A Little Bit of Progress

You know how sometimes you go to blogs or turn on the TV and you see a gorgeous and completely finished before and after? Yeah. That’s not what this is. This is the chaos in the middle…

Where the old, and apparently purple, trim is still showing through the white paint:

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Where the ceiling isn’t cut in (or even completely patched):

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Where I haven’t even started priming the trim on those thousand foot tall windows:

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It’s not a lot of progress but you won’t hear me complaining about the slow but steady exorcism of pink from this house.

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I predict that there will be at least a few more days where I show up to work with caulk in my hair before this job is done, but hey, that’s normal. After a couple of false starts with paint color I went with Benjamin Moore’s November Rain on the walls and just your standard white paint on the trim. Well, at the moment it’s ultra-white paint but I think I’m going to tone it down a bit for the final coat.

There are also 15 holes in the ceiling of this room (improper radiator winterization rears it’s ugly head) that are in various states of being patched. Something that would normally be smart to do before you start painting the walls, but I gave myself leave to do things out-of-order on this room, because you know what? Sometimes it just feels good to paint something.

In other rather-unimpressive-but-still-feels good progress, I finally managed to locate both the envelops and the stamps and decided to celebrate that milestone in the unpacking and bill-paying process by doing a little dance and then dragging my old farmhouse table into the kitchen to set up a temporary work space.

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At first I was all, “Really? There are fifteen rooms in the house and the only one you live in is the kitchen?” But I just can’t tear myself away from this view…

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And really… why should I have to?

Now that I’ve got a sink that drains, a boiler that (cross-my-fingers) isn’t locking out every five minutes, and two solid weeks to get my feet back under me, I’m hoping that progress will start to look more impressive.

14 Responses

  1. Looks like a fine office space to me. And really, the kitchen is the place to be. Rest assured that while paying bills, you are but a somersault away from ice-cold beer.

    It’s been fun watching this property transform from jump street. Looking forward to seeing more.

  2. What was the fix for the sink? Last post left it at “hiring a professional”. This post says it drains.

    1. That was exactly it! I called called a plumber to come and snake the pipe from the house to the septic tank yesterday. The funny thing is I’d been out of town a few days last week so I hadn’t tested to see if the drain was backing up as usual and when the guy came we ran all the taps and the washing machine and everything drained beautifully. So basically I intimidated it clear.

  3. Country folks always plop in the kitchen. Typically, it is the room that is kept above 55 degrees. Lovely tree.

  4. Progress is progress. ‘Cuz really, what’s the hurry right? Functional office, functional kitchen; everything else will be finished when it’s finished. It’s the journey of the process after all that you’re enjoying.

  5. cliche, but regarding the “before and after”, I actually only enjoy the middle 🙂

    loooooove the baseboard & chair trim, it’s insaaaaaane!

  6. Thanks for the bay window shot of the pine tongue and groove (?)horizontal paneling…not sure I ever saw that end of the kitchen….and that view makes paying bills tolerable. Looking at the glass block…a nice french door would work there…keep the light and access to that amazing porch.
    It is great to live vicariously through your blog as I am 850 miles from my house in a rental just to find work and haven’t been home in 2 years. Heading into the happy work of the house late May so I am watching your progress with interest. Next step is a heat source as cutting wood is getting too difficult and keeping the housesitter alive in winter is essential. LOL

  7. I personally kind of hate just getting the after picture. It’s hard to really appreciate the after when it seems too magical, as if 25 nimble elves came in the middle of the night and toiled away free of charge just just for the satisfaction of seeing the bathroom, vintage chair or whatever live up to its full potential.

  8. It’s your house, you can put your desk wherever you darn well please! I don’t blame you for wanting to sit right there–what a lovely view.

  9. A kitchen work space is a great idea. That nook looks like the perfect place too. My guess is that it would be hard to find a piece of truly “kitchen” furniture to fit it.

    This Old House did a whole gallery on it: http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/photos/0,,1611513,00.html. Perhaps a project when all your painting is done!

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