"Blessing in Disguise"

 

New couch with new floors!

            Before my dad died, he installed off-white carpet throughout their home to offset the richly dark paneling that walled their home, a typical decorating style in the late 1970s. Only three adults lived in the house, and he figured the more expensive Berber carpet would last for many years.  After he died, Mom moved to an apartment in San Antonio, leaving my brother alone in the home. My brother tended to enter his house through the garage, which meant the area next to that door became an eyesore.

White painted cabinets we did!

            We spent many visits with my brother fixing and refreshing odds-n-ends around his home. Sometimes we focused on yardwork out back. We spent many days with paint brushes in hand when Mom talked my sister and me into painting the dark kitchen cabinets white. I tackled the first round of decluttering the garage, and my brother helped me paint his bedroom a soft blue. We bought a carpet cleaner, but it never seemed to handle the trail that tracked Charles’s footsteps from garage to his bedroom.

            We debated ripping up just the carpet in the hallway, the highest traffic area. After tiling our entire home in San Antonio, we toyed with the idea of taking a couple of weeks off to rip out the off-white nightmare to install tile floors into every room of Charles’s home. This labor intensive project, once we ran the numbers, proved too expensive as a gift for my brother. We shoved the ugly carpet out of our minds and focused on funding his property taxes and car repairs instead.

            Around this time in 2021, a huge ice storm devastated Texas homes and businesses. My brother spent a huge part of the crisis staying at work and in a hotel room his boss rented for employees who had freeze damage. One pipe burst in the master bathroom that flooded Charles’s entire home. When he finally entered his home, it was to find water in the garage and every room of the hideous carpet sopping wet. He entered a nightmare of the scope he’d never handled alone. My sister found a wonderful, reliable general contractor who understood my brother’s limitations. She ripped out the carpet within hours, oversaw the plumber as he repaired the burst pipes, and with her camera documented damage for the insurance claim.

            As the entire state competed for supplies, it took months for the floors Charles selected to arrive. Sheetrock, something usually stacked several feet high at hardware stores, didn’t become available until June in his area. Bit-by-bit, the contractor moved from room to room installing the new floors Charles selected. He wanted tile, not wood. Another flood hitting his home won’t translate into floor damage!

            This month, we passed the anniversary of that terrible storm. Although the experience almost stressed my brother to his limits, he speaks of how much he loves the new floors. As he lived through the disaster, he felt overwhelmed. Now, though, he speaks of it as a blessing in disguise. His home became his haven.

Spare bedroom with new floors!

Copyright 2023 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman