Painting lesson 101

I have never been a great painter. I like doing it, but even with painter's tape, I could never get a straight line.  My brother is the professional painter and I am forever grateful for his loads of his time and advice to us novices.

In case you are ever in need of painting a room here are a few words of advice.  

1.  Start with the putty and sand the shit out of the room, and then do it again.  Vacuum.  I swear he said that to us 20 times and there are still spots we could have done better.
2.  Paint the ceilings, trim, walls, baseboards - in that order.....  Really -it's amazing!  Work smarter, not harder!
3.  No need for painters tape!  You read that right, we did not waste any money on painters tape.  Just hold your brush at an angle and like a pencil and take your time.  Now don't think my cut lines turned out like my brothers, but they're pretty comparable to tape!
4.  Don't ask your brother to help unless you want to be scrutinized all day long. 

In all honesty, he is the best painter out there.  I was in Sherwin Williams picking up a gallon of paint (that I had picked up the day before, but asked for the wrong color.  There's the $ we saved on tape...) and the store manager and two guys who I think were his bosses were complimenting Rob's work.  Considering home owners in Cape Elizabeth, Falmouth, and so on hire him and his crew to do work, I'd say I'm getting a heck of a deal.  So, I'll deal with the scrutinizing....

Update

Well, everyone in the blogging world, we have officially closed!  It wasn't actually a smooth process and it was pretty anti climatic since we didn't even get keys.

First, the closing was delayed from Monday to Wednesday because the title insurance was delayed. We technically don't have a clean title, but an insurable one.  The company who is insuring the title will insure ours and if anyone buys it - like we're going to sell it anytime soon.  It should sort itself out with a couple of banks talking to each other over a cup of coffee and passing the title on through.  :-)

The top floor is almost ALL DONE.  The master, 3rd bedroom, kitchen, and living room are completely done.  The bathroom we're saving for a complete overhaul and Abby's room is in need of a new wall and paint.  When we started her trim work, we realized there was rot in the sill.  As we started digging, we found that the whole wall was rotten.  Awesome.  We called a few contractors because we were definitely getting in over our head.  Turns out there's lots of rot and mold.  Good news it's only a few hundred bucks to repair and the cause of the problem was most likely the window that has already been replaced.  Not the roof like we had feared.  We're hoping to get a few more years out of the roof!

Floors are being sanded and polyed this weekend and Abby's room will be finished on Tuesday or Wednesday.  In the mean time we'll get started on the down stairs.  We're hoping a new boiler and fuel tank will be installed November 11th and the carpet is going down November 12th.  So far we're either ahead of schedule or right on target.  I think I may have just jinxed myself.


I promise I will post more pictures later, but for those not on facebook.  Here's a doozy...

Closing tomorrow!

We got the call late Monday indicating our closing is set up for tomorrow at 11am!  We made the decision to start the prep and paint on Monday, hoping to get a good start on the work.  We had already lined up day care and time off from work, so it made sense to continue with the plan.  I will fully admit we hemmed and hawed about this right up until Sunday night.  It paid off because in two days we have vacuumed, puttied, sanded the "piss out of the walls", painted all the trim on the first floor, painted the ceilings and finally tonight, the first coat of new color.  I absolutely LOVE it.  It's a very light blue in the kitchen that makes the black appliances, sink, and counters really pop.  The rest of the color should be on tomorrow and we'll get a good start on ripping out some lovely wallpaper from the closets.  I should also mention that our fist snag in the house remodel is a unsightly rotten wall in Abby's Room.  I'm not sure what the heck happened, but we'll be ripping out some wall to figure it out if it was the roof, window, or gutters.  Who knows, but the joys of home ownership have begun!  Thankfully, I have two awesome brothers who know what they are doing and rock my world by helping.

We'll be home owners in MAINE as of 11am tomorrow!

Happy 11 Months, Abby!

Is this really the last monthly birthday? Yes, I understand the next one she'll be one.  One?  ONE!!?  I get a little teary eyed just thinking about it.  There is a lot going on, and I have faith we'll be celebrating at the new house.  A new house full of wonderfully people celebrating a year of transition, growth, and love. 

Our little Abby!!!  Who's not so little and getting a few more teeth, sassy, and developing quite the attitude. Her babbles are starting to sound like words - juice, book, mama, dada....and I love everything about it!

I asked her to kiss Teddy - awwww!

More teeth :-(

We finally have more teeth!  Her top tooth broke through last week and it's clear we've got more on the way.  I *think* two more are coming in at the same time!  She's been very, very cranky and whimpering all day long. The long, sad whimpers with no tears just kill me.  She also has quite the rash almost instantly on her bum.  We may need to use disposables for a few days for this to clear up.  Slathering on major diaper cream while we're at it. 

Our mortgage broker also sent us the "we have approval" email, so I'm crossing fingers the closing will still happen on Monday.  We have a very strict time line in order to get the painting and floor done prior to November 5th.  We would love to be somewhat moved in to stay in the house that weekend. It's brew fest and we have friends coming up from Vermont.  All we need is beds and some Gatorade for the day after, right?

As I was looking for a good picture to post, I realized I have very few from her last photo session.  This one is actually after bath and she has learned to "kiss Abby" when she sees herself in the mirrors.  Seriously, how cute...too bad you can't see her adorable bum!

house pics

Here are a few pictures of the house.  WARNING: There's lots of pink.

Bedroom downstairs

family room downstairs

Kitchen

Living Room

If you look closely at the pillows, that is going to be the color scheme of the top floor.  Fresh, nice blues, greens, and a yellow for Abby's room.  

fireplace in the living room

Dining room - open to the kitchen

built in desk downstairs

The other three bedrooms are pretty standard and only one bathroom is worth showing.  :-)  That's one project we'll have to save pennies for.  Unfortunately, that's one place we'll have to live with pink and black with for awhile.  

First projects up are to paint and sand/poly the floors.  I'm hoping to redo the carpet in the family room as it is NASTY.  I'll let you know how that goes :-)  I'm excited to post before and after pics!

13 Days and Counting

The last couple of weeks have been a bit of a whirl wind.  With two weeks to go, we're busy picking out paint, wrapping up last minute details with paperwork, and buying a few necessities.  You know, like a washer/dryer and new TV.  I'll let you guess which one is "mine" and which one is "Tim's". 

In the midst of house buying, Abby has cut her third tooth!  The top tooth is adorable and barely poking through.  She is still giving us weird nights of sleeping, but generally only up once.  We've started her on whole milk with doctors okay.  Hopefully by her first birthday, we'll be able to wean her from breast milk completely.  As she is not nursing, pumping four times a day is a bit tedious. 

This past weekend was our first weekend away from Abby as we were in DC for a wedding and MiMi hung out with the Abster.  A gorgeous day with a stunning bride and a nice time away.  This was sort of where the whole milk came into play.  I needed to make sure she had enough liquid!  Thankfully, her doctor okay'd it!

Stay tuned for pics of the house!!