If you suffer from OCD, do NOT continue reading this post...
The following pictures and accompanying story may just send you over the edge...
You have been warned...
So. Many. Projects!! It seems our plan of attacking one room at a time, finishing the room up and then continuing onto another room has flown right out the window (
along with our sanity). Plus, we've added the task of replacing the main carpeting and faux wood in the foyer with laminate flooring to the mix.
These pictures are mainly for Ron and me to remember the mess, but heck, maybe you can relate too.
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| is an air compressor supposed to be in a foyer?! |
We did figure out a way to paint over the wallpaper without having to remove it. Let me digress just a bit. Ron is a self taught DIY guy who has a tendency to over-engineer the details. When he starts a project he doesn't just make it to last a month, he makes it to last a lifetime. That's not always a bad thing, but when it comes to the wallpaper installation it just might have been.
We honestly can't remember how long ago the wallpaper was put up but we do know that the walls were sanded smooth (texture & finish free) before it was hung. That wallpaper wasn't coming off for a million bucks!
Solution #2 worked :-) The steps are labor intensive and we still have one large wall to do but we're so glad it worked! The wall in the picture had two different wallpapers plus a middle border and you can't tell it was there.
In a nutshell:
1. Run a very thin bead of paintable caulking over all of the seams and at the ceiling to prevent water seepage.
2. Apply a coat of BIN sealant to the entire wall.
3. Apply spackling over the caulking to make it smoother if necessary. Ron found it is needed on all of the caulked areas.
4. Apply a layer of texture. We spent $60 on a sprayer for this part. So worth it!
5. Paint over the texture with a paint/primer all in one.
**We are not professionals so test your walls before using this technique.
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| we really should've done this years ago, it looks so much better now! |
Another project is painting the ceiling in the front room and hallways. At one time or another the rest of the ceilings in the house had been painted white. For what ever reason (
all right, we're lazy...) we avoided these areas. Unfortunately, the front room is where our huge TV and entertainment center is. Hence the need to split up the painting until we can move those heavy items out of the way. Once they're out of the way we can continue with the Navajo White on the walls. It really isn't as ugly a color as we thought it would be. At least knowing that we're redoing the floors gives us a good reason not to care if some drops end up on the carpet.
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| I spy 'Trailer Life' |
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| OCD overload! |
Here's some more chaos for you. And also some more memories for us.
Our kitchen counter has been overrun with paint cans, tools, a new texture sprayer and goodness knows what else is in the mess! The kitchen will remain white but the room next to it will be painted (you guessed it) Navajo White.
In it's previous life, Ron's office was Jessica's room. It had a great color scheme of pastel pink, mint green and dark green trim including a half-round trim piece between the wall colors and crown molding to boot. We'll keep the carpet in here so we need to be careful when painting. At least the 90 gallon aquarium isn't in the room anymore.
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| no room for guests at this inn | | |
The guest room was previously Alex's room. His color scheme was more masculine, tan and hunter green. This room also has crown molding and a chair rail too. The room's current function is Catch All Room: coats, wall decorations, a book collection, unused furniture from other rooms and even my shoes which have been displaced. Most of this is going to be sold eventually. I'm holding onto it now in case the realtor wants to use it in the 'for sale' photo shoot.
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| a perfect area to wash the painting supplies |
The front bathroom counter is a victim of our madness too. The sink and counter top are going to get refinished, so for now this is the paint sink. A place to rinse the dirty paint brushes and rollers, it saves the kitchen sink from the mess.
The one room that has been left uncluttered, so far, is the master bedroom. We need someplace where we can have some sort of peace. We know that the time will come to destroy this sanctuary but by then the rest of the house will be mostly complete. Maybe our guest room will be the master for a little while??
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| such a good boy |
Rufus has been a trooper! He doesn't complain and goes with the flow. As long as his bed is in the sunshine he's a happy boy. He watches us as we work and for the most part stays out of the way.
How does this compare to your horror stories of selling/remodeling your home? Feel free to share your stories in the comments section. We'd love to know we're not alone!
