First step

Well, I got the walls painted. I like yellow, but was tired of it in the living room. I picked Navajo White. The yellow paint had been a higher gloss than normal for a living room so it was a pain to cover it; it seemed like the new paint just slid around on top of it. But, I've got it as good as I plan to. Next step is to paint the woodwork, but I'm just not ready for that yet.

A couple of pictures.

In which Annie helps with the living room renovation

Last weekend we ripped up the carpet from the living room and the area that used to be a front porch. This is what it looked like before we moved in.



The day we moved it rained. That off-white carpet started getting filthy that day and we never seemed to be able to get clean again. The previous owners had also had a cat. Ichabod's extremely allergic to cats. No matter how many times we cleaned the carpet it never seemed to completely come out.

That's why the ripping and tearing of carpet and pad last weekend. I kept busy, off and on, over the past week pulling up the staples that were still in the floor from the pad. I'm not used to physical work at all, but it felt rewarding to have it done.

We were very happy to see oak floor in the living room part.




Unfortunately, whoever planned to carpet figured there was no use in having a drop cloth while painting the ceiling, so there's paint all over. And we're not sure what the front porch area had before they made it part of the living room. But now it's particle board, including a rectangular patch in the living room where the door probably was.





I'm thinking about just getting that rectangle patched with more oak, then having the front porch area carpeted. Seems easiest and cheapest. Should look fine, too. So, since the flooring is all going to be changed I figured it was time to paint the living room. This is the only room on the main floor that we haven't painted. I don't mind yellow, but I'm thinking of something more like a creamy tan. It looks like I should repaint the baseboards, too, because they never finished them down to the floor. I know I'm going to like the outcome, but man, I'm just not much of a do-it-yourselfer. I'm more of a sit around and read, blog, tweet, and play at the garden type of person. But, it will be worth it.

Oh yeah, and while we're at it, we're going to strip the floor of the master bedroom and stain it the same color as the other bedroom. What have I gotten myself into???

But, Annie came this weekend to do some consulting on the work for us. Can you see the doubt in her eyes that we'll be able to do all this?


She also supervised Ichabod making Seven Layer Salad for the Mother's Day get-together at his folks'.





Here's Annie trying to figure out what to do with a large green olive that Ichabod gave her.


We'll be leaving in about a half hour to take Annie home and have burgers on the grill. Hope all y'all have a great Mother's Day!