Hallway and How Carpet Cleaning Started it all

We cleaned our carpet in October, then had it ripped out a month later in November and replaced with the same vinyl as the great room.

Once we realized how dirty the high traffic areas got, it sealed the deal on putting in hard flooring in the front room and hall.  It wasn't a total waste to clean the carpet.  We saved it and had the edges bound into a rug using the pieces that were in good shape. Plus the bedrooms have clean carpet now.

We weren't ready to commit to that much new flooring a year ago. We wanted to live with it for a while to see how it did with scratches, kids, and water.  We've been really pleased with it and we love the way it looks and feels.  We didn't want to wait so long that they didn't make the same flooring to match so we did it now.

We bought new pricey stainmaster carpet when we moved into our house in May 2007. We knew carpet gets gross, (especially with the 2 inside dogs they had) and it's way easier to replace when you move in.  It held up really well, so we've never really cleaned it other than vacuuming and spot cleaning. We probably would have gotten a darker color if we had more experience with kid messes!

 Four kids later and a huge dusty remodeling job and our carpet looked pretty bad.  I had an appointment for August 5th a couple of weeks before my due date so we'd have nice clean carpet before Miles was born.  Well- Miles came August 2nd so my sister took off work and finished painting the hall "Revere Pewter" while I was in labor so we wouldn't have to paint on clean carpet or new flooring!  I told the carpet guy I needed to reschedule!  I was finally up for the cleaning guy to come in October before Miles' blessing.  Who knew there were so many gimmicky carpet cleaning methods these days?  We went with a truck mounted steam cleaner after a little research- we were happy with it.  I'm a little embarrassed to show the before pictures...

BAD- Before

BETTER- After cleaning right before we ripped it out

BEST- New Vinyl- I love the look of wood hallways!  Matt had visions of our kids somersaulting down the hallway like he did as a kid but I'm loving the cleaner floor! I can't wait to see how it looks with new baseboards!

Our flooring guy Patrick had to rip out a few pieces in the great room to have the lines of the planks stagger down the hall.  He was here for 1.5 days and my kids were here too.  I felt like they were such pests but he told me my kids were the best behaved kids he'd ever met.  That made me feel good- even if he probably isn't around kids much.  He was really sweet letting them tell him stories and trying to be quiet during their nap time.

More before pictures of our dirty carpet

This picture below is the old office/guest room, turned nursery that I'm almost done decorating- finally!  I'll have to post some pictures when I get the map up on the wall. That clean square was where the plastic mat for the office swivel chair kept it clean- gross!

Our room/Matt's office now.  It was a sad day when we had to move all our office stuff in our room. I like our room to be pretty sparse- it's the only room the kids don't make a huge mess.

Next up- the before pictures of our front living room and the new flooring, paint, and furniture arrangement.