Small Changes

Please excuse the terrible photo quality. I'll be borrowing my brother's camera for awhile to fix this problem!

Could that possibly be real paint? Why yes, yes it is! We haven't done much  painting, just a swatch on a couple of walls, but I am in LOVE with this color. We can't get the paint on the walls until we've painted the ceilings. And we can't paint the ceilings until we've removed all of the previous owner's belongings, which is not something we thought we were going to be responsible for and it's slowing down the process considerably. However, this weekend we did get some work done!

Yesterday we got tired of sorting and packing, so we worked around everything to get some more of our remodeling done! 

Here's the back door before we did anything to it. We will be replacing this door entirely, but we want to paint it to match the house for now so that it isn't an eyesore when nothing else is that color! We won't be replacing the doors for awhile because we have more pressing items to purchase first (new flooring for the kitchen and bathroom, new kitchen sink, complete remodel of bathroom, etc) so this will keep things looking nice until that time! So far we've only primed the door, but it should get its first coat of paint tomorrow.

Joey got to work on caulking some spaces that needed it. I really didn't think it'd make that much of a visual difference, but I was stunned when he finished!

Before

And voila! This wall is going to look amazing after we paint it. I can't wait!

After

Here's Joey hard at work...

The trim looks so much better now too. I took a before/after picture to show the difference! It looks so much better without that gap!

Before: Left, After: Right

While Joey was being super productive, I was also hard at work. I went to work painting trim and door frames here and there all over the house. I did some in the kitchen, some in the living room, all of the bathroom, and most of the hallway!

My high tech painting gadgets.

 
Here's your first look at the hallway (and mine too, that's the first time there has been a lamp so I could actually see it!). This picture was taken from the living room looking toward the bathroom. The first two doors are both closets and the farthest back doors are each bedrooms. This hallway is wired for light fixtures, but there isn't currently one in there, so I improvised with the lamp! The paint for this area will be that pretty blue!

That's all for now. We've made a time line for the rest of our progress for the next few weeks, because move-in is rapidly approaching! We move in 23 days on July 20th and have so much to do before then!

Leave me a comment, if you wouldn't mind! They make me happy! ;)
 

Memorial Day Weekend

Since the last time I've posted Joey has put a couple more coats of joint compound on the ceiling and the wall. The initial area of the wall he started on is now ready to be primed! It is finally nice and smooth and looks like a normal wall. I'll post a picture after it's been primed, but here he is finishing it up:

The ceiling still needs a coat or two, but it is getting close.

We did find another spot on the ceiling and one on the wall that also need fixed, so he put the first coat on those spots today. Here is what he did on the wall...

Step 1: Have a patch of wall that is damaged. Like so.

Step 2: Cover with fiber glass mesh tape.

Step 3: Apply joint compound. Repeat until smooth, allowing for 24 hours between coats.

Step 4, as I learned today, is to NOT stick your figure in the middle of the joint compound that your husband just finished smoothing out. Oops.

 I said the other day that Megan pulled a bunch of cabinets and drawers out and removed all the hardware. I really meant she pulled a ton off... seriously....

That is 6 drawers and around 8 or so doors. Megan is a rockstar.

One of the backs of the drawers was originally made out of a tomato carton. I think that this is awesome.

All of the drawers had liner in them. So, I pulled it out of all of them (to be replaced or painted later, or both until I make up my mind). I went ahead and primed the drawers today because Joey had time to sand most of the doors and drawers! I also primed the edges of all of the doors that were sanded today. Yay teamwork!

I also had time to get a bit more priming done on the walls in the kitchen. I started priming the trim as well. I left this board untouched for now, because Joey's height was marked on here when he was 7, 8, 9, and 10 years old. It's too cute to cover up until I've at least transferred it to paper. But, all of the other trim around this door is now primed and ready for paint!

I'll make a post soon about some of the treasures I found while going to garage sales and antique stores this weekend. I found some great stuff that will go great in the kitchen when it's finished! 

I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend!