Shag Carpet and Backyard Remodel Part Deux

It's been a first few days of our yard remodel, and I have to say---it's way more bearable doing an outdoor remodel compared to having to live in the shambles! (See: Kitchen Remodel Part Three) Our daily lives have hardly been affected by all the work going outside, so we can breathe a little bit and enjoy our home----well, at least until tomorrow.

We're re-carpeting our stairwell and all of the upstairs bedrooms. Daniel and I were butting heads on whether or not to change out the upstairs flooring with carpet or to put hard flooring down. I have a dust mite allergy which comes and goes and angrily flares up in the summertime, so I tried really hard to convince Daniel that it was for my health's sake to get rid of all of our carpet.

I should've figured it was going to be a losing battle! (P.S. All you married couples out there---nothing tests the strength of a relationship more than a house remodel. Love, the noobs.)

Since Daniel won the decision for re-carpeting, I got to choose what kind of carpet we'd be putting down. It wasn't too difficult to find exactly what I wanted. Right now, we've got this icky, shag carpet. It sort of looks diseased, and most times after a shower at night, I get creeped out having to walk on it just to get to our bed. Yeah. It's THAT bad.

This matted heap of nastyness is what we're currently living with. SO cringeworthy. Eek.

Per the photo above--you can see why every ounce of the germaphobe in me has strictly enforced Manslaughter-Current-Carpet-Zone.  

Replacing this ailing hot mess is a style that I loooove from Home Depot that I think we've decided to go with called Winterthur by Martha Stewart in the 'Potters Clay' color.

It has a trellis, diamond pattern that we can really appreciate. (Although, I'm pretty sure almost anything will be enjoyed over what we have now.) 

Oh, and we're also planning on restaining the stair railing and spindles. Right now, it's an 80's oak color railing. (The same oak that engulfed the whole  kitchen prior to our remodel. So hawt---not.) 

This one is still up in the air, but I'm thinking of a more non-traditional route, and staining the railing and the spindles 100% black. I tried to find examples of other people who had pulled off this style, but it seems as if very few people are bold enough to try it. (Most examples were black wrought iron or just the black railing and white spindles.) Here's one remodel I found that is similar to what we're aiming for:

The color schemes are similar to what we already have going on, and it's still in current discussion between the hubby--but I have an inkling this is what we'll end up with. Hooray!

As for the backyard, it's progressing--slowly but surely. The concrete hasn't been laid yet, but we have started construction on the outdoor built in BBQ. This is Daniel's forte--and I wish he'd blog about how much we've ended up splurging on this, but since he's so busy with work, I'll handle it for him.

Something along the lines of...barbecue, stucco, stained concrete, mini outdoor fridge (what outdoor fridge? Oh you want one last minute? Sure, why not, let's throw that in, too) yadda yadda yadda...needs to be 3 ft from the property lines....yadda yadda yadda---I''ll just show you with updated photos instead.

And here's the BBQ base going in:

The backyard is not the largest, but it serves it purpose for the time being until we upgrade to a 'real house' when we're all growed up.

Making use of the few thousand square feet was critical to making it a functional, low key yard. We ordered a 4 seat outdoor set with a fireplace/table in the center that will go to the left of the BBQ unit. Most of the yard will be stained concrete, and we'll have a corner of the yard with a built in planter for growing herbs. The rest of the yard will have desert succulents on a drip system. We'll also be stringing some cafe lights to add to the ambiance.

It's pretty difficult to picture since it's still a pile of dirt---but in no time, we'll finally have a working backyard! Welp, time to down this Nespresso and get some work in. Have a wonderful week, folks!