The Home Renovation | Week F O U R

Wow... the end of week 4 already?
And we haven't moved in yet...

Bummer.

I really always hope I have some grand exciting progressive news to share with you.... but it's really just the same 'ole stuff.

It was a good week and a hard week all at the same time. We had some sad family news and had some extra things to accomplish during the week but still managed to get to the house and get some things done!

Wall Paper

Did you miss it? 
Were you wondering...

"Where, Oh Where could they possibly be with the wall paper?" 

Were you just pining away thinking...

"If ONLY she would tell me more about that cursed wall paper!"

You are in luck! The saga is NOT OVER yet! 

Like I said last week my goal has become to get everything off the walls and then take a step back and deal with whatever is left over. We are only maybe 1 work day away from all the paper being OFF THE WALLS!

That calls for some SERIOUS rejoicing!

I seriously could not have done the wall paper stripping process without my mother! She has faithfully come and ripped, peeled, steamed, scraped and bled into these walls! She single-handedly revealed the gorgeous pink dining room and hallway. 

Mom wanted to blend in with all that pink!

Take a moment to pray a prayer of thanksgiving over my mother. She is a saint. 

With every sticky, wet strip of paper that pink was looking more and more horrifying! EEK I can't wait to just paint over that stuff! The sad part about this pink is... that paper was glued on with about 5 tons of glue... which is currently glopped (is that a word?) all over the walls. 

But I'm not gonna think about it... because the goal is REMOVE THE PAPER. Gotta stay focused otherwise I'll go crazy. 

Or have an ugly cry session like Wednesday night. That's what happens when you think too much about what was behind that wall paper! The walls of this house have that "never enough" feeling to them. No matter what I do - scrape, sand, clean, soak, scrub it's never enough. They are never perfect they always seem to fall short. All the work that's gone into them... and they still aren't what they need to be. That, folks, was cry worthy... and quite defeating. But... I pulled myself together thanks to some serious words of encouragement from the husband and journeyed on! 

My dad, once again, was a sanding master! He spent all of Saturday sanding the horrendous master-bedroom walls until they were smooth! It was like a dance he had going on with that sander! :) 

My focus became the living room. 
This was God's gift to my wallpaper weary self. 
As I mentioned last week: this is the type of room that everyone thinks is thinking of when they offer you wall-paper advice. It worked just like everyone said it would. I was so thankful for something "normal" in the midst of a house of "What on earth is THAT!?"

So, after removing all the paper last week I spent a few days this week scraping glue from the walls. That room is just about finished. Smooth (enough) walls, a few spots to patch and we are ready for sanding, priming and... dare I say it? PAINTING! 

Holding my 10,000th glue-catcher rag... so.much.glue.

I will say though... wall paper glue is so gross. I had it in my hair, on my face, under my finger nails, on my clothes, in my shoes, 
E V E R Y W H E R E. 

Just stop it with the wall papering, people! Save the next homeowner the nightmare!! Mmmmm kay?

We are having that professional come in to take a looksy at the walls that have seen better days. He is gonna tell us if we need to just sand them, skim-coat, dry-wall, bulldoze, burn down or leave as is and admire for years to come. 

;) 

I cannot wait for the professional!!! 
Bring on the epidural! 

Greg got a lot done in the mechanicals dept. 

First up is the plumbing! We didn't have water in the house for a few days due to that little mishap the week before. But my dear husband and dear father-in-law spent a few late nights redoing all the piping, adding in a water filtration system and also hooking up the water heater. 

Let me introduce you to Greg. My dear husband is a perfectionist. He likes things to be organized, in order, and done RIGHT. He takes the time to make sure it is just the way he wants it even if it takes four times as long. Sometimes that trait is frustrating... specifically when it's things I don't care too much about. However, in terms of what he's working on for the house - I am so thankful for his perfectionism! :) Sometimes he even makes me feel a part of it by asking what I think of how it is... when the real reason he's asking if I like it is because he doesn't and he's hoping I won't either so he can change it to be more perfect.

An example of his orderliness and perfectionism can be seen all over our basement in the pipes for our water. Red and Blue. 

any guesses whyyyy?

Well... it's not JUST that we like America and choose to show our patriotism wherever possible... but also because it clearly indicates hot and cold water! 

Ingenious. He's so smart. And talented. And handsome. And funny. 

After the water was all set he and his dad moved on to the electrical. That is a HUGE project as we are changing everything in the whole house. He started however with the line that connects the power to the house outside. This was located on the side of the house in front of the garage door... however, Greg hated how the wires looked going up the entire side of the house and along the roof line... plus the wires dipped low in the back yard which to him was a safety issue. 

First thought: bury it in the backyard so it's out of the way and not an eye-sore. 

too expensive. 

Second thought: Move it and raise it so it's less ugly and out of the way in case we ever want to set up a volleyball net in our back yard. 

No idea why we would ever do that... but ya never know! Gotta be prepared for those impromptu backyard - volleyball championships. 

So He and his dad put in many more late nights and installed the power-line-thingy.
That's for sure the official term, right?

hashtag: thatswhyimdoingthewallpaper

So as we round out this emotional, busy, but yet productive week we look forward to week F I V E

Our hopes and goals?

• All wall paper removed and a plan in place for walls. 
• HVAC installation
• appliances get delivered. 
• baseboard removal
• finish bathroom tear-out

Much to my sadness we cannot even think about all that we need to do to in the kitchen until the bathroom is figured out. So I am excited to get that bathroom squared away and back together so we can start to tackle the kitchen. And also because I'd like to have a working toilet in the house again. That's been a challenge, let me tell ya! 

Thanks for following along on our journey! 
4 weeks down!