Chaos all over the place.

So far, I've posted pics of the living and dining room construction... but nothing about the effect this little project has had on the rest of the house. Literally, the only rooms that have not been affected are the three bathrooms and our upstairs master bedroom.

The dining room chairs and assorted small living room furniture are up in the "greatroom" part of the second floor. Breakfast room chairs and table are in the basement, along with the diningroom chandelier and lord-knows-what-else. And, on our main living floor:








Most of the dining room furniture is now in the breakfast room.....

as are the contents of the china cabinet and secretary desk.

The piano is in the hall, serving as a "catch-all" hotspot.

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Pictures and other assorted stuff are living on the guestroom bed.

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Annnnnnnnd the living room sofa is now tucked behind the TV room sofa, making the room nice and.... Cozy.

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Yeah, cozy. that's it.

(Is it any wonder that I'm just a WEE BIT CRANKY lately?)

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But painting is DONE... Pics of that next... and all that's left is getting the floors refinished.

GETTING THERE.

Progress!

When we finished the upstairs renovation, I sure thought we were done with "house guts"!
But NOOOOOO - so here's the living room, minus ceiling...

The rafters were so out-of-level that the low point in the ceiling was over three inches different from the highest point. Plaster can make up for the difference, but not so with drywall.

So, rather than having 2x4's added to every beam, Nathan The Supercontractor suggested this metal framework. Using a really cool laser level, Enrique and his drywall team had it installed in both rooms and drywall HUNG in less than two days. WAHOO!






The "Scene of the Crime"... showing the spot where the plaster originally fell.



(That yellow scaffold, by the way, was about the best tool investment we have EVER made.)


Dining room, with drywall hung but not yet mudded... Using another tricky little gadget, Enrique and crew were able to save the wallpaper! They installed a "zip strip" which they mudded into the ceiling seam. when the mud was dry and sanded, part of the strip zips off, leaving a clean joint which Tom then sealed with a clear caulk.

The wallpaper isn't "scrubbable", so we resorted to an old renovator trick - white bread. Take the crusts off, and wad a slice or two into a bread ball. It acts like an art-gum eraser, taking smudges off like magic. A quick vacuum to get any crumbs, and VOILA!




"Scene of the Crime" again, this time with drywall and mud completed!

Tom asked Enrique if his team could fix two or three cracks in the plaster walls - and they responded by going Above and Beyond the call. They went over the walls with a fine-toothed comb, and mudded every little imperfection and pock-mark in the plaster that they could find!

We probably should have mentioned to them that we like the "character" of old plaster... OH WELL! There are still plenty of little flaws left to make our hearts happy. *grins*





Living room fireplace. This is going to be SO much fun to re-paint... ummm... NOT.













Another living room shot... complete with drywall-crusted tarps on the floor. My job was to take those out and hose 'em down when we were done with this phase!















AHHHHHHHHH!!!! PAINT!

(ain't he CUTE...)(*grinning*)

We went around the whole dining room first, taping clear plastic to the walls to save that wallpaper.


At the time I'm posting this, we have finished the dining room painting completely except for a little scraping on the windows. We've sanded the living room woodwork, spackled and filled in with wood filler where necessary, and Tom has finished painting the ceiling in there.

This very moment, he's out there painting trim - and I'd better go join him!! ( POOF! I'm gone!)