Ouch.

Today, the old carpet was taken out. Interestingly enough, it is only now that the carpet is gone that my nose has become aware that a cat lived in the house. I had previously had suspicions, given the number of short, very fine, black hairs that kept getting in the way as I scrubbed the walls. But the Glade plug-in that the seller's real estate agent put in the family room was strong enough that the only thing I could smell, even days after throwing the thing away, was vaguely chemical-laden, way-too-sweet vanilla.

Removing the carpet took away a lot of the fake vanilla. And in the master bedroom, it revealled cat. I'm thinking that the paint and new flooring will take away the odor. Plus, tomorrow my dad's shop vac will take away the spilled cat food and miscellaneous unidentified particulates littering the floor. Yay.

Today has been a banner day. I stripped all the hand-strippable contact paper out of the kitchen, finished removing screws and nails from the walls, took down the left-behind window treatments and shelves, spackled the heck out of everything, cleaned the ceiling fans (did I mention that I have dining room and master bedroom ceiling fans?), vaccumed the walls to get rid of cobwebs, washed the walls and baseboards, washed the doors, cleaned years of accumulated greasy spills off the outer sides of the oven, cleaned under the oven, swept and mopped the kitchen floor, and decided on paint colors. (My wrists, back, and knees are killing me, and I continue to cough occasionally from the carpet-ripping-up dust.)

Paint colors! I went back to the paint store and used the failed colors to help me choose two new greens and a brown to try. Success! Both greens were very nice, but rather than going with a slightly brown-tinged sage, I'm going with a lovely green-grey color with a hint of blue. That will be for the dining room accent wall, and for the entire family room/library. The brown for the living room is similar to what the previous owner used, but a tad darker and with just the barest hint of additional warmth. Both colors go fantastically with the carpet.

So tomorrow my dad is coming down to help me get started. Wish us luck!