...a couple of weeks, anyway.
The latest: the bathroom has been sanded. I tried to get the walls wiped down yesterday so I could prime today, but Bug had other ideas. While blocked in her room, she managed to get *both* tubs of wipes down from her shelf and was gleefully pulling each one apart when I checked on her. Then she hollered when I tried to get back to wiping. I know, I should have done it at nap time, but I was on a roll with some yarn spinning. I managed to spin 2 oz. of wool into 45 yards of 3-ply yarn during her nap. And it looks good, too!
I did get the lower (yuckier) part of the walls in the craft room washed. The top will be cake. I took some in-process pictures, but need to get them off of ~D's phone before I can post them. The paste on the bottom half of the walls was very obviously from before the ugly green layer - so the Ms stripped and re-papered, but didn't wash between. I think I scrubbed off 70 years' worth of paste and paper remnants.
The best method for washing the gunk consisted of: TSP mixed w/warm water per the box; rubber gloves; one big scrub brush; one little scrub brush; and a wash cloth. Apply water to wall (no need to scrub just yet) with the brush. I worked in vertical strips about 10 inches or so wide at a time. Start at the top of the strip. By the time you get to the bottom, the top will have soaked in enough to make the scrubbing easier. Wipe clean with the washcloth periodically and use the little brush for the smaller areas.
All told, it took probably about 6 hours to get the bottom half of the wall washed. Blech.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Stripping update (brown-chicken, brown-cow!)
The wallpaper is stripped from the craft room! I finished it this weekend. Got a great facial from it. Now to wash them...
One of the walls in the craft room may end up having to be redone completely. It's the one on the back wall with the door to the 3-season. While removing the chair rail, a large chunk of the plaster came off with one of the nails (completely not ~D's fault). I tried cleaning the hole out a bit so that we can patch it, and we found that the plaster is pretty much coming away from the lath across almost the whole wall. If we do have to redo it, it'll entail re-insulating because all we have is blown-in cellulose, and as soon as the lath comes down, the insulation'll come out. Boss #1 sent me a link on a method for re-adhering plaster to lath so we might try that first. Fortunately, all of the other walls look okay.
So the plan at the moment will be to at the very least get the other walls in that room done, so we can get the furniture back against the walls and have more working space for the problem one.
And right now, the bathroom sits. Maybe I'll feel a bit more motivated once I start washing the craft room walls to try the TSP in there again.
We did get a couple new light fixtures, though. A 5-light track for the craft room (we just have to make sure we have wiring that is rated high enough temp.-wise) and a 3-light fixture for the bathroom in an antiqued bronze. That one'll be easy to do.
One of the walls in the craft room may end up having to be redone completely. It's the one on the back wall with the door to the 3-season. While removing the chair rail, a large chunk of the plaster came off with one of the nails (completely not ~D's fault). I tried cleaning the hole out a bit so that we can patch it, and we found that the plaster is pretty much coming away from the lath across almost the whole wall. If we do have to redo it, it'll entail re-insulating because all we have is blown-in cellulose, and as soon as the lath comes down, the insulation'll come out. Boss #1 sent me a link on a method for re-adhering plaster to lath so we might try that first. Fortunately, all of the other walls look okay.
So the plan at the moment will be to at the very least get the other walls in that room done, so we can get the furniture back against the walls and have more working space for the problem one.
And right now, the bathroom sits. Maybe I'll feel a bit more motivated once I start washing the craft room walls to try the TSP in there again.
We did get a couple new light fixtures, though. A 5-light track for the craft room (we just have to make sure we have wiring that is rated high enough temp.-wise) and a 3-light fixture for the bathroom in an antiqued bronze. That one'll be easy to do.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Current projects
So, preliminary matters out of the way... What are we doing currently?
We bought paint about a month ago for the bathroom and the craft room. Both rooms had less than desirable wallpaper. The bathroom has yellow tile from the floor to chest height, and above that was birds and yellow flowers. Not hideous in the headache-giving sense, but not to my taste. The craft room... well... let's just say my ongoing need to have an "ugly room" was met. There was chair rail until last night - ~D had Daddy Demolition Time. Above the chair rail was a fairly subtle white paper with stripes. Below it was hideous dark green with busy flowers all over.
