You bought the perfect house, and so what if it needs a ton of work? You are a hardy person. You have experience buying a less than livable space and making it awesome. You are not afraid of getting dirty completely filthy. You are not a girly girl, and the only reason you keep nail polish remover in the house is to help dissolve adhesive and other construction related substances from your skin, as not to look like a complete hobo when you (finally) leave the house. You totally got this.  You understand the pitfalls and the drawbacks of DIY-ing your way to a fantastic home.  Yet, every now and then reality sets in, and what gets old is not just the never-ending list of projects, but  living amidst the chaos and aforementioned filth that go with fixing up an old house. While regular construction is dirty, an old house is exponentially dirtier – all those decades of dust, pollution, smoke, all just waiting to waft free.

Exhibit A: dirt

Take our bedroom for example.  It has been un-inhabitable  for about 5 weeks. The professional paint stripping begat the ceiling restoration, which begat the fixing of some minor electrical things, which begat – oh god, where will this end? Over dinner recently,  these words actually came out of my mouth: “Our bedroom is in shambles, and we’ve been forced to take up residence in the rear parlor. And the cats, there are so many cats…”  at which point I realized I’m one six toed cat away from sounding like Little Edie of Grey Gardens.

But onward we push. If the weather holds I think I should be able to finish the stripping of the garden level of the façade. The bedroom now has a functioning light, and the circuitry has been sorted out.  And yes, the beams have been leveled. Photos and details ahead.