Nest
Tuesday, April 27th, 2010We did it! Our very own house 
And it’s keeping us very busy too – garden designs, paint samples and curtains…
But before any of that, before we even contemplated moving into our cream brick veneer (with arches!) suburban semi-beachside (we can see the water!) 3br mortgage, there was . . . dun dun dun!!! The Carpet. It had to go. Oh yes. Nothing spells ol’ nana quite like a certain colour of carpet, coupled with floral curtains and brown wood veneer built in cupboards of random placement and no apparent function. Just like the end of year sale at Mr Bankrupts, it all had to go.
With 2 weeks before moving day we thought there was oodles of time. Built in furniture out, check. Not too hard. Carpet up and in the mini skip, easy peasy. Underlay up… hang on, what the heck is this black shite?
Apparently black rubber underlay was all the rage in the 70s. 
Unfortunately it likes to become one with the wood floor underneath. Get out your putty knives, kids, it’s time to spend 3 days scraping the floor! …what is that funny smell? Try not to think about it, possibly just over-active pregnant nose. Thanks for your help, Nanna Robyn! Get all the staples out, hammer in the nails. Orlando is good at that bit.
Great! Floor is scraped, random bits found underneath are removed. Lets squeeze the hire equipment into the back of our infinitesimally small car. No problems. What! This is taking forever, and there’s still black stuff ingrained in the floor. Only a week left and we still have a long way to go… Call in the reinforcements!! Yay for Barry and Lyndall!! Why you lovely crazy people want to help us with this back breaking labour is a mystery, but we ask no questions. Lets get another machine, speed things up a bit… good idea Barry. FYI: anyone in Australia attempting this DIY project should listen to the Kennards Hire Man when he says it’s a b1tch of a project, leave their antique machine where it is and go get the good machine from Bunnings; called a Deva 10. Practically does the job for you.
Hmm, what’s this strange staining and why does is smell so bad here… OH GOD NO!!! The final revenge of someone’s small and untrained house pet… in nearly every room in the house X_X Okay, all of “The Bsssh” as Orlando dubbed the sanding equipment, is complete. Time to put the goo down. 
‘relia makes 3am trips to the new house in order to get all the coats on before moving day arrives…
And yay we are done! In the nic of time, too. Looks soooooooo much better and cleaner and less old nana, or “modern” as the realtor says when she stops by to see what we’ve done to the place. What do you mean the wardrobe won’t fit through the bedroom door??