Never has so much been made of something so little

Okay so nobody stopped me.

As often happens in renovations and or restorations one thing leads to another. After FINALLY finishing the floor in my hallway I realized that the baseboards (in fact all of the trim), the walls, the doors and the ceiling needed sprucing up.

This is a modest 1925 bungalow with a tiny hallway and the dang thing has seven (as in 7) doorways. That's a lot of trim to repair from all of the twin accoutrements over the years (not to mention the twins themselves).

I have always been a fan of older homes. There is no love lost between me and the new suburban home. However, carrying a child in each arm tends to make a new (and insane) mother wish for wide open spaces. Doorways became my enemy. I had to dip one baby through and then the other. (Prior to that there was the problem of the nine month pregnant with twins body - but that's another story.)

Consequently strollers, cozy coups, baby walkers - all have violated my formerly pristine white trim. There were divots in the paint for goddsakes.

I resigned myself to stripping the baseboards and repairing the rest. Given that there is 85 years worth of paint on that trim one would proceed with caution. I started scraping the baseboards but that decorative baseboard cap was taking a gouging at my hands. So I pulled it all off.

That is some seriously thick paint. It looks like a Krispy Kreme on steroids!

Or maybe a petit four.

I adjusted one corner of the baseboards where the floor dips a good 1-1/2" in a 30" span. I considered having the trim dip stripped - then thought about the toxins - then I thought about stripping myself with chemicals - then thought about the toxins and the lead - then thought about replacing it and then thought about the trees and the trash.

Then I decided to stop thinking - it is too hard for me to figure out and too small of a room to get so het up about.

So the baseboards are painted, the divots are repaired and all of the trim is painted.

What's next? Skim coating the plaster walls that look like H-E-double toothpicks.

Where did I get this chutzpah - this insane drive?

(These kahoonas?)

Why can't it be used for the common good instead of just saving old houses? (My old house, to wit.)

It's a dirty job but somebody's got to do it.