We really like our apartment. But I always thought that the one thing wrong with it were it's super ugly floors. In our studio/homework room we have a super adorable fireplace, big bay windows and huge beautiful old trim around everything. The only bummer was this stained, burnt, ugly grey office carpet. Gross, right? I took pictures with the flash on just to show you how ugly it is .
The building we live in is really old and beautiful. In fact, it used to be the house of the mayor of Hamilton. I know zero information about that fact and haven't found anything out on the internet, but I still think it's pretty cool. Anyways, we had an idea that underneath this ugly carpet there might be some super old original hardwood floors. We pulled it up in a few corners and sure enough, we discovered hardwood. An exciting realization!
We didn't really think our landlord would go for us demolishing the carpet, but we decided to ask anyways. Her exact words were "Sure! Don't even ask. Do whatever you want."
Yaaaaaaay!
Ripping up carpet just might be my new favourite thing. I love surprises!
Admittedly, it's not in the greatest condition. The people who put down the carpet must have painted first and didn't really care if they got paint on the floor, so there is paint splatters all over the place. It's pretty rough and scratched and creaky and uneven and there is a bit of water damage near some of the windows.
BUT I LOVE IT.
Just add an exposed brick wall and that room has almost all of my favourite architectural elements; hardwood floors, bay windows, fireplace high ceilings. Amazing!
When our landlord said we could do whatever we want, my immediate though was to paint stripes. On something. On anything. I just really love stripes. Tada! Bedroom with stripes!
As long as you don't look closely, you can't tell that the stripes are the only level thing in this room. Beware of painting stripes in really old buildings. At first it was upsetting, but now it just makes me laugh. I still like them.
I often feel a bit guilty/silly about putting so much time and effort into a rental apartment that realistically, we probably won't live in for more than 1-2 years. I guess if you own a house putting work into it is a good investment that will pay off in the long run. But hey, what's wrong with leaving a place a bit more beautiful than when you got there?
In other news, our turtles are getting smarter. I think they're forming alliances and planning an escape.
Love the old hardwood Brittni! Judging by the direction of the strips in the hall, it looks as though one big room was divided a long time ago into smaller rooms. Nice! Super cool to reveal the history in a place, the stories of a space -- whichever kind of space, rented or owned :) Hopefully, though, there's no one below you .. along with your turtles they'll be forming alliances and secretly plotting your eviction, or at least pondering furiously the new foot racket from above (tried it too once -- getting rid of carpet -- not good, you may want to form some solid friendships with your neighbours asap ;D).
ReplyDeletewhoever covered that hardwood with carpet was crazypants!! i love it, brittni. and good stripes. great stripes.
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