When we bought our house----long before I was a Seattle Home Inspector----and started making it livable, I was heavily influenced by a couple of fun movies playing at the time:  Jumanji and Jurassic Park. 

     The house had wall-to-wall shag, puce-green carpeting----if one could really call it carpeting.  There probably was a microscopic Jurassic Park of critters living in the thing.  The carpet was more reminiscent of one of those cat clawing poles that people have in their homes. 

     In the dining room, there was a 2’ x 6’ runner on top of the carpeting.  This runner covered over a humongous hole the sun had burned through the carpet.  This runner had been nailed all around its perimeter with roofing nails----an inch apart----kind of like the nailing pattern you might see on the underside of an upholstered chair or like the rivets in a jet wing.  The nail heads were all shiny from wear----quite attractive and “sparkly.”

      Most of the rooms had wood strip flooring under this carpeting that did re-finish quite nicely.  The hallway however was another matter.  It had been patched numerous times and covered over with linoleum.  The adhesive was not about to be removed either.  So I decided to do a “painted rug” to deal with the matter.  Here is a picture of what it looks like. 

     I think you can see the Jurassic Park influence.  I took actual ferns from the garden and rolled them in paint and then pressed them onto the floor----bunches of different colors----bunches of different layers.

     I had another Jurassic moment on an inspection the other day---or perhaps it would be more correct to say the chimney was having a Jurassic moment.  Hopefully a bunch of manic monkeys, two hundred pound mosquitoes and raging rhinos are not going to come flooding out of it----like in Jumanji.

Charles Buell

Click on the Rose to check out:  AHA!---A Forum of Landmark Proportions---your Group

PS, for those of you that are new to my blog (or for some other "unexplained" reason have never noticed)all pictures and smiley-face inserts (emoticons) (when I use them) have messages that show up when you point at them with your cursor.

DeCroe, is my "ethereal" home inspector assistant and occasionally flies into my blog and other people's blogs to offer assistance. To find out more about her beginnings just click on Raven.