Today marks the 9th day we’ve been at the house working. Here’s what we’ve accomplished so far….
CARPET: Pulled out the carpet, screwed down the squeaky spots, and the rooms have all been prepped for new carpet. A Stainmaster carpet has been chosen, an estimate received, now we just need to order it. We’re going to wait until we are a little farther along in our progress first.
PAINT: We went with the Miller Premium Satin in “Felt”. I know the owner had painted her bedroom “Filbert” color, and it looked like the halls and entry and living room were also that color- plus I found a couple partially used gallons of Miller Paint Devine “Filbert” in the garage…. so we went ahead and bought a 5 gallon bucket so we could do the whole house. The Devine line has been discontinued and all the color names changed….so now it’s Evolution “Felt”. Either we were mis-tinted, or “Filbert” wasn’t the main color she used in the house (I think THAT is the case). The “Felt” is slightly darker (oopsie!) so every wall had to get two coats of paint since we were changing colors! We painted EVERY room that color: the entry, living room, hallway, bedrooms, master bathroom and the bonus room. The dining room is red, along with a couple accent walls in the living room- those have both been repainted. The main bathroom doesn’t need to be painted (it was recently done). (Side note- I was worried the “Felt” was too dark for the main living space….but some neighbors walked through though and commented that they love the new color- they could see the old color on one of the walls and said the new color looks really rich and luxurious. Whew!)
Still need to paint: the kitchen (cabinets need to cure, and I haven’t decided on the wall color yet), and the master bedroom (pending some wall repair first). All three bedrooms are in the midst of getting the closet insides painted and the closet door jambs painted white. The walls are finished, but we need to paint the trim and rehang the chair rail. You can see a bit of chair rail in the corner of this room:
KITCHEN: Well, the cabinet boxes are done. We might add trim to the sides where they join the wall, for now it’s caulked for a seamless look. I’m still working on painting the backsides of all the cabinet doors. Everything will need to cure for 5 days before I can go in and tape the cabinet boxes to start working on the walls or backsplash. And I can’t flip over the cabinet doors to do the front sides until the backs have cured….so kind of in an holding pattern there for a bit. I want to do this right! We still need to cut the shaker pieces to trim out each cabinet/drawer.
We also need to determine how we want to address the soffet issue- they need to either be retextured or covered up with a smooth surface that matches the cabinets (right now they are just a little wonky with their texturing).
We had planned on doing the mosaic tile backsplash (see bathroom detail below), but have decided going with a tin backsplash will be so much easier (remember, it’s temporary- eventually whatever backsplash we put up will have to be taken down when the counter issue is addressed). There’s only one stainless steel appliance, so I think the metal backsplash will be a nice tie-in to the rest of the kitchen.
FIREPLACE: We took down the shelf that was mounted to the bricks, and filled in the holes that were drilled for their TV mount and painted over that area. We really should have requested that the wall mount be kept with the house, because the likelihood of another wall mount fitting to those exact same holes was slim. Not wanting to invite renters to drill holes, we decided to cover it all up and paint over it, and take down the shelf so they don’t get any ideas!
BEFORE:
NOW: (needs one more coat of paint)
WINDOWS: all need recaulking and the sills and trim need repainting. OH….and a side note…. one of their contractors used NON-paintable caulk around the windows! Aaaaaarrrrgggghhhh. This is what it looked like when we tried to paint it:
The paint wouldn’t stick, and we could see the old color! The caulk was on there so good- there was no way to peel it off. So I decided to try my trusty-ol’ BIN primer (which sticks to ANYTHING) and sure enough- it stuck to the caulk just fine!
After it dried (one hour- super fast!) I was able to go around and cut in again with the “felt” color. You’d never know there was a problem!
FLOOR TRIM / DOOR TRIM: ALL of it needs to be painted. That’s our agenda for next weekend.
DOORS: ALL the doors need to be painted with a sprayer. That’s also on our agenda for next weekend.
MAIN BATHROOM: I’d like to replace the linoleum, but I don’t think that’s in the budget (or timeline) for now. The only upgrade we are making is to the backsplash.
BEFORE:
THE PLAN: use the mosaic tile we bought for the kitchen (but aren’t going to use anymore) and fancy up this bathroom with a more modern backsplash! The formica counter is in great shape and a great color/pattern.
MASTER BATHROOM: It has been painted. It still needs floor trim and the cabinet fronts cleaned up and repainted. We plan to replace the light fixture (need to go shopping!). Today I sprayed all the towel bars with Oil Rubbed Bronze to tie in with the darker wood window sill and modern tile- to make it look even more luxurious when it’s all done.
Both bathrooms will get new mirrors- something a little fancier than your standard flat giant square/rectangle mirror. Need to shop for those still.
Jim has also been working on fixing a few plumbing things (when the house was re-piped years ago, the old water pipes for the toilets were left in the walls (you know- the knobs and hoses)…so he pulled those out and patched the walls. He’s also been working on identifying outlets to breakers and making sure the outlets are all wired properly.
We’re keeping busy. We put in another 24 hours each this weekend….. making my total 73 hours in 9 days!
Elisa's Ramblings 
Looking great! Good job. :-