carpets. Unfortunately I just have sub-floor, not beautiful wood like you do.)

Way to go, Laurie!

Gorgeous! I'm impressed, and a little jealous. :) Way to give Bob Vila a run for his money.

Since that worked out so well, would you like to clean my garage?

yeeha! well done, the floor looks great. My husband and I bought an old ass house and did the same, but ours were in need of lots of sanding, and he wouldn't let me half-ass it. So happy your floors were in such good shape and you were able to avoid the hell that is refinishing. Your floors look beautiful, and why shouldn't they look their age? The carpet worked like a champ at keeping it from the highly likely signs of previous tenants dragging their futons across the room. You should be mighty proud of the work you've done.

It looks awesome! Yay for you!

Liz -- I bought a dustmop at Target by "Real Simple" (talk about branching out) and it has a microfiber piece on it that's washable. Hope that works as well as a swiffer!!

Now that's an inspiring story. Congratulations to you on your major victory. To my way of thinking, there are few things in this enTAR world as filthy as carpet, so good for you. Just think how much healthier your environment is for you and your family.

If you would like to visit AR and repeat this performance at my house, help yourself!

ps: I have LOTS of wine!

All I found under my carpet after buying my house was concrete. Which I stained. In some rooms. I can attest to how much work this is.

You're the best tenet ever. Anytime you want to rent a room in TX, let me know! :)

This is the exact reason I want hardwood floors.. however the man of chez clutter wants carpeting...
and the old carpet is original with the house (which was built in 1975)... just poochie alone destroyed with her illness last month.... I want hard wood!

OOOHHH! About the coffee table!

I am waiting happily for the Labor Day Sales that all the furniture shops are having. Part of me feels like it's ecologically wasteful to buy a new table when I could probably find a thrift store table.... another part of me is like, "Screw green! I want a new table!" We'll see.

This weekend I'm cleaning other rooms and doing some decorating, the living room is clean and bare (which I love, compared to its past clutteredness) but it definitely needs some little touches to make it an actual room instead of an echoing empty cave with a sofa.

The part you can't see is the "dining room" which is basically a 2 foot x four foot area for the world's smallest table. I post pictures of all that next week.

But yes, yes, I definitely need a coffee table. And no, I am not hiring out to clean garages... yet... hehehehe.

I really think you should ask to have something deducted from the rent. It doesn't hurt to ask. You might get enough deducted to fully stock the wine cellar, you're digging one I know it.

WOW!!! The floor is fantastic, you did an amazing job! Your awe-inspiring-ness (new word?) just grows and grows...

I bet you also start feeling soooo good, what with the breathing of the clean air and all!

Have a great weekend.

Seriously amazing job! Your floors look BEAUTIFUL. Congratulations!

Dude. Great job.

FABULOUS!!!

WOW! That looks great. And CLEAN! When I started to read this post I was picturing a giant rotary sander pulling you around the floor in circles.

Well worth it indeed! You did it!

I wish I had wood floors underneath my rental carpet. But it's an apartment building built in the 70's- subflooring only. And not only is the carpet hi-low sculptered shag in brown, it's a multi-colored brown.

I"m convinced there's a secret stash of it somewhere, or it's still secretly made in China. They seem to have plenty of it- everytime the landlord replaces a carpet, it's with the same stuff.

Enjoy your beautiful floors. ANd get some throw rugs for those cold kitty feet.

That's so great! The floors look awesome: good for you, to tackle such a problem!

Woohoo! Looks great.

Buy a coffee table that you LOVE and know you will love forever. Make sure it's well-made and beautiful. If you are going to keep it forever that should take the guilt element away!

Good for you! You did an awesome job. The floors really look great. And I agree with the others...your landlord owes you, you just improved his property big time.

Some people should not be able to own homes. Our house has the same floors...when we purchased it 13 years ago they offered us a "carpet allowance". We spent it on landscaping. Still have the rose bushes.

Whatever you do, DO NOT TELL THE LANDLORD THAT YOU DID IT FOR LESS THAN $15!!

I also would NOT suggest to the landlord that he can up the rent to the next person he rents the house out to. You might end up with either becoming homeless, or your rent will go up above $2000.

I would also play down how good it looks when you're talking to the landlord. You dont want him to think that you like it...he might up the rent.

WOW. Your landlord really lucked out.

Before he sees it, make him sign something that says a) he approved your removing the carpet, and b) he won't be jacking up the rent now that you have hardwood floors!

My landlord did the work himself, rented a sander and everything, and it came out awful. The floor is so rough that you can't swiffer it and clumps of cat hair get caught on the rough spots.

Wow! Those floors look fantastic. I pulled up some carpet in an apartment in Atlanta, hoping to find a similar adventure. I found a grubby concrete foundation :(.

For some reason, this makes me think of the future, when some alien race (or future human race) will decide that the cities with their strip malls are all horrifying and ugly, so they decide to peel back the layers of asphalt and concrete and find a perfectly preserved, wonderful looking landscape that that - after a little TLC - is as good as new.

They could start with LA ;)

that, my dear, is a job well done. brava!!

My neighbors across the hall have wood floors. I know that I do too. But for some reason the landlord decided to replace the 70s shag carpeting right before I moved in with new carpeting. Then again, I am happy to have the carpeting in the winter months.

Oh wow, the floor look amazing! You rock! :D

Oh mannnnnn, what a lot of work! The end result is great though, you did a wonderful job! And speaking of end results - I don't think there is anything cuter than a kitty butt pic!!! LOLOL

Fabulous! I am so proud of you. YAY Laurie!

I totally understand the hobble, motrin, hunchback thing, been there many times. But you feel so good inside knowing it came from your very own hardworking accomplishment.

Well done! They look fantastic!

holy COW, you did an awesome job!

Congratulations!

As someone who has remodeled her own home (almost done with the second one), I completely understand how empowered you felt! It really is liberating.

And your floors look beautiful!!!

Oh, WOW! You are amazing. Dang. I feel so inadequate. And your place looks fantastic (of course, I didn't think the fugly brown shag was all that fugly or shaggy)!!

You should be very, very proud.

I am EXTREMELY impressed with your efforts! Excellent job! I can hear you roar.

Wow, that looks great! And for attacking the job all by your own self, I think you went about in a great, logical, organized manner!

I can tell you a story about floor removal that'll curl you hair. Remember those staples holding down the rug pad? Imagine them 1/8 inch wide, 1 1/2 inches long, thousands of them all over a 10 X 10 kitchen. Hours and hours of crawling around pulling those suckers out. It was *awful*

excellent work on the floor! i hate carpet. with a white hot fury. and pulled up the carpet in my condo toute suite and had them refinished. they looked great. then when i got married and moved into j's house, we pulled up the carpet there and OH MY GOD ... the horrors we found. the floors were such a mess that we had to replace entire sections of flooring because the wood had rotted out. 40 years of dog and cat pee (it had to be) you can only imagine how bad it was. we ended up doing the floors ourselves. easy in theory but a filthy job.

you really lucked out because those floors look great.

