Oh my oh my. We have baseboard.
We bought our house five years ago after, for ten years, it was a quintessential college boy party bach pad. The yard was compact dirt and every wall carried a film of beer. A few years ago we had a dinner party and a friend brought a friend who exclaimed dude, my dope dealer used to live here. Aha. That explains the shreds of black plastic on the basement window frames.
Slowly we are fixing our little home right up. We thought we’d be finishing our old, beautiful, circa 1920s hardwood floors right away but it never happened. Partly because it is a giant pain in the ass and thousands of dollars and partly because some moron who loved brown shag carpet and didn’t like the floors squeaking nailed every board to the floor joists below. I mean, nobody would ever see it because who would ever want to pull up that luscious, marbled orange and brown blanket on the floor?
So sanding isn’t an option because the hundreds of nail heads would tear the sandpaper to shreds. And pulling the nails would not work because they are like three inches in diameter and eleven feet long. Or something close to that. And I am officially exhausted from defending our choice to keep the funk. I love it. It is history and that wood is beautiful. And I don’t want to schlep in more stuff because it’d really look great in here if you had new hardwood floors. I like the funk.
Andy has been denying me baseboard for all these years because *some day* we are going to buff and seal our funky floors. But it isn’t happening any time soon and I am constantly on my belly taking photos because I have a kid and animals who demand to be documented. So that’s what did it for me: the unfinished backdrop to my family photos, the sliver of shag around the kitchen, the puke blue plastic base that I now see because I am repeatedly picking up bug’s lid collection off the kitchen floor.
So I just said babe, can we pretty please lay baseboard and deal with the floors later and, perhaps, never? And, he said yes. And he did completed the project that weekend. And I nearly had cardiac arrest I was so pleased. Margot likes it better too.
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16 Comments
I’m a new reader and am LOVING your blog! I just spent 5 weeks in Montana and it helps me stay connected to that place I miss so much.
And, your daughter is adorable.
laughing at the last two pics because, not only does the trim look so much nicer, but bug is all spruced up, hair combed, toys off the floor in her room…ha!
i always love when you have pics of your house on your blog. it is so full of character and “new” can be so boring and predictable. i like the old, the “funk”, the scratched and worn. it has a voice. and it fits you. the new trim rocks.
Yahoo, a double blog morning…I a am happy Gram/Mom!
The trim looks fantastic, not to mention the little floor decoration in boots!
Have a great week Burb….I love you, Your mama
Oh my god, the before/after of the Bug is brilliant. Let’s hear it for fixy-crafty husbands, woo hoo.
So hilarious with the two pics of little margot…I agree, great contrast with the floor boards and the “funk”. I am with you all the way with embracing what ya got and loving it! Thanks for this really sweet post.
I think we might have all of our trim up (now, after many years), but the moulding to go with it is still not up. In a few rooms, yes. In most rooms, no.
AWESOME before/after bug pics.
Congrats on the baseboard. I too am a fan of scruffy wood floors.
I am so 100% with you on everything you just said.
And so, I’ve decided we need to put the new baseboard in the kitchen because, even though we *say* we will, I know we’re not replacing that heinous lino any day soon and that CRAP rubber baseboard the contractor put in looks like poo and I hate it in my beautiful new kitchen.
Thank you for being my mommy today. Tell Margot thanks for sharing.
I am sorry but that outfit is so friggin’ cute I can’t believe it. Those boots! Are those the ones Joan brought her?
Love the baseboards. Jeez I never noticed you didn’t have baseboards.
That is so awesome — the before-and-after w/ Margot is priceless!
Hilarious! Isnt baseboard amazing? I like that you went with the taller baseboard, it looks fantastic
had to comment on this one. Laugh out frickin loud on …”dude, my dope dealer used to live here!!!” (cracking up on couch while reading)
hey, i like the funk…!!!! no need to defend it-good for you. your house is beautiful from what i have seen. anthropology-ish! I LOVE the new trim!!!!
totally echoing everyone else but LOVE the before and after pics (good god homegirl has some sweet striped items in her wardrobe) and am so down with funky floors. we had the same beer film and shag rug in our house!
so good to see you last night!
Looks good–I agree with you (and Margot, lol!) in loving the funk!
so awesome! i laughed. out loud.
and, how great is andy? i need a cute, handy, helper man around the house. sigh.
me too! me too!
husband wants to eventually do up the wood floors.
and i’m kinda likin’ em now.
i LOVE the history involved in every scratch that is there. i don’t want to make all of that go away.
i feel like i’m walking in someone else’s footsteps. does that make sense?
but the dope dealer comment … too funny.
and our floors … were screwed down. with regular screws. i can’t imagine someone doing that to a wood floor. but then again … they probably couldn’t imagine living with them. sorry i can’t stop talking.