I've mostly been living in my house instead of planning new projects. Then my mom got sick and then she passed away.
BUT I have a new project. My dad has bought a new house in the next subdivision over. He got it for a song, which always means there is work to do. He called a contractor and had them come in and provide an estimate. It came in way higher than he wanted to pay. Or that made sense to pay. The estimate was 12 grand to move a couple of doors, remove some wainscott made of 1980s paneling, remove wall paper and paint. $7000 was just for removing wall paper, wall repair and painting.
Here's the thing. I can do the cosmetic stuff. Granted, I can't move a door. Or remove a closet. Or build a closet. But I can take off wall paper (even though I *hate* it) and I can skim coat and I can paint.
The kitchen and breakfast nook, before:
So, yesterday, Liv and I spent about 5 hours total and stripped (most of) the wall paper from the kitchen and breakfast nook. And we skim coated. It still needs sanding.
Wallpaper removed. Skim coat on.
Obviously, I still have to sand the drywall compound. But this was 5 hours of work, between Miss O and me. There is still a little bit of wallpaper right around the sink that needs to go, but it's pretty close to a clean slate. One room down. A bunch to go.
There are several rooms that are getting new flooring, so those need to be painted first. These rooms are the dining room, entry, mud/utility room, kitchen/breakfast nook, office, master bedroom and living room.
Speaking of flooring, we actually already picked that out. We thought about going to Lumber Liquidators. There is one in Little Rock, which is just a few miles away. But we thought we would go ahead a look locally, first. We found everything we needed at Imboden Flooring. The prices are not different enough to justify using a chain. We love the service and the products.
This is what will be in the kitchen, breakfast nook and mudroom. It is a nice, neutral, high quality vinyl flooring. We could obviously put in tile. (I have done it before). But since the house is on a slab, we feel like there is something to be said for resilient flooring. This will have a little bit of give to walk on and water cannot hurt it. I don't know about you all, but we are messy cooks.
