Grocery Shrink

Wide open space!  All subfloor–no more mismatch.  No more 1971 linoleum with cuts and dirt ground in deep.  This is the view from the door to my bedroom.

Next stop hardwood floors.  We cut the old floor into squares–it was a floating floor, but they glued each tongue together so we couldn’t reuse it.  I was REALLY bummed about that.  My mom came over and carried it out while I was teaching school.

Then DH started laying out the new floor to see how things would go.  The floors are really not level, and our choices to level them up include taking up the subfloor and planing down the high joists.  Or taking up the subfloor and shimming up the low areas.  Or pouring in a silicone leveler that can be nailed through (except some of the low areas are 2 inches low which is too much for the leveler.) And then it hit us, “Why is the floor this bad?”  “Why is the wall in the attic cracking? Was it cracked that much last year when we moved in?”

So we placed a call to a structural expert who will be here at 9 am tomorrow.  It feels like everything is on hold and we are afraid to breathe.  We had foundation problems at our previous house and they are costly to repair.  Here’s to hoping it’s not too bad.  It’s frustrating to DH because he is furloughed and has time to work on the project, but can’t move forward until the experts give their ok.

Tomorrow, I’ll show some before and current pictures of our progress.  Even though we aren’t close to done, it’s amazing how far we’ve come.

P.S.  DH is a federal agent of sorts and his most recent background check came up with this blog.  They sweetly asked if I would stop using his name in my posts…So trying to remember to use DH instead of the real thing, even though I’ve never been a secretive sort of person.  And not mad at all, just extremely flattered that they considered this tiny blog important enough to make the request.

P.P.S. A weight loss scam stole my weight loss pictures and used them on facebook to try to sell their junk.  I’m half mad; half flattered that they thought my transformation was good enough to steal.  But I still made a stink and asked them to take it down, as did my trainer, the amazing Holly Rigsby (button the right.)

Random Excerpt: Happy Birthday to the best mother a girl could have! Mine.  Hope Dad takes you shopping and lets you look at whatever you want to for as long as you want to and not just computers and electronic stuff.

Ok, A lot of paint.  The size of this space is huge about 60 feet by 18 feet.  So we took advantage of an Angie’s list special and hired 2 painters for a day.  That was a very good decision.

They left us this cool bucket, with paint screen and a roller.  I had never seen one before and it totally eliminates the need for a roller pan and multiple refills.

DH and I still painted about 8 hours on Saturday together, after we ran our first 5k as a couple, in the rain, in the wee hours of the morning.  Yes we are totally drenched in this picture.  At least he had the good sense to wear a hat. He got a medal too, but wasn’t as excited about it as I was.  Um, his first time was less than 28 minutes….I arrived across the finish line 3 minutes later. He mostly has a desk job–I work out a lot.  And even though I wasn’t any where near a fast time, I cried when they put the medal on my neck.  It was after all to help save unborn babies and their mothers.

You can get a good sense of the color in the photo above.  It’s Behr Silver Drop–which is a very light,very neutral greige.  I’d call it a warm gray or a cool beige.  I’ve used really wall colors in my house before and get tired of them really quickly.  I’m a neutral kind of girl and I really love white.  And then pops of color from rugs or curtains, pillows and such–or just really clean and almost bare.

Ok, here’s a confession that I can say here, because this isn’t a decorating blog.  I kind of like builder’s grade–and everywhere beige or gray.  Ever since I was a little girl, seeing a new house with builder grade everything was like the height of luxury.  Our house was built in the 30’s with original doors and knobs and everything that is cool right now, but back then it was 40 years old–the same as 70’s stuff is today.  We had pleasant dreams at night of builder’s grade.  We had no idea how charming everything could be if we just restored the house to it’s original glory.  Now when I read decorating blogs (and I’m subscribed to about 20 of them) they commonly bashing builder’s grade and working to eradicate it all from their home.  Their transformations are amazing, but I’d be happy with the before and not even realize a transformation was needed.

I love how the kids like to be close to us.  They brought a tiny lap top in to watch a movie where Darren was working even though we have rooms with furniture somewhere in the house :).  Hmmm, I wonder where Dub was?  Oh and paint the fireplace or no?  I go back and forth every day on what to do.  Everyone in my house says NO.  But I love a nice white painted fireplace. And a mantle.  Think I could stick a mantle above the arch?  Would that look wonky?

Because dust means progress.  I know we’re making lots of progress, because DUST is everywhere!

But the sheetrock is done and as soon as I get this mess cleaned up–the painting can begin!

Need. Water. Drywall.

We are challenged right now, getting our drywall guy to show up.  Or call us back….

Our friend started the drywall process for us and I love his work and how that arched doorway is shaping up. He is too busy or I’d hire him to finish the job.

So in the meantime, I’m scraping more popcorn ceilings.  And trying to hold it together for the family.

Soccer, ballet, violin lessons, piano lessons, tutoring, teaching voice…..IT has started. The crazies are here and the fear that gave me hives last spring has come true.  That our kitchen would still look like this when the crazies come.  I’m ready to bake fall cookies and homemade bread.  I’m ready to have family dinners around a table and look at each other and talk.

But for now I’m being grateful.  Grateful for this huge house that was ugly enough that we could afford it.  Grateful for the kids to fill it up.  Grateful for just enough money to do a project like this.  Grateful for friends who will come and help. And for plenty of food; and air conditioning, for the kids’ school and the best job in the world I get to do there, for boxes of real hardwood floor and a 6 burner gas range ready in the garage for their moment to come. And that we are healthy and in love. Somehow remembering what I have to be thankful for makes the waiting and the longing and the taking forever bearable one more day.