House 1 - Stephie 0

Let's cut to the chase. I hired someone to finish my foyer. I couldn't stand it anymore and the walls just kept on going all the way to the third floor!  So, my "foyer guy" is going to complete all the walls from the entrance up the the third floor and the ceilings too! So far he has finished removing the wallpaper adhesive from the walls (I thought I did a great job but it turns out that I left a bunch of paste behind - lesson # 1), removed cracks and bulging lines in the plaster (cut them out and fill them in; applying plaster OVER the bulging lines only makes them more bulgier - lesson # 2), skim coating and more skim coating, oil primer (oil primer first seals the walls - follow with latex primer - lesson # 3), fixed, primed and painted the ceiling. 

There were some HUGE bulging lines that had to be
removed, refilled, and smoothed

More cut out areas to be repaired

The WORST area - glad I didn't try to fix
this myself!

Here are some interesting things that have happened in the last couple weeks:

1. The job was supposed to be finished by July 4th. This is the day my mom flew into town and I really wanted her to see my new shiny foyer in all its glory. Instead she walked into a cloud of dust and the foyer was better described as disrobed, in the buff, bare, stripped, or exposed.  It was still down to the plaster (or old paint) and my beautiful wood floors were covered in an inch of plaster dust.

"Uh, yah, so welcome to my construction site Mom! Please excuse our dust - we are making improvements to this area!" Note that todays date is the 12th...THE 12TH! My walls are still not done.  I just hope that my Mom gets to see a finished product before she leaves in 6 days.Sigh...

2. My foyer guy's employee "borrowed" his van one day. The foyer guy had to have his auntie drive him around from bar, to friend, to bar looking for the missing employee and van.  He found it at 2pm.   The van borrower hasn't been back.

3. My foyer guy's 2nd employee just stopped showing up altogether.  What is with these guys??

4. My dog hates strangers, especially if they are men, super especially if they have dark skin. Ugh, my dog is a racist (he is a rescue so maybe he has some traumatic history there). Anyway, he is all of one and 1/2 feet tall but acts like he is the biggest, baddest doggie on the block.  He gets a killer mohawk kicking, bares his teeth acts like he going to rip out the throat of every man (or manly woman) that enters the house or is on the porch...or is on the sidewalk looking at the house...or just happen to be walking by.  This has caused some very tense and LOUD moments times during this little project.



What a wuss!



My big, bad doggie

5. Blisters are forming in the primer and the ceiling paint. This is baffling too everyone involved.  Is my house to hot (I have NO air conditioning and its summer)? Is there something on the wall that is interacting? Is there moisture? Is there air coming through?  If you have any thoughts on this please comment below!

That is all I have for now. I post more pictures later.  Hopefully BEFORE the 18th. Ha!

Follow-up!

Hi, blog readers!  I just wanted to follow-up my last post with quick update. That last remaining wallpaper adhesive that was taunting me as I fell to my death is G-O-N-E.  Yeah, so there!  My nifty new ladder allowed me to kill that last little bit!  Though, I am pretty sure I am not using the stair ladder function correctly yet.  Hmmm....I guess I will pull those directions out after all!

Anywho, B pointed out that if you continue up that same wall you immediatly run into wallpaper border in the rest of the stairwell and in the hallway at the top of the stairs. This has also now become part of the "foyer" project.  The border, like the rest of the wallpaper in the house, is floral!  My friend asked me why there was bedroom paint and border in the hallway.  I did not have a good answer to that! Oh, lordie...

Awesome Hallway Border

I just don't understand the obsession with flowered wallpaper in the house!  I still have two whole rooms that are covered in flower wallpaper that we haven't even got to yet!  It's like Hallmark, new baby scent, kittens and a bunch of other cutesy stuff got together and decorated this house!  If I never see another version of floral wallpaper again, it will be too soon.

Anyway, after I finish taking this horrible border down we will start prepping all the "foyer" walls for new paint!  Reminder: "Foyer" now includes the actual foyer, the stairwell, and the 2nd floor hallway.  Let me know in the comments if you think I should paint with a very neutral, bright color, like egg-shell or pure whate through out the "foyer" or if I should go with something else.  Maybe a blast of color?  Maybe a stronger "neutral"? 

Lastly,  I just want to say that I really enjoy the creative side of this blog writing WAY more than the instructional part. My new plan of action is to to just enjoy this output (and hopefully some input soon) and go with the flow.  No more instructional stuff from me!  Just an entertaining summary of what's going on, what I am working on, stupid, idiotic stuff I pull, and, of course, final outcomes!!

I hope you enjoy what you read!!