Cast of characters.

Before I get into the room I started this renovation with I will introduce you to the cast of characters that will likely be in most images.

1. Monkey

Monkey is a rescued Pomeranian Chihuahua mix who has the curiosity of a cat and the brains of...well... a dog.

He pees on things, pouts, like to be underfoot and chases the cats.

2. Draco

Draco is a big dumb deaf cat. He is super pretty, seems to travel with his own backlighting, and likes to break things because they make pretty pictures on the floor.

3. Kesha Koshkovna

Named long before the singer hit the charts! Her name means Kitty, Daughter of Cat.
She is a 15 year old teeny 4 pound grumpy smelly old lady.

4. Fluffernutter.

She has big round eyes and is scared of everything. Rescued the same time as Draco, but infinitely more intelligent.

Okay, back to the real stuff.


These four characters made the shag carpet STINK!!!!!    Seriously, Monkey and Kesha in particular are EVIL. So evil.

So glad that stench is GONE.

Underneath all the horror is a very well laid floor of....

asbestos tile!

Luckily as a Realtor I am already well educated in asbestos. Namely, it will not hurt you unless you mess with it. That is the key. Leave it alone! Luckily it is stable, strong and well attached and can have other floor simply put right on top of it.

Eventually I want to tile over it. For now, I simply do not have the time and money, so I am using some vinyl tile I already have stashed in the back and will put some nice rugs down.

Or I may go ahead and invest in the cement board and ceramic tile as originally planned..

Have I mentioned I am a Libra who is ADD and has a hard time with decisions?

Let's Get This Party Started!!

Hi and welcome!

So here is a little background to my new adventure.

In the late 1940's my grandfather, Henry Walton, bought a double lot in the suburbs of Orlando.  Those suburbs are now in the heart of Colonialtown, 4 blocks from Mills 50, and in an amazing in town neighborhood. On this lot on an empty street he started building his new home. He was an architect, so he knew what he was doing :) .

Over the years the house grew as his business grew, rooms were added, porches became more rooms, walls of shrubbery were carefully cultivated...  And wood paneling was installed...everywhere.

So, 3 decades after he died, and 5 years after my grandmother died the house was on the brink of leaving the family. I decided to turn my world upside down and leap into the unknown and buy the house (with my brother and Dad as my partners in non-crime) and bring it into the present.

Now, the journey begins as I dig into 70 years of family history, wallpaper, wood paneling, carpet funk, and a few surprises I want to document the adventure and help others envision the possibilities with the own mid-century time capsules.

My hope is that I can modernize, clean, repair and update this space while still retaining the mid-century modern charm. I wish to cling to the quality craftsmanship, but shed the damaged, broken and outdated decor that increases energy bills, allergies, and water damage.

And so it begins:

REMOVE THE SHAG CARPET!!!

50 year old carpet has no charm. What it has is extreme funky smell, allergens and fills the room with despair and sadness.

So without delay, what did I do first you ask? I can't find my before pictures, but here it is with an old lady cat.

I had been DREADING this process. The smell I expected, but more than anything I thought I would have to do tedious cutting to get it in small enough pieces to get in my trash can. Luckily old carpet apparently turned to disgusting dirt powder. The backing just ripped like paper! It was glorious!!  It took about an hour to pull it up and get it outside, along with the powdery plastic padding underneath. I scraped and swept that up and found....  another floor!

And for my next entry I will examine the wonders I found underneath it...