Carpet Removal

Carpet Removal at Carolina Split

This Memorial Day weekend we spent some time doing a few projects.  1) Removing carpet from Lakeside so hardwood and cork can be installed this week.  2)  Painting and preparing Pepperhill for renting.

Carpet removal photos:

cut the carpet in manageable squares for easier disposal...look at all the PEE stains Oreo made in 2 short months...ugh

then there was the padding under the carpet to remove

once you remove the padding, you have to go around the baseboards and remove these nail strips that held the carpet down (thanks MomC for loaning us the tools for the job)

next job is to go around the room and remove all the staples ...some still have bits of padding attached

Wyatt said I'm totally on my own getting up the staples...he's out!

a few tools of the trade

this is a strip of the OLD carpet that used to be in the living room....not sure why they didn't remove this piece and just covered it with the other carpet...

Lowe's delivery truck...always a welcome sight! New flooring was delivered Monday so it can acclimate

the stack of new flooring (hardwood and cork) ready to be installed this Wed-Fri...

....photos of the installation and final results to come...

 

Tags: carpet, carpet removal, cork, flooring, hardwood, interiors

Bats and Head Injuries…

shutters removed so bats will find a new home

bat removal leads to head banging afternoon…

So Monday was an eventful day here at Carolina Split.  We’d called in a humane animal removal service to come in and remove bats (potentially in the attic)…

oh..you don’t know the bat story? [skip this paragraph if I told you this already] Well we’re outside doing little things in the yard and noticed that the top of one shutter on the lower floor was covered in poop…a mound of it but no tracks in it.  We thought maybe a mouse was living on the upper floor since it was little black poops like a mouse.  So…my bright idea was to spray water on the shutter above it and see what happens.  Honestly expected nothing to happen.  However, two bats flew out immediately.  I thought they were birds.  But then, ten bats flew out at once, one or two past my face doing that squeaky thing bats do.  Needless to say, I ran to the other side of the yard still dragging the hose in case i needed a weapon.  Several more groups of bats flew out into the trees and it seemed like they just kept coming and coming like those scenes in old horror movies when hundreds of bats fly out of a cave and across a giant moon.

can see the dark area where the bats lived

So to make a long story short, we freaked.  We thought there must be hundreds of bats living in the attic behind that shutter.  We get the expert to come and he finds no bats anywhere.  But while he’s looking in the attic, Alex gets on a ladder at the top of the short set of stairs to open another door to the attic. The ladder shoots out from under him and he lands on his back on the stairs and hits his head.  He’s ok.  He was dizzy for a minute.  His hip bruised.  But nothing broken.

Speak of the devil, the bat removal guy was just here.  He installed metal grates over vents and around the chimney so no critters can get inside to nest. And he put the shutters back on.

Tags: bat removal, bats, exterior

guest post: raining sheep. | sfgirlbybay

guest post: raining sheep. | sfgirlbybay.

I really enjoyed this guest post by Raining Sheep on sfgirlbybay.com blog…Her comments on how she’s been through numerous decorative styles and now come around to mid-century modern (with touches of “granny chic” thrown in) was me EXACTLY!

Tags: inspiration, interiors, style

Ikea Shopping Extravaganza

Shopping at Ikea

with a van to haul off your goodies is both a plus and a minus…the plus is obvious; you can buy whatever you want without considering if it will “fit.”….the minus side is the same; you can buy whatever you want without considering if it will fit…meaning…you have no limits…which means your budget goes a little off the rails.

Last weekend we had to rent a van to move the last of our stuff from our house on Pepperhill and so to make the most of the rental, we decided to go to Ikea and get the couch we wanted for the “man cave.”  Of course we also  bought a bunch of other stuff like a foot stool that goes with the couch, end table, kitchen table and six chairs, curtain panels, art desk, and office chair…AND we’re going back this weekend to get a few more things (this time without the van).

kivik sofa with light gray cover

gilbert chairs

torsby

Tags: Ikea, interiors, kivik couch, shopping, tables

Listening to the signs

planted wildflower, foxglove, and zinnia flowers in the open spaces

Some days you get every sign in the universe to do or not do something and when you don’t listen to the signs, that’s when things go wrong.  I know it sounds a bit like Oprah talk, but I think there is something to it…

This morning I was dressed in the torn and dirty clothes I wear for painting or yard work because I was going outside to plant flowers in the front flower bed.  I heard a creaking sound in the sunroom as I walked by and noticed that the door had been left UNLOCKED all night and was not even closed all the way.  A breeze pushed it open a little.  I rushed over and locked it, thinking how glad I was that it didn’t open during the night because all my cats would be gone.

I then went to the front door and opened it so the cats could see out the storm door. Something told me I “I should unlock the storm door in case I need something while I’m outside. I can come through the front instead of walking around.”

But nope.  I didn’t.

Then I put my cell phone on the counter top of the kitchen.  I thought “I should take my phone.”

Nope.  I left it.

I saw my keys and thought “I should take my keys just in case.”

Nope.  I figured why?

THEN

Tags: flowers, gut feeling, intuition, locked out, neighbors, signs

Unearthed

you'd think i had only one good eye too considering how out of focus this photo turned out...

Alex, working with only one good eye this weekend, was raking pine straw away from the base of the storage barn and discovered this little raised bed (or maybe it was the foundation for some smaller building like a kids playhouse).

 Behind the barn he found these pieces of white picket fence.  Maybe these were used around the “raised bed” to keep out bunnies…or maybe they were used decoratively around what was a kid’s playhouse.  I kinda lean more towards the playhouse theory because the soil in the “raised bed” is very low and it is in a very shady area, not ideal for a raised bed and especially one that would grow things you’d need to block out with fencing (seeing as how the entire back yard is fenced in too).  I’m not sure what i’ll do with this little spot, but I’m thinking I’ll pressure wash the fencing and use it somewhere inside the house as design elements…unless I come up with some other ideas…never know.

Tags: discoveries, exterior, unearthed

blue kitchen?

I think it might be fun to paint the kitchen something unexpected…but I guess blue just takes us too far out of the “design” plans…but everyone would surely know we are Carolina fans…hey…that rhymes…i should have posted this during national poetry month last month!  

Tags: ideas, interiors, kitchen