Blog Absence (Plus Dining Room Photos)

Andrew and I have been working nonstop all week. The kids have been mostly entertaining themselves, and we've eaten take-out more than we ever have since having kids. I'm sure the kids now hate home improvement projects. We're meeting with our real estate agent on Saturday, so our workload won't slow down until then. My blog entries will be pretty sparse (and mostly about home improvement) for a little while longer.

Here are some updated dining room photos that show off our hard work. We started scraping off the popcorn ceiling last Saturday. Popcorn ceilings can have asbestos, so be sure to get your ceiling tested before tackling a project like that. Plus, it's a huge mess. Dust is still settling in our home.

Early in the week, we did patching and repairs to the ceiling. Andrew's friend came over to help us finish spackling and priming. We textured the ceiling, painted it, and then repainted the walls near the ceiling. My dad is an electrician and came over to hook up our fan and other new lighting.

We used to have a sliding back door and replaced them with French doors a few months after we moved in. The door was busted, and we were trying to install a new handle to fix it when the glass shattered. This is the only photo I have of the old flooring, old floor grates, and old back door. The flooring wasn't installed well. There were large gaps in between the boards, and it was laid over the existing flooring. There's my late, great dog, Bailey. I miss that old girl!

When we got the French doors installed, I thought they were pre-primed and painted them. After a few months, the paint started peeling. Last week, I finally got around to removing all the paint, priming them, and repainting them. Like I said, we've been busy!