As mentioned previously, I took last week off so we could spend as much time as possible at the house and get as much done as we possibly could. You saw up to Monday, June 28 in my last house post.

I took Tuesday off (and other than making calls to cancel services at the townhouse I did nothing but lay about the house). Wednesday, Dave had to teach, so I picked Mom up and together we gave the kitchen a good, deep cleaning.

• 

• 

We won’t be updating the kitchen any time soon, so I only have the real estate pics of it. But I wanted to illustrate the size of it. It’s a big kitchen, with A LOT of cupboards and drawers. And that’s one of the big pluses pf the house. But… EVERY.SINGLE.INCH of it was covered in nicotine. As soon any part of it got wet, it was just dripping in yellow. It took us almost four hours but we got it scrubbed to within an inch of its life.

I still have to line the cupboards, but at least the kitchen is now move-in ready.

Thursday, Friday and Saturday were a mix of tasks and crew.

Thursday it was Dad, Dave and I. The boys focused mostly on getting the livingroom and studio ready for new drywall. I had a dumpster delivered, so it was my job to get all the previous demolition mess off the sunporch (where we’d been storing it) and into the dumpster.

It was a glamorous job, as you can see! After that, I had another project on the sunporch, but I’ll save that for a separate post.

Friday, Mom and Dad joined us and we each focuses on our own tasks. Mom scrubbed the main floor bathroom.

It’s a big one too… and we are pretty sure the previous owner spent a lot of time smoking on the toilet in there. There are burns in the floor all around the toilet… an of all the rooms, this one was the absolute worst for nicotine staining. (That window glass isn’t really yellow)

Dave and Dad continued with their wall work, and I tackled the floor in the upper part of the livingroom.

• 

• 

We probably won’t get the floor here installed before we move in, but we wanted to get the nasty, stained, smelly old carpet out. And it wasn’t just one layer. The layer you can see was stapled it, but a good bit of muscle got it up. (It was so heavy I had to have the boys haul it to the dumpster). But under it, was more of the red carpet from the sunken part of the livingroom. It wasn’t hard to remove, but the black underpad was so old it was mostly disintegrating, making it a dusty, filthy job.

Saturday, it was back to just Dad, Dave and I,

Dad hung drywall, and now Dave’s studio is starting too look like a real room again.

And what a difference that drywall makes – the room is so much brighter now. Eventually, this room will be a lovely, light green – but we’ve got a ways to go before painting!

Dave and I got the rest of the carpet from the dining room.

• 

• 

And like the livingroom – it was two layers and filthy, dusty underpad.

And once that was finished, I remembered I still had to strip carpet off the stairs.

• 

• 

Because of the confined space, I had to get up close and personal to remove that underpad (with a scraper, and broom and dustpan). Like I said…

I’m all about the glamourous jobs!

I’m back to work this week, so we’re back to weekends only (though Dave and Dad may get out there during the week without me). I’m booking the truck for the weekend of the 24th. I don’t think we’ll get everything we wanted done before then (we hoped to have the sunken livingroom, and Dave’s studio floored and painted), but we’ll do as much as we can.

I’m hoping I can leave the rest of the interior to the boys so I can focus on the catio this weekend – I’ve got post holes to dig! (Like I said – GLAMOUR!)