Stress Induced Improvement

It's been a crappy day. Wife's stressed. I'm stressed. All kinds of things going on that we can't do anything about right now.

So I decided to start a project days before we have people over. I stripped, nay, peeled by hand, the paint from our mantle. YOu see, there are stains on it, and it bubbles every time we use the fireplace! It would seem that the original finish was that of stained wood. The previous owners painted right over it. So when it gets hot, it just bubbles! Yes, it's been driving me nuts. So tonight, out of an overwhelming urge to fix SOMETHING, I peeled the mantle.

It'll be a quick fix. Some sanding, some primer, maybe some paint over top. Honestly, I think the primer alone will do. Who's going to notice the difference between the white of the mantle and the rest of the trim (besides the two loyal Blog readers...).

It'll be fixed by Sunday...I hope...I mean I promise! :-)

Progress...of sorts

We remain bad at blogging. Sorry. In addition to our house and job woes, we can add computer problems. My computer only works by hooking up an external monitor. Seems my backlight is burnt out. Lauren's computer works, but it's really slow. So we rarely use the laptops anymore.

However, I FINALLY uploaded some photos!

Quick recap;

February we had a blizzard. It looked like this:

 

After the snow stopped falling, our house looked like this:

  

 

So some guys came to dry out the house...and then it looked like this:

 


In June and July, we got a new roof, followed by a new floor in the majority of the downstairs:

 

Now we've got work going on in the bathroom and it's really starting to come together! I'd show you those pictures too, but now it's getting late. It's been a long process, but really all the damage has been a blessing as far as the house is concerned. It's really let us make some improvements that we'd wanted to do for a while but couldn't afford. Thank god for insurance!

I know you're on the edge of your seats to see the improvements to the bathroom...that's going to be a whole series though... the demo, the prep work, the before & after... Ok, fine. Here's a sneak peek:

More soon....I mean it this time!