How did you know to use the laundry detergent on teh floor? Do you think it would work well on a kitty pee stain on a wool carpet?!?!? I am thinking of steam cleaning my carpets. What is the benefit on linseed soap on wood floors? (Am I clueless?) Bravo! You have totally inspired me to get my act together.

Wow. I am in awe.

You're either a total A personality or on crack to attempt such a feat by yourself.:) It does look awesome, though.

Wow! I am impressed!

I so loved your comments about not telling anyone before embarking on the great carpet adventure-that is EXACTLY what I would do(ask my husband about coming home one day to demolished bathroom
wallpaper). It looks great-good job!!! I took every bit of cparpeting out of my house last year and we are all(cats, boys, adults) better for it.

Fabulous job! I can hear you roaring from over here in Blighty.

Gorgeous, gorgeous floors! Hooray You!

We did the same thing when we bought our place - nice wood floors beneath nasty 70's carpeting. The lady who owned it before us had geriatric dogs. Can you say EW! Unfortunately, the padding was stained and so are the floors, but *dang* MUCH better than carpeting!

What was the linseed oil floor cleaner? The hubby says he's never seen it and I'd rather be using linseed oil.

You ARE an inspiration, Woman!

You are an inspiration! Good work!

Wow, what a satisfying project! Your floors look spectacular.

Hooray! What a great story. =D Seriously. I love reading you.

I almost didn't read your wonderful floor story. I got stuck for quite awhile at the thought of a "gorgeous naked man cleaning my toilet on Sunday." Anyhoo, nice job.
(And Bob: love the little white "peds" on the front toes, and crew socks on the back.)

Congratulations on an awesome job! That was lucky to find the floor in such good condition to start with.

I wish my apartment had a gorgeous wooden floor like yours hidden under the carpet, but I'm betting it doesn't. Guess I'll just have to keep vacuuming the embedded cat hair out of my ugly carpeting and pretending it looks decent.

Wow I am IMPRESSED with your abilities!!! And I get the grossness of carpet. I still LIKE carpet to cushion the floor, but when we pulled up our carpet of only 8 years, you really have to wonder what put the stains on the backing........

That looks gorgeous!!!!! Who would cover up those wonderful floors with that crap carpet.

Beautiful floor!

You did an awesome job =) I think you should pat yourself on the back for a month at least...once your arms are fully functioning again.

That looks WONDERFUL! Go you! I'm dying to pull ours up now and see what's underneath. Maybe before hubbo gets home...?

Woot for C.A.P.!!!
Also, since I work for a wood flooring wholesaler you will be getting a bottle of our top-of-the-line cleaner in a few weeks (providing you still check your rented mailbox...) also! DO NOT USE ORANGE GLO CLEANERS ON YOUR WOOD FLOORS!!! For those who have new wood floors, using Orange Glow will invalidate your warranty. For the old floors, it will just leave them streaky and rough.
Good work!! And keep me in mind for all your questions/needs regarding hardwood floors. We also have repair kits available, for those small scratches and dents -if you'd be willing to say, maybe barter a scarf or a hat...
Love you, and way to go!!!

Laurie, that microfiber mop should be great! I forget that you don't have 4 huge, messy humans living with you who regularly spill WET, GROSS stuff on the floor AND NEVER CLEAN IT UP. I know it's time to wet Swiffer when the aforementioned spill has an inch-deep layer of animal hair (cat, rat and dog)stuck on it. You have a normal, clean house with just a few cats and no teenagers or a husband.(you are luckier than you know!)

I'll get to keep Mr. Swiffer to myself for a while! (and I really do LOVE him so!)

I am truly impressed! I wish we could have found such flooring under our old carpet, but, alas, only plywood.

ruth

Laurie, that microfiber mop should be great! I forget that you don't have 4 huge, messy humans living with you who regularly spill WET, GROSS stuff on the floor AND NEVER CLEAN IT UP. I know it's time to wet Swiffer when the aforementioned spill has an inch-deep layer of animal hair (cat, rat and dog)stuck on it. You have a normal, clean house with just a few cats and no teenagers or a husband.(you are luckier than you know!)

Keep on holding that rug down Bob... and tell Mom that you need more bacon to ensure your butt has enough weight to ensure there is no corner-of-rug-curling.

Oh, also, my parents also covered up lovely oak floors with carpet. When it came time to sell the house, I had to tell them which rooms had the good floors, as I think I was the only one who remembered getting a running start to slide down the hall in my youth!

It looks great! My husband and I did this exact same thing to our old home and once we started pulling that carpet up, we were so horrified we didn't stop until it was all OUT OF THE HOUSE. Ugh! I was in charge of the cursed tackstrips. The nails looked black with mold and/or decay! The finished floor was so worth it! I felt like I needed a sinus rinse and a tetanus shot though.

Liz, thanks :)

OK -- Rowan and Annie and ya'll -- I added some info to the column about the cleansers I used.

Looks great - way to go! And to think that you unearthed all that beautiful wood flooring with just $15 and a LOT of elbow grease. Us northerners call that Yankee thrift. (I'm not cheap - I'm thrifty!!)

Have a great weekend enjoying your beautiful new floors.

Go you! I know exactly what you mean about how things like this are empowering. Even small things that men like to do for us that we know we can do, are empowering when you don't have or don't want to call on a man to do it. About a year ago I had to change the inner tube in my bike on my own 'cause I had no one I could ask to do it. I was so impressed with myself - and it didn't take me half the day like I thought it would.

Your floors look great and also... MY MOM HAS THAT COUCH TOO! She got it as part of a living room set in the mid-1960s when she was first married. =)

You go girl. Looks fantastic!

Mayonnaise ~ My boyfriend did a google search to find out what would remove a water stain from his antique Indonesian wooden chest. Somewhere, someone recommended mayonnaise and it worked!

Helpful Hint for Hinky Used Carpet ~ Throw it over the fence and let the mad dogs have at 'er! It might soak up some of the poop too! (I don't know why I'm still concerned about your poop problem, but I am.)

CarolAnne, THANK YOU!

Congrats on a job very well done. That must have been so satisfying! The cats will come to LOVE the hardwood floors. When we first moved to a place with hardwood my boys started taking the hallway at a run and sliding the whole length of it, over and over.

Johnson's paste wax and multiple pair of old athletic socks and the AC and the stereo up high and you can put some serious wax goodness on those floors. I rented a house where it took 6 months to finish scraping carpet glue off the some of the floors and the paste wax was a godsend because I sure wasn't going to sand and varnish the floors.

WAY TO GO!!!

You inspire the rest of us to do-it-yourself greatness...

Oooh! Pretty! And also? Lucky you. My mom helped my brother pull up the nasty ass carpet in his house, because the corners revealed pretty wood floors. Well, apparently the previus people *really* sucked. The pet stains had not only ruined the carpet, but soaked into the floors so badly that the professional floor guys said they were unsalvageable. Gah.

I have been meaning to tell you this for some time: You are HILARIOUS! ;D

You are such my inspiration this week. Earlier in the week I went to my local SnB for the first time and really thought about blowing it off and curling up at home because it was so much harder to be social. Then I remembered a post of yours about busting out of your hermit-ness and going to your first SnB and I thought "If Crazy Aunt Purl can do it so can I". I had a great time, the women were wonderful and I'll be back next week.

