The Beginning of Week 2

March 13

I spent the morning sanding the base boards and door frames before priming the hall bathroom. Even though it was just a primer, it looks better already! After having lunch we moved outside and worked on cutting down more trees and brush. To give you a better idea of how little the yard was maintained, the leaves under the top layer are packed down and in some areas beginning to turn black and mold. While my dad took a load to the dump, I went over to Nancy’s to pick up a dead tree that had fallen on her clothes line. I brought the dead wood back over to the house to use as firewood. Nancy also borrowed us a cart that works quite well for moving the firewood that we cut to the shed. We went into town to get paint from Sherwin Williams and went to a Chinese buffet for dinner. When we returned to the house, I continued sanding moldings and taking off wallpaper from the master bathroom. Exciting day, I know.

Sanding Baseboards

  

March 14

With 1800 square feet of house there is a lot of ground to cover. That being said, I began the morning on the ground yet again; sanding the baseboards. This time I sanded in the living room and dining room. Although most of the sanding is done, there is still a little left to do. Then the excitement began: painting! For those of you who don’t know, I love painting. I began in the hall bathroom and moved to the fire room after lunch. I’d like to coin a term: painter’s regret. Do I suffer from this? Not quite, but maybe close. Here’s the deal, several days prior to painting we had picked out what tile we would use and picked out a paint color to match. At least we thought it matched. After the paint had dried and we set the tile next to it, the paint no longer matched the tile we had chosen! I liked the paint color but didn’t like it with the tile. What’s a girl to do?! Eat a cookie, that’s what! Nancy had made us chocolate chip cookies and boy were they good. They definitely make it into the top 5 best chocolate chip cookies I’ve had. They are addicting too! She brought them at 4pm and by the time I had gone to bed I had already eaten 4. I may have to convince her to give me the recipe. Later that afternoon we went over to Mike’s, the guy from the nursery who used to own a light store. He had pulled down some of the lights that he had left over from the store and we got to pick and choose what we wanted. And let me tell you, these were top of the line lights. He was willing to sell the lights at amazingly low prices. For example, one of the lights he would have sold in his store for $279. He gave it to us for $50. He also let us take the lights home to see how they work and anything that doesn’t work we could take back. I was one happy camper. Or maybe I should say, one happy home remodeler! When we returned to the house, I went over to Nancy’s and with a grin on my face I told her we had something for her. When we had first gone over to her house she had mentioned that she didn’t like her entry light. Having a room full of lights, I had the perfect solution for that. I let her take her pick and my dad told her he would install it. After all she has done for us; it was the least we could do. The rest of the night was spent painting, eating, and more painting. 

This was on the front page of the community paper. A glimpse into who makes up the large part of the community here.

Cookies from Nancy.

Check out those lights.

March 15

My dad made eggs for breakfast before I sanded moldings once again. I then primed the laundry room and the kitchen ceiling where the light fixture had been. We spent the afternoon working outside and taking a load to the dump. After showering we went over to Ocala. Although we were at the point where we wanted to begin tiling, because of the paint situation, we had to reevaluate our tile choice. We went to Home Depot and Lowes to pick out a few more tile samples. With all the shopping we had done, by the time we got to Five Guys shortly after 9pm, I was super hungry.  

Priming the laundry room. Looks better already.

So many options.

What tile should I choose?