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.

Somebody stop me!

I cannot believe that this soon after finishing this I decided to

tackle that pesky hallway floor.

Gapetto and I moved into this cute little house almost 12 years ago.

Just prior to moving in I had some ceiling dry walled (over the old

plaster - a move I have come to regret - but that is for another blog)

and the floors refinished. Because I like making things incredibly

complex I had the floor guys leave the hallway floor bare as in no

finish as in buck-nekkid. You see I do custom floor designs,

admittedly pretty much exclusively for me, and I had some amazing

ideas for that floor.

Well weeks turned to months and months turned to years and guess

what?I never did do that effing floor. Thank goodness my mother-out-

law had replaced the thin sheet of plastic with some sensible (ugly)

but durable outdoor carpet of the brown variety to protect all that

nekkidness.

In the meantime Ihad done a pretty funky floor in my kitchen just a

few steps away.

Pretty much negating any of the ideas I'd had for the hall.

So.

My kids did not return to school UNTIL TODAY. Luckily

Grammy and Poppy took them up to the lake for a few

VERY cold days so I decided to finally tackle that dern floor.

I decided on a simple inlaid mahogany look. Done with

stains - not mahogany. (Remember? Champagne taste -

beer budget?) It turned out amazing. In fact The Husband

Understudy stopped by and thought I had laid the whole

floor with a mix of woods! Woot! Woot!

Now I have to strip the dang baseboards sand and paint

and replace the toe mold and then the walls will need

patching and the ceiling should really be painted and

then there's the den wall and the ceiling that has some a water damage

and I wanted to build that window seat with the book shelves all around

it and........................................................................

The Big Reveal

Because I LOVE beautiful houses and have somewhat limited resources for said houses I have learned to renovate.

Yes, I even painted my dorm room - I was one of those.

I have ripped out kitchens, tiled floors and counters and tub decks, landscaped, finished floors - you name it. This project may have gotten the best of me. It took months and months and it grew and grew.

But here is the finished bathroom - looks just like the day it was finished back in 1925.

And the dining room...

As often happens in renovations one thing led to another and now I find I need to pull all of the painted toe molding and scrape and repaint all of the baseboards and replace the toe moulding with the finished oak variety - it makes my rooms look brand new.

Luckily, like childbirth - the results tend to outweigh and blur the pain.

Oy, my aching back.