Now I am tackling my home that really isn't a home yet and your blog is such an amazing motivator. Thank you so much!!!

Whew! That was a long comment.

Looks fantastic! Your landlord should be paying you for all that work.

If you ever need to give it some more shine, try the orange glo hardwood floor. Love. It. Wrote a post about it a while back here: http://www.divaknitting.com/blog/?p=125

No Swiffer!!

If you have cats, do not use the Swiffer. The chemical make-up of the cleaner used in the said type mops is one chemical away from anti-freeze. Tests have shown that when you clean the floors with this solvent and cats walk across said floor and you know cats lick their paws after walking across the floor.................ergo........very sick kitties.

awesome floor. I love the warm and glow of hard-wood.

Ah, Laurie. You've brought me back to the thrilling days of yester-year, when I bought my 1905 house in a 'depressed area'. I spent a great part of 2 years, after work, weekends (no party-life, wrong neighborhood). One of the most time consuming was pulling up the carpet? which covered the entry, living and dining room areas. It was a dizzying dirty, deep, (how's that for aliteration?) blue display akin to what one might find in an retro theatre lobby. Plus, there was a worn path to kitchen, bathroom (another horror!).Onward. I expected a floor to match the incredible woodwork of this well-made bungalow. After I had removed the first layer of depressing dirty carpeting, I discovered .....linoleum! Three layers of linoleum. And ....then ... newspapers from the 1930's .... and then layers of paint ...and some poor misguided persons efforts to sand a wonderful old growth fir floor. The grooves and pits were heartrending. So, I found industrial carpet in a deep lusty rusty-red. Looks great with my salvaged oak furniture. I also shop Ikea and Goodwill. A few years back I got a home owner's permit to rewire. And so I did. My investment in this place gives me such a great feeling . . . this house is part of me. Also, it happens to be worth more than 10X my original cost (sweat equity not included). What's worth more than anything is knowing that your housing has become your home. Plus, all my kitties have loved it. Drink a little wine, you've earned it. LUV

WOW! Beautiful floors! Cheers!

VERY impressive!

Oh, those floors are beautiful. I'm so impressed!

The floor looks terrific. Good job, you!

I just finished (a few hours ago) watching the ep of How Clean is Your House? where they cleaned wood floors and did what you did with the warm water, wiping down with rung out towels and feeding the floor. I can see why you didn't melt bees wax and paraffin and feed it that way. Your way is more practical.

Laurie I feel so proud of you!! Screw miserly landlords - you are the best. Your living room looks amazing. Enjoy it!

... oh by the way, you probably just increased the value of your landlord's home. He should at least thank you!

Wow! What a fantastic job. This is so inspiring! It must feel so good to sit in that room with the fruits of your hard work.

Woohoo! Go you!!!

WOW. I mean really, WOW. What an awesome job! And you did it YOURSELF!! Enjoy it!

Your landlord definitely owes you something--a free month at least. You've just drastically increased the value of the place.

Wow, it looks amazing! I haven't been this impressed since the Yarn Harlot redid her bedroom.
But I'm getting a backache just reading this!

AMAZING!!!! It's amazing what a little girl power can do!! It makes me wanna run home and get my paint on!!

You said, "like finding a gorgeous naked man scrubbing your toilets on a Sunday"

Are they available OTHER days???????

Wonderful job on the floors, girl!
.

amazing :)

OH, and I thought of you...

http://www.snopes.com/photos/odd/watermelon.asp

Wow! What lovely floors, the cats will get used to it. I did the same when I moved in here, but carpets had to be removed as the old lady who lived here before me had used to carpets as a toilet - yuk, bad, bad smell. Spotty-Dog likes skittering around on the floorboards when he is playing now, but was wary at first.

Laurie, that floor is amazing. It looks worth every single drop of sweat and muscle cramp. I bet you never move now as that floor is yours!

Absolutely wonderful! Goodbye nasty carpet - hello beautiful wood floors! Hard work pays off, film at 11!

You might be able to get rid of that pile of carpet by calling your trash company to see if they have a bulky item pick up service. In my city we can have bulky item pick up three times a year for free. Or see if the naked toilet cleaner guy has a pick up truck.

Sorry for the double post, but I had to reply to Shari who said the Swiffer is not good for animals. That is not true. Please read this:

http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/swiffer.asp

Please don't believe every email you get. Check it out on Snopes first before you forward on more lies.
.

That looks so fantastic! This is a dangerous post, though... I have been thinking longingly of ripping out the (nasty, literally has an iron-shaped melted bit in it from where a previous renter lacked both common sense and an ironing board) carpeting in my apartment's bedroom. The thing is, most of the apartment is hardwood flooring, so I'm afraid of what might have caused them to put carpet in the bedroom. But it's so gross, and I want it gone! Maybe I'll just pull up a teeny corner in the back of the closet and see what's under there...

Wow! - Your 'after' picture really does look so much more 'moved in' - the floor looks soooooooo much better.

That's flat-out gorgeous. Great job!

I read that whole post waiting for the other shoe to drop... I thought the floor would be patched, or have a weird plywood square in it, or the finish totally gone. Whew. So glad it was just a pretty floor under all that mess.

I will admit I share your feelings about carpet. I am normally about as un-germophobic as one can get, but carpets are hotbeds of unspeakable things. I can breathe more easily, knowing that you don't have that anymore (at least in the living room).

Your floor is so incredibly beautiful! Go you!

Okay, we had that carpet in my parents place. Almost identical. Bought in 1986. So maybe it's not as bad as you think?

Honestly, those floors look pretty good for just being cleaned. We pulled up carpets in two rooms(rose pink, not shag, so probably more recent than yours!) and found that the original floor had paint spills on that nobody had bothered to clean up, and large areas where the finish was worn down to bare wood. Still, IMO, better than the carpet. In fact, after seeing what accumulates under carpet, I'll never live with carpet again! Eventually we had them sanded and refinished by a guy called (no lie, I swear this is true) Don Sandover! Isn't that a great name for someone who makes a living by sanding wood floors?

Anyway, great job, doesn't it feel good? Wait til you actually refinish a floor with the big ol' power sanders. VERY empowering!

DH and I did this EXACT SAME THING a couple years back in a rental house. Your floors were in WAY better shape than ours but I tell you it does give the house a cleaner feel ... congrats, oh sweaty one!

That's awesome! How empowering!
I still can't even use a power drill.

Your floors look fantastic! Hurray for you! Our 1951 house has lovely hard-wood floors. Luckily some of the closets lacked carpet, so we could find that out. I did something like you did to our bedroom, which had green and yellow shag carpeting. But I didn't do it alone -- so you're still more amazing! Congratulations!

That's freakin' AWESOME! Good on you, Laurie! That wood floor is a real beauty!

