I’ve Been Waiting Four Years to Cross This Off My List
You know those projects you begin and fully intend to complete in a “normal” time frame? And you know how “normal” can go from one week to multiple years? And you know how sometimes you complete a project and then two years later, as the project begins to fall apart, you realize you completed it wrong?
Well this weekend Joey and our friends Chris and Brad tackled those kinds of projects – one we had started years ago and never got around to finishing and another one that we thought we had finished years ago but our lack of know-how quickly undid for us.
Here’s what I’m talking about. Let’s begin with the project that once was done and then became undone…and is now done again.
See?
There was a steel door in the dining room that went to the garage. The very first project (and I mean the very, very first project) we ever did on this house was moving that door. Here’s my dad and Joey closing up the doorway.
Thank god they get along with each other.
Once it was insulated and covered in vapor barrier, we drywalled and mudded it.
And we did a horrible, horrible job. We had negative home remodeling skillz at this point and we used regular joint compound (with no tape) to fill gaps that were about 3-6 inches wide. Within two years, a large crack appeared all around the edges of the drywall, revealing exactly where the old door once stood.
Not long ago, we finally repaired the cracks. And just yesterday, the boys covered it with texture so it would match the rest of the walls.
While they were at it, they figured they’d do the same to the entryway between the dining room and old sitting room that we closed in over a year ago (we turned the sitting room into a mud room. That’s where the steel door to the garage and a half bath now sit).
We just have to paint the textured portions and we should be good to go! It feels great to get these tasks off our to-do list. Especially because I did not have to help with them – I was gone for most of the day baking cookies with my mom and sister and helping my grandma decorate her Christmas tree. Fa, la, la, la, la…La. La. La. La.
Now, in case you didn’t notice yourself, let me point out that there are a few scary things about the above photos.
1. We started these project 2-4 years ago and we’re just now finishing them. Talk about procrastination. Or home remodeling ADD where you get distracted by the millions of other things we need to do.
2. I actually chose to paint my dining room that awful shade of green. I love green, but I now realize that a shade like that doesn’t work in a small formal room. Or maybe any room.
But ya know what? The scariest part of the dining room was actually behind me as I took these pictures yesterday…
AHHHHHH! It’s a ton of crap and dirt and dust! Shield your eyes! Look away from your monitor! Do no let that image be burned into your brain!
That is what my dining room currently looks like. And in most of the photos I show you, I’ve skillful manipulated my body and camera to keep an ugly mess out of the shot. Living in your house while remodeling the entire thing tends to make it difficult to have any clean and tidy spaces.
I am SO feeling your pain on this one. (You no doubt saw where I was calling in the Red Cross at This D*mn House?)
I’m thinking my guests on the 27th aren’t going to want to leapfrog through the livingroom and diningroom during their visit. Even though one of them IS 10 … nope, still can’t see it!
Good for you. Isn’t that just the best feeling?! Oh, and I think it’ worth pointing out that you’ve given us yet another shot where Joey is NOT looking at the camera. I’m just sayin’ …
I was going to say my living room is worse than that, but I think we’re actually tied 🙂
Good luck on getting everything in order for the party:-)
This post makes me feel a little better about all of my unfinished projects from 2 years ago. I often wonder what people think when they come over to my house. I’m so used to living in a house that has no doors on the kitchen cupboards, unfinished walls in the dining room, no trim around the door in the bathroom… I could go on forever!
As time goes on, I get used to seeing my house as an incomplete mess so it doesn’t bother me but I can just imagine what people think when they see my house for the first time. No one has actually said it out loud (yet) but I imagine they’re thinking “You cook in this kitchen?!! Ewwww!”
I LOVE to start projects but I have a serious disability when it comes to actually finishing them.
NV, Karen Ann and Kelly – I’m so glad I’m not the only one drowning in projects and clutter! Here’s to us and the hope that we will one day get it all done!
NV – I love the visual of “guests leap frogging from the living room to the dining room.” You never know…serve enough liquor and you could have some serious frogs on your hands!
Kelly – I so know what you mean! If only all those people could work a month in our shoes, they’d understand why remodeling is a slow-going process. Finishing is truly the hardest part.
Susie – thank you for your well wishes! I’m keeping my fingers crossed!