I wanted something with a lot of (cosmetic) work to do, and, well, I achieved that. It has been a good source of projects to focus on and it's satisfying to have at least one thing I can tangibly and visibly fix.
But anyways, I completed a project today.
I neglected to get a good before picture of this process, but here's more-or-less the starting condition of my living room.
You can see where I did some minor drywall repair, but the important thing you can't see is that it used to have a gross-looking popcorn ceiling.
Now it looks like this:
Steps to this process under the cut:
Patch damage to walls. (Numerous fastener holes, remains of two aborted wall-mounted TVs, one poorly taped drywall seam. )
Prime over ceiling popcorn in preparation for skim coating. It was painted over, so scraping was not a (reasonable) option. At the age of the house, asbestos was also a possibility, so I decided encapsulation was my best option.
Skim coat entire ceiling. The easiest way I found to do this was to lay on joint compound with a paint roller on an extension and then smooth it out with a drywall knife. (Someone's probably going to say I should have used a trowel, but I had more luck with the knife. I am definitely not a pro.) This ultimately took three coats of ultralight joint compound followed by sanding.
Prime and paint walls.
Prime and paint ceiling base color.
Gold leaf in solar system design. To do this, I made a print-quality PDF of my design and projected it onto the ceiling with a cheap projector precariously taped to the floor in an upright position. Traced the lines of the design with the adhesive size, applied gold leaf, and sealed with varnish after curing.
This whole thing was neck-breaking (the only ergonomic way to do this is probably to rent a scaffold and do most of it lying down) and I'm going to be finding pieces of gold leaf on my clothes for months to come, but I'm very happy with the result.
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Dealing with yet another house issue that requires a solution of “drop $$$ on the problem to fix it now” OR “in a while, drop $$$$$$ on the problem later which will require destroying what the cheaper option will fix”…so I’m going to pour myself a glass of wine now.
And for reasons which should be obvious, the line from Pride & Prejudice 1995 keeps running through my head, courtesy of Kitty Bennet: “I wish someone would die and leave me ten thousand pounds.”
I think we've finally put the finishing touches in the new piping. I was able to move my west side water hose spigot to a different location that would keep it off the back patio, and then I added a whole new spigot on the south side of the house!!! Yay!! That's gonna make life so much easier since we usually park our cars on the south side street. I can wash cars without having to pull them into the fenced back yard. Yippee. And pressure wash the drainage canal along our curb yippee. And have a garden on the south side where we get the best sun. Yippee again! DIY really lets you customize what you want and what you can! Except for drains I refuse to touch those lol.
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version 2 of my reclaimed wood bird feeder stand; the squirrels outsmarted version 1. this version has wider-spaced-apart bird feeders and the plastic baffle at the top. let’s see if they figure this one out.
The kids were amazing today. Seriously. DD watched NB most of the afternoon which was so, so helpful. H was in his element and legitimately helpful. He has such a knack for construction type of work. I also don’t know any other kid his age that can drive this well. I realize it’s a kid car, but he knows how to drive it in reverse and forward intrinsically. E does not. She’s not awful with it, but it seems to all come naturally for H. I was impressed with him all day long.
Ms. 6 and DS worked in the hot sun all afternoon. They got a lot done and were also legitimately helpful. E didn’t help much but was able to entertain herself. Baby was Baby but DD helped with him too and it all worked out well until the rain started around the time DD had to leave for work.
Now there’s water in my kitchen from the chimney leaving a hole in the roof. Sigh. DH put the plywood in to cover the hole, but didn’t tarp it well enough initially. It wasn’t a ton of water but it’s empty attic space directly above the kitchen so water drips right from the roof to the kitchen ceiling. It’s tarped okay now I think. 40% chance of rain at 7am. Roofer still has not called us back and it’s 8pm. Sigh. Really hoping they do an excellent job.
Homeownership is not for the faint of heart. Are y’all super connected to your house? As much as I whine about our home being too small for our family size, I am attached to it. I think because I bought it as a single mom and it was SUCH an amazing home to me under those circumstances. I was grateful to be able to afford it, and I put a TON of sweat equity into it. Three of the four bedrooms have been completely redone including ripping out the walls and ceilings down to the studs. The same was done in the kitchen and dining room. We’ve majorly updated both bathrooms (there is a third creepy one in the basement that we have done nothing to). The staircase was also replaced. Tons and tons of work.
In some ways, I feel like I’m failing our little bungalow by putting vinyl siding on it and that instead, we should go a more “pure” route with a house this old, but it’s the best we can do in terms of affordability. The total for roof and siding is going to run $25-$30k. Ouch! I do believe it will make a huge difference in terms of appearance but sheesh. Fingers crossed this company does a good job.
