Progress Report... from the House Painting 'Trenches'

Hi Everyone! I'm so sorry I haven't been posting the last few days. It's been a little busy here in the 'trenches' of painting and home repairs.

The good news is that we are doing very well. I have to admit that the first day was a little scary! If we were only going to paint, and it was a 'normal' home, I wouldn't feel so unnerved. But finding paint flaking off of one of the walls and termite trails underneath just about took away all my courage!

Wednesday I just had to say a little prayer and not get scared. I had to remind myself that I'm NOT spell it out N-O-T trying to remodel this house to my standards.

The things that would pop into any self-respecting woman's mind on seeing the kitchen with a decaying floor in one corner, dirty windows, soggy swelling kitchen cabinet (at the base), and peeling paint--well you can imagine what was going through my mind. The list would be a mile long. This can't be done. To make this house truly respectable would be an impossible task.

But I decided that I would just have to focus. Call the plumber...call Orkin...call the carpenter....call 911..No...Call my MOMMY!! Actually, my dear mom did come, bringing the carpenter who isn't comfortable driving. I don't know where she found Carl..but bless her 'pea-pickin' little heart!'. He is a JEWEL of a man! Truly, he's an artist and at $13.00 an hour..I also considered him a total answer to prayer.

He whipped the surface off that kitchen floor before you could say 'lickety-spit' and worked like a whirl wind. He measured the uneven layers and removed THREE old floor surfaces before he could get everything that was damaged out. He wrote up a shopping list and we had a great time at Home Depot. When he was done he had completely replaced all of the damaged floor for the least amount of money possible and put a nice new plywood surface in patches whereever it needed to go. It's all ready for the people who installed the nice new carpet (Did I mention the house has new carpet?) to put in the lineoleum. Now a truly scrungy kitchen will at least be functional.

My dear step-sister, who is a safety inspector, saw a whole under the bottom shelf of the kitchen cabinet and with a flash light discovered that the drain pipe to the kitchen sink was completely rusted out. Every sink of water and every load of clothes was draining into the sub-flooring and for how long I just don't know. I shudder to think.

Anyway, the good news is that the new floor that Carl installed will not get ruined as soon as someone starts washing dishes again. How in the world that passed the house inspection by our one prospective buyer, I'll never know. Heather had no trouble finding the problem. Weird.

Orkin will be in bright and early today to do a treatment..and I have a contract set up for them to keep coming back for the next year. It makes me cringe to think of some of the damage I've found.


And we are making tons of progress painting! How I wish I could get my photos uploaded, but I can't find the cord. I think it's at Dad's house in a bag, not here at Aunt Joan's. The kids and I have spackled, repaired, and painted all of the living room and dining area. I also decided to paint the baseboards which are that really old orangy 60's wood. I was pretty sure my friend Maria would have suggested that. :o) The front of the house looks incredibly more modern now.

Mom and Heather have consulted with me on how to do some updating in the kitchen and bathroom so people don't panic and say forget it when they walk into them. I've got a little grout removal, cabinet painting, and hardware painting to do.

I'm also spray painting some door handles, though I may just buy new ones in the living room. We bought 8 sets of mini-blinds which we get the fun of installing but I think it will be worth it. That plus new low end drapes just for the living /dining area should pretty much finish what we want to do.

With the housing market being so bad, and our neighborhood already having three houses for sale and one more coming up soon, we need the house to be 'ready for move in'. No one wants to buy a house and then have to do a bunch of work. It is truly a 'buyer's market'.

I want people to walk in and say, "Yes, I could live here..today." The house was pretty much a disaster before. So today, we will paint the ceiling, and the plumber will fix the drain pipe. Then Saturday, Carl will repair the cabinet. I hope we will be through painting the three bedrooms by then. Then I will spend the last two days working on the kitchen and bathroom and getting them spruced up as best I can.

I hope you guys are having a fun week..and if you are rennovating or repairing an old house or apartment...you have my sympathies. But like us, I hope you will turn on some good music, grab your paintbrush or roller...and have a great time!

We sure are! Happy Homemaking!

PS. I'll post the photo credits tonight. Yipes..out of time.