Renovation status update:

My mission (whether I chose to accept it or not) was to patch, prep and paint our baby’s new room and second bedroom which will now serve as our guest room/office.

The challenges:
So much stuff in rooms to start. Office equipment now stowed in basement and the remaining stuff is now crammed into every available nook and cranny in our bedroom and/or in big boxes stacked in center of each room under renovation. Also, big cracks in ceilings and walls.

Status:
All patching done!
Rooms wiped down for dust.
Ceilings painted in both rooms.
Perimeter and windows taped to begin semi-gloss trim painting.
Shoe molding purchased and stained.
Small nail holes filled with spackle.
Window sills scraped with heat gun prior to painting.
Ceiling fan one (of two) partially installed.
All paints purchased.
All new electrical outlets etc…purchased.

Yet to be done:
Order and install cordless fitted blinds for both rooms.
Paint trim and doors.
Sand, sand, sand (spackles areas and window sills.)
Wipe surfaces again.
Remove current tape and then tape ceiling and woodwork to paint walls.
Paint, paint, paint—remove tape.
Cut molding with Mitre saw and install in rooms.
Install new outlets, switches and plates.
Reorganize both spaces including adding furniture back (my fervent prayer is that we find the hardware for the shelves without too much trouble—we should always tape the bag of hardware to the furniture when we take it apart!)

Things you never think about when you start a job like this…
Crawling around piles of stuff in center of room (especially when dragging the ladder) is no fun. Patching major cracks and sanding creates TONS of dust. Cats think tons of dust is fun. Pregnant love of my life isn’t interested doing the work (and I wouldn’t let her anyway because of fumes, dust etc…), but she has lots of neat suggestions that require additional work if we want it “done right.” (I love you honey.) Can you tell I’ll be really, really happy when this is all done?

On the bright side our very nice neighbor Greg was a great help this weekend. He is installing the fans and scraping away. Turns out HIS wireless reception is really bad when OUR router is in our basement so he has a very high interest in helping us get the office back upstairs. That’s what he gets for not having his own wireless (by the way we have no problem with him using ours.) Wow what if I get home and everything is done…now I am dreaming… -Monica