The Daily Post’s theme for this week is “Treat.” We are invited to share a photo of “something that you consider a marvelous treat.”

For me, tackling do-it-yourself projects is a fun treat. Usually.

I live in a modest house built in 1955 in a housing tract. I can walk for blocks in most any direction and find row after row of houses that are some rendition of the same floor plan as mine. It’s interesting to see what others have done to personalize their homes. Shutters, brick facades, porches or decks, remodeling to convert the attached garage into more living space…

Maybe if you didn’t know it was a housing tract you wouldn’t recognize that you were looking at the same house over and over and over. But, nah… I think you would.

When I purchased my house, it had previously been used as a rental property. I continually find areas where slipshod repairs and fixes were made on the cheap. No “pride of ownership” is evident.

The good thing about that is that the less-than-pristine condition of the house gives me confidence to attempt do-it-yourself home improvement projects.

Nothing elaborate. Yet. But things that I have not done before: replacing light fixtures, patching drywall, adding tile to walls, replacing ugly rubber baseboard with much better looking wood baseboard.

Not long ago, I was painting (pre-existing) baseboard in my living room, and came to a spot where I had patched my carpet.

Yes, that is duct tape; the “patch” was mostly to keep the ripped seam from spreading while I decided what to do about it on a more permanent basis.

As I was pushing the carpet edge out of the way of the wet paint, I thought I saw…

…was it?

Did I just win the “old house lottery?” Was there really a hardwood floor beneath that natty carpet? Did the value of my home just increase significantly?

Was this a trick? Or a treat?

I was cautious at first, pulling up a small corner of the carpet.

Yep, that was hardwood. Next question… what condition was it in, and how far did it extend? Given the nature of the previously discovered “repairs,” I could imagine all sorts of “tricks” that might be hidden beneath the underlayment.

So I pulled up a two foot by 10 foot strip of padding. This is what I saw:
Yikes! I got a damp washcloth and wiped at the white stuff covering the floor. Now, this was promising!

Ultimately I pulled up all the living room carpet, and now there’s no turning back.
So I guess I’ll learn how to refinish a hardwood floor. I may find it easy; I may find it troublesome.

But just the doing of it… that’s the treat.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Treat