The Cascading Nature of Home Remodeling Projects

We've talked about moving closer to campus for several years. More recently we decided on projects to complete to put the house on the market next spring. It's an ambitious list for a couple of couch potatoes.

The once white carpet has to go. We move about a dozen giant plants outside in the spring and back inside every fall. You know those clear plastic bottoms you buy at Lowe's or Home Depot to protect your floor? Turns out they leak under heavy pots. Ooops.

Other than flooring and a new light fixture here and there, it's mostly painting. The dark colors throughout the house work well with the big windows and high ceilings. Knowing a potential buyer has to like them, too, we're taking everything back to white.

We sat down during the Christmas break and mapped out a schedule around home gymnastics meets and work commitments for projects to complete before our annual Derby Party. Our goal is to remodel both bathrooms and all three bedrooms before a mid-April installation of new flooring.

We mean it. To prove it we tackled the guest bathroom New Year's weekend. We stripped wallpaper, painted and switched out face plates, knobs and the light fixture. Took us three days. Might have gone faster but the room was too small for both of us to work in at the same time.

That was the last wallpaper in the house. I started to say I hate wallpaper. The truth is I hate fooling with it. A keen awareness of my limitations keeps me from even trying. Picking a paint color is hard enough. Selecting exactly the right wallpaper is just beyond me.

This weekend is devoted to the master bedroom. The nice furniture in the guest room will replace the existing 20th century yard sale stuff left behind by my ex. Before we paint we have to deal with a massive pile shift across two rooms involving four dressers, three regular closets and two walk-ins with ripple effects throughout the house.

We use the third bedroom as an office/dump. The removal of the almost new elliptical freed up space for more stuff we don't use. We'll squeeze the old bedroom furniture between the weight machine, two desks and two desktop computer set-ups we haven't used since we got wireless.

And here I sit writing my blog. I better stop, before my wonderful partner turns into...

The Crotchety Old Man