DIY for the real world

Floor restoration/removal for those in the real world and not on HGTV or the DIY Network does take a little longer than a 30 minute time slot of Saturday morning, but even with Camden and 2 dogs running a muck the process wasnt that bad once we got the right tool for the job and some very helpful advice from our neighbor Eric who is the home improvement professional of the neighborhood. The flooring was originally nasty stained gross carpet from the previous owners of the house. So about 2 weeks ago, unknown to Adam, I pulled up the carpet just to see what was lurking underneath, as expected there were beautiful hardwood floors just waiting for their moment to shine. Finally, last Saturday I started tearing out carpet during Camden's nap to find a world of difficulty.
First I had to figure out how to get around/work with the closets in the hallway, Secondly the carpet padding was stapled down to the floor with about A MILLION staples. It seriously looked like someone got a new staple gun for their birthday and just went wild with it. And lastly, this is the best part, there were THREE tack strips holding the carpet down along the wall. Did you say 3, but there is supposed to be just one! NO THREE. The first one was easy and came right up with the pry bar, the second was a bear. It was old, rotting and nailed in with DRYWALL SCREWS, who does that? Its like the old owners ran out of nails and instead of a quick trip to Lowes they just said, "Hey, I can just use these leftover drywall screws!" That was fun. The last strip was under the wall trim, but we managed to get it out without too much demo. Tuesday we finally got everything out and all that is left is to put the doorway peices in, which are easy enough for me to tackle today.

The doorway before the final pieces are added.

The new hallway!