Last week I was steaming wallpaper in the master bedroom closet, listening to a Commissario Brunetti story on CD, when I remembered a story my parents used to tell from when they were first married.
They were living in Ethel Story’s apartment house in Kansas City. It was raining and they’d taken the bus to get groceries. When they got off at their stop, the soaked grocery bag tore, and oranges spilled all over. One of them, I don’t remember who, ran home to get a suitcase for the groceries.
Orange spill reenactment.Dumb little nothing story, but it sticks in my mind because when your parents hint of a life before you were born, a sentimental life when they were young, in love, and relished little moments like spilled oranges … it just gives you pause.
So I decided to start this blog. Not about my parents so much. More about rehabbing the house they lived in most of their lives. Dad died last July, and Mom is in a nursing home. If they had a business, a restaurant or a clock shop, I’d probably be sprucing that up before I moved on, but instead it’s this house. I’ll try to sell it in the spring/summer.
I’m not very sentimental about the house.
The ranch in cold, cold January.
It’s a three-bedroom 60s ranch in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I lived in it for five years. More importantly, those five years spanned the time when my primary focus was plotting my escape route. I’ve always associated the house with my adolescent impatience.It's pragmatic to clean up the house before I sell it. You know, get rid of all the old wallpaper, carpets, and draperies. Clean. Paint. Replace. Dad installed top quality windows and roof, but cosmetically nothing’s been done to the place for twenty-five years or more.
Basement workshop of an engineer who loved tools. He knew where everything was.
It IS pragmatic to fix the place up before putting it on the market - especially in this market, but there are other reasons I want to do this. I'm not sure what those other reasons are. I'm lucky that I can do it. Most people in similar circumstances have to call an auction service, back up the dumpster, and call it a day. I get to go through stuff.
Here’s what’s happened before I started recording my progress:
- My cousin Barbara and I bagged up most of the clothes and took them to Goodwill.
- I had a garage sale and got rid of a sleeper sofa, some bar stools, an old dinette set, and not nearly enough other stuff.
- I filled up a semi-sized dumpster. It was all unusable clutter and carpets from three bedrooms, two baths, and the kitchen. Also a mini-tile backsplash from the kitchen. Stained curtains.
- My friend Scott helped me haul some large pieces of furniture to Goodwill and the Salvation Army. Goodwill is picky about taking anything that’s scratched. We also switched out some enormous ceiling fan/lights and sawed up a big bar my dad made for swinging basement parties. I think they had about three (parties).
Garage after the garage sale. You want a nice Sears Silvatone electric organ?
It seems like I've done a lot, but I know I have weeks and weeks of work ahead of me.Today I finished getting all the wallpaper off in the master bedroom. The closet took me about 12 hours. That's taking down the shelves, the random hooks, and the two layers of wallpaper. Yeesh. People. Think before you paper. Please.
Master bedroom closet without wallpaper - yay!
January 25, 2009 – Sunday
Today was sort of a day off. I had a long conversation with my friend Ken. I shoveled snow. I had a bowl of chili.
I took the medicine cabinet out of master bathroom – the better to get at that last scrap of wallpaper. I also spackled holes.
Where the medicine cabinet used to be. The towles are to discourage anything from crawling up in the space behind the wall.
I want to replace the old wall sink with a sink-storage unit.
You can see my beloved steamer under the sink.
January 26, 2009 - Monday
Prepped the master bath. It took hours. Spackle and taking all the wallpaper glue off (with a solution of vinegar-water). Boring. NPR or a good book on CD helps.
I'll say it again: think before you wallpaper.
Close-up of prep area. No glue on left, glue on right. See the difference?
January 27, 2009 - Tuesday
Today I was glad to get anything accomplished. I spent a lot of time happily talking on the phone or trying to find inexpensive window coverings. Anything to keep from priming the bathroom. Eventually, I got around to taping off sensitive areas and painting near the edges and in the corners. I like the way the royal blue tape looks.
Preliminary taping and priming - yay me.
January 28, 2009 - Wednesday
Today was ever so much more productive. At least visually. See?
Completely primed master bath.
February 1, 2009 - Sunday
A lot was accomplished since last Thursday. My friend Scott and his faithful dog, Ginger, were here for a couple of days.
Ginger strategically stationed in the hall.
Scott has a skillset that's decidedly more specialized than mine AND he has a truck. We spent a fair amount of time at Home Depot and eventually got a bathroom vanity/sink, a mirror, some plumbing supplies, some 2 x 4s, drywall, a ceiling light, and a bucket of no VOC paint - Radiant Sun.
Scott preparing to change the kitchen light. A thankless task, since I eventually realized it should be exchanged with the other kitchen ceiling light.
Scott exchanged the light in the eat-in part of the kitchen and put drywall over the hole where the medicine cabinet used to be in the master bath. I looked up drywall finishing techniques online and tried to duplicate what I saw on a little video. Not as easy as it looks.
Thank you, drywallinfo.com
I also took glue off the long wall in the master bedroom. The thing I don't like about taking off wallpaper glue, is it takes a lot of elbow grease and you really can't see a big difference.
Last night I spent hours at the local Pier 1 picking out window coverings. The local store is closing, so everything is 25% off - 35%, if you open a Pier 1 account. I got window coverings for all the windows. It was kind of tiresome, but now I don't have to think about window coverings. Except I still need to get curtain rods. Blch.
Pile-o-curtains.
February 14, 2009 - Saturday
Catch up time. You're going to be so glad there's been a pause because really, how visual is glue removal? And that's what I've done. Removed all the wallpaper glue from the master bedroom walls, taped it, and primed it:
See? Here's a nice shot that shows the de-glued wall taped off and partially primed. (Almost all the snow is gone.)
THEN ... I actually got to paint. I got a no VOC paint which is kind of a waste because the primer isn't no VOC, (forgive the double negative, but it doesn't sound right to call it a VOC paint). You do what you can, right?
The color is called Radiant Sun, but it looked a lot more like buttercream on the sample card. HOWEVER, when I saw it next to the white primer, I agonized that they meant what they said and could've even gone farther and called it Radioactive Sunlight. It looked way too yellow:
Voila! Mellow yellow.
I couldn't wait to hang the first set of curtains. I had mucho trouble with the little plastic sleeves for the screws and ended up just screwing into the wall, after breaking two of the plastic thingies. Hopefully the fold lines will hang out.
I stopped by Pier 1 today (the one that's closing) to see if anything was left in their closeout sale. Things were marked down to 75% off! I got a bunch of pillows, two placemats, a vase, and a birdcage - all for $50! These will come in handy for staging.
I particularly love the birdcage, which wouldn't hold any kind of bird. 
