new floors

A couple weeks back I shared that John was going to be taking on a DIY project of ripping up the carpet and putting down new wood floors on the main level of our townhouse. This is a project I have been long awaiting, and is the first step to getting this place in decent shape to put on the market.
Why is that everyone waits until they are ready to move out to make all the improvements you've been wanting to do?
So while I spent last weekend relaxing with my friends, my awesome husband, brother-in-law Justin, and father-in-law were busy here beginning the transformation.
John picked up all of the materials Thursday morning at the crack of dawn when the store opened for their big sale. It was worth the wait, he ended up saving $150 by waiting the extra week!
I love a good sale!

The first step was ripping up the carpet, which wasn't that bad until John and Justin saw what was under the carpet. A million staples! Nervous that these staples would make the new boards lay uneven, they spent a good part of the day just removing staples from the subfloor. Poor Justin was sick but still suffered through it so John wasn't doing this incredibly boring task alone.
I was working at home on Thursday while this was going on, so periodically I would go downstairs to check on them, expecting to see the new floors and they were STILL ripping up staples!
Once that was finished, things seem to progess pretty quickly. They were able to lay about a quarter of the room that night before calling it a day. From what I could see, I could already tell I was going to love it!

On Friday more help arrived and now John had his dad and Justin to help move things along. The house was in shambles with saws, hammering, dust, boards, nails, and STAPLES so it was the perfect time for me to leave and let them do their thing. So Izzy and I headed to DC for some QT with the girls.
Over the weekend when I talked to John on the phone I could tell he was exhausted. As with any home project, nothing goes quite as fast or as easy as you have planned but when it's all done and you see the finished product, somehow it's all worth it.
And when I walked through the door on Sunday night I knew why he was so exhausted, the floors looked awesome!!

BEFORE:

izzy was not happy her carpet was going away

AFTER!!!!

It's amazing what a difference it makes! They did such a GREAT job!!

I am still getting used to vacuuming and swiffering a lot more. Carpet is so forgiving in that regard, but with this I see every little crumb or dog hair! I'm sure as time goes on it will become less noticeable to me, but for now I want them to be spotless. At least for the first month!
The only bad thing is that having these nice, new floors is making everything else in the house look really bad, especially the kitchen... so perhaps that is next...but I think that may require more than just a weekend trip, which may not be so bad afterall  ; )

A big THANK YOU to my father-in-law and Justin for helping John out with this!