My New Obsession

I remember watching an episode of Design Inc with Sarah Richardson in which she confesses that one of her guilty obsessions is vacuuming. This was during the wrap up phase of one the projects when they were all in a cleaning frenzy.

And while I'm in no way comparing myself to Sarah... this last week I could hardly wait to get home every night to vacuum. As I said to Anita and Ashley I think I've lost my sanity. By now you are wondering why would she be so keen to vacuum.

These past couple of weeks I have been the one who has been living through renovations, normally thats my clients job. I had new hardwood flooring layed at my house this past week. I also have to mention that the cases of hardwood have been stacked in my kitchen and stairway landing since May. Just like the carpenter whose house always comes last so in fact did mine.

I've had closets ripped out and found myself peeling 10 layers of wallpaper from the inside of these old gems before going to work in the morning. This is in preparation for the seam filling. My house is about 100 years old and the interior of the upper closets with the shelving had never been touched.

This is the rental beast I used to do the clean up. It's a standard shopvac with tons of sucking power. Perfect for getting rid of the sawdust which managed to cover everything in its path. Prior to beginning the renovations all of my furniture was moved into a rental container parked in my driveway. Since the entire main floor was being restored it only made sense to get everything out.

This is my vacuum which inconveniently kicked the bucket on day 1. However, this turned out to be a blessing in disguise as the shopvac is the way to go.

This is a picture I took on day 2 of the flooring installation when they had just finished laying all new subfloor to level all the surfaces. On day 1 the old light maple hardwood, that had seen better days, was removed.

By the end of day 3 all of the flooring was complete and on the morning of day 4 in came my sofa and area rug. The new flooring is a rich medium brown in a 2 1/2" plank width. I felt this wood was very much in keeping with the age and style of the house. It's actually called Ash Cappucino and has a rich grain to it. I can't even tell you how happy I am to have the new floors, they look so beautiful.

This is my diningroom after the install. On Thursday and Friday all the main floor walls and trims were freshened up with a new coat of paint. The painters I use sand after the first coat of paint so the shopvac was in use every single day. I was also able to slowly start bringing the larger pieces of furniture back in to the house.

This weekend all of the furniture is back in and I am slowly putting things back together. I actually got to sleep in my own bed last night. Yesterday and today the carpenter has been here cutting down the doors and rehanging them. He also hung up the flat screen tv and today is working on putting the quarter round trim on the bottom of the baseboards expansion gaps.

I will post pictures of all the completed rooms in next weekends post. I have ordered quartz countertops for the kitchen. I am hoping to have them installed by Christmas. That would be a nice way to end the year and the renovations.

Thanks for reading. Have a great week!

Susan