weekend 2 (days 8 through 10)

Important things first: my Chinese New Year socks!

I finished these a couple of weeks ago (before the renos started), but saved them as my article of "new clothing" for the new year, as per tradition. They were the only new thing I wore this year — I spent most of Sunday painting in a very dusty house, so it seemed silly to wear new clothes just to change out of them.

These are Malabrigo Socks in the stonechat colourway. The yarn is lovely, but thinner than Socks that Rock — maybe even thinner than Koigu. But the colour is just fantastic.

Okay. Now on to the stuff you're probably interested in.


This weekend, we split into two groups: the boys, who spent their time on the second floor either putting up drywall or mudding it, and ... well me, who spent my time on the first floor painting and/or patching up plaster. I am a novice spackler, but I think I missed my calling in life. I am good at this. At least — I am yards better at whoever did it the last time, because OMG they did a crap job. The bar was set low, is what I'm saying — which I guess mutes my triumph somewhat.

Nonetheless. Moving on.



Crew 1 put up insulation in the den. No, there wasn't any there before, and yes, it is an exterior wall; why do you ask? This shot was taken from within the bathroom, an angle you shall never see again, because ta da!:



Crew 1 also built the bathroom wall. I'm sure the neighbours are über pleased.


Pierre, after sanding the drywall in between mudding stages, looking very pleased and very dusty.
Meanwhile, Crew 2 painted most of the first floor. I had a friend help me prep on Saturday, but he got co-opted by Crew 1's need for mudders. And another friend helped me on Sunday, but I was all by myself on Monday. It wasn't too bad, actually — the space is small enough that we kept getting in each other's way on Sunday.

This is what the living/dining room looked like before:


Sort of a greyish off-white with greyish-purple trim. Here's a close-up of the brick fireplace:


I concede that it doesn't look too bad in that picture; the direct sunlight really improves it. Trust me, though, it was bad. Lots of people have commented on how they like the brick wall in the kitchen; nobody has commented on how cute the fireplace is.


And here is what the whole kit and caboodle looks like now. (These pictures are really driving home the amazing effect that direct sunlight has on things, by the way. In person, the house looks so much better — cleaner, fresher — with the new paint job, but the absence of cool morning light makes it look drearier. Trust me when I say that it's really not the case.)

Two coats of white on the left side walls and over the fireplace (as well as on the fireplace), and one coat so far of the gray on the right. The gray is actually bluer than I anticipated, but it's very nice and I do love it. The white is fairly crisp, which is just what I wanted. The white in the kitchen is creamier (it is, in fact, called "Creamy White"), and I did the first coat of that also. The plan is finish off the two coats this week, and get started on (if not finish) the trim — which will also be a crisp white.

Meanwhile, Crew 1 (i.e., Pierre and his father) changed the drain pipe in the bathroom yesterday — vitally important — so we are moving ahead on this whole "working bathrom" pipe dream of mine. I am also hoping to have a floor in there, soon. Most of the second floor bedrooms have been drywalled, and are in various stages of mudding; I am also hoping to be able to start painting the second floor this weekend, if not tomorrow.

Oh, and also, I think maybe tomorrow, we are cutting a giant hole in the kitchen floor. We are taking delivery of our new washer and dryer on Saturday.