oh, did i mention?

We have color.


We did something that we both thought we'd never do, and actually paid somebody to paint. A friend of our drywaller gave us a ridiculously good price to bring in his paint sprayer and spray all of the public areas (dining room, office, living room, stairwell, landing, and all the ceilings thereof) with primer and then roll on paint. Since the dining room, living room, stairwell, and upstairs landing all flow into each other with no breaks, we elected to paint them all the same color, and were able to take advantage of the deal.

We'll paint everything else ourselves, but I can tell you straight up that it was worth EVERY PENNY to have somebody else paint the two-story stairwell, which involved precariously balancing on a plank stretched from a ladder to the top of the stairs. Not my thing.

End result? It looks great, and has saved us a ton of time. Even better, we were able to get this huge amount of space painted before the hardwood floors are in, which makes everything easier. I plan on painting the last of the downstairs spaces - the office - this weekend. It's closed off from the open area, so it'll be a different color, which is why it wasn't included in the deal. It is primed and the ceiling has been finished, though, so it won't take much work.

PS - If you're wondering, the color we chose is Behr's Pecan Sandie, in eggshell. I'm very happy with it - it looks even better in person than it does in pictures, and picks up the natural sunlight we get an abundance of very nicely.

not managerial material

Here's something I didn't think I'd be saying several months ago: I'll be really glad to get back to doing things ourselves.

Really. After the months (years) of DIY work to do the demolition, the subfloors, and the framing (et al), I was more than ready to have some contractors come in and work. But last night I handed the drywaller the last two hundred dollars of his fee and waved him out the door with sheer glee. I'm so tired of dealing with other people! Scheduling them, supervising them, PAYING them, dealing with fallout when they don't show up, pointing out their mistakes, getting them to FIX their mistakes, getting them to show up at all... I'm so over it.

We have just one more contractor to decide on and deal with: hardwood flooring. We have two estimates in, and two to go - last week's snowstorm derailed us a bit, with two appointments rescheduled and us stuck at home for a full week. Fortunately - and I don't mind a bit of a plug here - we live in Baltimore County, not the city, and our snow removal was beyond excellent. Our street was plowed early on for both snowstorms - the only thing stopping us from getting out was our own effort in shoveling the driveway. And the taxes are lower in the county, too. I'm just saying.

Anyway, we've got appointments today and tomorrow with hardwood flooring estimators, and we're hoping to make a decision over the weekend and get started as soon as possible. Once the flooring's in, we'll finally be able to live in most of the house again, which will be a new and different thing. There's a comfy couch sitting in a box in my in-laws' basement, waiting for me to take it out and sit on it. I'm very excited by the prospect.

downstairs drywall

After many snafus, most of which have been documented in hysterical detail on my Twitter feed, the downstairs drywall is done. Here, have some pictures.

Standing at the foot of the stairs, looking into the living room and dining room:


What's making that weird circle of sunlight on the floor, you ask? Why, it's the awesome round window we installed in the stairwell! (Which, I might add, the drywallers did a really good job dealing with - it was definitely a challenge the way the window people installed it.)


In the corner of the living room (opposite where I stood to take the first picture), looking at the dining room and the doorway into the office, as well as a glimpse of the stairs. See that corner under the stairs? Don's parents' standing piano is going there, as soon as we get moved in. I'm excited about it (so are they - they want it out of their dining room).


Today we've got somebody here spraying primer downstairs. I've got appointments with three flooring companies, and will be making two more. Moving forward!