Yesterday afternoon, as my workday was winding down, I was browsing Pinterest. Sometimes while I browse, a spark of inspiration hits and I search around for similar ideas. So, as it often does, inspiration struck and I decided to find out exactly what I could do about the disgusting carpet that covers the floors in most of my home. I have seen a few people laying plywood down and staining it like you would hardwoods. Why put plywood down over plywood? So I searched for “stained plywood subfloors” and saw that there are quite a few people out there who have tried it, but none ever put together a clear, concise, and well documented tutorial of it. So maybe I will. Later.
The whole reason I was browsing Pinterest was because I could not stand the carpet on the first floor for another day. There is just nothing you can do about decades of poorly trained pets and hoarders. The carpet could not be helped by any amount of shampooing (despite the denial I had closeted myself in the last 2 years). When my sister came in to pick me up from work, I ran the idea of staining the subfloors past her. She was in.
We went home, changed, and moved out all the furniture. We went from this:
To this:
The dogs had no idea what to do. Where did all our comfy couches go? I left to go to the hardware store for supplies, and my sister got to ripping up the carpet. An hour later, I came home to find all the carpet rolled up in the garage. Our house has never looked better. Amiright?
Under the carpet we found a little set of instructions (which you can see in the background of the photo above) for the carpet from when it was originally installed – in 1984. Officially making our carpet 30 years old. That is older than I am. That is too old for carpet. So. Disgusting. I called my bfff, Liz, and her husband, Bryan, to see if they wanted to sacrifice their Thursday night to come and rip up staples with me. They agreed. It took 4 of us about 2 hours to rip up all the tack strips, staples, and nails. Note to everyone considering this project: wear safety gloves and work in a well ventilated area. This is a rusty nails and dust kind of job.
Once everything had been pulled up, we swept as much as we could. So much dust and dirt under those carpets. For reals, they just aren’t sanitary. As you can probably see, there was also a ton of staining. The line of dark stains just behind the trashcan are thanks to this adorable pup:
Those stains line up with the back of the couch, her favorite indoor pee spot. To get rid of the stains and accompanying odor, I poured some of this all over the stains, let it sit for a few minutes and dabbed it up with some paper towels. In the morning it had all dried and the stains were much lighter. Hopefully after some sanding, they’ll be gone. If not, I got a really dark stain to go over the floors.
I know this might sound insane, but the carpet could not stay any longer and I do not have the budget to put down new flooring right now. We have guests coming to stay with us next week right before we go on a trip, so this needs to get done this weekend. Wish me luck!
Have you ever started a project impulsively?
Suburban Fervor 
Oh my goodness! I mean… I rearranged my studio on a whim earlier today but that hardly compares to this level of spontaneity and dedication! Please update us!
Every once in a while, you have to change things up. Go with your gut. In this case, my gut was crazed and needed that carpet gone. Update coming this afternoon!