So I got bored

With flash!

As you can see the patching is barely visible now and it looks so clean

Looking good so far

About half done

Such a shocking difference between Snowcap white and beige/antique white/ick

I had planned to do half...but got out of control

The last little section.  I started loosing steam around here

Nice shot of how the cabinet piece blends into the wall and ceiling

So much better

Only one little section left and all I can think about is paleo eggplant lasagna

Almost done

Yay!  She's done!

I love the way it looks now

Back on the wagon

 So here's where we are.  I've taken a nice little mini-vacation from my vacation.  Been hard to get motivated, but that's going to change.  I really need to get cracking on this since there's a ton of stuff to finish outside before the weather gets damp.

The bottom half of the unit is done, aside from the kickboard.  The top half facing has one coat of paint.

As you can see, it's a huge difference and makes the room quite nice now.

Got another spot to do some patch/paint on as well as one more coat on the door.

The same spot needs to be finished and the skirting for the sink needs to be attached.

I did finally get the last window on this side painted and the screen reattached.

Started making some progress on here.  The most notable thing would be the almost invisible pipes.

So much better with the pipes painted to match the siding.

Since I'm still off this week and next week, I'm going to take advantage of the time.  I have a huge list of things to do and while I have enjoyed hiding in the 9th century doing family history stuff, I need to get to work on my own castle.

The list of DOOM

• Paint the side of the house up to the kitchen window.
• Paint the kitchen window and screen
• Finish last bits of drywall patching
• Finish painting the walls in laundry room
• Finish painting the trim in laundry room
• Finish cabinet unit thingy
• Paint laundry room ceiling
• Organize the shelves with smaller boxes from garage
• Curtains for laundry room
• Curtains for extra bedroom
• Figure out what to do about the basement stair's cover
• "Fix" the cracked tiles with more caulking
• Call Derrick to arrange to have sections that can't be caulked patched with wood.
• See if Derrick can fix the lawn mower
• Finalize the budget for October
• Patch holes in the patio
• Buy a new lock for back door
• Finish the gigantic pile of mending I have in the other room

Laundry Time

I had to take a little break from the organizing challenge due to vacation and visiting with my in-laws.  I'm back now and got a lot more work done this morning.

As you can see, there is a small section of repair left to paint after I do another coat of joint compound and the trim, but the walls look great.  You can't even see the giant piece I had to patch back together.

Some more repair sections to finish up and then paint.  I couldn't get behind the washer and tub, so I'm going to cheat for now and finish that part when we empty the room to do the floors.

Just waiting for trim and a small section of drywall to cover the giant square the 'tarded propane guy cut out of the wall 15+ years ago.

The cupboard/cabinet thing really retreats into the background now, instead of being an ominous looming threat.

I think the bottom section looks better, who agrees with me?

Blue Washerwoman

Even though I have work in the afternoon today, I still managed to get a decent bit of painting done this morning.  The shelving unit/beast is coming along very nicely.  I'm not sure why I thought I should remove it.  Clearly, it just needed to be beautified.  I'm going to end up with more storage than I know what to do with.  It'll make it nice and easy to declutter the garage a bit more in the future.

The top shelf is done, but needs a few touch-ups of white paint.  Bottom shelf has one coat of blue, needs one more when I get home tonight.

Just comparing the two, it's like night and day.  I'm going to get some tension rods and make cute white/blue/tan curtains to hide the tubs and stuff.

I really like the unit now

Even the water heater looks less invasive.  I'm still going to put a room divider around it to make it less prominent.

Laundry Room

Mark said today he never thought of the laundry room as an actual room that should be pretty and decorated.  That will be changing, and I'm glad today's progress has changed his opinion as well.  A room that looks clean, pretty, and organized makes people want to spend time in there and be cheerful.

Blue paint for the walls, it matches the extra room.  I loved the color so much, very calming

You can see the tricky spot that I'm procrastinating on

The giant shelving unit will be emptied, cleaned, and painted white

The white patches on the wall are where I have more patching to do on the wallboard

Lovin' it

It's funny to compare the difference

Giant crack I had to patch today

The big hole in the ceiling

First layer of joint compound before sanding

Blegh!  Dirty beige on dirty beige, complete with spider webs.

