*choke* *sputter* How much?

We got an estimate for painting one side of our house. Yes, one side. We think that the previous owners only painted one side of the house at a time and I didn't really get that...until now. The very nice people who came to give us our estimate guesstimated around $5,000. Are you choking at that? Well, I did. Maybe I'm just being overly naive about this - but I had absolutely no idea painting a house cost that much. Of course, this would also entail scraping off the peeling paint and sanding and removing all the old paint, priming, and then two coats of paint but, still...$5,000?!?! Thom and I had considered doing this ourselves until the snow melted and we could get over to that side of the house and we looked up and thought, "Hmm. Yeah. No." It's kind of high up there and I'm kind of afraid. We'll get another couple estimates, I guess.  But, still, really?

I RAWK!

I am so impressed with myself! In lieu of all the painting I was planning to do today I've been making a few little repairs that I've been wanting to tackle. My big accomplishment today has been fixing the bathtub drain. I've been wanting to take a bath since we moved in but the stopper didn't close. I finally found what I was looking for in regard to fixing it on the Lowe's website. It's an older stopper/drain so it was tougher to find out this information than I thought it would be. Anyway, I'm tickled pink with my burgeoning handywoman skills! Yay for baths!

No painting today - carpet frustrations

We had to make a run to the vet emergency room this morning. While she's fine, it cost quite a chunk of change - enough to stave off buying paint for another week or so. It will give me some time to finish the skim coating under the hallway window, anyway. After watching Paul do it yesterday it seems relatively easy -- but these things always look easier when someone else is doing it.

In the meantime, we're thinking about putting in some carpet to replace the ugly goldenrod carpeting. I went to the area carpet store and when I asked if they had 100% wool carpeting the guy looked a little flummoxed. He finally found some (2 samples) and then asked me why I thought I needed wool. I told him that we were trying to do some more green renovations and that petroleum based carpets have off-gassing effects in your house. He looked at me like I was green. Clearly, this concept has not yet reached all vendors in the Bangor area. We found a place in Ellsworth - Ellsworth Building Supply - that has tons of green products like marmoleum and lots of wool carpet. I know it's spendy but I think it will be worth it for just the hallway upstairs and the stairway.

Done, done, and done!

It's time for a massage!  I have FINALLY, after almost a month, finished taking down all of the hallway wallpaper. I am so excited I could spit.

Tomorrow it's time to paint! Woo hoo! 

Our friends, Paul and Leslie, came over and helped us with the underneath the window problem (see post below). The solution, thanks to Paul, was putting some drywall tape over the holes and skim coating over the yucky parts. We'll get to that tomorrow before the painting starts. I'm excited to use my trowel and hawk!

Three cheers for Wallwik!

Well, in my desperation a few hours ago I did a search on removing wallpaper from unprimed drywall and then decided to consult the Wallwik website. This is the product I saw on an Ask This Old House episode a few months ago and then ordered it online. It's been great for getting the stuff off the plaster. The website suggested using the product but scoring it a little less, letting the sheets sit on for an hour (instead of 20 minutes like normal), wetting it down every 20 minutes, and then using a plastic scraper. Well, it wasn't easy but we got it off and the drywall is still intact! Hooray for Wallwik! I definitely recommend this product - not only is it environmentally friendly but it has taken off all the different kinds (and ages) of wallpaper we've found in the house. It's totally worth the $40.

Seriously?

As much as I have bitched and moaned and complained about removing wallpaper from every square inch of our home since February, I will take it all back. Removing wallpaper from old plaster has been a breeze compared to the nightmare of removing wallpaper from drywall that was not primed. The sadly comical part of this is that it the last bit of wall in the downstairs hallway (see pictures in previous posts). I could almost taste the sweetness of being done and wham! whatever.

Some interesting foursquare info

Because we need the side of our house painted (we figure the previous owners only painted one side every couple years as only one side is peeling), I started thinking about exterior paint colors. Trying to find something that talks about traditional American foursquare colors, I ran across this brochure that talks about all kinds of information relating to architectural style of the homes, building materials, paint colors, lighting, and all kinds of interesting crap! Enjoy!