One Thing Leads to Another
Oh the joys of home ownership!
When we bought our house we really liked almost everything about it. We liked the neighbourhood, the street, the house itself, that sort of thing. One thing we didn't like was this terrible panelling someone had thought to put up all over the house at some point. It's terrible stuff. I won't even post a picture I despise it so much.
We got rid of it in the dining room in the first year we were here (I say "we" although I was in Dallas when the work was done) but the panelling remains in the foyer, up the stairs and in the upstairs hallway.
My thought for a nice little pick-me up spring project this year was that we could take down the panelling and paint those areas. I thought the biggest problem would be chosing a paint colour. Then I discussed it with Nick and he saw things a bit differently, probably a bit more clearly. There is a lot of wood trip on top of the panelling that would need to come off. No problem. What I didn't realize is that going up the stairs the carpet has been attached to the baseboard so the carpet would need to come off the stairs and out of the upstairs hallway in order to get the panelling off. That means the hardwood under the carpet would need to be refinished as well. If you're going to refinish the hardwood on the stairs, then you've really got to do it all over the main floor too. If you're going to refinish the floors under the carpet in the upstairs hallway then what about the bedroom floors too? And how do you do messy hardwood refinishing with a baby in the house? We'd need to move out for a week.
So my thoughts of a little project have developed into a major job that probably isn't going to happen. I guess we get to look at the panelling for a little while longer.
When we bought our house we really liked almost everything about it. We liked the neighbourhood, the street, the house itself, that sort of thing. One thing we didn't like was this terrible panelling someone had thought to put up all over the house at some point. It's terrible stuff. I won't even post a picture I despise it so much.
We got rid of it in the dining room in the first year we were here (I say "we" although I was in Dallas when the work was done) but the panelling remains in the foyer, up the stairs and in the upstairs hallway.
My thought for a nice little pick-me up spring project this year was that we could take down the panelling and paint those areas. I thought the biggest problem would be chosing a paint colour. Then I discussed it with Nick and he saw things a bit differently, probably a bit more clearly. There is a lot of wood trip on top of the panelling that would need to come off. No problem. What I didn't realize is that going up the stairs the carpet has been attached to the baseboard so the carpet would need to come off the stairs and out of the upstairs hallway in order to get the panelling off. That means the hardwood under the carpet would need to be refinished as well. If you're going to refinish the hardwood on the stairs, then you've really got to do it all over the main floor too. If you're going to refinish the floors under the carpet in the upstairs hallway then what about the bedroom floors too? And how do you do messy hardwood refinishing with a baby in the house? We'd need to move out for a week.
So my thoughts of a little project have developed into a major job that probably isn't going to happen. I guess we get to look at the panelling for a little while longer.
posted by Sue Matthews at 9:04 AM
4 Comments:
Hey, we had to rebuild two rooms to get rid of our vile rose wallpaper!
I think you should get the work done. Come to Montreal for a week and have the work done while you're away! Problem solved, right? Nick can stay home, stay in the basement and make sure the stuff gets done.
Another temporary option is to paint the paneling. White paneling looks better than plain paneling if not as good as plaster.
Hey Sue,
We are sort of in the same predicament. However, if you are keeping the carpet there is no need to refinish the hardwood underneath. On the other hand if you are getting rid of the carpet you don't really know the state of the hardwood and it may need to be refinished anyways.
Any hoot we just ripped up our carpet upstairs and we have beautiful hardwood underneath amazing really. But I just had two people come in and quote on how much it would cost to have our living room, dining room and hallway done.....$1000 easy if I wanted to add the three bedrooms in as well tack on another grand.
We are going to attempt to do it ourself (I think). Apparently you can rent these new machines for floors at home depot or lowes and it sucks up the dust etc as you sand so there isn't too much mess and stuff flying around. You may need to move out when you refinish it though and do 3 coats.
Hope this helps and not discourages but that is what we are doing.
Janice
Post a Comment
<< Home