Awesome job!
Now you can have fun watching kitties slip and slide across the floor when they play.
Oh and you could have fun too. Remember Risky Business? I can so see you doing that one.
:)

And what I meant to ask was "What has the landlord said? Have you shown him yet?" only I'm kind of punch-drunk on my own crazy trip-prepping. Heh.

I am SO envious that you had wood under that carpet. The only thing under the carpet at my house is concrete and debris!

Kit, I don't talk to the landlord much, so no he hasn't been in the loop :)

Dear Laurie, You. Rock. Fabulous job. I totally agree with ErinLindsey~I would NOT say anything to the landlord, otherwise it will be higher rent for sure. Enjoy your little corner of paradise you deserve it! I'll bet the kitties will be busy discovering new toys like paper balls and twist ties! Woot! ♥

You should be so proud of yourself!! The floors are beautiful.

OMDog! I'm going to do the exact same thing next month in my personal, ongoing 'get-your-act- together-and-make-this -a-home' cleanup. Except I'm doing my stairs and I don't have gorgeous floors underneath. But I'm yanking up that carpet and painting those suckers.

Kudos to you for doing such a great job that you will enjoy every. single. day! You continue to inspire and motivate me!

And let's go kitty-bowling!

WOW!! What a fantasitc job you did!! THAT was a TON of work!!! Looks great!! Congrats.

I'm impressed. Can you come to my house now & help my hubby finish the bathroom he's been working on all year? lol

You should be so proud of yourself!! The floors are beautiful.

Holy SHITE! Looks fantastic! Great job! Are you available next weekend to do mine? ;)

If you are ever out of a job (God forbid) you can make a KILLING standing around Home Depot. :)

Great job!

Yeah for wood floors! I did the same thing to a 1950's house I bought. I think the carpet was original, and the floors underneath were beautiful. The staple removal was not fun, and for waxing I used Butcher's Bowling Alley Wax (love the name) which I applied on my hands and knees and then went over with one of those big floor buffers that they use in industrial places. Sometimes it's better to do the work yourself, much more satisfying than paying someone else, although your back probably doesn't think so right now.

Awesome girl! You DID IT!!

We did the same thing here to a 50's era house, the wood floors are beat up but it's so much nicer than the carpet. And we can wait a little bit to do something nice to the floors (like after the windows get swapped for more-efficient ones for example). Isn't it so satisfying to do it yourself??

Good for you Laurie!

I'm going to read through all the other comments later. I'm sure others have said what a brave and fantastic feat this is, and how it will make your HOME so much better.

(It will also be less allegenic.)

Congratulations and thanks for the inspiration.

wow, I am majorly, highly impressed!

Fabulous job Laurie, the floor looks great and now you don't have to live with all that gunk underfoot. I bet you find a quick swipe with the dust mop is all you need to keep it looking great, no more hours and hours of vacuuming.

Yes! I am so impressed. And I don't blame you about keeping this project a secret - too much advice can kill a project. I just hope your landlord doesn't raise your rent now that you've got hardwood floors. :)

AWESOMELY BEAUTIFUL Laurie! Way to go!

I totally understand why you didn't tell anyone. As a matter of fact, that's one thing I miss about being single. I miss the day there was no one looking over my shoulder, giving unsolicited advice. Yep, yep, yep.

No advice needed. You are WOMAN! =)

Holy crap those oak floors look gorgeous! You did a fantastic job, I'm so impressed! Your landlord really ought to take off a month or two of rent, you have definitely drastically increased the value of the property. :)

Huh. I always thought those shelves were built-ins. Great job on the floors, Laurie!

P.S. You need to spend more time on Ravelry.

Great floor!
makes you wonder why they covered it in the first place - wood floors were so out in the 70s I guess!
If I had been you, I would've needed a whole box of antihistamines to get that job done 8-)
We have a very nice tasmanian ash floor at home in Australia just awaiting your attention! ;-)

U are the bomb!

Just be glad they didn't GLUE down the foam underlay like they did at my house. Ripping out the mushroom colored wall-to-wall shag was the first thing I did when we moved in....my husband sensibly stayed at work! Don't worry the cats will come to love the cool wood floors in the summer.
Good for you!
p.s. the best thing to get out a stubborn tack strip is a small Gorilla Bar.

Beautiful! I've thought about ripping up our carpets but we only have cement under this nasty stuff. ARGH!

Wow, what nice floors you have there!

When I did that at my old house, I pulled up one corner of the rug and it looked fabulous...so I started shredding the carpet and getting it out of there, only to find that the fabulous wood floor only extended 1/3 of the way into the room, then went to plywood. Gotta love funky old houses.

Great job! I did the same thing one time in a rental apartment.. however, I made the decision to remove the carpet at 10:30pm.. and worked all night until it was done.

The carpet that I removed was apparently the 'first' version of carpeting- the padding underneath was in 3foot square sections w/ NAILS on all sides holding it down..

My tools? A screwdriver... and broken fingernails. (*Nothing was open that late at night in my little town.)

The hidden wooden flooring was as lovely as yours-
After I did my floors- I felt like I could do anything! I'm sure that you felt the same way!

GOOD FOR YOU!!!

Don't you find yourself.. walking in and peeking at the room to see how nice it looks from other rooms?

Beautiful job, Laurie. You're so brave to undertake something that big all by yourself. Way to go!

Great job on the floors.

As the owner of a house with a few area rugs over hardwood floors and three cats (recently, it was four cats, just like you - *sigh*) I am sorry to inform you that no matter how great the hardwood floor to rug ratio and how much easier it is to clean cat puke off hardwood floors, the cats will ALWAYS puke on the rugs. ALWAYS.

That looks great and you did a fantastic job all on your own. Your reasons are the same as to why I tackle all projects only when husband is out of the house. I don't need the advice on how I have already decided to do it. And out of all your pictures I immediately zoomed into the Dyson Animal! I am so envious of that purple beauty and want one of my very own to get the many pounds of hair from one dog. Congratulations and enjoy your floor!

When I moved in every room had a carpet. Now only one remains, and it is the twin of your carpetrocity. It is the huge evil carpet of doom, and knowing the state of the flooring under al the other vile carpets (v poor) I cannot afford to lift my carpetrocity and lay laminate. One day I shall. Your floor looks great, well done you! Watch the kitties sliiiide!

Carpetrocity - my most favourite word ever!

Your floors look wonderful! Hurray for you! Plus I bet you are building up tons of good Feng Shui!

Gorgeous, Miss Gorgeous! And Bob is suspicious, but he IS sneaking up on the floor, slyly patting it with his tail. . .

Woo-hoo! You are woman hear you roar! And the dings and dents and scraps are "aging," which cost extra according to the hot design magazines. Snob appeal AND cats crashing into walls - priceless!

You're my hero! I can't even keep my aparment CLEAN, much less take on a big, macho project like that.

Hurray for you. I did an identical project. I had been sick with pneumonia, spending days on the couch with nothing to do but imagine how disgusting the (very similar carpet)was. The first day I was out of bed I tore the whole shebang up (leaving the tack strips for another day)and tossed it out in the front yard (I live in the country), too weak to do any more. I know firsthand how dirty and gross the back of the carpet, the pad and the floor underneath are. Of course it rained before I went to the dump, and it was no picnic hauling yards of sopping carpet to the truck. Oh, but is it worth it! Enjoy.