Saturday, ~J was in her bedroom playing without the need for attention, so I figured I'd test the paper and see how bad stripping was going to be. The green came up really easily - no tools beyond fingers and an occasional screwdriver. The white - I was able to peel the top (vinyl-y) layer off, but the paper backing has stayed. At some point I realized that the wall (horsehair plastic, BTW) will need a skim coat. If we go to the trouble of skimming it, do we want to just knock down the walls and put up sheetrock? Then I wouldn't have to worry about stripping what's left, then washing the walls to prepare for the skim. So I decided to leave it alone while we decide, and direct my attention to the bathroom.
(We have ultimately decided that we'll leave the horsehair and skim it. Sheetrocking would have required removal of plaster, removal of lathe, re-insulating, rewiring - outlets are on the outside of the wall right now, etc.)
So on to the bathroom. I get to play with the steamer! First I peeled the top layer off as I did in the craft room. It's a bit more time consuming, but I think it's better than just scoring it - and once I started steaming, was glad for it because even the dime-sized spots where the top layer remained would not steam off - I either had to steam it until the top layer came off, then steam again for the bottom layer, or scrape (gouge) the wall a bit. I finished all of the stripping in the bathroom on Sunday, and then went to work washing the walls.
I learned in my youth that after you strip wallpaper, you have to wash the paste off. TSP is the stuff we used to use. I don't remember using rubber gloves to do it, but the box clearly says you need to because it can cause burns. So I mix the stuff, don the gloves, get an old washcloth out of the closet and set to work, starting in the tub. Long story short: I think the M's used more wallpaper paste than joint compound on those walls. I went through an entire bottle of Dif just getting the tub above the enclosure and the small bit of wall behind the toilet, above the tile. It's better, but there's still a lot of crap there. So what do you do if you don't want to knock down the wall but your arms won't let you get it all off? ~D's solution, which we have yet to do, is sand, skim, sand, prime.
So ~D picked up a respirator, orbital sander, and other miscellaneous necessities for the job. ~J's nanny's husband has loaned us his trowels, and my boss gave us a bucket of joint compound. I think ~D is hoping he gets to do the sanding, etc. (he's been wanting the sander for a while now). So I moved back to the craft room, seeings as there isn't much left for me to do in the bathroom until it's time to paint.
I started stripping the paper layer last night but wasn't feeling terribly motivated and wanted to get to some new yarn. I got one of the big walls and part of the next wall done. Worst case I'll finish it this weekend. The good news is that the upper part of the wall is actually in good shape so far, so we may not need to skim as much of it as the bottom part (below where the chair rail was).
Oh, so with all of this stripping, what are we doing? The bathroom will be a medium blue with a gold glaze sponged on top - it should go with the celestial stuff. I'm also looking at new light fixtures. I found a hammered copper one that I really like, but it's a bit pricey. The craft room will have yellow walls (it's a nice yellow, I promise!) with medium purple trim. It should be fun and bright. It's the darkest room in the house because it's on the back (west) side, with trees that block a good amount of the sunlight, especially later in the day. Once the painting is done, shelves will go up and I'll really, honestly, try to keep it organized.
We bought paint about a month ago for the bathroom and the craft room. Both rooms had less than desirable wallpaper. The bathroom has yellow tile from the floor to chest height, and above that was birds and yellow flowers. Not hideous in the headache-giving sense, but not to my taste. The craft room... well... let's just say my ongoing need to have an "ugly room" was met. There was chair rail until last night - ~D had Daddy Demolition Time. Above the chair rail was a fairly subtle white paper with stripes. Below it was hideous dark green with busy flowers all over.
Saturday, ~J was in her bedroom playing without the need for attention, so I figured I'd test the paper and see how bad stripping was going to be. The green came up really easily - no tools beyond fingers and an occasional screwdriver. The white - I was able to peel the top (vinyl-y) layer off, but the paper backing has stayed. At some point I realized that the wall (horsehair plastic, BTW) will need a skim coat. If we go to the trouble of skimming it, do we want to just knock down the walls and put up sheetrock? Then I wouldn't have to worry about stripping what's left, then washing the walls to prepare for the skim. So I decided to leave it alone while we decide, and direct my attention to the bathroom.
(We have ultimately decided that we'll leave the horsehair and skim it. Sheetrocking would have required removal of plaster, removal of lathe, re-insulating, rewiring - outlets are on the outside of the wall right now, etc.)
So on to the bathroom. I get to play with the steamer! First I peeled the top layer off as I did in the craft room. It's a bit more time consuming, but I think it's better than just scoring it - and once I started steaming, was glad for it because even the dime-sized spots where the top layer remained would not steam off - I either had to steam it until the top layer came off, then steam again for the bottom layer, or scrape (gouge) the wall a bit. I finished all of the stripping in the bathroom on Sunday, and then went to work washing the walls.
