House Update

We are SO close to having a finished home (which is good, considering the one-year anniversary of the flood is coming up in early June.) A whole year, and it all comes down to the final stretch. I have become the painter. Guess who "helped" me paint the ledge white? It was quite the fiasco, really. I had to grab Squash after she had already taken several steps in the paint, carry her by the scruff upstairs with her bright white paws, and leave her in the garage until she dried. Then yesterday, I gave the stair trim a fresh coat of paint so TJ can put a strip of trim down and then those will be complete (I didn't have plastic sheeting, but I had billions of Walmart bags so I improvised): I have also decided to paint the window frames white to match the rest of the downstairs trim. I was afraid it would be a horrible job, but each window is only taking one day to complete and there's only 4 in all, so not a big deal at all and it seems to make a BIG difference in the feel of the rooms. I never realized how satisfying it is to paint. The problem is I have to do it in increments, whenever Topher happens to be napping. So as soon as he falls asleep, I run downstairs and open the paint can and grab my brush and work until I hear him stirring and then I close up the paint, wash/dry the paintbrush, and run back upstairs. I tried to have him play downstairs while I was working, but he quickly realized that he didn't have my full attention and he wasn't happy about it. If I had to make a list of things to do in order to be COMPLETELY done, it would be pretty short:

1. finish painting windows white (me)
2. trim out windows and closet frames (TJ)
3. finish trimming half-wall ledge and stairs (TJ)
4. re-attach smoke alarms (either)
5. install matching light covers (both)
6. paint/install new front door (TJ and his dad)
7. touch up wall scuffs with paint (me)

That's it...that's all I can think of. It sounds like a lot I guess, but compared to our list a year ago, it's just peanuts. We'll probably be calling a realtor this weekend and getting their opinion of what else we might need to do, what price we should list the house at, and how soon we can have our first open house.

I can't believe how far we have come, and how pretty and clean the lower level looks now. A year ago, I never could have imagined it turning out this well. Here's hoping for dry weather as we wrap up our projects here.

--KC