Rollin' Out the Rug

Now comes the fun part of this crazy Family Room reno- the finishing touches.  After all the ceiling scraping, tiling and painting was over, we couldn't wait to finally get in new carpet.  The carpet we had wasn't terrible in your 1980's mauve sort of way, it was a neutral color and soft.  But it certainly had stains, and man-o-man did it stink!  When we first moved in my parent's dog kept running downstairs and peeing down there.  You couldn't blame her- that place smelled like an animal litter box.  After two years we learned the hard way that no amount of deep cleaning can remove that urine soaked smell from the carpet pad, so it was finally time to say adios!

Here's the story you guys already know- the Hubs thought we should pay someone to install the new carpet, and I thought we should try our hand at DIY.  (The classic One Project at a Time battle!) At the end of the day we found an incredible deal on carpet that we loved, and figuring in install cost still put us way under budget.  So this time around I agreed that we deserved a little break and we let the pros do the work. I mean I've never installed carpet before, and while I'm sure we could have figured it out, sometimes it's nice to know it will be done right.  And then this happened:

 This my friends is apparently what a "professional" carpet install looks like.

 Ok seriously- did they even try here?

 You may be thinking, "Those stairs don't look too bad, just a little sloppy in the corners..."

 But when you get up close you'd see that they actually laid the pattern the wrong way.  Okay, even I know not to do that.

There may or may not have been a few "I told you sos.." that evening when the Hubs and I returned to see their work.  There was also two full grown adult temper tantrums.  We didn't work that hard for that long on this room just to have it ruined by cheap looking carpet.  We seriously felt defeated.

Luckily, the Hubs called the installers the next day and let them know in the nicest way possible how disappointed we were.  He must have struck the perfect balance between "this is really bad craftsmanship" and "please fix it," because they agreed to come right back and give it another try.  This time we weren't disappointed:

This low pile berber is pretty neutral, and has just a slight linear pattern in it when you look close up which we liked.  We are considering layering another rug on top of this in the seating area, which is why we went for something low profile and clean.
 

Whoo-hoo cat door!

Ryder and I did the "crazy carpet dance" when we got home the second day, which might have looked like a combination of the Carlton and the Running Man.   Has anyone else installed carpet before?  Did you have someone do it or try it yourself?  I'm really curious about how difficult it is.  Now it's time for furniture and accessories.  The fun part!  I can't wait!