In anticipation of the impending nuptials of my firstborn daughter, my wife is merrily tearing up all the carpets in the house. She swears there’s some cosmic connection between marriages and the sudden need for new flooring.
Under the old rugs we found nice hardwood floors. My wife was ecstatic. When I learned that one doesn’t have to shell out more dough to cover up hardwood floors with something expensive, I confess I felt a bit giddy myself.
I took my flute into the bare wooden room last night…absolute rapture.
I’ve never heard anything like it. I’ve told my sweetheart that we can’t put anything back into the room as I desperately need it for flute practicing. We’re currently in negotiations and I don’t feel like I’m winning. But in the mean time I’m having a wonderful time.
I’d recommend everyone that wants their fluting to take a quantum leap in tone quality, tear up your carpets and put your furniture outside. I’m sure your spouses will understand.
Hate carpet. Love hardwood. Try mentioning to the wife how much more sanitary HW floors are than carpet. After all, another way to say carpet is “habitat.” Cheers,
There’s always the bathroom if your wife wins the negotiation. With all the tile and porcelain surfaces, it’s almost like having an echo effect. People sing in the shower for a reason! Now, come to think of it, that should be reason enough for a Delrin or a Tipple flute…
And, BTW, I sometimes play the didgeridoo in the bathroom and it creates an astonishing roar. Not to be done when guests are over, however…
enjoy it while it lasts! empty rooms and bare floors have a way of becoming recovered and re-occupied in short order. some kind of natural law or something.
i second that! i get my best practicing done in the bathroom… i can watch myself in the mirror, too, to get good embouchure and posture practice. i havent dared to practice in the bathroom at my dorm, for fear of retribution. singing in there is great, because i can hear myself so well and i dont have to sing loud, which gives me more vocal control!
i’ve got it! we should hold sessions in bathrooms.
I’ve torn up carpet in two rooms plus all our hallways. (The three of us really do have dust-mite allergies, I am allergic in spades, although the shots seem to be helping.) The hallways and room had floors in good enough shape I didn’t have to do anything to them. I’d arranged for a sander, but didn’t even need to do that (thankfully). The second room, the previous owner told us was “parquet.” The parquet amounted to asbestos tile with a woodgrain stamped into it. Attached with a tar- or creosote-based adhesive. I put hardwood on it myself. It looks wonderful.
My favorite place to play was the kitchen when it was completely torn apart, no floor, cabinets, or nothing.
Congrats on the daughter’s nuptials – how many does this leave? I admire you, I have one kid and she tires me out all by herself.
Enjoy while you can, Doc! Quarry tiles are pretty good too - and more durable and less needful of polishing etc, though less kind to dropped mugs or glasses!
I love the dust mite mega-pic - they look like something from Doctor Who!
Two of the thirteen have gone off to be grown ups. One is verging on taking the plunge. We’re getting two more from Haiti as it’s getting kind of quiet around here with only eleven at home.
Good news! The Mrs. has elected to slap some marble tiles down (the wood floors in this room were ugly ). Now I just need to figure out how to keep the furniture out.
I’ve heard that Bryan Byrne’s house is mostly bare wood and furniture free for the same reasons.
you can just move to sunny mozambique, All the houses are Cement or cement covered bricks with cement floors. Kind of ugly, but makes the flute sound nice.
). Now I just need to figure out how to keep the furniture out. 
