Happy new year, folks. As you can see, Xavier was grooving on the snow. He spontaneously decided to make a snow angel in the Serpico House yard. The kid knows something.
So, we got some more work done.
Some of you may remember the dining room paint project: burgundy red above the chair rail, toasted white (satin finish) on the wall below the rail and toasted white (semi-gloss) on all of the trim.
When we first looked at the place, the dining room looked like this...
Shades of beige. Carpet.As of our departure last night, we had this...
Please to be excusing my not-so-wonderful photography (and the painting tape.) The colors are not quite as blotchy in person. Promise. The burgundy part, admittedly, does still need touching up, but it's close... I think one more coat will do it. Of course, I said the same thing before the last coat went up. Still, I find this to be a big improvement. Looks fresher with the new paint. Duh. New paint=fresher.
We want to add crown molding. This room should be a good place to try it... after all, it's a square. No outside corners. Just inside ones. That should be easier. Can we use a regular miter saw for that, or do we need a compound miter saw? I hope we can do it with the former. I don't really think my little neanderthal brain can work with multiple angles and a sharp cutting implement at the same time.. blood will almost certainly be spilled. Mine.
Also, we managed to get the office finished. It's gray.
I specifically angled the camera to avoid showing the funky little table in the middle of the room. This room also offered my first insight into the wiring of this house... it's not going to be fun to re-wire this place. There was a "mystery panel" on the wall about three feet below the light switch for the ceiling fixture. It looked like a regular outlet box, except there was no outlet on it... just a metal harness for a light switch over the exposed braided (!) wire to keep you from getting shocked when walking past. I hit the local Tru Valu hardware store and bought a blank cover for this slightly frightening outlet. I kind of shuddered after I finished putting the last screw into the cover plate thing. Yikes. Braided wire. Where's the "ground"on that? Where's the positive? Where's the negative? Shit. Where's anything? I don't think it's gonna be fun to put up new light fixtures. Just a prediction. I foresee a lot of DIY electrician YouTube videos in my future. And, possibly, spending money to get an electrician to get shocked in my stead.
Oh yeah, check this out... we bought too much gray paint. Turns out we only needed one can to do two coats on the office. Actually, it took less than one can. Live and learn, right? So, we had this extra can of gray paint. Well, since we had that gray paint, we decided it made sense to put it to use. We hooked up Small Bear's room...
Yeah, it's gray like the office, but the walls are nice and clean now. We're considering adding a light blue band around the middle of the room, but, honestly, the gray is kind of mellow. I think it'll look really good once we have all of Xavier's stuff in there. We're also planning to add a brightly colored, interlocking floor mat thingy... like this one...
With that on the floor (along with various cars, trains, stuffed bears and whatnot), his dark wood bed set and perhaps a few Yo Gabba Gabba posters on the walls, I think Xavier's room will be pretty sweet... but definitely gray.
Having said this much, I'm not sure we dare paint the non-tiled portion of our upstairs bathroom gray as well. That's probably too much gray, right?
Anyway, at least we can sort of see the light at the end of the paint tunnel. I mean, sure, we still have to do the bathroom... and our room... and finish the hallways... and install quarter-round everywhere. And... move our furniture into the place. And clear out all of the garbage from the carpet removal from the garage... and change the lighting in the dining room... and get a new light/ceiling fan for Xavier's room... and figure out what to do about the non-functional 1950s thermostat in our bedroom with the extra switch that apparently does nothing... and um... you know... just a few other things. Sheesh.
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