Current Project

Our first project is the guest room. When we moved in, we didn't put anything in the room except for an odor-eating candle. We suspect that the "gentleman" who occupied the room before sat and smoked 3 packs a day with the window and door sealed shut. I also kind of think he liked to hammer nails and anchor screws in the walls and ceilings just for fun.

Last night we braved the cold night to go buy 2 putty knifes and sandpaper, and make a side trip to Dick's for some Christmas shopping. (I think Adam was not interested in spackle-ing at all because he actually suggested the side shopping trip.) Once we got home, we attacked the walls. I can't say enough about the spackle that goes on pink and dries white... great home improvement invention! (I'm sure I'll discover more during our upcoming adventures.) Once we filled all the holes, the walls looked like they got a case of the chicken pox and were treated with a wholesale carton of calamine lotion.

Tonight I figured it would be a quick sand down and then we'd get to start priming... well we sanded at least. I hate the fact that the walls are textured (we discovered during our spackle-ing that there are a couple layers of a loud, sixtys-esque, floral patterned wallpaper under some plaster texture under a really bad, drippy paint job) but I like how it makes the sanding easy. No need to be perfect if there is suppose to be texture!

Three things we found tonight:
1. A giant hole in the wall near the floor behind the door. It seems like it opens into a duct and it is too big to be covered by a floorboard. Adam and I both swear that hole happend overnight. Neither one of us remember ever seeing it before.
2. We removed the vent cover to the wall vent and found there wasn't a duct behind it. You just see wood, no metal. Our heat is on (Yay new furnace!) but there really isn't any airflow coming from the vent.
3. A crack in the ceiling led to a large (to me) portion of the ceiling falling down. The hole revealed a really bad seam and taping job of the Sheetrock.

I'm not sure what to expect from the rest of the house when what was suppose to be a simple paint job has morphed into a chicken pox infected, swiss cheese hole-y, fake vented, first project attempt crapshoot! We'll see what tomorrow brings...