Home Renos begin!!!

So, yesterday was the first full day that Alex was in the house by himself (well, Nykie is there).  He is a man on a mission.  The amount of work he has put into the place already is incredible.  He has stripped wallpaper, patched holes, tightened things, repaired things, removed a myriad of screws, hooks, nails, pulled up baseboards of every shape and type.  

He has tackled the living room.  He ripped down the chair rail – which for some reason sat at 24″  up the wall instead of 36″.  We think it was because the previous owners were confined to a wheelchair and therefore everything was set much lower…. It is a theory which works for us.  

Up went the anaglypta wallpaper which looks like beadboard.  It is at the 36″ level and he will be putting up the chair rail to coincide with the height.  

As you can see from the photos, he has his work cut out for him, but, he knows what he wants and what has to be done.

Once the rails are up, then he will begin the painting of all the wood.  It is going to look spectacular once we are done.  

I am so proud of my husband for the energy, creativity and enthusiasm he has for this project.  Like he said to me last night:  “This place is ours and I can do whatever I want and I want it to be our home, the way I want it….”

More power to him.  

Next week begins the moving of some of the furniture.  What fills me with a degree of dread is the aquariums.  We have a tank that is 88 US Gallons.  AUGH!!!  Moving it is gonna be a freakin’ nightmare.  First, we have to pull out all the plants and fish and store them…. somewhere.  Then drain it, pull out all the gravel (120 lbs), all the decorations (approximately another 75 lbs), and then bring it downstairs to a waiting van.  Load it, the stand, the gravel, decorations, fish and plants and take it to the house where we will then have to reassemble the whole mess. It is gonna be interesting….