Inspiring! You did a great job!!! It's beautiful, Laurie =)

about the swiffer thing & antifreeze, it's an urban legend.

http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/swiffer.asp

What a great job you did! At least the godawful carpet protected the wood floors for you against damage from previous tenants. I've seen how THAT can look. Hope you have a front mat inside the door to reduce the grit you track in and wear slippers inside :o) and throw a fabulous barbecue to show off the fruits of your labors.

After my grandfather died and my dad was selling his house in the mid-90's, Dad finally agreed to have the carpet removed and the wood floors underneath refinished. The carpet was laid just before Dad went into the army. In 1959. The carpet that's still in Dad's house? Tomato RED loop wall-to-wall carpet that I remember being installed. In 1973. And yes, there are hardwood floors under there, too. *Ahem* some people don't like change.

What an amazing transformation! Congratulations on a job well done. As for kitties and the new floor surface, I swear they are either aliens or little old ladies who can't adapt to change.

Have you put on your socks yet and skated across the room?? On purpose, I mean??

Good for you! I did a happy dance a few weeks ago when I re-caulked the shower all. by. myself. Apparently I have to get much better at nagging my husband....but it feels so good to not have to rely on them to do that kind of stuff!
Our basement floor is all wet (midwest rains are a bitch right now), and I *think* there's tile under the gross carpeting. You have inspired me to find out if that's the case and tackle it too!!

The floors look great. Bob looks like he is worried you might want to find out what is underneath his lovely fur.

You inspired me. I'm paying a guy $75 to come by tomorrow and haul away my old ratty couch. I would do it myself but it would cost me almost that much to rent a truck for the day. I was tired of springs poking me in the ass while I try to knit. The cats don't even want to claw it anymore.

now will you go out and treat yourself to a pedicure?

I did this in a few rooms of my house... it sure is a pain in the ass. But it looks so GREAT when it's done :) Congrats to you for getting it done.

Good for you! The sense of empowerment is especially sweet. Enjoy your beautiful, clean new (to you!) floors.

I'm so incredibly impressed. Ummm, Could you come take care of my dining room carpet for me? Maybe see if I have a gorgeous floor under mine too? :)

think was bad? try doing the same thing with indoor/outdoor carpet & pad, and ancient tack strips, all of it SOAKING WET that has to be removed as quickly as possible to avoid the whole mold thing. my basement flooded last spring, and i had to do that. thank goodness i had 2 teenage boys (who whined and fought with each other as much as t hey helped) to help. ugh.

Wow that was a lot of work! And it looks great. It's terrible cute how the cats are suspicious of the wood floors.

The floor looks wonderful! Thank god you didn't have to sand them. That is a big mess. Been there, done that. I love hard wood floors. I never have understood why someone would wnat to cover them up with carpet.

I know what you mean about it being empowering! I bought a house about 5 years ago that the INSANE woman that lived there before me had carpeted over the oak floors, but not before painting them WHITE with Kilz. She was insane. INSANE. So I got to rip up all of the carpeting and those damn tack strips and staples. I gave up about half way through the staples when the guy that was going to sand down the floors said he would do it cheaply.

Your floor looks fabulous - Well done!!!

That looks absolutely beautiful. You must be so happy.

Kim and Aggie would be so *proud*! Hell, I'm proud of you! It looks great. :) Way to go!

Laurie, you are amazing. Those floors are STUNNING, and it was all you. Well, okay, you did not MAKE the flooring, but you did all the hard work unearthing them, and you did a wonderful job. Take some more motrin, call your chiropractor, and have a glass of wine. You deserve it.

You did an amazing job! When you move you should take those floors with you.

You go, girl! My friend moved into a 1920s bungalow that still had the 1960s shag in it. You know, the kind you had to rake. He ripped out the carpet down to the wood floors just like you. Totally worth it!

Hi! I enjoy reading your blogs! Congratulations on the floors! I couldn't do that by myself

Your floors look awesome! We did the floor thing when I was about 7 mos pregnant and I have very clear memories of trying to lean over my big tummy to pull out 8 quadrillion staples (after oh so wonderful tack strips) there are only so many home improvement jobs you can do pregnant and staples I guess is one of them :)

Fantastic job!!!

Wow, look what you did all by yourself! I'm impressed! Sometimes in a fit of stubbornness and an "I can totally do this myself" attitude, I will attempt to get things done that I don't want to wait for others to do. Small things, though, nothing like what you've undertaken. You're an inspiration! Yay for your beautiful floor! I hate carpet, too, but hubby loves it. Yuck.

Soon...you'll be able to buy that house if you want to.

I'm sure it was a killer to do, but it looks fabulous!

Holy smokers- fabulous job. When I moved into my appartment last year someone had already stripped the carpet off the concrete floor beneath- the house was built in 1999 and I do.not.like to remember all those odd stains and stuff I saw. And I still wonder how the former tenants were able to ruin the carpet in just 6 years. W/o any pets. However, my landlord paid for the laminate and I put it on the floor. On my own. Still proud of it :-)
There´s nothing more satisfying than attacking such a job with your own hands (and back, btw) and without telling anyone beforehand.
CAP rulz :0)

Absolutely gorgeous, Laurie. I'm very proud of you, even though you're making me feel like a slacker. All these projects and no motivation = suckage. ;)

Beautiful! I can't believe you did it all by yourself! Personally, I like involving my mom and sister in these projects - we seem to work the same way, and they take my word for it that I know what I want to do. The trick is to NOT allow the brother and bro-in-law to help!

Well I don't know about the Swiffer mop but the Swiffer vac is the best $28 dollars I have ever spent! I just finished telling a friend of mine on her blog about how much I love mine, it's cordless/rechargeable and does a great job on smooth floors. I don't know if someone already mentioned it but you should ask your landlord to give you a free month for all of your hard work.

At the risk of sounding like everyone else: Congratulations. You are inspiring and empowering. And I want your energy.

Congratulations! It looks amazing and yay for sweaty work and feeling empowered. There really is nothing like knowing you can hack it for real.

Beautiful job with the floors! And it could just be that it's almost 2am and I'm exhausted, but that pukey carpet stain bears a stunning resemblence to a smooshed Mickey Mouse. I'll bet if you finagle the angle a bit, you could claim you've found the Virgin Mary in your living room and charge people to see it.

I am amazed you did that yourself. If I ever buy a place I will be all about the wood floors. Thanks for the inspiration!

I remember when my parents ripped up the nasty multi-brown-hued carpet in our old 1950s house and found dust dunes under the carpet padding. My mom chooses to remember it fondly, saying it "polished the wood smooth."

I'm in an on campus apartment currently, which means definitely temporary and so not worth even painting the walls (oh the awful yellow walls), let alone getting rid of the nasty beige carpet. For future houses I'd love hardwood floors, but DH grew up with 6 cats and hardwood and bitched endlessly about having to scrape the kitty litter and hair off of his bare feet. (Mother-in-law is a less than stellar housekeeper.) So we'll have to see.

