One day at a time; one room at a time

So Saturday was a bust on working on the house. The HVAC units are almost in, but not quite, so there was no A/C and the house was 96°. Needless to say, we didn't stay very long. We checked out the progress from the week before... so far the kitchen has been demoed; the ceiling and wall in the dining room has been ripped out (to find that leak); and the upstairs hall closet, side of bathroom , and closet in guest room (they are all right beside each other) has started to be ripped out to make room for the new laundry room. Our contractor has been busy! He also managed to get some of the cabinet makers to the house to measure for quotes.

Demoed kitchen

The original thermostat to the house... It was HOT!

Where the laundry room will go

It rained at the house Saturday night, so we figured things had cooled down some........not so much. We needed to get work done to the house, so we went over there Sunday to finish scraping the back stairwell and kitchen of its wonderful peeling paint. After figuring out how to work the ladder- it's one of those little giant ladders, we were on our way. Fred was nice to me and climbed up the ladder and got up the wall and ceiling of the stairwell, since I don't do well with heights, and I'm a little clumsy. I think he figured it was safer for him to do it, so he wouldn't have to take me to the ER.

So, I continued to work going down the stairs in the places I could reach (no short jokes! :-) )  Once Fred really got going scraping, I felt like I was in a blizzard! There were paint chips going EVERYWHERE, mostly on me. Thankfully, I finished my part and moved into the kitchen to scrape the ceiling. Fred's parent brought us lunch and started helping by scraping the windows. When Fred finished the stairwell, I was partially down one wall in the kitchen. My back was starting to hurt and I didn't like being on the ladder so I asked Fred to finish the kitchen while I started sanding the stairwell. This proved to be more difficult than sanding the bedroom walls, as the oil paint underneath is far more prominent and very slick. So I sanded and sanded and sanded to get the lines smooth. Hopefully, once we prime it the lines will blend. I sanded all the way down the stairwell, where I could reach without the ladder and Fred finished scraping the kitchen. The windows in the kitchen are almost done being scraped too.

Back stairwell after scraping and some sanding

We're tired!

All in all, we got a lot done.... especially for how hot it was. We went through 9 bottles of water. I have not been so tired and sick feeling. Hopefully, the A/C will be working for when we work this weekend. I can't handle many more of these extremely hot days, working hard and only having a fan for some relief.

Our task continues... we have to finish sanding the stairwell and kitchen so we can prime and paint once the plumber and electrician finish roughing in everything. One day at a time; one room at a time.

Our other projects continue. We're still working on getting the paint off the brass hinges and hardware. It's a slow process, but we don't want to use any chemicals. We're also slowly picking up items for the house. We found this fantastic brass coat and hat rack at one of our favorite spots: Urban Relics of Suffolk. They have such cool stuff and great prices!

Brass coat and hat rack