How to test a marriage....

Me:  Honey,  I want to redo the stairs.

The man:  Why? What's wrong with the way they are now??  (this is a very common saying for the husband. He's used it MANY times...)

Me:  Because I've tripped both up and down them, they creak like crazy...they bow and they have carpet. They are also the first thing people see when they enter our house. I've been saving the money to do it, so what do you say?

The man : Oh. You've never mentioned them before.

WAIT A MINUTE. BACK UP.  To the First time WE entered this house.

Me: Oooh, the stairs.
The man: What about them?
Me: They're carpeted.

Present time- #102 on my crazy list. I do not love carpet. The only thing I dislike MORE than carpet is someone else's old carpet. I have asthma (so does the man) and I once heard that carpet is the biggest air filter in a house. I've helped change our furnace filters, so I can only imagine what lives in and under carpet. I warned you about my sanity. Every once in a while, I also have to remind the man.....

Me: So, can we redo them?
The man : You really don't like them?

And now it's on.

Let me preface this and every story about this house with the fact that we knew and loved the builders of this home. I am not faulting anyone for the problems we find and/ or create.. We bought the house knowing its history and for my part, would have purchased any home associated with those angels based on sentimentality alone. That story, my friends, is for another time.

What I didn't know (or wasn't willing to admit), was that this renovation was going to be a lot of work.  The house, as I have mentioned before, is nowhere near square. The steps squeaked for a reason. Not one of them was the same size as another. The stairs had 35+ years of holding up little AND big feet running, stomping, creeping and yes, tripping up and down them. Some steps were made with pressed wood, some were cracked and at least half of them were not completely attached to the frame. In the nail strips were various versions of every other family's carpet. (I can't even imagine the green shag...). Worst of all, when we pulled off the carpet and padding- upon each stair, was at least 1/8 inch of a mixture of sand/silt/dust.....UGH.

For those of you who know me well enough to even ask, the answer is yes. I left that silly garland up the whole time. It reminded me that the project needed to be done before Christmas.... :)

After much measuring, sanding, staining, painting, hammering, gluing....laughing, yelling and using a few words I wouldn't say in front of my Grandmother, we finished the stairs. We still have to redo the railing, but right now, I'm completely happy and grateful that the husband hasn't kicked me out with the old carpet.
Happy Thursday, Friends.