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Saturday, January 8, 2011

Reality.

Oh my, what a week it has been. I'm SO happy that I have a weekend off work ahead of me! I must say, I knew the house thing was going to be a lot of work, fun work!, but now that we are in the midst of everything...unpacking, painting, decorating, organizing...I can honestly say I did not realize the extent of the WORK it actually is. I wish someone would have warned me that every project was going to take about 10x longer than I expected. For example...

We made the decision to have our hardwood floors all shined up before moving in, in fact we waited a few extra days after the closing to have them done. They were really in pretty good shape, and just needed some shine, no.big.deal.

Only to move in and have that shine start bubbling and peeling off a few days after. Turns out that SHINE did not adhere to the floor properly. So now it all has to be removed, the floors sanded down, stained, and refinished. One room at a time, one day at a time. One messy day at a time. Oh my.

On the upside, they should look like brand new when they are done this time!

And our future TV room? Well, it was covered in wallpaper. Albeit a perfectly acceptable wallpaper in my book, with a linen like texture... unfortunately it was discolored and peeling in spots and needed to come down. We decided we'd like to paint the walls in there so we tore down the wallpaper. What did we find underneath? Wall paneling with caulking in between. In case you're not aware of what this means (because I certainly wasn't!)...it means you have to remove the paneling, put up some wall board, plaster over that, and then paint on top of that! Yikes.

So instead, that room will be re-wallpapered...which involves about three less steps...hopefully.

Tonight we went to our local Benjamin Moore shop to finally pick some paint colors. Most of the house is pretty neutral and will remain that way, but we wanted to add some color to our bedroom and the guest room, and hubs wanted to paint his office. Luckily, they had small cans of sample paint to test out the colors. So we sat in the store and debated over the slightest differences in the greens and blues for about an hour, and we walked out with six cans...two colors to try for each room.

Out of the six, we liked one. We hated the colors we had chosen for the office and our bedroom and decided we are sticking to neutrals. Because those little color swatches they have at the paint shop? They are deceiving! And the sample cans? They are expensive!

Oh the irony, and joys of home ownership!  I'm beginning to feel like this guy..
 I promise there is more to come! Stay tuned :)

14 comments:

C Mae said...

The money pit! I Just watched it last week on Netflix!!! Great movie good picture LOl

Natalie said...

It will all come together beautifully, I'm sure of it! Thanks for the update!

-Sam I Am- said...

Eek!! Best of luck with all that remodeling my dear. I can only imagine all that stress, but NO WORRIES! Once its done, you will feel SOOOO much better :)
Can't wait to see all the gorgeous results!

melissa said...

The joys of home ownership, right? :) Hope all the bumps in the road are behind you! I know exactly how you feel about those deceiving paint chips. We choose four colors to test for our great room and hated all of them on the wall. We were down to the wire with the painter so I chose a fifth color blindly - thank goodness it worked!

Can't wait to hear more about your new home!

Marian said...

Seriously, who knew paint could be so expensive. We've recently bought a place in November and have slowly been trying to make it into a home. I knew it would cost a pretty penny, but I never realized how expensive paint would be. Sigh...but its all worth it in the end:)

Emily {All You Need is Love} said...

It will ALL be worth it!! My hubs and I made our first home a big project for us too, so I feel your pain! I know it will be gorgeous, and exactly the way you want it in the end :) And it will be YOURS.

Jamie said...

I know it will look great once y'all are done! Can't wait to see pictures!

Megan said...

Yikes!! Tons of work, but it'll be worth it in the end!! Can't wait to see how it turns out!

Evie said...

oh dear, sounds daunting! maybe i am a little glad we have not started on a new place. i know it will be beautiful in the end! and how much more will you love and appreciate it after all that hard work! glad you have the weekend off too!

Fit With Flash said...

love that movie. hate home improvements. but once it's all done, you'll be so proud of your handywork. : ) just keep swimming, just keep swimming...

Jenni@Story of My Life said...

Oh girl. I feel ya. It will be sooo worth it in the end though. Do it right the first time, and you shouldn't ever have to do it again. Hang in there!

jessica lynn said...

oh my goodness! hang in there!

jillian :: cornflake dreams. said...

omg the money pit! i love love young tom hanks! but seriously girl dont worry it will all turn out okay and your house will be beeeautiful (and you will probably look back and cherish all the time you and the hubbs spent together getting everything finished). just keep pushing through and try doing things room by room if you can. good luck and have fun! xoxo jcd http://cornflakedreams.blogspot.com/

ali v. said...

awww honey! you are such a brave soul...I wouldn't know the first thing about staining and sanding and all that craziness. Just think about how wonderful everything will feel when it looks the way you wanted it...hang in there, pretty lady! it will all work out :) xoxo {av}