So, we have carpet! It has felt like forever to get to this stage of our renovation. Always in my mind, everything we did was working towards the day when we finally would have carpet. You can imagine my extreme satisfaction to walk on the lower two levels of our home without dust, concrete and old snagged stained carpet. I don't even need shoes anymore!
As you can see, we still need some electrical work done and the installation of our baseboards in the basement, but that seems so minor now!
While the carpet layers were still here, Sean had asked if they'd help to bring in our sofa from the garage. Apparently between three of them, it took over an hour to wrestle the sofa into the basement. First, it had to go over the kitchen island, down one set of stairs, spin around on the landing and then down another set of stairs. The trouble was its size. It is 90"W x 46"D x 35"H - a real monster! Sean was intent on having it in the basement before I arrived home from work. Once again, I could have cried!
Of course, we have spent the last few evenings together in the basement enjoying the warmth of the in-floor heating, the soft wool carpet and the huge new leather sofa! It feels like home! And it is so much better than all four of us crammed into my little craft room!
It is tricky to determine the true colors of the walls and carpet from these pics. There is not much natural lighting down there, so it is mostly lit with pot lights on the ceiling. This wreaks havoc on taking photos though. Probably the first picture of the fireplace has the truest colors. The walls are slightly green and the carpet is a tan color. It is funny, before we had the carpet, the walls really looked more grey, and now with the carpet, the walls have turned green! This whole picking colors thing has been so difficult! We were trying to keep to the neutral colors of the stone in the fireplace.
Now there is a story here...It was about a month ago, when Sean and I went hunting for carpet. I really wanted wool carpet because of its natural fibers and absence of VOCs, plastics and chemicals. Because of that, we were limited. Not all carpet retailers carry wool, as it is more expensive and most people these days are sold on the stain resistance factor (read: chemicals!). In each of the few places that we visited, I learned more and more about wool carpet and became more and more sold on it.
Anyway, we found this one retailer where Sean and I were able to agree on the pattern, color and price of the carpet. Before even looking, we knew we wanted a darker carpet for the basement... something cozy and warm. [Just so you know, I was voting for cork in the basement, but Sean would not hear of it!] When seeing the choices of color at this particular retailer, it came down to two. One was a darker rusty brown and the other was olive green. Well, rusty brown did not excite us, so it was olive green. Done.
The day after putting in our order, Denis (the nice man who sold us the carpet) phoned to say that there was no more of our color left in their warehouse. He was going to search further, but it didn't look hopeful. So, we were back to square one. Where do we look now?
About a week later Denis phoned to day that there was one large piece (somewhere ambiguous) that another couple were still deciding on. After a few days, Denis called again and suggested that we put a deposit on the carpet, that way, we guarantee it is ours, should the other couple decide against it. We waited with bated breath for a few more days, and finally Denis called back to say that it was ours! Yippee! We won! We felt so fortunate. It was going to be another few weeks until it arrived.
One evening, while packing up my craft room (the same carpet was being installed in there too), I had a reality moment that shook me. All I could remember was green - a sage green - even in my craft room. Now, here I must explain that we decided to convert my craft room into more of a guest room. I am downsizing the space that I will use for crafting and devoting more of the room to be comfortable for when we have visitors. Previously, my scrapbooking supplies took over the room, so that when we needed the bed, we could barely open the door! Anyway, as I was packing boxes, I tried to imagine the paint color I would use in there with a new colorful duvet on the bed. In that moment, I suddenly had a horrible thought...what color do you paint when the carpet is a sage green? I felt so limited. In my mind, I tried several combinations but could not come up with a color that I could see working. I was horrified!
As the date for carpet came closer, I was actually dreading it. I just could not see how we chose such a specific, rather than neutral, color. I absolutely could not mention it to Sean at this point. We had fought so hard to get this particular carpet and now I was having second thoughts. Poor Jessica witnessed my little break down one morning on the way to school, as I just could not stand it anymore!
The day the carpet was being installed, I texted Sean to get a feel for how it looked so that I could prepare myself before coming home. In true Sean style, his response to me was simply, "It's great". No help there at all. When we pulled up to the house, I sat for a few moments and commented to Jessica how nervous I was to go inside. She asked if she should go in and check it out for me first. She's such a darling. Bravely, I entered the house...and was so relieved to see that it was not as green as I had remembered! Thank goodness.
Now, my vision for the craft guest room is blooming! I think I have a color chosen already!
