Monday, November 20, 2006

Favorite Things Monday: Ms. 1890's centerfold

Just after the closing, Ms. 1890 begged for new ceilings and floors. She strongly stated that ceilings and floors are much harder to fix while living in the house, so I should focus on ceilings and floors for her 1 month of loneliness vacancy. For the most part, I listened to her sound advice. I've done a LOT of scraping, mudding, sanding and painting. In fact, a couple weeks ago I had a dream that I woke up one morning, looked in the mirror and noticed that my arms were jacked. It was hot. Anyway ...

Two weekends ago (in the time of MafiaBro), it took no less than 7 (yes 7) people to convince me to pay someone else to refinish the floors. We got a fantastic price (which was due, in no small part, to my Halloween crowbar frenzy) from an experienced guy, and I'm thrilled with the preliminary findings.

You want photos? I'll give you photos ...

Living & Dining Rooms (before)


Living & Dining Rooms (after)


Entry/Stairs (before)


Entry/Stairs (after)


What every ceiling looked like


Front bedroom (with repaired ceiling)


Front Bedroom (before)
-why yes, that is a stack of linoleum, subfloor, and linoleum you see there, and yes, I did nearly break my back ripping it out.



Front bedroom (with nearly finished floors)


Middle bedroom (before)


Middle bedroom (with nearly finished floors)


As we near the move-in date, there are precious few evenings during which to work on the house. I need to finish the ceilings, so I'll be swinging from the ladder again as soon as that poly dries.


* Despite a rapid influx of champagne, I didn't embarass myself at the fancy restaurant on Friday. The food: un-freakin-believable. The company: stellar.

** Go wish Cate a Happy Birthday. She's 37 today.

15 comments:

maryse said...

have the floors done by a professional was a brilliant idea. and well worth the money. joe and i redid our floors and it was a horror show. the floors ended up looking great, but we'll never do that again.

Kathy said...

Floors look wonderful! And I just love that wallpaper and linoleum. Reminds me of our house (and still does -- not all the wallpaper is gone!). Nice job. Happy birthday!

Hannah said...

That is going to be one really beautiful house! Can't wait to see the end results!

Anonymous said...

Wow. I am seriously impressed. thanks for the birthday wishes, m'dear.

Anonymous said...

thanks for the wooly help today mama.

you are freakin' amazing. i can't believe everything you seem to miraculously get accomplished.

the house is lookin' great. can't wait to see it fo real again. xo

Anonymous said...

Ooooh, it's looking great. And I can see the wall I scraped in one of those pictures! :-)

BerkeleyBecca said...

I am so impressed. Those are some shiny floors and clean ceilings.

Anonymous said...

Ms. 1890 was a diamond in the rough, indeed.

Anonymous said...

Happy belated birthday! So glad you had a good time Friday night. The house is looking fabulous.

Anonymous said...

it's looking awesome.

Bostonworkerbee said...

I agree about having the floors done by someone else - it's really toxic work. you have a really beautiful place! it looks wonderful!

Rhonda the Stitchingnut said...

It's well worth paying to have the floors done. Oh that is going to be such a BEAuTifUL lady! I envy the size of her. Good luck on move day!

Beth S. said...

OMG. I LOVE your house! :-)

Anonymous said...

Hey, I like your projects - fiber, construction, and biological. Your beautiful new floors are like mine - the color of my orange tiger cat, and also of my daughter's hair. I love the three together. I am so happy for you that you did the floors before the move - I didn't know this and so have only done 2 rooms out of a possible ten, in thirteen years. I hope the next owners are smarter, as I will be with our next house. Walls and ceilings are not so bad to maneuver around, but the floors are the pits. Best wishes.

Anonymous said...

Hey! I just happened upon your page because I am crazy and bought a beautiful neglected lady myself from the same approx. time and I can surely feel your backache from the pictures! Congratulations and thanks for letting me knowI'm not the only Loon that talks to and consoles my BEAUTIFUL NEGLECTED OLD LADY!