Laundry Room, Before

 I'm exposing my soul here for all to see.  This room is a disaster and I honestly never thought I would be repairing it before I got to the bathroom.  Welcome to my nightmare, please do not judge.  The room was not part of the original interior of the home, from what I've gathered.  It was an afterthought and probably originally a patio that lead into the garage.  Somewhere along the lines, it became an interior room for storage, a wash room, and a catch-all for clutter and spiderwebs.

The damaged crack in the ceiling.  For now I will be quick fixing it with joint compound until the proper time to remove the whole ceiling and replace it with acutal gypsum board.  The ceiling appears to be some type of lightweight late '50s particle board slathered with a skim layer of texturing c. 1990.

We know the ceiling leaked, Mark has told me all about it.  I think it leaked before he bought the house too, then when the tweakers "remodeled" the house and did the texturing and "painting" it was applied to an already deteriorated surface.  The light fixture will be replaced with something pretty.  Naked lightbulbs are tacky!

I scraped it clean of all loose pieces and will be repairing tomorrow afternoon.

I have hated this beast for a logn time.  I finally figured otu what annoys me about it (and no I'm not talking about the clutter).  It's the color.  I will be repainting it white, removing the tracking for the sliding doors that I burned, and eventually having Derrick install actual cupboard doors.

I think once it has proper cupbaord doors and it's white, it should be less hateful to me.

I will improve this.  The heap in front of the hamper has been put away already.  Still not sure where that end table/lamp will be moving to.

It really needs paint.  I think we also need a better place to feed the cat.

Paint will help!

Phase 1 of organizing.  Clean out all unusable pieces of fabric and fold the pieces I'm keeping.

Two tubs folded nicely and labeled!

Oboviously my version of this assignment for the organizational challenge will be a bit more involved.  I will be doing 2x the work.

To do:
- Repair damaged ceiling sections
- Paint ceiling (ugh!  I hate painting ceilings.)
- Repair cracks in walls, add patches to holes, etc to minimize heat/cooling loss
- Paint walls
- Remove tracking for old doors off cabinet
- Paint cabinet
- Doors for cabinet (long term project here!)
- Remove clutter
- Organize and deep clean
- New feeding station for cat
- Storage cupboard for vacuums, mops, cleaning products

Progress on the Laundry Room

Putting the budget binder together

Bookkeeping nightmare

 Final proof of completing Week 3

The table is clean!

The office space

Office space part 2

 Week 4: The Laundry Room

This week's project will take me a little longer than planned.  My in-laws are coming up at the end of the week, the play is closing, we're going on vacation, etc.  I'll be extending the deadline a little bit to accommodate all the various activities, not to mention this will require a bit of restoration to be completed.  I will be repairing the ceiling, starting tomorrow.  As you can see below, it's in dire need of it.  Additionally, the large cabinet will be painted white, like the ceiling and the trim.  I will be painting the walls, and doing some repairs to those as well.  The 8/31 deadline is just not happening with this one.

Crack in the ceiling from water damage; I already scraped off the loose texture and paint.

More damaged ceiling

As you can see, the damage is only in one area

The other side of the room.

Edit 08/21/2013
14 Week Organizing Challenge Schedule
1. Kitchen due 8/10 COMPLETED: 8/8 Comparison shots can be found here
2. Garage due 8/17 COMPLETED: 8/20  Final Shot found here
3. Pantry  due 8/21 SKIPPED: we don't have one

4. Office due 8/24 COMPLETED: 8/23
5. Laundry Room due 8/31
6. Master Bedroom due 9/7
7. Linen Closet due 9/14
8. Kid's/ Extra Room due 9/21
9. Dining Room due 9/28
10. Mudroom due 10/5
11. Living Room due 10/12
12. Bathroom due 10/19
13. Master Closet due 10/26
14. Playroom due 11/2