When the going gets tough, rip up more carpet!

I love restoring this house, don’t get me wrong, but things also go wrong occasionally. I find a new surprise somewhere and it hits the budget or something takes approximately 134,847 times longer than it should have and that can get really frustrating.

At the end of the day, this is and will be worth it. The house is starting to come together but, this week, we’re talking about the front porch – and taking it apart.

One day, while working on stuff outside in general and encountering one or two of those setbacks, I decided I just couldn't take the weathered greenish brownish carpet on the front porch anymore...

so I ripped it off!

And found another layer of what was probably, at one point, carpet pad along with orange fibers under the staples holding it down (i.e. there was once bright orange carpet on the front porch). I couldn't believe just how dirty it was, even knowing that the carpet had likely been there for years.

I brought out my handy-dandy shop-vac and spent the next twenty minutes or so learning that my front porch was painted - you just couldn't tell through the grime.

After vacuuming, I decided it probably wouldn't hurt to give it a quick rinse and it turned into this!

The Roommates could hardly believe it when they got home (one actually checked the address to make sure she was in the right spot) and loved the difference. It makes the front of the house look way better even with a few damaged boards. 

Sometimes, though, you have to take a step back to take a step forward. So stay tuned – next up, we’re stripping the porch and fixing what's broken!