It's all very well throwing money at someone to do a job, but if I did that for every job that needs doing, it would probably cost more than what the house is worth. I'd also learn diddly-squat for future general maintenance and repairs or if I wanted to move house again.
So far, I've filled and painted walls, built decking and tiled my kitchen. It's all given me confidence to try more things but when it came to carpeting my bedroom at the weekend, it was more than a job's worth. I'm now aching like a biatch almost everywhere and after hours of maneuvering at least a 14sqm wool carpet now, I now know I definitely wouldn't do this size again. Maybe a very small and simple square/rectangular room but that's as far as I'd go. UPDATE: A small one is easy!
However, what I can tell you is that laying carpet grippers and underlay is incredibly easy and actually fun. Maybe I'm a bit weird on that one so would definitely do all that myself again and hire a carpet fitter to save some money.
Also, because our bedroom used to be a living room, it had a concrete section which I had to glue with Gripfill adhesive while wearing good ol' Marigolds to avoid sticky fingers.
But because I was gifted our new carpet by my mum, (it wasn't your usual carpet shop delivery), I had to fold it once to fit in our camper van and couldn't unroll it for two days. Big mistake!
I also needed my fiance to help me unroll it as it was incredibly heavy (and much bigger than the room) and was not at all a one man job.
NOTE THAT CARPETS STRETCH
Despite watching plenty of YouTube videos, I couldn't find anything useful that covered cutting around a fireplace bricked wall. What I had to learn for myself is that, once you've cut the carpet and you continue to stretch with a carpet kicker kit (and one person either end helps too), the incisions you've made start to move where you don't want them - or around pipes. Stretch as much as you possibly can first and cut later.
END RESULT
It does look and feel like a real room now and I'm no doubt proud of what I've accomplished. I also really loved finishing the edges too with a carpet tucker (it came with the carpet fitting kit). We've even fallen in love with our bedroom furniture again which we were going to replace. However, after eight hours of working on it (I like to take my time and aim for perfection), I feel like I've lost a weekend which includes me feeling crappy the next day.
My parents tell me the creases will disappear soon and forums also tell me hoovering and steaming it will diminish eventually but if they don't, I'll pay a fitter to stretch it while he's carpeting other rooms in the house.
Personally I preferred tiling because it doesn't require Popeye muscles.
Girl is defeated.
Comments
No Comments