I learned in my youth that after you strip wallpaper, you have to wash the paste off. TSP is the stuff we used to use. I don't remember using rubber gloves to do it, but the box clearly says you need to because it can cause burns. So I mix the stuff, don the gloves, get an old washcloth out of the closet and set to work, starting in the tub. Long story short: I think the M's used more wallpaper paste than joint compound on those walls. I went through an entire bottle of Dif just getting the tub above the enclosure and the small bit of wall behind the toilet, above the tile. It's better, but there's still a lot of crap there. So what do you do if you don't want to knock down the wall but your arms won't let you get it all off? ~D's solution, which we have yet to do, is sand, skim, sand, prime.
So ~D picked up a respirator, orbital sander, and other miscellaneous necessities for the job. ~J's nanny's husband has loaned us his trowels, and my boss gave us a bucket of joint compound. I think ~D is hoping he gets to do the sanding, etc. (he's been wanting the sander for a while now). So I moved back to the craft room, seeings as there isn't much left for me to do in the bathroom until it's time to paint.
I started stripping the paper layer last night but wasn't feeling terribly motivated and wanted to get to some new yarn. I got one of the big walls and part of the next wall done. Worst case I'll finish it this weekend. The good news is that the upper part of the wall is actually in good shape so far, so we may not need to skim as much of it as the bottom part (below where the chair rail was).
Oh, so with all of this stripping, what are we doing? The bathroom will be a medium blue with a gold glaze sponged on top - it should go with the celestial stuff. I'm also looking at new light fixtures. I found a hammered copper one that I really like, but it's a bit pricey. The craft room will have yellow walls (it's a nice yellow, I promise!) with medium purple trim. It should be fun and bright. It's the darkest room in the house because it's on the back (west) side, with trees that block a good amount of the sunlight, especially later in the day. Once the painting is done, shelves will go up and I'll really, honestly, try to keep it organized.
Future plans
What are our grand schemes for the house?
1) New windows. Hopefully a spring task. The old ones still have some lead paint. We're okay in the winter with them closed, but come spring, we don't want ~J to be exposed.
2) Re-shingling the front porch. Those shingles probably should have been replaced 10 years ago. A six pack of beer, ~D, Toril, and maybe Crow should get it done in a day or two (with the stripping that'll be involved).
3) Patio in the backyard. Our house sits up on a ledge, with retaining walls and stairs leading to the backyard. Once at the bottom of the stairs, the yard continues to slope to about the midway point, where it finally levels off. This separation of house and yard makes the yard feel a bit isolated. We hope to put in another, small, retaining wall to the right of the stairs at the bottom to level off a section, and we'll put in stone pavers or similar and a fire bowl. Add some comfy seating...
4) Redecorate the kitchen. While the kitchen works functionally, it does not aesthetically. There's way too much wood in there: the ceiling is wood planks and beams, the cabinets, and then there's wood paneling from the floor to nose height on the walls. The counters are ugly white corian, and the wallpaper is white with cherries and crap on it. So the paneling comes down, the wallpaper comes down, the floor gets tiled, and the counters get replaced with tile. I'm leaning towards terra cotta, old Europe style, but we'll see how I feel when we get closer to having this project done.
5) Bathroom remodel. The bathroom is tiny. Right now, the thought is to pivot the tub, blowing out the wall into the craft room. Major concern is what that'll leave in terms of the craft room space. We'll strip the pale yellow tile, put in a new vanity and sink, etc. Our bathroom is celestially themed at the moment. We'll probably do a warm-tone slate-look tile in the tub, something suitably complementary for the floor, and I want a hammered copper/bronze look sink. We've started a bit of the cosmetic work (in an entry to come), but won't be doing anything structural for a while.
6) Expand the driveway. Playing the two-car shuffle gets a little tiring. But right now, we can only fit the two cars in the driveway one in front of the other. We'll be expanding towards the house (the other side would be encroaching on our neighbors' property) so we can hopefully fit the cars side-by-side.
7) Finish (part of) the attic. When ~J has a sibling, we'll need a little bit more room, so finishing the attic is a possibility. It wouldn't qualify as new square footage because of the stairway going up there, but would make a great spare/play/craft room. One obstacle to this will be whether we add a whole house fan (which is a distinct possibility). We'll have to play with it a bit to see if we can do both.
