Week Three

This week won't take as long to blog because each project took a ginormous hunk of time and one picture pretty much looks like the next. 

For what it's worth, I'm blogging Week Three but I just finished Week(end) Seven today. I had planned to blog after each weekend, but life is busy and after teaching all week, plus the 18-20 hours logged at the house on the weekends, I'm usually asleep during the time I had planned to write. I'm trying to catch up.

I decided the cabinets were beyond disgusting. They had to be cleaned before another day passed. More bleach. More masks. More rubber gloves. Seriously, I hope whomever invented rubber gloves is canonized. And I'm not even Catholic.

I vacuumed them out first. The folks before us thought that roach poison would take care of the pest problem because surely the spilled food and seasonings had no bearing at all. Gah. In one cabinet, there was enough seasoning for a cow - I mean a WHOLE cow - along with smears of some sort of roach-killing paste. I had to use a putty knife to scrape it out. ::barf::

In case you've forgotten their loveliness:

Just a wee bit dated, dontcha' think?

Let's eat!

Eric removed my baby-blue countertops. ::sob:: Not.

First I wiped them all down (inside and out) with bleach-water. I know that bleach is not the best thing for cleaning and that it kills unnecessary good bacteria and stuff...but I couldn't bring myself to use anything "green" or "natural." I considered none of the crud to be natural even if it would be technically considered "organic." It is not natural to live with that type of crap in your cabinets. I try, I really do, under normal circumstances, to use better products. 

Even after I had cleaned the outsides, I didn't realize how much crap was UNDER the hinges. After I painted, I removed the doors (hindsight! should have done that first! duh!) and had to wipe down the outsides again.

I used black, oil based enamel paint to coat the insides. This was not fun. I looked like a toddler caught playing with shoe polish. It also involved some interesting gymnastics when I had to reach the far back corners. 

Enamel dries harder than normal paint and should be easy to clean when I get to the point where I'll actually store things in these beauties.

Ethan couldn't take all the physical labor. He had to nap.

Despite what you may be thinking, Eric was NOT loafing off during this time. Oh no. He removed the wall that used to be the back of the shower in the Master Bath (to make room for our hot water heater niche), and began the arduous task of patching sheetrock. Although Eric is quite skilled with mud and knife, he's not a fan. I can't blame him. Sheetrock mud does a number to one's skin. It's not fun.

Kilz made a huge difference on the walls, but now the imperfections were REALLY obvious. Eric went through the house circling areas that needed patches with a pencil. 

See? Just a few places:

Not. Those are just two of the walls. I'd say at least 60% of the rest looked about the same.

Ethan did enjoy sheetrock mud. "I workin' hard!" was his oft-repeated quote of the day. He would then grab a handful (or paint stick full) of sheetrock mud and smear it somewhere. He also thought that Eric using a pencil on the walls made it okay for HIM to use a pencil on the walls. Nipped that one in the bud.

Eric ended up going by the house on his way home from work several evenings so he could mud the sheetrock. By Week Four, we will be ready to sand!