Anyway, the whole room is so transformed and looks amazing!

Congrats on the great job well done! I have carpet in my flat, too, but there's no lovely floor underneath it. :-(

If I hadn't seen the process for myself, I could not have believed the huge transformation. Fabulous job! You have earned the "Stay in bed all week if you want to" card. Fabulous!

well done! I was so pleased to read you wore a mask... I forgot that and had flu like symptoms for days, it was bad.. and those tack things? surely invented by the devil! the wood looks fantastic AND clean. :-)

The floors look beautiful - you id a wonderful (and back-breaking!) job.

You did an absolutely lovely job, Laurie.
I wouldn't ask the landlord for any consideration on the rent - he'll just up your rent at lease renewal. In fact, if you can keep him out, do it so he can't see how improved the place is :)

You're making that house a home, young woman! Good for you.

Awesome job! Gorgeous!

I hope you had a tetanus shot. I feel contaminated just looking at the pics!

One bit of advice...which I'm sure you don't want or need. Get a small rug to put by the front door. After all the at work you dont want wet/dirty shoes to ruin the wood.

Congrats to you! That is awesome. You must feel so happy and proud everytime you come home and see those pretty shiny floors!

CAP-

If you ever move to North Carolina, you TOTALLY have a job in construction. Just let me know when you get here.

Clarifications: 1) Murphy's Oil Soap is fine for 'old fashioned wood' floors, but NOT modern day hardwood installed in many subdivisions. The 'new' hardwood generally has a urethane finish, and MOS eats the finish away. If you use MOS on a 'new' wood floor, you will ruin your hardwood and void your warranty. (Sand, finish and re-coat will be required.)

2) The padding under your carpet is a rebond pad (recycled plastic, upholstery, etc) - and is likely less than 35 years old. The carpet, on the other hand, may have simply been pulled up to install the new pad (gah!)...

Your floor looks really good. That's exciting - to work on something that turns out so well and besides the labor to pay almost nothing in terms of the expenditure. At least it was old carpeting. I'm allergic to new carpeting and it takes a couple of years to outgass. I'm also allergic to caulking that's put on the outside of a house or a building and that takes two months to outgass. Your house costs almost $2,000 a month?

That is gorgeous! I am so impressed, not only with the work you did (by! yourself!) but also that you documented it!

Ooooh, Laurie - you should put the ew-carpet on top of the neighbors' poo-pile to cut the stench. Just an idea.....

Beautiful!

Wow! What a lot of work, but it looks fabulous! Great job!!!

I wanted to spruce up the wood floors in my house because they were looking a little dull. Not too bad, just a little dull. I used the Orange Glo wood cleaner (in the green bottle) and the Orange Glo wood refinisher (in the pink bottle, and I swear my 78 year old floors look like new! Everyone at work was making fun of me because I sounded like an Orange Glo spokesperson, I was raving about it for days to anyone who'd listen. Anyway, just a suggestion for putting the finishing touch on your lovely new floors.

Wow! The floors look great! What luck that they were in good shape, too!

I once looked at a rental with absolutely fabulous vintage 70s Orange and Green shag carpets in the bedrooms. The landlord complained that the previous tenant had ripped up the carpet in the living room, which was "good stuff" he exclaimed (and went well with the smoked mirror-paneling), to expose the wood floors. Grunt of disgust on his part and a sigh of 'oh thank god or i think my eyes would have possibly burned out of their sockets when we walked in' on mine.

Before you spend any more money, DON'T buy those markers or bottles of stuff that promise to hide scratches. They work wonderfully at first, then in the morning when you wake up, the color has all faded and the scratches are back. When we pulled up the linoleum that had been glued to our probably 120 year old floors, we just filled scratches with the regular Minwax stain that matched most closely. It still looks fine 5 or so years later. We going to have all the floors refinished now, courtesy of the insurance company, because the clothes dryer decided to catch on fire and everything is wonderfully smoke damage. An excellent way to declutter, it turns out... Clean out your lint exhaust thingy! Heh.

Are you kidding me?? You did a GREAT job! I am so super impressed!!!!

Holy moly, that's amazing! Good job!

Years ago, when my husband and I ripped the hateful brown '70s shag carpet out of our house and set it at the curb, it got rained on, then it sat in the sun and humidity for several days before the trash truck came.

It sprouted.

Can the clever amongst you guess what sort of seeds might be found in 70's carpet?

I'm totally impressed.

Look at you Badass HGTVer! Laurie, you are THE Shit! Floor looks amazing!

You are so my hero. Come help me with my house now, please???

You fucking GO girl. Good for you.

Very cool - great job! Now, just don't let anyone spill liquid on it, put down anything that'll leak, or even anything dampish. Or walk on it with spike heels. Unless it's Varathaned or something, the first will give you ugly dark water stains; the second will leave permanent little dimpled pockmarks that would require sanding the entire damned floor down pretty deep!

(I grew up in a house floored with pegged oak. Pale, pale oak. Before Varathane. Instead, every damned year or so it was one of those huge floor buffers, first with a steel wool pad; then any bad spots with steel wool by *hand*; then the machine with a pad to spread on carnauba wax; and at long last, a buffing pad. And this was a 3 bedroom, 1-1/2 bath ranch house with huge rooms. Ohmigawd. Took about 3-4 days every time. There was no running allowed inside; you could fall and break your neck, the floor was so glasslike! Sure looked pretty though. [g])

(Argh - and what is it with your blogging software not liking my comcast addy? Suspense...will it accept the out-of-use AOL one? Let's see...)

Ahh, success! Guess it's a good thing I kept the fershlugginer free account, eh? ;)

Still weird though... Didn't used to bitch about Comcast email address. I'm having visions of invisible broadband wars among the liddle fiberoptics. [g]

A carpet guy told me he hates to take out old carpet because old carpet WEIGH SO MUCH MORE than new carpet. Why? Filth, germs, dirt, mites and all other kinds of GROSSNESS weigh it down! So, here's to your new clean house! Hooray!

It took my DH and me 21 days to take up the carpet because the people before us GLUED the carpet to the oak flooring. The glue was soluble with some potent stuff that gave a horrible high. We had the kids sleep in the camper for 2-3 nights and had fans blowing out the windows. You could smell the finish in the middle of the street. We rented sanders, finishers, and bought gallons of polyurethane. The dining room, living room, and wrap around hallway all got the makeover. I now have carpel tunnel from being on my hands and knees scraping up glue and hand sanding the divets, but the floors look great and clean up is a snap. (And the floors are really clean)

What a wonderful, beautiful job you've done on those floors!!! I spent a week ripping out carpeting from my new house after I left my husband and was also shocked at just how many staples had been used - one of my more therapeutic activities at that time, though - way to go!!!

It's beautiful, you did a great job! Who in their right mind would ever cover up a wood floor? My husband and son both have allergy issues so we had to have a carpet-free house. It was a first for me, but wow,I was shocked at how quickly dirt and fur build up.It's not always easy to tell just how dirty a carpet is, but there's nowhere to hide on hardwood. I hope you sleep a little easier at night now, your home truly is cleaner now.

