I realize four months isn’t forever, but it was about 3.9 months longer than we wanted to live with the last remnants of the old carpet upstairs—especially since it was in our bathroom. Carpeted bathrooms, ugh.
We didn’t pull it out when we removed the rest of the upstairs carpet because we knew we didn’t want hardwood in the bathroom. With no final flooring decision, we left the old, wrinkly, creamy carpet that blended right into the creamy walls and trim.
But yesterday morning—about 24 hours ago—we decided it was time to get rid of it for good. We cleared everything out of the closet to get full access to the floor.
We covered the steps for carpet removal in a video, but here’s a quick recap of how it came up. First we pulled the carpet away from the tack strips along the walls, rolled it up, and removed it. Next we tore up the foam padding, which came away from the staples without too much trouble. Those were the fast and easy parts.
Then came the sweaty work: prying up tack strips with a crowbar and using a floor scraper to pop out staples. Sweeping and shop-vacuuming the space clean took about an hour.
Sherry was in the garage tackling another quick project while I worked on the floor—weekend naptime equals a race to squeeze in as many tasks as possible. More on that in a moment.
You’re probably expecting a firm plan for new flooring, but we don’t have one yet. Long term we want to tile the bathroom, but that requires demo to combine the sink area with the shower/toilet area so the space reads as one larger room rather than two cramped ones. We might put hardwood in the closet later, or lay a low-pile jute rug wall-to-wall. We have leftover wood flooring, so that’s an option down the line, but major reconfigurations are decisions we prefer to make after living in a house for a while.
For now, our interim plan is to paint the particle board with floor paint so it looks more finished and is easier to clean. Then we’ll layer in a few sheepskins, area rugs, or runners to warm things up until we commit to heavier work like wall removal and tiling.
We also considered peel-and-stick tiles or a large seagrass rug cut to fit both spaces, but paint plus area rugs felt like the least expensive, least permanent solution. Since tiling later will require backer board anyway (you can’t tile directly over particle board), painting the subfloor for now makes sense.
This post isn’t just about removing carpet—it’s also about a mirror we found at HomeGoods last week. It reminded us of the quatrefoil mirror we had above the sink in our previous bathroom, and those were very good memories.
We needed a bigger mirror over the vanity to bounce light around the closed-off sink nook, and this large mirror (over 40 inches wide) was marked down to $89 from $299—too good to pass up. We liked the beaded border but not the rustic paint finish.
While I pulled up carpet, Sherry primed and painted the mirror in the garage. It took one coat of primer and two coats of eggshell white paint (leftover from a nearby bedroom) to get the finish we wanted. We considered a bolder color but decided to keep the mirror white for now so it would read like a bright, window-like frame around the glass.
Removing the old frameless mirror was easy—no adhesive, just loosen the clips and lift it out. No smashing, no drama.
Once we hung the new mirror, it looked much tighter than expected. Our measurements said it would be close, but seeing it in place made it feel cramped.
After a short pity party, we found a simple fix: remove the light fixture—temporarily. There are two lights in the nook (a ceiling light and one that wasn’t centered over the old mirror), so we capped the wires and installed a fixture box cover. That allowed us to hang the mirror higher. Later, once we pick a vanity light we like, we’ll move the fixture box up about a foot (the wires come down from the attic, so it should be straightforward) to fit the light above the mirror.
With the fixture box covered, we raised the mirror to about 6 inches above the countertop instead of it nearly resting on the surface. It now conceals the capped fixture and a temporarily covered outlet (both of which we plan to relocate). The mirror already makes the space feel much larger and helps balance the vanity, even though the floors still need work.
By getting rid of the carpet and finding the right mirror, our imagination started running with possibilities for easy updates to bridge the gap until a full renovation. Sherry even mocked up a few ideas of what the room could become—keep in mind we’re in the early stages and still changing our minds.
Planned updates include painting walls and trim (we haven’t picked colors yet), refinishing or painting the vanity (possibly a muted gray-blue), installing new knobs for contrast, painting the floor for now, and building open shelves in the dead space for towel storage. We’ve also discussed closing the right side for concealed storage, moving the capped fixture box up, and adding a proper vanity light once we choose the right fixture.
For now, we’re just excited to have the old carpet gone and to be making progress in another corner of the house. What did you guys work on this weekend?