Painting the House
Sandy wanted to paint the inside of the house this fall. It had been quite a few years since the last time so it needed it. We're not big DIY types so we hired B&K Painting to do the job. Due to scheduling issues, the job had to be split. The downstairs would take a week and be done before Thanksgiving. The upstairs would take another week and be done after Thanksgiving. It turned out much better that way. It gave us time to put one floor back together and prep the other floor so that the whole house wasn't taken apart at the same time. We even got a break from all the confusion and disruption of painting the house when Brooklyn, Shannon and Jimmy came to visit us during Thanksgiving week. Of course, we substituted the confusion and disruption of having a toddler in the house in its place.
All three of us camped out on the family room floor
Although we had pros to do the actual painting, there was still a lot of prep work. We had to move everything away from the walls so the painters had access. Pictures came down. TV's, stereos, speakers and PC's were disconnected. Shelves and bookcases were emptied. All furniture was pulled away from the walls, and the spots where they had been were cleaned of several years accumulation of dust, dirt and dog hair. It took us about two full days and was a lot of work.
We didn't have much to do for the next week while the painters did their thing. The toughest part was keeping Abby upstairs the whole time, especially since she could hear all the activity downstairs. The Watchdog wanted to go down to check on what was happening. When the painting was finally done, we had to move everything back to get ready for our out-of-town company. We also had to baby proof the downstairs.
The real challenge was getting ready for the upstairs. Every closet and bookshelf had to be emptied. I set up all my game tables in the garage and we stacked stuff underneath and on top of them. You don't realize until you have to move it all just how much stuff you have put away in closets.
My game room was the worst. Every wall is lined with bookshelves completely filled with games. They all had to go out to the garage so the bookshelves could be moved away from the walls. This meant dozens of trips up and down the stairs carrying loads of stuff. My knee had been getting steadily worse over the past two years but this was the final straw. My knee couldn't take it. By the time the painting was done and I had carried the last load of stuff up the stairs to put it away, I had made the decision that I was getting a knee replacement.
The week that the painting was done wasn't as bad this time. Abby didn't mind staying downstairs as much and she was somewhat used to all the activity. We did have to drag mattresses into the family room so we could sleep downstairs for a couple of nights. I was used to that. I had camped out in the family room with Abby both times she had her knee replacement surgery done.
Eventually the painting was done and the house looked great. By the time we got the house put back together, it was time for Sandy to leave for her early Christmas visit to the Midwest. When she gets back, the three of us will be glad to have a relaxing Christmas holiday.
