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that time I pulled up the carpet in my office and painted the floors white

    I’ve been itching to pull out the carpet in my office for so, so long. This weekend, I finally just went for it.

    office-with-carpet

    With the help of the kids, of course.

    kids-helping-with-carpet

    This wasn’t just destruction done on a careless whim … the plan is to replace all of the downstairs floors with hardwood or tile or anything other than eight-year-old carpet, so this is the beginning of many carpet-removal days to come.

    pulling-up-carpet

    It was surprising how quick that carpet came out. The boys helped remove all the staples and perimeter tack strips. I like doing manual, hands-on projects like this with the kids. It’s so good for them. And makes the work go even faster!

    boys-pulling-up-carpet-tacks

    Since we don’t have a final plan for the floors, I just rolled a coat of leftover white paint on the chippy plywood sub floor.

    painting-floors

    It doesn’t look great, I’m well aware. Chippy plywood with obvious seam lines and nail holes is not necessarily an ideal floor, but it will do for now. I really like the brightness of a white floor and it just feels cleaner and fresher without the carpet.

    office-with-painted-floors

    Moving out all the furniture motivated me to do a massive purge/reorganization.

    drawer-reorganized

    This is how I spent Mother’s Day … folding tissue paper and organizing pretty craft supplies so that when I open the drawer, I’m inspired to create. It’s the little things, I tell you.

    And look! I found a new office chair!

    jdc-office-white-floors-desk

    Details on that handsome fella tomorrow.

    23 thoughts on “that time I pulled up the carpet in my office and painted the floors white”

    1. We bought 1/4 in plywood at Home Depoe, had them cut it into 8 in wide strips. We then brought them home , laid them down and I painted them with white porch paint. They clean up pretty good with the shark steamer and we are good to go. We live at the beach so there’s a lot of sand around, very happy with the results and our realtor wanted to know how to do it in hers!

    2. Boy can I relate, Emily! We’re just finishing 3 rooms with wood flooring and trying to find everything that was shoved into other rooms! It’s a treasure hunt for some photo paper, for my jacket, whatever it is I happen to need at the time. I have been wanting to tear out our ratty old carpeting for years, since we bought this house. And it was scary when we pulled it up, believe me! Like you, as I return furniture, etc. to its new quarters (and we’re doing some rearranging), I plan to purge some of the “etc” and reorganize, especially in the library where I do my scrapbooking, printing and computer work. BTW, I really like your white floor and the striped rug.

    3. Such a tempting idea! We have just two rooms left with carpet…and I am getting a bit impatient ;-) Love the chair! My daughter and I were fortunate to find a very similar one in an antique mall last summer (it’s gray with casters) for only $30 – wish we could find another!

    4. I had painted subfloor in my house for. five. years. some of it was painted funky colors like bright blue or yellow. That got old. It was a paint to keep clean. i think smooth hardwood painted white would be ok. It will wear on you eventually but sometimes you just can’t live with the yuck much longer.

    5. Have you considered cork flooring? It comes in so many varieties and it environmental friendly…also it is antimicrobial. When I have the extra cash (if ever) I would love to replace the flooring in my kitchen & pantry with cork flooring. I’ve even considered doing that in the bathrooms because it is antimicrobial and will not hold mold.

      If I can ever convince my husband I would love to do an accent wall in my den with the pattern you did on your office wall! He’s just not very easily convinced :)

      Can’t wait to see the new flooring when that day comes!

    6. I just found the photo of your mom with all her grandchildren! I think it’s great to do that, it would be nice to do every year, to see how children … I would not be with my mom for 25/05, but I’ll call him and wish him a very good mother’s Day! She also wants me because for her, I gave her three lovely grandchildren! I would think the next time to do the same photo! Small children are less likely, because I only have one brother, but it would be nice! You had a very good idea Emily!

    7. I know that the “new” painted floor probably feels so much less than perfect and is somewhat temporary but it actually looks great! We have 8-year-old carpet too + 3 kids + a dog + lots of neighbor kids in and out. Our carpet is literally criminal. You may have inspired me. : )

      Can’t wait to find out about the chair. I’m in dire need of one of those too.

    8. I think you were jealous of all of us that had to rip out our waterlogged carpet and flooring in Florida!! Yes, we will be living that way for awhile. No worries though when we know we have bloggy friends that are joining in in the merriment. ( I might add I’ve been feeling the urge to rip out my bedroom and the homeschool room carpets too. Just afraid that might push my DH right over the edge. I will be sweet talking him when we buy the new flooring to add to the cart tho!!)

    9. I agree with Tina. We’re in a rental & I would love nothing more than pull every inch of carpet out & torch it in my front yard. I’m thinking bonfire for the kids! Emily it looks fab! So jealous!

    10. We moved in 2 years ago this month. The carpets were pet soaked. We removed it all. The dining/living rooms were the only carpet downstairs. We sealed the subfloor with varnish and then painted over with floor paint. Hubby wants to finish off the floor but I’m fine with the painted sub floor. Mostly the delay in permanent flooring has been our delay in deciding what final flooring product to use. Hardwoods are the pipe dream. Travertine comes in second.

    11. ADORE!!! I wish wish wish I could do this! Rental, y’know. Nasty carpeting is so gross and even though you make apologies for your floor I absolutely LOVE it! Look how fresh and clean and inviting it is!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE!

    12. I like the floor just as it is with white paint. In France, these panels are fashionable because inexpensive and wooden houses, we find much. The decor of wood sufficient to itself. It comes in several thicknesses and large, it can be mounted quickly panels! I say it should be fun! And so for now, you like it, that’s cool! The carpet in France is not much in fashion, finally, more too! But for the rooms, we still sometimes puts. Personally, we have the flooring in bedrooms, hallways and living room. But it is a big investment, as we chose quality. The advantage is that we have not paid placement, which would have been very expensive … Thanks to my dad for this precious help! I see that this weekend was the party moms, Happy birthday to all American moms! In France it is 25/05. Good week!

    13. When we bought this cute little repo 6+ years ago the carpet was TRASHED. I was beyond thrilled when we started peeling the carpet back and found hardwood floors underneath. My dreams of gorgeous hardwoods were shattered, though, when we found huge holes in the middle of the floors where one of the previous owners had drilled huge holes in the middle of the floor in several places preventing us from being able to refinish. So, we patched them and painted them white. People thought I was crazy for painting my floors white, but we love them. I would totally do it again.

    14. When we bought our house three years ago the master bedroom was the only room with carpet. After six months i couldn’t stand it anymore and we ripped it up. We still have painted plywood floors, but it doesn’t bother nearly as much as walking on someone else’s carpet {ugh– even though it clean it grossed me out!}.

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