Yes! Yes! Undertake something you think is beyond you and you will always find the strength you didn't know you had. Wonderful job.

Cool! You inspire me. We have beautiful oak floors covered by carpet (I heard they used to do it as soon as they built houses back in the 70's . . they'd put in beautiful wood floors and cover them with carpet!?!?!?!) and am planning to pull up the carpet and hope to find pretty floors. Thanks for the inspiration AND how-to.

The last thing you need is another comment. I don't know how you read through all of them...but it is a testament to how much people love you.
I wanted to add that "You floor me" but that's probably been said..I didn't have the strength to read through all of the comments...but you do so each time I check in on you. I hope that you are proud of yourself. You should be. I love your sense of humor...and even though I did not read every entry..I know that you are worth this attention and adoration.
Now, would you please come and get rid of my 70's plaid carpeting? You take care!

YOU GO GIRL !! I am SOOOOO proud of you. Those floors look fantabulous. All that's under mine is ugly ass concrete. LUMPY concrete. (I rent, therefore I bitch.) One day I'll have hardwood floors. But, for now, I'll live with the gross images of what you'd found and shudder each time I drop something on the floor. Ugh. My niece will no longer be allowed to crawl at my home.

OK, everyone: Raise your glass to the gorgeous and talented CAP ! You are AWE-INSPIRING, Chick !

Cheers !!!

I love you with the passion of a thousand suns. We have loathsome, once-green SHAG carpeting in the back room, matted and scrofulous, but I thought I'd have to hire (expensive) professionals to take it out, since I've been unable to remove the tackstrip from my daughter's room. (She got the carpet out herself, bless her, but the tackstrip persists.)

A tool. And a technique.

I kiss your tiny feet.

laurie, i so hear you on the carpet issue. let me paint a picture for you. carpet in the kitchen & dining room.... i have 4 boys... yeah, that carpet was out of here w/in 6 mos of buying this house. the more i thought about it, the grosser it got... especially the kitchen! but now i have lovely bamboo floors in both rooms. removed the carpet (2 layers!) w/the help of my best friend & laid the new floor w/the help of hubby. i do things on the cheap too. kuddos to you! your floor looks fantastic!!!

Delurking to tell you what a wonderful job you did. You should be so proud of yourself. When we moved into our house we had one room that had carpet. When we decided that room would be the nursery, the icky icky ca ca rug had to come up. It was NASTY. We just bought a new house and you can bet that carpet is coming up before I even find out what is beneath.

Lovely work. Don't let the landlord see it....he'll likely up the rent. LOVING IT!

Oh so well done (we piked it - got a man to sand and seal our century old hardwood (tasmanian Oak) floors - after removing horrid green and brown and teal textured 1960s shag pile)I am in awe of your stick to iveness!!

Beautiful! Thanks so much for the cleaner info, too. I have wood floor all through my house (except for some ugly vinyl in the bathroom), and I hadn't found a floor cleaner I really liked yet. And this post will be great ammo for the next time DH suggests we carpet anything. I hates carpet, hates it I do.

WOW, so many comments, I have never seen a blogger with so many. I wonder if you'll even see this. Well here is what I want to say:
1. Love your blog, just found it. You are very funny and a talented writer.

2. I just pre-ordered your book on Amazon. Was bummed I had to wait until October to get it.

3. Your floors look so good! We did a similar thing here, and I wish I knew about your tips first. Good job.

4. Your cats are beautiful. So regal looking. I enjoy seeing them in the pictures.

5. Can I add you as a link, on my blog?

Thanks,
Eileen

Lovely, lovely job on the floors! I myself can't wait to get out of this carpeted apartment and into a house whose floors are mine to control.

I can't believe no one has yet mentioned that you can knit a cover (or three) for your Swiffer! I wouldn't worry much about the dry Swiffer (as long as you don't mind buying those little maxi pads all the time), but I do worry about any chemicals on the floors, with my cats. So, I use my Swiffer - with Sugar & Creme cotton yarn cover, of course - with the diluted vinegar solution that How Clean Is Your House turned me onto.

NOTE: This is on a linoleum floor. I don't know what vinegar would do to wood, but if that turns out to be a no-no, you could still use whatever cleaner you like to use with your handy, new, ecologically-friendly knitted Swiffer cover.

Links:
http://smariek.blogspot.com/2007/06/my-first-swiffer-mop-cover.html

http://www.innerchildcrochet.com/patterns/mop_cover.html

http://www.sheepofadifferentcolor.com/swiffercoverknitted.htm

http://kansasa.blogspot.com/2006/04/swiffer-cover.html

You could probably find one for every type of mop if you wanted to browse teh intarwebz long enough, or you could just figure it out yourself!

Dez--I am sooooo laughing my ass off over here!
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Beautiful. I would have done exactly the same thing. I am relieved to hear that I am not alone in the crazy amount of time I put into mking my apartment a home. My secret with wood floors is to apply (with an old sock) a matching stain (minwax at home depot) lightly over blemishes and scratches. It takes a few hours to dry. You can sand very lightly with very fine sand paper if you needed to soften rough edges. But the stain will completely camouflages any blemishes without the expense of redoing a whole area. There is also a great wood floor wax made by Sc Johnson called one step no buff wax that you can apply with a mop made specifically for wood floors to seal and polish the wood. It really puts a shine on the floor and protecs it from future water spills, traffic and mopping. Good cheap fixes for dull discolored areas.

Way to go, girl! The floor looks incredible. Compliments the Ikea rug and (lack of) coffee table. Who needs a stinkin coffee table anyways. It would block the view of your kick ass hear me roar project!!!!

Way to go, girl! The floor looks incredible. Compliments the Ikea rug and (lack of) coffee table. Who needs a stinkin coffee table anyways. It would block the view of your kick ass hear me roar project!!!!

I am SO late to this party...but your floors look awesome! :) And I see Bob is still adorable. That is very good news. Keep sailing, Bob!

Wow that looks so beautiful! Congrats on getting it completed! This is Laume's daughter-in-law by the way!

Holy floors, Batman! You did great work!

Here's one more, Miss Crazy. Fine job, I know the "get dirty" glow myself. I do a much better job of submersing my fears and doubts about carpets and their lives. Since I've been in Tucson, hardly any rugs in this town. Mostly cement, (especially in rentals) and tile. At least you know it's clean when you move in! Rock on.

Oh. My. GOD!!!! You've worked an absolute miracle! And I know what kind of work it took. Been there doing floors alone... Congratulations, congratulations, congratulations! That's awesome beyond words. Thanks also for the links to the supplies you used. While I was reading I was saying to myself "hmmm... I wonder what she used, and where to get it..." On top of everything else, you're a mind reader.

One word of warning, though. Don't ever give your cats a ping pong ball to play with, or they'll bounce it across that wood floor all night long just to hear the noise it makes. (Been there too...!)

AWESOME!! You deserve another glass of wine. Right now.

