Welcome Home!

Well, not quite. More like, let the work commence!
The first thing we did was start spraying and peeling off borders and taking down what seemed like hundreds of wooden shelves. That were held up with 3-inch screws. The big, thick ones- so there are now lots of big, thick, messy holes all over the place.

We were a tad surprised to show up at the walk-thru and see the moving truck still parked in the driveway.
And the homeowners scurrying around the house. All in all, they were superbly sweet and we couldn't stay annoyed, but it did delay us by several hours.

1985 called and wants...no, never mind. It doesn't.

This is also the color of the trim in the first floor bathroom. Yummy.

Honestly, I was completely overwhelmed that first day. I remember looking around at everything in a fog, wondering how on earth are we going to get every single piece of trim repainted, all the doors, the floors redone, each and every wall repainted.....but I was also determined to eat dinner in our new home.

I love you, Mrs. Crock-pot. Total picture FAIL, but we did it!
Beef Stew (recipe shared here) & French bread for dipping. I remembered to bring over a pan and the cookie dough I'd frozen and we even enjoyed freshly-baked cookies for dessert! Then the break was over and it was time to get back to work!

my hero

painting every.single.ceiling

twice, because they were soooo thirsty

um, wait a minute...oh right, plungers make awesome hats!

it was brand new, people!

ewwwwww...

why yes, a certain someone- who shall remain nameless- christened our home by clogging the toilet

I got an emergency call to pick up a plunger while at WalMart- that was kind of funny!

I may have been thinking unkind thoughts about the inventor of wallpaper during this...

 my other hero

can't believe how much like a man he looks there, instead of my little boy!

Here's the lowdown so far:

DAY 1 (technically, HALF DAY 1)

• remove shelving (not from inside closets...not yet anyway....)
• tackle that wallpaper and border in the kitchen
• spackle and sand any new holes in the walls
• remove weird bi-fold doors from dining room and family room
• begin sanding blue trim work, then priming
• begin painting all wood work in bedrooms upstairs - Olympic Orchid White, semi-gloss
• paint all ceilings
• spray paint metal heaters in 2 bedrooms (one was apricot colored, the other pink. fun.)

DAY 2

• remove the last of the kitchen wall paper and border 
• try to finish painting woodwork in bedrooms (3 bedrooms done!)
• more ceilings...
• remove ceiling-high border in very large bedroom- oh my aching arms, ha!
• remove outlet covers and plates to prep for painting walls...yay!!!!!!

 DAY 3

• begin painting trim on first floor (this was because I was there at 6 am and there are no lights in the   bedrooms- it was pitch black upstairs!)
• prep kitchen for ceiling to be painted- not wanting paint flecks on stainless steel appliances!
• finish painting woodwork in 3 bedrooms upstairs (except closet doors) and all casings in hallway
• remove more stinkin' border

The part that was overwhelming me the most was actually just wondering what to tackle first, and deciding what can wait. We narrowed things down when we determined that ceilings would have to be painted first, no matter what, because that just makes sense; and secondly, bedrooms, stairway and upper halls became the next priority because they are all getting new carpet, and I would just sob like a baby if we spilled paint on brand new carpeting.

Downstairs, we're reconfiguring some rooms- nothing structural, just swapping spaces- and have decided to go with carpeting in the new family room and office, so everything in there needs to be painted as well. Since we aren't 100% certain about the flooring in the dining room, kitchen and entry, the painting there can wait a bit. That means the lovely blue trim in the kitchen remains for the time being. Lucky me.  :)

The other hard thing is that with four kids, we have a LOT going on, and it's really tempting to stay in project mode and kind of fore-go the other stuff. Yesterday, that meant 3 indoor soccer games and a fun bonfire with new friends from church at different times throughout the day and evening. I wouldn't have wanted to miss out on that!

This house is going to be great, that's for sure! Whenever I was getting tired or frustrated, I took a breather and looked out at this. That backyard makes this all worth it!

 

 You can catch up with our progress HERE.