8) Cosmetics. More rooms to paint, lights to update, etc.
1) New windows. Hopefully a spring task. The old ones still have some lead paint. We're okay in the winter with them closed, but come spring, we don't want ~J to be exposed.
2) Re-shingling the front porch. Those shingles probably should have been replaced 10 years ago. A six pack of beer, ~D, Toril, and maybe Crow should get it done in a day or two (with the stripping that'll be involved).
3) Patio in the backyard. Our house sits up on a ledge, with retaining walls and stairs leading to the backyard. Once at the bottom of the stairs, the yard continues to slope to about the midway point, where it finally levels off. This separation of house and yard makes the yard feel a bit isolated. We hope to put in another, small, retaining wall to the right of the stairs at the bottom to level off a section, and we'll put in stone pavers or similar and a fire bowl. Add some comfy seating...
4) Redecorate the kitchen. While the kitchen works functionally, it does not aesthetically. There's way too much wood in there: the ceiling is wood planks and beams, the cabinets, and then there's wood paneling from the floor to nose height on the walls. The counters are ugly white corian, and the wallpaper is white with cherries and crap on it. So the paneling comes down, the wallpaper comes down, the floor gets tiled, and the counters get replaced with tile. I'm leaning towards terra cotta, old Europe style, but we'll see how I feel when we get closer to having this project done.
5) Bathroom remodel. The bathroom is tiny. Right now, the thought is to pivot the tub, blowing out the wall into the craft room. Major concern is what that'll leave in terms of the craft room space. We'll strip the pale yellow tile, put in a new vanity and sink, etc. Our bathroom is celestially themed at the moment. We'll probably do a warm-tone slate-look tile in the tub, something suitably complementary for the floor, and I want a hammered copper/bronze look sink. We've started a bit of the cosmetic work (in an entry to come), but won't be doing anything structural for a while.
6) Expand the driveway. Playing the two-car shuffle gets a little tiring. But right now, we can only fit the two cars in the driveway one in front of the other. We'll be expanding towards the house (the other side would be encroaching on our neighbors' property) so we can hopefully fit the cars side-by-side.
7) Finish (part of) the attic. When ~J has a sibling, we'll need a little bit more room, so finishing the attic is a possibility. It wouldn't qualify as new square footage because of the stairway going up there, but would make a great spare/play/craft room. One obstacle to this will be whether we add a whole house fan (which is a distinct possibility). We'll have to play with it a bit to see if we can do both.
8) Cosmetics. More rooms to paint, lights to update, etc.
The story thus far...
In mid-November, ~D and I closed on our first house. It's a great house. Certainly better than a lot of the crap that we saw when we were looking. It's an old house, but in very good condition. It has a dry basement (a rare event in this town), the slate roof looked solid - no major leaks in the attic, and it was well-kept by the previous owners, cosmetically as well as structurally. We know that it'll have its quirks, but we don't have to worry about it being a death trap for us or our one-year-old daughter, ~J.
On our side was the fact that the seller, Mrs. M, was a little OCD about drafts in the winter. They had the house insulated (cellulose blown into the walls) and some of the windows have been replaced. They put in a new gas furnace about 5 years ago. They've kept up with the landscaping, painted the walls before selling the house, and even did somewhat of a bathroom remodel. While we don't agree with their aesthetic choices (they clearly like the country look), they obviously cared about how the house looked.
So what have we done so far?
- Changed the locks and doorknobs. The old ones wouldn't keep a chipmunk out if it pushed hard enough. Mr. M clearly had an unhealthy obsession with wood putty and coated half of the jamb side in the stuff so that the latch wouldn't. I cleaned it out, put in a new strike plate (there hadn't been one at all) and we put in a new deadbolt, as we weren't given the keys for the existing one. It took a lot longer than it should have on account of having to drill, clean, and line everything up right, but we secured our home in the first weekend.
- Painted. The master bedroom was baby blue with a blueish-silver area carpet. It is now a medium-ish taupe (kept the trim white), with the same carpet, but it goes very well with our silvery-teal bedspread. We have also painted our big shelving unit to match.
~J's room was originally off-white. It is now a sweet light pink with random green stripes. We added a small coordinating green shag area rug (about the size of a bath mat) and a shelving/cube unit for her toys and books. Her new bedspread has a green stripe at the bottom with pink flowers coming up from it.
