OMG I have to decide today -- more house angst

[carbonel]

When I bought this house, I loved the bones of the living room, but I hated the actual look of it. Brown carpeting, greyish brown cedar walls, and no lighting to speak of.

The carpet is gone and the wood floor is in process. Here's what it looks like so far, though the sun is too bright to get much of a picture with my phone camera:



I dealt with the walls back in 2007 by having them painted over, but the wood is still uneven and less than ideal.



My eventual plan was to remove the cedar plank walls, and put in proper dry wall and mud where they used to be. I didn't have a time frame for this, just "eventually." While Rick the floor guy and I were discussing baseboard options, I mentioned the eventual plan, and he asked if I was aware that he did this sort of work, too.

I wasn't. But I know that if I'm going to do it, now is the right time, while all the furniture is out and before the floor is finished. His quote was $1700, though I'm sure it'll come to $2000 or more by the time everything is done.

I guess I'm really just trying to talk myself into doing it. It'll be another week of having the living room unavailable, but I'll be much happier with the place when it's done.

At least, I think so.

Any advice, potential gotchas, or voices of experience would be greatly welcomed, since I have to make a decision on this by the end of the day.

Comments

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

I'll chime in with the common wisdom -- if you feel good about your guy, and can afford to have the work done, do it now while you're already prepped. You won't want to go through a second iteration of clearing the room and living with the rumpus. And as mentioned, this could be a good time to upgrade your insulation if it turns out that that taking out the planks means going down to the studs anyway.

While you should know whether his estimate includes painting, it probably doesn't. Painting is simple enough that any nominally able-bodied person can do it themselves, though.

[carbonel]

The estimate does include painting, but specifies that I have to pay for the paint.