The last two Fridays we've been busy working in the house and the weeks recap hasn't quite happened. I'm here on Monday to catch-up!
Let's start with house stuff. We officially owned the house last Friday and even slept in it that night. The house was hot (94 degrees) when we first opened the doors but with the help of the AC, attic fan, and the cool down, it was a nice temp by bedtime. The next day we hit the ground running and had a lot of help from our family. I didn't get official before pictures, because we'd already done so much by the time I thought to take any pictures. The house still has a LONG was to go in most of these though.
Here's half of the living room. The house has been smoked in, so our main goals are to paint every inch of it and replace all the carpet. You can see smoke residue on the ceilings here.
The lovely outdoor, green bannister was one of the first things on my list to go!
Looking down into the living room! I've got lots of plans for this huge space!
This is the upstairs hallway. There's three bedrooms upstairs and a bathroom. Check out that nasty carpet.
This is Amos' room. We had the boys sleep in their rooms the first night and nap in there from then on out. Silas already knows whose room is who's.
Baby/Guest room.
And Silas' little room. Not only was his room painted so wonderfully, but the texture was done in such a way that I was afraid if he tripped and fell into the wall, he would come away bleeding! Our good friends sanded it down and now it is ready to be painted.
The boys' bathroom. It needs some help, but considering two smelly boys will be the only ones using it for now, it'll probably be pushed down the list.
This is the main bathroom and the previous owners already gave it some attention. The new flooring is nice and they installed a new toilet. The tub needs some serious help, but its all a work in progress.
We refer to this as the master suite. It's a closed off hallway with two closets leading to our bedroom and bathroom. Don't be deceived by the seemingly white walls, they're actually painted over wallpaper! After peeling off wallpaper for two days, I now think that should be illegal to do.
Our bedroom! It also has two more closets and the french doors lead off to the back deck!
And here's our bathroom with the fish wallpaper still intact. Jason and every other guy who has come to help has been sad to see it go! But not I!
Here's the kitchen with the doors already coming off the cabinets and all the food sent from my sweet mother-in-law! The dining room connects to this and there is a refrigerator and pantry that I didn't manage to shoot a picture of.
Off the dining room is stairs leading the the family room! I'm so excited about this space! We plan to put down vinyl flooring and make it play/school/exercise room!
Lastly, Uncle Joe is modeling the sunroom for us. It's not heated or cooled, but for a fraction of the year it will be a wonderful place.
So there you have it. The somewhat before pictures of the house. After last week all the carpet was ripped up, doors taken off and walls and surfaces wiped down with TSP. We had family there on Saturday and friends from church there helping clean and tape down the floors on Sunday. It was a full weekend.
Sadly, the boys and I had to pack up and head back to Kansas because Jason was starting priming on Monday. The Shellac primer is nothing to mess around about. However, we had some wonderful friends risk their health to come help prime. Lots of breaks are needed to get away from the fumes. This week they were able to get over half the house primed. Aw!!! WHITE! White is looking so much better.
We're hoping to make quicker headway once we get everything primed. We plan to use a sprayer to apply the paint.
The men spent this weekend priming and ripping half my stairs off. After much brainstorming, I came up with idea to only have one set of steps going up to the landing and enclosing it. This leaves a lot more room for an entry way of sorts and makes the bannister more supportive. My wonderful dad and grandpa are coming to help build that this week!!!
My sister and Mom watched the boys! And my mother-in-law and I worked on the wallpaper. I have never peeled wallpaper before. Now I know it is one of the most discouraging things ever.
However, it is all officially down. We've got some wall repairing to do, but are almost ready to start priming.
Our timeline has been pushed back a little because EVERYTHING takes longer than you think it should. We hope to be done priming this week and spray this weekend. The we have the trim to paint and carpet before we can move our stuff in. IF all goes well, we all should, at least, be living in the house by Sunday!!!
The boys and I took the week pretty easy! We had lots of play time with Grammy and Gramps and thoroughly enjoyed the weather cool down. We were outside most of the day Thursday and Friday.
Jackets make them look so grown up!
Oh and somebody let Mom give him a haircut! No more moppy top!
