Started back to work on Sunnyside this weekend. I think we will be weekend warriors there for a while. Greg and I finally found some really great carpeting for the stairs that we both liked and that would be fairly easy to work with. It is an indoor-outdoor carpeting that looks a bit like horse-hair sisal carpet. We found it at Marden's (where else) on a large roll, and had them cut three 30" wide strips. Total cost for the rug bits was about $60.00 or .68 cents a foot

I felt bad for the renters last summer who had to deal with the all white stairs. Finally when my parents came to stay, my mother complained about not being able to see the steps so much that I put blue painter's tape on the treads for her. We left it there through all the rest of the rentals. We were never able to agree or find carpeting that either one of us liked.

White stairs with pretty blue tape

The rug roll

I picked this pattern because it looks a bit Victorian and goes best with the interior.

I have to admit that I did nothing but carry the rug rolls inside the house and hand Greg some tools for a bit before setting up his Pandora channel so that he could rock out and install the carpet. It is kind of a narrow area, suitable for one person.

He did a beautiful job

We are now going back to Marden's to get more of this stuff for our house. I really like the quality.

So what was I doing for the day and a half that Greg took to install the rug? I was outside raking.......and raking......and raking. I am ready to cut down the two large maples in front of the house. They rain down so may leaves!!!

I think I must rent a leaf blower in the spring to get ALL the leaves out of the rock walls, and from under the house, but I figure 13 densely packed bags full was enough for me...Had to come home and pop some Aleve tablets after that ordeal.
I put an ad on Craig's List again for free eco-insulation and within an hour had a response from the same couple who took all the bags last year. They came yesterday and loaded the bagged leaves onto their truck and took off happy!

This is about 3/4s of the leaves