Home Ownership Update

Well, it’s week 2 now of working on the house, and we have been busy. Unfortunately, so far, none of the work has been very photogenic although I want you to know that I have tried.

So far, we have:

• made arrangements for a new roof
• resolved the drainage issues under the house
• removed a tree (which will be replaced with a new tree!)
• trimmed the other trees back so they would not destroy the new roof
• sanded all of the baseboards upstairs
• painted the baseboards upstairs (still needs one final coat)
• cleaned
• tried, unsuccessfully, to choose a paint color for the bedroom
• scheduled the movers
• ordered new carpet

It’s always disheartening when the After photo (below) looks worse than the Before (above). Below, you can see the first coat of paint on the baseboards and the carpet ripped up. We love the look of colored walls against white trim, so eventually this bedroom will be a nice, warm gray. Because we are on such a tight timeline, we are just worrying about the baseboards before the carpet install.  After we move in, we will go back and paint the door frames and windows.

Work in Progress:

We have a couple of weeks left now and the list is starting to feel more manageable. Painting has been fine, but sanding the trim was really not fun. I wanted to like it. I wanted to be excited and grateful, but the truth is that I am really bad at sanding. It brings back a lot of childhood memories of working on projects with my Dad in the garage. I would sand for about two minutes and then look at my Dad and shrug.

Me: “Is this good enough?”

Dad: “Well, let me see…”

(Pause)

Dad: “Hmm. You did a pretty good job. Let me just finish that up for you…”

Then, it was back to playing in the yard while Dad sanded. Apparently, no one has taught my husband this trick. It took me one full day of being pretty irritable to realize that I was going to have to actually sand the whole thing! And the more I sanded, the more I looked around and thought, “Darn it! This whole house needs to be sanded! This little piece of trim doesn’t even begin to cover it!”

So, we’re spending a lot of time reminding each other that this is a journey, and we’re going to learn to be okay with half-finished projects. And sanding.

Meanwhile, it is SO incredibly gorgeous out here. I had forgotten what Fall leaves looked like.  Every time we drive over to the house, I am interrupting my husband and saying “Did you see that tree? It’s red! And this one’s orange!” Even the Home Depot parking lot (my new hang out spot) is beautiful — all lit up in red and gold. I am so grateful for these little glimpses of beauty.  I drink them in where I can get them — even at Home Depot. It is going to be awhile before we can frolic through the park like the old days.