Lessons Learned from pulling up old Carpet

The carpet was soft and navy blue and was in EVERY room in our house. We picked out furniture based on the color of it and remodeled our life around it but it was time to go. Almost 900 square feet of it at least, the rest will take a while to replenish the monetary supply to replace. As I pulled up the carpet I also pulled up some lessons along with it. So here are a few I learned:

1. What helps can also hurt: The inverted nails that held the carpet in place for so many years are still sharp. So many things in our lives are great and helpful ... until they're not.

2. No matter how many times you clean there is still something dirty: I bet we vacuumed that carpet over a thousand times yet deep down it was still dirty. In life there is only so much you can do to clean up before you need to be totally remodeled and start fresh again.

3. No job is too big: The task looked daunting for years but I finally decided to tackle it and it isn't as big as I thought. If you are waiting for a remodel in your life that seems too big to tackle start a piece at a time and work your way through it, you will find it is not that big after all.

4. It's never easy: It is find to pull the carpet and replace it but what do you do with the baseboard, then what do you do with the level of the sliding blinds that are screwed into the carpet at the perfect height, then what do you do with the transition from the carpet to the tile? Kind of my mantra and it may seem the opposite of the one above but you will ALWAYS run into problems when you tackle any project: it is never easy. So be prepared and handle it in stride.

5. What about the Garbage Man: As I look at the growing mountain of refuse outside my house I wonder what my garbage man is going to say, or do. How will what you do impact others?

6. Watch out for Scope Creep: The job seems to be getting bigger. First it was replacing the carpet; then carpet and paint; then carpet, paint, new fixtures; then carpet, paint, new fixtures, and a new buffet; now carpet, paint, new fixtures, buffet, and redo the fireplace. Stay tuned for more! Learn to say "NO" or don't start until you have a LARGE bank account.

I am still in the middle of the project as I write this and expect the house to be in upheaval for about a month until the flooring comes in. Stay tuned, I might have more lessons OR I might never recover...