Once Works Well was pure technology. Now it seeks merely to divert.
Pansy subjects - Verse! Opera! Domestic trivia! - are now commonplace.
The 300-word limit for posts is retained. The ego is enlarged

Wednesday 13 July 2011

In July, a second Spring.

Pretty dull, carpets? I’m not so sure. Recently we had the hall, stairs and landing carpets replaced and I found myself breaking off from the keyboard to watch Lewis at work. Cutting stuff into shape with his Stanley knife, positioning the awkward lengths with his knee-activated stretcher, folding the edges over neatly with a bolster worn smooth by his hands. A stapler also played a part. You don’t need many tools to lay carpets, just experience. It took Lewis a year to learn how to keep unwanted bubbles at bay.

Carpets grow old under your feet and you’re unaware of the process. We made the replacement decision when Mrs BB spotted a worn patch on the bottom stair. But it seemed such a small patch. Couldn’t I just colour the visible warp/woof? Mrs BB said no and I went along with her. After all we’re as rich as Croesus. It was only when I rolled up the discarded material in daylight, out on the driveway, that I realised how faded it was, and how the fading differed from area to area. A heck of a load for the dump.

It was Mrs BB who decided on stripes instead of a solid colour (see before and after). A marvellous decision. Hall and stairs are not only lighter; that part of the house has grown in volume.

I was reminded of March 1998 when we first moved into the then new house. We had furniture and beds, etc, but it felt like a cave. Only when the carpets were laid did it turn into a home. Yes carpets are boring but they frame our existence. And think what frames do for paintings.

6 comments:

The Crow said...

Mrs. BB is to be commended on her choice of carpeting. It does, indeed, look better than the rosy-red stuff, plus it will wear better, too. I'm not much of a carpet fan, but I sure like this.

Very nice job Lewis did, BB.

Same can be said for this post.

Rouchswalwe said...

Oh! It brings out the woodwork. Very nice. And I like the texture. Prost to Lewis for keeping those pesky bubbles at bay!

Sir Hugh said...

Wel I suppose you knew you would get a response from me.

At the height of my Munro* bagging campaign I installed TARTAN carpet in my living room, and since then in the dining room. I reckon that's about as exciting as carpeting can get.

*The 284 mountains in Scotland over 3000ft.

Unknown said...

A really good place for old carpets is the compost heap. They seem to concentrate the process of fermentation.

Hattie said...

Carpets are a great comfort in cold climates. The light color adds a note of cheer, too.

Roderick Robinson said...

The Crow: You bring back US memories. How lots of people used to talk about "rugs" when I would have said "carpets" and a seemingly countrywide antipathy towards "fitted carpets" (ie, wall to wall) although that phrase was never used. Also a strange desire to be able to see the floor round the edges because this somehow was linked to quality and/or old-fashioned quaintness.

RW (zS): No bubbles at all; I checked again this morning. I'd have hated to have laid the stair carpet.

Sir Hugh: Once laid the carpet ceases to be a carpet and becomes merely the environment. For me "fitted" equals warmth and comfort - not so in the US (see above). I hope the Munro footnote was for others, not me.

Plutarch: I would have needed a disfiguring amount of compost to have used up that huge pile of waste carpet. I have never really understood how compost heaps are reconciled with moderate/smallish gardens, as I have.

Hattie: Carpets are nothing less than transformation. Even when it's warm I prefer them to bare boards beneath my unsocked feet.