We're Not Hardwood Folk

As you know, we've been working on our house. It started out as a project that we hoped would make the place more marketable next year sometime when we planned to put it back up for sale for our great move to Fort Wayne.

Buttttttttttttttttt...in the process of fixing up our little bit o Shafferland, we've kind of fallen in love with the thing. It has been most unexpected. And now we're in the great land of limbo. Will we stay here? Will we move? Bottom line: we have no clue. God hasn't revealed His plan yet...and that doesn't surprise us. He tends to reveal in the last moment...at least for us.

In the meantime, we're making changes to improve this home...for us. After all, this is our home. Whether or not it's our forever home, I have no idea. But for now, it's our home and we want it to reflect who we are and what we love.

The carpet in our main living areas {living room, dining room, hallway} was about 30 years old. I've talked about it a little bit already. Great quality...but dated. In fact, a few years ago, when I had new carpet put in on the stairway, the guy who came to install it walked in the door, stopped in his tracks and said, "WHOA. You need to get rid of this Grandma carpet." My feathers ruffled just a bit. It was my Grandma's carpet, thankyouverymuch.

But he was right. The carpet was old and just...done. So as part of our renovations, Ryan and I decided to get new carpet. Nothing fancy. Nothing elaborate. Just newer. {And by newer...I mean just flat out NEW.}

So we went to the store, picked it out, ordered it, and then came home to rip up the carpet that was there. One room at a time. We started in the dining room. Ryan sliced the Grandma carpet with his little knife and peeled it back.

Hardwoods.

We looked at each other with somewhat of a sick expression. I mean, hello!!! We watch HGTV!!! We know the value of hardwoods. And while I had an inkling that hardwoods were under that carpet, I had NO inkling they'd be in such great shape. They needed cleaned off and that was about it. No stains. No sanding. Just great hardwoods.

Ryan voiced what I wouldn't dare. "Did we make a mistake? Should we not have ordered the carpet?"

I spoke up with what I hoped would be our saving grace. "Well, I think when we get over closer to the living room, we'll find a hole in the floor where a furnace used to be. I've heard people talk about it."

Found it!!

We decided we'd live with the hardwoods for a couple of weeks and see how we felt about them...and if we needed to cancel our carpet order and just eat the cost, we would.

About two days in, I made a declaration.

I marched up to Ryan and said, "I hate hardwoods." Then I gasped and covered my mouth as though I'd just said the unpardonable...

He laughed and said he didn't really care for them either - at least in the main living area.

The house feels cold. Not temperature cold, but just hoity toity cold. Impersonal. Echo-y.

Not. A. Fan.

And then there's the issue of putting down a blanket every time I have to do my ab work.

And the coffee cup that we won't talk about that got shattered into a billion pieces when it took a tumble from the coffee table last week and hit that hardwood.

We have stopped short of making a paper chain to count down to carpet installation day.

But every single day, we declare how many days remain until we have that fabulous new carpet oozing around our toes. {Our bare toes which don't see much floor time right now because hardwoods don't feel good to us.}

I say all of this to say...this decision of ours has been most unpopular. People gasp as though we've committed a crime when we tell them we're covering our hardwoods with carpet.

And I say this. We know. We know hardwoods sell houses. We know we could cover the hole with a rug. We know this is a treasure.

But bottom line? We hate hardwoods.

We want to lay on the floor and watch a movie without putting down an air mattress to protect us from the hard floor. I want to work out without a blanket. I want to drop something without breaking it. {And we're both a bit on the klutzy side, so this is a distinct probability.} I want the house to smell new and not echo and to be warm again.

We're not hardwood folk. We're carpet people.

We're so glad we've had this month with our hardwoods. We're glad we know without a single question that we made the right decision for us. Because, after all, this is our home.

And if we sell? We'll leave a nice note letting the fine buyers know there's a treasure under there.

But for now, we are unashamed carpet lovers...counting down the days until our house is back to normal.

Whatever that is.