Ho Finito

As in I am finished with the floors and I am personally finished/worn out...at least for the day.  I do have just a couple little things to do tomorrow but I am done with the powernailer and compressor and that goes back to Home Depot tomorrow AM.  I thought about  bringing it back tonight but then thought  better of it---I'm so tired and sore that I am not really sure that I could carry the compressor down the stairs tonight without a major mishap.

So here are some photos--I'll put the room back together this weekend (I must spend the next couple days focusing on my job search again!)--and then post some finished product photos but at least this shows what I've been whining about.

BTW, it's a lovely warm evening in KC.  The crickets and cicadas are making a racket and I think it is a little strange that for a person who really hates bugs, I really like the sound crickets and cicadas.  Attila and I are hanging out in the back yard and Attila seems mad at me--I think he thinks that I control the heat.  He keeps coming over to me to yell at me about how uncomfortable he is.

Sorry about the sideways photos--they are saved right way up on my computer but when I upload them to Blogger they show up sideways and I cannot seem to fix it.

The first is the view from the laundry room through through the closet to the Master BR, the 2nd is Ian's half of the closet, the 3rd is the MBR, the 4th is my half of the closet, and the 5th is the view from the MBR through the closet to the laundry room.

Everything Hurts

After yesterday's nine hours of installing the new hardwood floors in the master bedroom and walk-in closet, everything hurts.  My fingers, hands, wrists, shoulders, legs, and mostly, my back.  The sad thing is that I'm not done.  Despite my previous work on the sub-floor, I still needed to do more yesterday which took a lot of time and then all the detailed cuts around the door jambs conspired against my timeline.

Thankfully, it looks FANTASTIC so far which is the only thing that motivates me to continue despite my weariness.  Have you ever noticed that one's enthusiasm for a project is never enough to make it all the way through?  There is always that point when one surveys the project and thinks, "I am no longer excited about this, I don't care--I just want it over."

The palm of my hand is bruised from the kick of the pneumatic powerstapler.

I'll post pictures when I'm done later today.

Move in Ready. Yeah...right.

 My master bedroom. Looks lovely, no?  Note the beaten up paint- and plaster-spackled 100 year old floors with the black-tar-glued floor.  What did they have there?  Linoleum?  Did they every glue carpet down? I ask because there were tufts of BRIGHT red carpet stuck to the edges of the black and it makes one wonder...

Note Bodicea-the-Cat (A.K.A Boda-Baby, A.K.A Poopie 2) sleeping on the bed.  She didn't budge or flinch in the hours that it took me to pull up the carpet, the pad, the carpet tack strips, and the pad staples.  That cat's ability to sleep is unsurpassed.

Now...in the interest of full disclosure, I must admit that my supposedly "move in ready" house was not in this condition when we bought it.  I sought out this mess.  When we moved in the walls were sort of a Tuscan yellow and the floors were covered with a dirty, beige, builder grade crap carpet.

Unfortunately, I do not like goldy yellow (I don't really like warm toned colors at all) and I really hate dirty, beighe builder grade crap carpet. My first step was painting the walls "Reticence" beige/taupe and "Turkish Coffee" dark, dark brown (colors from Sherwin-Williams), and the next step is installing a refinished hardwood floor in pecan (dark brown).

I'm also working on the walk-in closet...here's the before:

Today I took the shelves out in preparation for installing the new floor--they will go back in later--and I painted everything the same "Reticence"color as the bedroom:

 Monday is the big day when I install the new floors!!

Before then, tomorrow, I am painting the stairway and upper floor landing.

OK...right now I need to go put all the clothes back which are currently piled up on the guest bed.  Since I don't really have a master bedroom for a couple days, I'm sleeping in the lovely guest room but...not until I put those clothes away...