Anna's Bloviations

Next week daughter and I move into B & B while bulk of face-lift renovations on house are completed. Said seventeen year-old-daughter is flipping out because how can she possibly commit to a week's worth of outfits without the option to change her mind fifty times? She has more or less decided to dump her entire closet of clothes into the back of my car in the event she needs to gain access to an alternative outfit. As opposed to dumping her entire wardrobe into her car trunk which she claims smells moldy.

Even so the guys doing the floors next week "do everything" I am nonetheless spending the entire weekend doing all of the "everythings" I know they would never have the imagination to anticipate. Like yes in their quote they have agreed to move all of my furniture but do I want them wasting an hour dumping the contents of my sideboard god knows where, because the sideboard can't otherwise be moved when it comes time to haul it out into the garage? There are just a million little details they would never see or get and which I must do because heh let's face it, when you are forty-something, you just know these things.

A part of me just wants to keep packing -- to load up the entire house full of contents into boxes, put the house on the market, and be on to a new adventure. But the aesthetic in me needs to see how pretty this house is going to look when everything is done. And there are certain people I would miss so much at this given point, and certain projects that can only be accomplished in my present circumstances, that I am not quite ready to move on.

Here is my updated To-Do List for which every required material listed below was bought and hauled back home by me because as I have said in previous blogs -- I AM my contractor's errand bitch... I post this list just so that prospective house buyers might know what they are getting themselves into:

 Put sealant on back deck and touch up stain

 Masonry work around house

 Paint electric heater in downstairs bathroom (special paint is in garage)

 Caulk kitchen sink and around back splash

 Repair new cracks incurred from sledge hammering reluctant tiles around bathtub in abutting upstairs hallway and re-touch with China White eggshell and China White semi-gloss for woodwork

 'Ditto' new and old cracks in our bedroom both on ceiling and on walls. Paint ceiling white (paint in garage). I will apply Pale Daffodil eggshell to walls now in garage (maybe)

 Paint little office off of kitchen: trim Linen White semi-gloss; walls same Coffee White eggshell we used in kitchen foyer

 Repair and refinish all downstairs floors including entryway thresholds, countertop trim, and kitchen table trim (and the outside of the bread box if you’re in a good mood). Please leave all chairs, and dining room table in storage – am waiting for rug to come back from cleaners. Please also put felt on bottom of any furniture that may scratch floors


To-Do in Bathroom

 Finish installing fan

 Change out bathtub, sink, and toilet

 White Formica counter tops

 Install vinyl floor and refinish wood threshold

 White tiles around bathtub area with decorative shell border ¾ ways up. Finish off with bull-nose tiles and counter tiles where appropriate

 Install new medicine cabinet, lights, glass shelf (below medicine cabinet), and wood trim around wall (similar to downstairs bathroom)

 Repair water-rotted wood door frame next to tub and change out rusted door hinges

 Paint ceiling white (use anti-mold additive). Use two coats high-gloss oil-based white on cabinets, inside of door, wood trim, as well as medicine cabinet (if enough paint is left over). Wall paper below wood trim around toilet area and behind back splash and right of sink (I changed my mind about tiling). Paint over wall paper and walls first with tinted Onion Powder primer and then two coats Onion Powder eggshell

 Replace window glass with milk glass, re-caulk, and paint wood with interior- and exterior paint respectively

 Find shower rod to replace one that got bent taking out tiles (old one in garage for reference)