Hardwood Floors

I started installing laminate hardwood floors in my bedroom this week.

First step, get rid of the disgusting, stained, smelly carpet. I can't even begin to describe how disgusting this process was. Fortunately, having a 16-year-old brother, I have access to a great workforce that will carry the disgusting stuff out to dumpster with only the promise of free ice cream.

Then, pulling up all of the tack strips and carpet pad staples. This was time-consuming, to be sure, but I've heard it can be a lot worse, so I'm not complaining. My brother came over on Saturday (because I offered to pay him) to help for a few hours.

Then we started laying the floor. It took a while to get going, just to understand how to do it, and by the time we started to figure it out, we were done for the day.

But Sunday Bethany came over, and my new friend Lisa, who loves hands-on stuff and didn't have anything else to do, and we finished half the bedroom. Granted it was the easy half, but it's still a huge visual improvement.

So far the biggest drawback to the entire project is that I absolutely can't sleep in my bedroom, between all of the dust and animal dander stirred up when I pulled up the carpet, and the wonderful green dust from the flooring. I've been crashing at Mom & Dad's, which worked for the weekend, since they didn't mind having Dakota around. But Mom doesn't want to deal with her all week, so this morning I drove her and her crate back home, put them inside, then headed on to work. Sleeping on my couch downstairs will be a lot less comfortable, but I think it's going to be the best option, since I can't keep moving things back and forth each morning and evening. Hopefully, the discomfort will urge me to move a bit more quickly.