- Ripped out the rhododendron. It was eating the side of the house. It was going to be more of a liability than an asset really quickly - it blocked the front window so anyone could break in and not be seen; it was also going to start interfering with the porch roof pretty soon. It's out and we've got a big scar in the front yard, but we'll be taking care of that in the spring when we get started on our landscaping projects.
- Took down/out various crap, such as the iron, horse-shaped sign on the back deck that read "Mrs. M's porch," and all sorts of hangers, shelves, etc.
- New appliances! We dropped a ton at Lowe's one day - new fridge, stove, washer/dryer. The fridge was delivered the next day. The rest came a week later because the gas dryer needed to be special ordered and we figured we'd just have them deliver everything else at once. A couple of weeks after the fridge arrived, we hooked up the ice maker using the water line in the kitchen that the M's used for their washing machine.
Our plan with the washer/dryer was to get a stacking unit and move them to the mudroom at the back of the house (off the kitchen), where the M's had their dryer. We had originally intended that ~D would do this, until he called the plumbing department to ask if a permit was necessary, thereby announcing our intentions, and, because of MA law, requiring that we contract a plumber to do it.
The plumber we went with is fantastic. He's a great guy. He came in and hooked up our new stove (which also required a permit) while he was in town on another job, and looked at what we wanted to do with the washer. $1000 and a couple weeks later, the morning of our annual holiday party/gift swap, we had a washer/dryer. I've never been so excited to do laundry in my life. No more laundromats!
- A new sanitary line. While the plumber was connecting the washer/dryer, ~D was off with ~J doing some shopping. The plumber came upstairs, saying "uh, Lisa, can you come down here?" Not words you want to hear from your plumber. So down to the basement I went, to see our main sanitary line spraying all over the floor, while the plumber and his assistant are trying to get a bucket under it. Fortunately it was just shower water at that point. The old line was cast iron, which corrodes over time. While they were disconnecting the old washer drain, they knocked a bit of the corrosion off, opening a hole. I was able to stop most of the leak with electrical tape - they had tried duct tape, but I watched Mythbusters and know that duct tape won't save a sinking boat because as soon as it gets wet, the adhesive hardens and won't stick. We knew this was something that would need doing, but had hoped we'd have a little bit of time before having to. We got the proposal just after Christmas, and it was replaced a week and a half ago.
- A new water heater. There was all sorts of trial and error for getting a hot shower with sufficient water pressure. We figured it out, and then the gas company suggested a new heater because it was 12+ years old (the old one was and the new one is leased). So there is a new, more efficient, hot water heater.
- Speakers wired into the walls. No more stringing cable with cable ties all around our living room! It took a couple of hours, but we have our surround sound wired without any visible wires. So nice.
- Roof work. We have a slate roof. While generally solid, it was clear to us and our inspector that we needed a slate guy to come check it out. So we did. Slate guy found about 15 tiles and some flashing needing replacing. So we did it before winter set in. The M's slate guy suggested patching it with more tar. Sure, a smaller price tag, but we didn't want to be dealing with the later problems that that could lead to. So we had our guy do it right. We'll call him back in the spring to finish the washer hookup (the drain needs to be vented through the 3-season porch roof which is slate) and have him check for any winter damage. We plan on seeing him annually...
I'm sure there's other stuff we've done, but that's what we've finished so far...
On our side was the fact that the seller, Mrs. M, was a little OCD about drafts in the winter. They had the house insulated (cellulose blown into the walls) and some of the windows have been replaced. They put in a new gas furnace about 5 years ago. They've kept up with the landscaping, painted the walls before selling the house, and even did somewhat of a bathroom remodel. While we don't agree with their aesthetic choices (they clearly like the country look), they obviously cared about how the house looked.
So what have we done so far?
- Changed the locks and doorknobs. The old ones wouldn't keep a chipmunk out if it pushed hard enough. Mr. M clearly had an unhealthy obsession with wood putty and coated half of the jamb side in the stuff so that the latch wouldn't. I cleaned it out, put in a new strike plate (there hadn't been one at all) and we put in a new deadbolt, as we weren't given the keys for the existing one. It took a lot longer than it should have on account of having to drill, clean, and line everything up right, but we secured our home in the first weekend.
- Painted. The master bedroom was baby blue with a blueish-silver area carpet. It is now a medium-ish taupe (kept the trim white), with the same carpet, but it goes very well with our silvery-teal bedspread. We have also painted our big shelving unit to match.
~J's room was originally off-white. It is now a sweet light pink with random green stripes. We added a small coordinating green shag area rug (about the size of a bath mat) and a shelving/cube unit for her toys and books. Her new bedspread has a green stripe at the bottom with pink flowers coming up from it.
