Rehabber’s Rehab

Thursday

On my lunch break I took a trip to Costco to stock up for the soon arriving horde (the Martin’s, Matt, my Dad and Granddad), the main essentials being snacks (dips, crackers), bottled water (even though the tap water in Chicago is very good), and most importantly Gatorade. Gotta keep the workers happy, otherwise they are running out every five minutes to pick this stuff up. After work it was off to the paint store. Thor and I were determined not to repeat our earlier mistake of just buying paint and putting it up, so we bought about 7 samples of paint for the living room. It’s actually pretty nice that our Benjamin Moore store sells tiny samples that you can put up and try out for only about 3 dollars. I wanted blues, he wanted greens, and we wanted to paint one wall a neutral color. I figured we’d put them up and duke it out.

I arrived home to find Randy M already there (Janis was coming Saturday) and he had weed-wacked the yard and tidied up the wood pile. Awsome, although I had a moment where I wished he hadn’t cut back all the mint. No more Mojitos, but I guess summer’s over anyway. Mint can be pretty close to a weed, so I’m sure it’ll grow back. The guys got to work spackling and priming the bathroom add-on wall and the ceiling while I continued stripping paint off of the door jams.

Thor and I put up our paint samples, and weren’t crazy about any of them. Good thing we tried them out first! The greens were all to dull and Thor still didn’t like the blues. He thought that with the tan couch it would be too beachy. I thought it looked sophisticated and relaxing. He conceded to settle for a blue though as long as a decision was made in time to paint the next day. I think I could have asked to paint the room Barbie Pink and it would have been okay as long as he could keep to his work schedule.

Friday

Neither Thor or I had to work, so we got up and pick up where we left off starting at 8am. Not my normal choice, but Randy is an early riser. When Thor and Randy headed off to start staining the crown molding (dark walnut) and baseboards I wasn’t quite ready to go, and so sat down with the paint sample books and the TV to pick out some different colors. Settling on some blue greens as a compromise, I took the colors out to Thor for approval. Now the trick here was to delay the decision for so long that he just doesn’t care any more as long as a decision is made since he had wanted to start painting yesterday. Literally. Blue-greens were now okay, we choose one and a nice neutral for the other wall and I was off to the paint store.

Unfortunately we were looking at the Sherwin Williams color book, and the store I thought was Sherwin Williams was Benjarmin Moore, and there are no Sherwin Williams stores nearby. So I spent an hour trying to find a color to match the one we had choosen. You can imagine how successful that was. I brought the paint back and they slapped it on the walls. It took about 5 minutes for us to decide we hated it. Absolutely hated it. It just wasn’t quite right. Too intense, too pastel, too green…too… We never quite put a name to what was quite wrong other than yuck.

We got the ceiling painted and the opposite wall painted a nice creamy marshmellow color in the living room and entryway while I rubbed lacquer thinner on the door jams until I felt like my arms would fall off. It took several atta-girl’s to get me through. In between I spent about an hour trying to figure out what trim was stripped and ready to go and what needed to be done, and where the heck it all was. I think we only had one completed door frame, but several almost done pieces.

Thor and I ran off to greet my Dad and Grandad in from Houston while Randy and Matt continued to slave at poly-ing the crown molding and baseboards. They ended up at Fitzgerald’s/Wishbone for dinner. Yum.

Saturday

Thor and Randy left early in the morning to get new paint. They were going to try to see if we could get the cans we had already bought modified, and if not, then just buy a new can. A side trip to the hardware store later, and they were back while I continued on the door jams. Matt showed up around this time and we took a break to enjoy baked goods from the Turano bakery around the corner. I think that place may soon prove to be deadly for Thor’s and my diets. While breakfasting I had been watching a home improvement show.

"It's fun watching someone else doing work for a change"

I stopped to take a picture of my workers watching others work, only by the time I got back, it wasn’t DIY shows but bra commercials that were on. Go figure.

Then it was back to work with Matt now working on the trim, Thor and Randy painting on the new color and me STILL cleaning up the door jams. There was a theme for me this weekend. When Thor started putting up the blue, he began regreatting our new choice. He told he me he was starting to like the green color. I think the bright blue was just scaring him more then the green. I told him that liking it now was not an option, and he agreed because the last thing he wanted was another delay. Personally, I still hated the green, and I loved the new color. Still love it actually. I think it looks great with the floor and the new wood trim. Once we got enough of it up, I think that Thor got over his trepidation and started to warm up to it quite a bit.

Right about the time the painting was done, Thor made about our 3rd trip to the hardware store that day and Matt and Randy started on the crown molding. From the moment the first piece with up, the room started to look more finished and put together. Some how Matt and Randy managed to get the entire living room and dining room molding and baseboards put up, (including new registers and quarter round) by dinner that night.

I left early to spend some time with my grandfather and dad and help get dinner ready for the horde. As we talked getting hungrier and hungrier waiting for the Martin’s to arrive, I got to catch up with my family and hear how my grandfather was settling in after his trip from Houston. Finally I gave in and gave the Martin’s a call. Matt answered. Me: “So…are you going to be over any time soon?” Matt:”Oh, well we just got our second wind, we put the trim to the office up, and it looks great, so we thought we’d do a few more.” I convinced them to give it up and come over, promising it could be done tomorrow, because the Lee’s were all starving. You don’t want to see my sister when she’s hungry. Finally they all arrived, and we all settled in for a family dinner. It was great to relax some where that wasn’t a mess for awhile.

Sunday

Sunday started off like every other day, an early start, more trim cleaning, more door jam cleaning, more staining, and more crown molding and baseboards. In the middle of it all Thor got called in to work, much to his frustration. He clearly felt bad to be leaving while we were all working. My family stopped by at one point, and I got to “show off” our house. It has definitely looked better, with tools and plastic everywhere.

I think we were all tired by the end.  I am tired just writing about it (Matt could barely stay on the ladder any more). But one goal kept them going – finishing the front bedroom before leaving. Thor got back just in time to see the last piece go up, and then we finally got to relax for good. We had dinner together and then the Martin’s were off. Thor and I were left to sit gratefully in our new living room and admire it, feeling blessed to have had such great helpers this weekend. Thank you!