The closet and most of the ugly tile is gone!

The coat closet in our living room is typical of closets in all the houses in our older neighborhood. Though we needed the storage, we decided space was more important. You wouldn't think a closet this size would make a difference, but it has! Our room is so much bigger now, especially since it opened up new possibilities on arranging our furniture.

Before the guys took it out, James drilled a hole in the floor at the back of the closet to see what the flooring looked like beneath it. We were happy to see that it was more oak!


It didn't take long for them to remove the closet. Actually, I don't know how long it took, I left that to the men and went over to Aimee's to watch a chick flick. We didn't mind leaving this to the "men folk" if that meant we could watch our movie in peace. Plus they like destroying things.


When I finally got back to see what it looked like without the closet, I saw that the guys decided to take that horrid ceramic tile out too while they were in the destructive mood. Not that I mind tile, but it was layed in the diningroom and in front of the doorway, creating a distinctive border and consequently making the space appear smaller. Plus, the tile was about a half inch taller than the hardwood floor with a border that was even taller, making it hard to sweep. And considering we have a redwood tree next to our driveway that will not stop dropping seeds that we then track into our house, sweeping is important. You can see a bit of the tile in the first photo and at Aimee's blog, where she talks about taking out the carpet.

Under the tile was linoleum and a thin layer of wood stapled down every three inches. This is when all the swearing started and I decided to appease them by having two giant man pizza's (with various meat and jalapeno toppings) delivered.


The floor is in fairly good condition in most places, though there is some severe gouging that will require replacing a few boards.

Because linoleum is under the tile in our kitchen as well and we could see a gap between the two, it will most likely break up soon. I'm not exactly heartbroken over this since the tile is a little old fashioned and not laid very well. I wouldn't mind replacing it in the future, maybe with a kitchen remodel? You know, with the thousands of dollars we have lying around. As you can see below, we're saving tons of money by skimping on furniture.


Yesterday, Apollo and I removed the plaster using a putty knife, damp sponges and some elbow grease. It looks so much better now. Next on the agenda is a some sanding and refinishing.

For more photos, click here. You can see where someone deliberately scratched the floor and severe gouging occurred. I don't have any photos of the oil spots we discovered under the plaster. Yes, the kind of oil that comes from cars.

There is nothing like a little hard work to make you appreciate what you have just that much more.