The State of Things

Hello, everyone!

When last we met, I was proclaiming my upcoming hiatus from the blogging world, looking forward to the Christmas season with a sense of home.  I am perfectly aware that my hiatus took a turn down Procrastination street and settled on a nice corner cafe drinking coffee and watching the Christmas decor go up, then down, and finally the new year rolled around.  During this time away from my blog, I had hoped to have so many fulfilled projects to post about that I would returning from my stint away triumphant.  However, as things like this tend to go, that is not the case, though I do have some news about the house.

Let's backtrack a little, shall we?  Just days after Thanksgiving, Jared and I had to prepare once more for the floor crew to come back.  After only about a week of having a real living space, we packed up our new couch and put everything away.

It was with a lot of trepidation that I allowed the floor crew back into my house.  The first time around, they didn't sand the floor enough to get down to the bare wood, used the wrong stain color in the front room and dining room, applied the stain so horribly, and then sealed it all with such lack of care that the streakiness made the floor impossible to keep clean.  Round one was a devastating failure, and I was NOT about to go through that again.  However, after much discussion with Glenn, he agreed that the least he could do was supervise the new(ish) crew as well as demand that the crew's supervisor attended every session they did on the floor.  Though it took a bit of complicated communicating, the guys rented the floor sander they should have used the first time, and in no time, the wood was getting stripped down to it's raw state.

This heavy duty sander was NO MATCH for the pathetic belt sander they used the first time.  It was loud, and it shook the whole house, but it got the job done.

Ullr was none too pleased about being cooped up in the bedroom again (I wasn't thrilled either) but he made the best of it!

With the sanding done, I got more and more nervous about them staining and sealing the floors.  Taking comfort in the knowledge that Glenn and the crew's supervisor would be there, I tried to relax as they proceeded.

Luckily, the staining went without a hitch.  They used the right color, applied it the right way, and then we just had to wait for it to dry.









Of course it just wouldn't be right if they didn't sort of get it wrong again.  The crew came back and sealed the floor, but even though they used the correct technique, something just didn't seem right about the texture.  We had Glenn look at it, and we all came to the conclusion that they just needed another layer of sealant, but that also involved a light sanding.  Through all the hiccups and problems, we FINALLY had proper floors literally one week before Christmas.

Jared and I enjoyed our Christmas; being able to put up our decorations was a great way to finally feel like the house was ours.  Even though we had lots of plans to get stuff done over the break, very little, if none of it happened.  I, for one, was just content to lounge on a comfy surface for once, and not having a couch for five months will do things to you.  Mostly I just felt that things were finally going back to normal, so I was NOT about to rock the boat.

So here we are.  It's the end of January and Jared and I have plateaued.  Partially due to finances, and partially due to lack of motivation, we haven't done much since putting our Christmas decor away.

Jared's next big project will be this horrid bathroom, but until the money genie grants us our wish, we'll just have to deal with it like this.  Jared is eternally confident in his ability to tear it down, but putting it back together could be a challenge, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it goes well.

The spare room has become somewhat of a catch-all, that desperately needs to be organized.

But at the heart of this giant project is still my home.  It might be missing some paint, trim, and style in a few rooms, but when I walk around these rooms, I know it's mine.









Perhaps this new post will spur us on to make progress with our house.  This weekend, however, Jared and I are going down to Jekyll Island to celebrate our third year anniversary!  After that, though, it's high time for me to roll up my sleeves and get some stuff done around this house.

Sarah