House work

Finally (maybe), a quiet moment to write a post!  Or maybe not.  (Eliza, who is 8 months old today, by the way, is sitting at my feet playing with my shoes.  Let's see how long that keeps the clingy baby happy.)

We have begun work on the house in town!  We are so excited.  And exhausted.  And frustrated.  The renter in the first floor apartment of our huge-house-cum-triplex has moved out and we are taking the opportunity to make improvements/repairs to the first floor.  We are there just about every other day to rip off wallpaper and scrub off glue.  The first day, a friend and I made quick work of denuding the living room of wallpaper.  It has not been so easy to remove the glue!  We've tried a vinegar and water solution and scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed... to no avail.  Then we tried a wallpaper-remover and scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed... to little avail.  Then we tried same remove and scraped and scraped and washed to similar results.  We are now discussing sanding and skim-coating the walls.  Wallpaper in other parts of the house have proved  not so accommodating.  There are four layers of wallpaper in the bedroom; three in the dining room.  The bedroom wallpaper has proven particularly difficult: there we scrape and scrape and scrape, and can only take the paper off by inches.  We're not sure yet how many layers are in the kitchen.  Thick enough that Mom triumphed in taking a two foot long, one foot wide jagged strip from the top of the wall, only to have at least another layer underneath that we have yet to penetrate.  It is going to be a long, arduous process.  We knew it would be a lot of work, a lot of hours scrubbing and scraping before we even make it to taping and priming and painting and cleaning carpet.  It is only frustrating and discouraging when you spend two entire days working to see two small (and I mean small) patches on the walls from your work.  But, we shall triumph in the end!  I'm certain of it.  I just keep picturing to myself how lovely it will all look when it is freshly painted with new curtains (instead of the ugly 70's faux toile drapes) hung in the living room.  It is going to look nice, and it will be very worth all the effort.

Plans for the first floor, as they stand to this date:

• Remove all wallpaper.  And I mean all.
• Remove all glue, or at the least sand and skim over it so it is no longer a threat to paint.
• Paint every room so it is fresh and new.
• Patch walls where needed (and it is needed).
• Give the carpets a good, thorough clean.
• G.I. the entire bathroom.

It's a lot of work, but worth it.

Other things that are in the works, but may extend into the fall:

• Repaint the exterior of the house (it is long overdue).
• Trim the trees to open up the exterior so you can see it better from the street.
• Remove the overgrowth in the backyard that is taking up, likely, a good 10-15 sq feet of yard!
• Remove bushes from the front of the house.
• Hopefully, sometime soon, repair the front porch which is sloping just a little too much (but is still quite useable).

And then, in three weeks time, if all goes well, we will begin work on the second floor as well, so that Nick and I can move into our apartment!  Wonderful!  I'll keep you posted how it is going.

(Eliza, by the way, has not been remotely satisified with my shoes through the writing of this post, so it is time I close.  Hopefully she'll be more content in the living room...)