Constructive Destruction

Yesterday I took Elf Son with me and we went to our new house with some cleaning materials. The Son was happy to camp in his room with few books and such.

My priorities might need checking. There I was in my new home, all poised for a spot of cleaning and home making. Like by magic my legs carried me into the mini yard to see that all the weeds were pulled out as the first job:

Afterwards we went to buy a feather duster for the house, just round the corner. The Son chose a red one. On the way back he was asking if we could go via the Town Square. It is not far from the house, so I said yes, sure, but why? There was some muttering about exercise (?) and as soon as we got there he headed for the public toilets. I was trying to persuade him to wait as our house is literally a minute's walk from where we stood. "Oh no, I want to go here", said he. Afterwards I remembered him telling me that the bathroom and toilet needed "serious scrubbing". When I told the story to the Husband, he was about to choke in his tea for the mirth. "Someone has a Mum, who likes cleaning", was uttered under his breath. Enjoying cleaning? Moi? No way, I just don't like dirty house. The toilet and the bathroom got cleaned, so the Son does not need to run to the public toilets every time the nature calls.

So...let an Elf loose in a house needing doing. The living room looks a bit dreary, but not too bad:

After I had been at it it looked like this (slightly different angle):

Notice that the horrible gas fire has lost the cover. This is Elf Husband's doing. He came after work and checked that indeed we need a gas engineer doing the removal of this "beauty".

The carpet has a taker, hence I have tried to safeguard it a bit. As I folded it to see how the floorboards (YES, floorboards!) looked like I found this:

Original floor tinting from Victorian times. They had a carpet and dyed the floor where the carpet did not reach. Obviously the floor has been covered since those times. People have done decorating without cover as there are paint stains along the walls.

As Elf Husband was on the move he decided to rip some more carpets up. (No "before" pictures but same type and colour carpet all over the house).

The stairs have had a runner, as one might expect.
 

And there he is, swiftly moving the carpet in refuse sacks. The floor is really dusty, but not in bad condition. I was already dreaming last night about oiling the boards and I had not even started with the job yet. How bad is that?

I noticed immediately yesterday that something was wrong. Nothing drastic, but something kept niggling in the back of my mind. It took some time for me to realise that the house did not smell like our home. It is nothing I notice much coming home, but when it is missing I do. Sense of smell is very closely connected to emotions, so I did some remedial work today by burning incense and letting this chap watch over my work.

I don't burn incense regularly at home, but it has often been the first thing to do in a new abode. Maybe it serves as a purification? The house itself has a nice feeling,  so nothing wrong there.  Have you been constructively destructive lately?