Our Olde House: May 2023

The inevitable part of making a significant home improvement is that the surrounding un-improved things suddenly look really bad.  Yes, the shower is beautiful, but the wallpaper looks a hundred years older than it did last month, and the wood trim needs to be repainted to match the tile and the new wallpaper.  So off to the store to select new bathroom wallpaper and paint. Since there are no simple fixes, we could not purchase either wallpaper or paint on the first trip to the store. The helpful staff did suggest that we look online for their selection of wallpaper patterns, and of course, we cannot choose a paint color until we have the new wallpaper in hand.

After scrolling through literally thousands of wallpaper patterns we learned that bathroom wallpaper is different from regular wallpaper, and by clicking to display only bathroom patterns we narrowed our choices down from thousands to a mere one hundred or so. Progress. We picked a pattern we both liked and ordered five rolls, which is one and a half rolls more than we technically need based upon the wall’s square footage, but I can see we may need a do-over or two.  New wallpaper is already sticky so no need for setting up the ironing board to apply wallpaper paste. This is very good, especially since my mother said the nearest she came to divorcing my dad was while they were wallpapering their bathroom.

While waiting for the new wallpaper to arrive, we did find someone who would grind down the azalea stumps from the hedge. What a great machine, it made quick work of the stumps.  There were still some large roots buried in the ground which I managed to cut up and remove with a pick; definitely not a fun job for me, but I did a little over several days so it was not too bad.  Now I need a break in the rain so I can rake out the ground when it is dry enough, and then we will order sod and have it installed.

Wisdom and patience at this point should have led us to relaxing while waiting for the wallpaper to be delivered, but apparently, I am lacking either one, so we decided to have the outside of the house painted. In my defense, I believe that God sent the wasps to keep me off the twenty-four foot ladder necessary to paint the peak of the front of the house. For two years there was always some reason I could not paint the peak of the house, and even though I am learning impaired I believe I finally got the message; Thou shalt not climb and fall off the ladder.

Miss Sherry and I figured that we would have to wait our turn, maybe weeks, for any house painters to be available to paint our olde house, but no.  Our neighbors had their house painted very recently and are very happy with the quality of the job and the professionalism of the painters, so Miss Sherry called them.  The owner came by two days later and gave us an estimate that seemed reasonable, so Miss Sherry said, “Fine, when can you start?” He said, “Monday, I have three weeks without another job scheduled”. God certainly does pave the way when we listen to Him.

So far the entire house was power-washed to remove the flaking paint, and scraped from top to bottom; now the house looks like a Jackson Pollock painting. The workers are great, very nice and good at their job. I think they will sand the house next and repair/replace any bad wood.  After that, they will apply primer and then the paint. And fortunately for all, the wasps that were guarding the house last year have vacated, so all of the work can be performed safely.

For now, I need to concentrate my efforts on finishing the bathroom update.  The wallpaper arrived and we picked a new color for the wood trim. We decided to paint the trim first and install the wallpaper last so I am unable to get paint on the new wallpaper.  Now I am cleaning the wood trim and old wallpaper before I start painting.  Lest we forget, the ceiling needs painting, too, and we purchased some plastic tin-looking squares for the ceiling inside the shower.  I already replaced the sink/vanity and the flooring in the bathroom, so I estimate about 50% of the updating process is completed so far, these remaining tasks should take less than a month, or three.

We also found a new light fixture with a fan in it that fits perfectly where the old light fixture was.  The new fixture has a remote control for the brightness of the light and speed of the fan; not features I was looking for, but I have to admit it is pretty neat.