Chennpug - I am SO loving you for the idea of knitting Swiffer:tm covers. Now then - Laurie? Oh hooray! My DH would not notice the floors at all UNLESS they totally disappeared and he fell into the basement. I'm on a subtle new-floors maneuver (I have gross brown flat icky carpet that was installed when the house was built in 1978 - I'm the first and only owner of this house). It's foul, gross and ugly;..and underneath it is (ready?) cheap-o plywood. I am not making this up. And I LIKE the looks of the Ikea over your old rug and I am SO onto that! I mean to try that, getting a rug to cover the OGLY. That way it won't offend me so much but it won't cost what a new floor treatment (that's Home Depot speak) would. I HAVE convinced the DH to go along with letting me replace my cracked and ishy bathroom floor. It's 4'x5'. (But he agreed to help by moving the terlet, which is major.) Once again, CAP is a Brilliant Inspiration. Cover-up rug is better than nothing.

I did this in my first house (with the help of two people - did you really do this by yourself??WOW.) and it was a stinky, sneezy, icky job. But when it was done - awesome. And my wood floors underneath weren't in nearly as good shape as yours are. Congratulations. That is truly an investment in self. And no lurking germs now!

I was on YouTube, saw this frightening video and thought of you! No offense... it is just really weird. You should let your cats watch it and see if they enjoy it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm2BdCbZkKY&feature=dir

It looks beautiful!!!! So, your landlord is going to give *you* money, right? Because you just increased the value of his rental property. :-)

You did a great job! And now you have something to brag about and a great story to tell.

:-)

So purdy!

Hi,Laurie, (and everyone)if anyone has been doing any of the ballband dishcloths or washcloths, there are a few swiffer covers in the ballband pattern. skullcharms.blogspot.com has a nice swiffer cover. and hakucho.blogspot.com has a swiffer cover, and she also has a pattern for a ballband toilet paper cover,(I know the dreaded toilet paper cover, when I told my brother-in-law I was knitting toilet paper covers, he laughed, I think he will get one for Christmas) I have made several of these to match ballband washcloths. Also if you go up to 90 stitches wide on the washcloth pattern and make it as long as you like they make nice handtowels. Or just type in ballband knit patterns, and theres lots of stuff.
These all make nice summer knitting too, because you use cotton yarn and they are small projects. We are still having over 100 degree heat, and its always humid, here in Oklahoma, so I am always looking for cute small things to knit. Anita-Gone Knittin'

Your landlord SO owes you. Congratulations on digging up buried treasure -- I'm so inspired!

CONGRATULATIONS!!! Your floor is beautiful! And I'm so glad you're doing this for yourself - so you can enjoy it! Great job, and as my Southern mom would say, great stick-to-itiveness!

Absolutely beautiful, Laurie. I've got a 3 day weekend coming up. I've been looking to tear down this wall for months now... you've inspired me. Unless the weather is fantastic, my kids and I are tearing down a wall this weekend.

I know your joy. We take the tackstrips up last, though.
http://anna1001.blogspot.com/2006/09/76-remove-carpeting-downstairs.html
http://anna1001.blogspot.com/2007/08/90-rip-up-carpet-in-craft-room.html

When we did the living room, there were 4 of us; you're like a superhero!

Laurie - WOW, WOW, WOW!!!!!! Your floor looks fabulous. Way to go.

I recently helped my Dad remove all the carpeting from his home. It was also early-ers 1970s shag. (It was yellow with green bits - it looked like Lipton Noodle Soup in carpet form!) We did it all ourselves and the only recommendation I would have made to you would have been to A) get a soft, comfy pillow to kneel on while pulling the nails & staples out and B) stock up on pain meds. I have never been so sore. It is very rewarding tho - I loved seeing our progress.

I'm proud that you took it on yourself! I think you should call your landlord, show him your work and try to get a free month's rent out of the deal!

congrats! those floors are GORGEOUS! I always cringe when they pull up carpet on Trading Spaces... you never know what could be under there! I remember when my mom decided all the carpet in our house needed to be removed - each room revealed a different reason why the carpet should've stayed! But after much sanding, buffing, scrubbing, waxing (and new flooring in the rooms where the floor could not be saved), we had no more annoying icky carpet. I'm so glad you persevered and found the treasure buried under that shag mess - the cats will warm up to it eventually :)

comment #301 - wow! i came out of lurking to let you know that when i sometimes think i can't do it (divorced, drunk, covered in cat & dog hair & a doritos obsession) - reading this makes me feel like i can get through this...

thanks so much for the good laughs and solidarity tears...

Beautiful. I hope the owner reimburses you for putting that much work into improving the home!

nice work, laurie! the floor is teh awesome! :)

I am very impressed with your home improvement skillz! This weekend I cleaned my oven and it was about as close as I hope to ever get to a terrorist nerve gas attack. I don't know how carpet removal would go, but I might end up with a big hole in the floor. I don't even know what a tackstrip is.

Really nice work. I'm amazed and in awe. To take on such a project, I just can't imagine. You should be very proud of yourself. You are making that life that you've been waiting for!!

nice. very very nice. Excelent job!

Usually, I would sympathize with your carpet plight. However, in my apartment we have had the treat of living with mid-'80s OFF WHITE carpet. Even walking around in SOCKS makes it look filthy. So while I'm damn impressed that you uncovered the beautiful hardwood floors, would you mind sending the remnants of your brown shag carpet to me? Please? Pretty please?

amazing! it looks awesome - i am so inspired to get off my lazy butt and start on my own housey projects.

Fabby!

You should deffo charge your landlord at least a BIG VAT OF WINE for your DIY services. :D

Beautiful! You are so lucky your carpet pad was still intact — much easier to remove. Mine had disintegrated to dust. Ugh.

Wow, how lucky is a wood floor under bad carpet! I have concrete under mine. Great job Laurie. You should be proud.
cc

I love the job you did. This is what my husband and I are tackling, although I may just do it myself. I will have to put my darlings (3 wonderful female felines) in the basement to do this as the door tot he living room was removed.

Cora

I love the job you did. This is what my husband and I are tackling, although I may just do it myself. I will have to put my darlings (3 wonderful female felines) in the basement to do this as the door tot he living room was removed.

Cora

Dang. I had never thought of finding a gorgeous naked man scrubbing my toilets on a Sunday, but now I REALLY want that.

Some enterprising young gentleman could pay his way through college/grad school/medical school/life by hiring himself out for naked housework. Forget the toilet, dear, just pour me a glass of wine and wield that duster like you mean it!

I hear you have an opening for a Friend Named Roberta (see post dated 23 Aug 2007). I'm like you only about a generation earlier, so I'm applying for the job of Older Confidante Not Related. Let me know if you want to see my Friend Resume. PS. My cats say Hi to your cats.

Wow gorgeous floors. It looks like it was well worth the effort (the room looks so much more light and airy.)

I'm late to the party - but I hope you are going to give that landlord a bill for 9 hours x $Purl's rate from Purl's carpet removal!

Sweet Goodness! You are so my hero- that floor is gorgeous!

You're floors turned out great. I'm so impressed and now you've inspired me to work on my landlord to let me reveal the oak floors underneath my icky brown shag carpet. Wish me luck!