So when our floors got damaged by contractors in the guest room and hallway, I was pretty inconsolably upset. I was really angry. I know I had the pregnancy hormone thing going on, but I just felt like we had let the house down by allowing one of its few original features to be scratched. Yes, the contractors ended up refinishing the floors they scratched and they turned out really well, all things considered. I feel better about that, but overall my anger hasn’t completely subsided. The floors upstairs were carpeted before, and that preserved the 1850 hardwood soooo well while the previous owners raised children and grandchildren here. It made me realize that I never, ever wanted to feel such anger toward David’s and my future kids for scratching the floors…
David tells stories of roller blading through the 1890 house in downtown Charleston he grew up in, and while I have to expect kids will be kids and things like that are bound to happen, I want to try to set ourselves up for a Win and let the floors not be something I’m constantly worrying about when our baby is playing in the nursery.
So, with that logic, we decided to carpet the floors in the nursery. I know, I know– most of you are probably thinking we’re certifiably crazy and shouldn’t be living in an 1850 farmhouse if we’re going to do something like install carpet over old floors. But the floors have been carpeted in the past and have tiny little holes around the baseboards anyway, and while we want to restore this house to its former glory, we also need to remember it’s our house for living in, right here right now.
So, voila! Behold our new beige carpet from Lowe’s. We got the only kind that came in 15′ segments so that it would cover the whole floor without having to nail it down in the middle of the floor (which is what a 12′ roll of carpet would have done). I am glad it matches the beige in the window rollers’ trim!
Of note: we decided to keep this room off-limits to Meriwether (cat dander = more vacuuming and dirt and such from being an indoor/outdoor kitty), so of course every chance she gets to run in here and roll around on the carpet, she does!
Things are definitely not “done” yet, but we’re at the point where we can do the rest of the “small” stuff after the baby arrives… could be any day now! Depending on whether the baby is a boy or girl, we’ll decorate with pink or brown accents… that’s where it will get really fun! 🙂
Really, really dumb question– but what’s that space-age contraption in the bottom left corner of the last picture? Some sort of baby gym, to grow an Olympic gymnast?
Not dumb at all! It’s a baby swing 🙂
Hey guys. I love the nursery. I think it is prtety neutral but I say girl too. But it could be for a boy just as easily.I saw your kitties and I have a tip for you. Since we have kitties too and we have a crib we found this trick helpful (came froma fellow cat owner). Put aluminum foil in the crib for a while. Cats hate tin foil. We did that in the crib for a few weeks/months before Jacob was born and neither of our cats has ever gone into the crib. They both made a beeline for the crib once it was set up and that worried us, we didn’t want any kitties on baby Jacob’s face! So we listened to some friends that tried the tin foil thing. We put both cats on the tin foil and they jumped out imeediately. It is a good trick for us cat owners with cribs.It will be any day now. I am so excited for you both.