Making Progress

This weekend we had a big push and we got a lot of work done on our to do list of things to fix up for selling this place.  I started friday by fixing up the stairs where a few of the edge pieces had fallen off.  That was my first experience using a finishing nail gun.  It was scary fun wielding such a powerful tool!

Phil tried his hand out with the gun that night only to find out that it was too strong for the kitchen kick boards we had selected.  Frustrated and tired we gave up and went to bed.  While sleeping, my brain came up with the solution of using the hand held nail gun.  Less power = success on getting those boards in place upon waking! The rest of Saturday was spent at church for a meeting and then with friends.

Sunday found me telling Phil that we had to have a work day or we were never going to make our goal.  We had avoided finishing up the trim work for three years, it was time to conquer.  Phil worked on the hallway while I spent the morning spackling and priming the living and dining room walls where the old trim had been.  We broke for church, lunch, and a few games and then headed back home.  Once the hallway was completed and painting finished we headed out for a super bowl gathering at his sister's house.  We left at halftime in order to get the kids in bed at a good time.  When we got home I suggested that we finish the job.  Everything was out from the walls, and the trim and saw were on the table (great time saver to not have to run back and forth to the garage to cut wood but huge mess maker!).  Phil took me up on it and he cut the trim while I put the kids to bed.  We got all of it done with the exception of one wall as there is a floor board that needs to be fixed before nailing the trim.

I feel like I can breathe a bit easier now that the trim work project is nearing completion.  All of the remaining tasks are small ones that require more time than energy.  It feels pretty good to get some of these home improvement skills.  Power sander, pneumatic nail gun, wall paper stripping, switching electrical outlets, and a pleasant surprise--I even reattached the fireplace mantle on my own.  It's going to take a lot more than those skills (or paying the contractor, we're still hashing those details out) to see our little dream home built this summer.  Next up, getting the realtor in here and telling us what else needs to be done to sell our abode!