Invest in area rugs

Last you left off, we were slowly making progress on the floors in our house. That process is still... slowly.. progressing...

Over the weekend we had a mom party at the house and everyone came prepped to paint the walls. Instead of actually being able to paint the walls, though, we were left to sand them (because this is still not completed - when will it end? The horror!). Then we vacuumed. Then we sanded. Then we vacuumed.

By the end of the "Painting weekend", we had accomplished the following:
1. Primer on the dining room walls
2. Primer on the dining room ceiling
3. Ceiling paint on the dining room ceiling.
4. Kitchen ceiling painted
5. Kitchen painted (an actual color, or, at least "neutral" is a color for James and I)
6. Living room finished with primer
7. Hallway half primed

Oh... and we also attempted to paint the ceilings in the upstairs bedrooms. Ugh. HGTV Should've-seen-it-coming Upset #2. (I think #1 was the beer chute?). The ceilings bubbled and peeled and look like they should really go to the doctor and get that siti'ation all checked out. We're still pondering on how to get that all worked out.

We also started on sanding the floors. Here is where I am going to impart on you a lesson. Hear Ye, Hear Ye: Do not use an orbital sander on your 80 year old wood floors! They are DENSE and it will lead to an entire 13 hour day of disappointment. Fortunately, we were able to return the sander to Home Depot, and they rented us a Drum Sander instead. Boom. Done. Everything you spend the entire day before orbital sanding - finished in about 2 hours. Now you know. And you are welcome.

The only problem with the drum sander is that it cannot reach the edges. This means you need to go back around each room with a hand sander. These do a decent job, it is time consuming, but... as you will soon find out... may not be the best option.

We actually were able to put a first coat of stain on the kitchen and dining room floors and they are currently drying with their first or second coats of polyurethane. So far so good, right?! Nope.

Upstairs, the hardwood floors are a little bit different from the first floor. Not really sure why or how. Regardless, the sander took to them a bit differently. There are some deep gouges from where previous homeowners had carpeting removed (beautiful room-length slices in the middle of the floors). There is also a drastic ring around each room upstairs from the hand sander.

James is a little particular. I would like to think of this as a compliment - seeing as we have been dating for so long. Whenever we ran into a small gash in the floors or darker spot "We'll just throw a rug over it". A rough spot on the walls, or lumpy plaster? "I think that's a great spot for a picture!". But upstairs... I don't think they make the kinds of rugs we would need to cover this up.

These are examples of the "good" floors. No pros needed here!

So today and Monday we have *gasp!* a professional coming in to clean up our mess. This means the floors will be finished by Tuesday, though, and that means we can start on installing a bathroom! Finally! Oh, and maybe get a furnace?

Kitchen cabinets will be installed on Sunday (we hope) and the appliances are going to be put into place, as well. Once this is finished the kitchen will be DONE. Mostly. It will probably realistically be finished when the sink we ordered arrives, the counters are measured, cut, and installed, and we pick out some knobs and pulls.

So, the bottom line is - when you come over to the house and think to yourself, "Self, isn't that an odd place for a picture..." You best keep those thoughts to yourself or you can stay in the one part of the house we didn't have to renovate - the garage.