Raise Your Head Up, Lift High the Load Take Strength From Those that Need You Build High the Walls, Build Strong the Beams

This house was built the same year I was born. When we had a general contractor come over to look at the house, his first reaction was: "Wow, I hope you guys got a really good deal on this place." It was that bad. He then went on to explain how at twenty-five, things just break. It's an age where everything just falls apart and stops working. I told him my birthday was in a few weeks and I was taking that personally.

But he was right. Our house was an REO, meaning it was a foreclosure. It had been a rental for several years before that. So, imagine a house with twenty-five year old carpet, that had several renters in and out. Now imagine these renters are teenage partying boys with no personal hygiene. Now picture that the carpet wasn't installed right in the first place, and was fraying, coming up and just all over gross. It was the kind of carpet that made you sick to look at. It was bad.

Master Bedroom before:

Master Bedroom after: 

Guest Room Before:

After:

Drek's office before:

Drek's office after:

The Hallway before:

After:

There was also the scary carpet in the front room:

We decided not to put carpet back down. Instead, we ripped up the carpet in the front room:

gathered supplies:
and did the laminate ourselves. We had a laminate-laying party one night and got HUGE help from our friends. Drek finished it the next day.

Beautiful, no?

Laundry Room:

We tore up the carpet in the laundry room:

and Drek installed the new floor. We moved the washer in:

Cleaned up and fixed the desk:

And then Drek installed cupboards!