The first major job was ripping out a really nasty rug covering the staircase. I used a rug cutter thing and a hammer. Most of the time was spent carefully getting the damn strips of wood with nails popping out that held it into place, without damaging the wood or cutting my fingers. Well, I did get cut; several times in fact, and there were a few dents and dings in the wood when it was all said and done, but nothing major.

Before:

Shot of the thing before it was torn to shreds and tossed. I thought the carpet was white or beige that obviously became dirty over time, but when it was ripped out, the creases of the rug revealed that it was actually a light baby blue type color. Ignore the ugly wallpaper. That’s going to get torn down and tossed soon, too.

After:

Not bad. I was honestly expecting something horrible like cracked or split wood. I mean why else would someone cover up some nice wood with a carpet? Anyway, they need a scrubbing and wood polish, maybe even a re-staining eventually, but I think it looks a lot better.

That said, I found out pretty quick why someone carpeted them. The steps are nosy as hell now with all sorts of squeaks. Another problem for another day.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 11th, 2005 at 10:43 am and is filed under Interior, Projects (completed). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.