- Ripped out the rhododendron. It was eating the side of the house. It was going to be more of a liability than an asset really quickly - it blocked the front window so anyone could break in and not be seen; it was also going to start interfering with the porch roof pretty soon. It's out and we've got a big scar in the front yard, but we'll be taking care of that in the spring when we get started on our landscaping projects.
- Took down/out various crap, such as the iron, horse-shaped sign on the back deck that read "Mrs. M's porch," and all sorts of hangers, shelves, etc.
- New appliances! We dropped a ton at Lowe's one day - new fridge, stove, washer/dryer. The fridge was delivered the next day. The rest came a week later because the gas dryer needed to be special ordered and we figured we'd just have them deliver everything else at once. A couple of weeks after the fridge arrived, we hooked up the ice maker using the water line in the kitchen that the M's used for their washing machine.
Our plan with the washer/dryer was to get a stacking unit and move them to the mudroom at the back of the house (off the kitchen), where the M's had their dryer. We had originally intended that ~D would do this, until he called the plumbing department to ask if a permit was necessary, thereby announcing our intentions, and, because of MA law, requiring that we contract a plumber to do it.
The plumber we went with is fantastic. He's a great guy. He came in and hooked up our new stove (which also required a permit) while he was in town on another job, and looked at what we wanted to do with the washer. $1000 and a couple weeks later, the morning of our annual holiday party/gift swap, we had a washer/dryer. I've never been so excited to do laundry in my life. No more laundromats!
- A new sanitary line. While the plumber was connecting the washer/dryer, ~D was off with ~J doing some shopping. The plumber came upstairs, saying "uh, Lisa, can you come down here?" Not words you want to hear from your plumber. So down to the basement I went, to see our main sanitary line spraying all over the floor, while the plumber and his assistant are trying to get a bucket under it. Fortunately it was just shower water at that point. The old line was cast iron, which corrodes over time. While they were disconnecting the old washer drain, they knocked a bit of the corrosion off, opening a hole. I was able to stop most of the leak with electrical tape - they had tried duct tape, but I watched Mythbusters and know that duct tape won't save a sinking boat because as soon as it gets wet, the adhesive hardens and won't stick. We knew this was something that would need doing, but had hoped we'd have a little bit of time before having to. We got the proposal just after Christmas, and it was replaced a week and a half ago.
- A new water heater. There was all sorts of trial and error for getting a hot shower with sufficient water pressure. We figured it out, and then the gas company suggested a new heater because it was 12+ years old (the old one was and the new one is leased). So there is a new, more efficient, hot water heater.
- Speakers wired into the walls. No more stringing cable with cable ties all around our living room! It took a couple of hours, but we have our surround sound wired without any visible wires. So nice.
- Roof work. We have a slate roof. While generally solid, it was clear to us and our inspector that we needed a slate guy to come check it out. So we did. Slate guy found about 15 tiles and some flashing needing replacing. So we did it before winter set in. The M's slate guy suggested patching it with more tar. Sure, a smaller price tag, but we didn't want to be dealing with the later problems that that could lead to. So we had our guy do it right. We'll call him back in the spring to finish the washer hookup (the drain needs to be vented through the 3-season porch roof which is slate) and have him check for any winter damage. We plan on seeing him annually...
I'm sure there's other stuff we've done, but that's what we've finished so far...
What am I doing here?
Anyone who knows me will be extremely confused as to why *I* have started a blog. I've always avoided any form of "social networking" like the plague, as I've personally seen too much drama stem from it, blogs especially.
So why do I have one now? It's an easy way to share, mainly with friends and family, the progress that ~D and I are making on our "new" house. With pictures, even. It's also searchable so anyone can find it if they're having similar issues and are wondering how others have worked around it, or need to know that they're probably not alone in the frustrations that owning an older house can cause.
This is our first house, which comes with a learning curve. While I imagine a good number of my future entries may have some complaining, ~D and I are very happy with our house. It just has some quirks.
So why do I have one now? It's an easy way to share, mainly with friends and family, the progress that ~D and I are making on our "new" house. With pictures, even. It's also searchable so anyone can find it if they're having similar issues and are wondering how others have worked around it, or need to know that they're probably not alone in the frustrations that owning an older house can cause.
This is our first house, which comes with a learning curve. While I imagine a good number of my future entries may have some complaining, ~D and I are very happy with our house. It just has some quirks.
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