poplar road

Thursday, November 11th, the office and family room/dining room area were stripped down (and the smell is gone!). One beam of the windowboxes which adorn the front and side of the house was rotten, so before he could do much else Richard had to cut out the rot and patch the wall. The old drywall came off with less mess than we expected, and I hauled it out to the heap in the yard in no time. Underneath, the insulation was thankfully free of mouse tunnels (unlike the basement).

The kitchen cabinets, before, during, and after priming. With the dirt and grime and evidence of both cats and mice in those cupboards, I shuddered at the thought of putting my dishes in them (much less sticking my face inside to see what I was painting), but after scrubbing, sanding, and priming, they're simply old-fashioned - clean now, and very sturdy. I look forward to painting the doors (a shade of green, we're thinking) and replacing the navy blue plastic knobs with stainless steel ones.

Yes, that's the photo Richard wanted me to post last night, and no, it was not a Winnie the Pooh moment, I was NOT stuck.

I haven't got very far in the bathroom as yet – it's the only (bearable) one and the necessity of using it keeps interrupting my painting schedule. It's a good thing it's so dry here: the paint dries fast, and moisture doesn't cling to the walls for long. With luck I can at least get the door and moldings done tomorrow night in time to dry before the next shower.

Yesterday, Richard finished all the wiring and cleaned up. Notice the new wall for my office. Tonight he made a hardware stop after work, got one wall filled with insulation and then helped me clean up my paintbrushes so we could watch part of a DVD together before he hit the hay. How wonderful to STOP for a while! (Then he went to sleep and I started resizing photos for the web…)

I finished priming the last, ugliest bottom corner cabinet and all the kitchen drawers tonight, but didn't get farther than that. Oh well, I'll have a four day weekend again to do more: there's a coat (or two) of white to put on the kitchen cabinets, bathroom trim, tile, and door, and still more priming to get the bathroom walls ready for colour. And I can't wait to do the bedroom (the spare room we're inhabiting at the moment, which only needs paint and window coverings to finish it off). Problem with that is we will have to sleep in the trailer, not a prospect either of us is looking forward to – it's getting far too cold out. And then, by the time the bedroom is done, Richard will be drywalling, and we'll have to make a tough decision: what colour to paint the kitchen walls, cabinet doors, and great room walls. The sooner we decide, the sooner I get to unpack the dozen or so boxes of kitchen stuff which are currently at the mercy of the mice. Ugh.

I've been here 10 days and am just beginning to feel like this place is our own. Can't wait to share it with all of you in person (but that will have to wait for the next project, the downstairs guest bedroom and bathroom). Hope you're enjoying our process (progress?).