This weekend was a busy one. My sister Renie came down Friday night to stay with us and help work on the house, and we had a heck of a lot for her to do. Saturday morning we got up and fed her fresh muffins and coffee, and before she was done she had a paint roller in her hand. Between the three of us we got the Anxious room and the Pink room rolled with two coats of white paint, the closet in the Anxious room cleaned, mudded and ready to prime, and the closet in the Cream room painted. Renie also brought us a beautiful oak dresser she hasn’t had time to work on, which we’ll finish refinishing, and a huge red rug for in front of the fireplace.

breaktime lunch on the back lawn, 10/11

In other news, this is probably the most brilliant waste of time ever. Thanks, Nate!

home anthology, pre-opening, 10/11

We broke at four to take Renie over to Home Anthology, a favorite antique dealer of ours, and see their new space. Luckily they were there, and let us in a week before the grand opening of the new location. Todd and Heather were also there helping arrange furniture, and we walked the length of the space amazed at the collection. From there we took Renie to our favorite Thai restaurant to have dinner.

Sunday morning we got up and Renie decided that we needed to see what was under the carpet in the Pink room. We pulled it up to find newer padding (foam) and relatively virgin hardwood underneath that. It took about an hour to clean that room, and then Renie convinced us to pull up the hallway carpeting. Unfortunately, the Doctor had put linoleum down at some point (the same linoleum that’s down over the original hexagonal tile in the bathroom) in the hallway…over top of a sheet of mdf plywood. So pulling the linoleum up was relatively easy, after we got under the plywood. Luckily the plywood saved the floor underneath, so we continued…down the stairs. As of today there’s no more carpet upstairs, or on the stairs. They look pretty good—the risers are one-piece planks, and they’re beat up, but still in good shape. After spending hours pulling staples and nails from the floor, we washed it good and put Jen’s blue rug down in the upstairs hall. The pink room looks cleaner and larger, and the hallway looks brighter and warmer. I’ve posted a series of pictures here for you to look at.