We were told when we first moved in that some of the carpets covered hardwood floors, but the condition of the floors was unknown. We lucked out in our room and Sissy’s room. We simply rolled up the old carpet (there wasn’t even a tack strip) and with a little scrubbing uncovered some beautiful floors. After that success, I peaked under a few more carpets in the rest of the house and found hardwood in the living room and nursery. We talked about pulling those carpets out as well, but they were in decent condition and we had no idea what the floor was like. (Plus, I had my hands full with the floor in Potato Boy’s room.

So, I caught the DW off guard Saturday morning with “Whatta say we clean the house up, feed the kids an early lunch, and then rip the carpet out of the living room?” It was a little bit risky. If the hardwood was beyond hope, we knew we’d be out looking for carpet yet that afternoon. Still, the chance of uncovering a small gem was well worth it and after lunch we cleared out the living room furniture. The kiddos were even interested enough to pull up a seat…

And we weren’t disappointed…

And after pulling a few carpet tacks and a lot of scrubbing…

As I mentioned yesterday, the current plan is to flip the floor plan of the house, so instead of moving the living room furniture back into the room we grabbed onto the dining room furniture instead. Just over five hours after the living room furniture was moved out, here’s what the room looked like…

…the Christmas tree ended up in the bare corner the next day.

The floor isn’t in the best cosmetic shape. The finish in the center of the room must have been rubbed off by an area rug at one point and the varnish on the outer edges of the room has darkened with age. But, the over all condition of the floor is great and with a little refinish work down the road it will be around for many more years.