At it Again

I just found out this last week that not only will my parents be visiting for Bubba's upcoming baptism, but my sister and her little family will be too.  My parents came last spring and although my house was in disarray because of the renovation that we had started/still needed to start, I only felt the need to impress my parents by telling  them I was embarrassed about the state of my house  - not by actually doing anything to renovate faster so that they might feel more comfortable while they were here.  Unfortunately, with Boone coming, I'm really going to have to step up my game.  Although my verbal excuses will win some points, that cat has no problem telling you what a miserable loser you are, so I gotta get a few more things taken care of to keep her fat mouth from bugging me too much about... well, what a miserable loser I know I actually am...

What have I decided to work on?  Well, my dining room, so that maybe we can have enough room for everyone to sit down during meals this summer.  I did manage to do a little bit of work when I first moved in.  You see, my favorite gal Maria had several areas on the dining room floor that had been damaged and replaced with oak patches instead of pine which the original floor was laid with.  Maria had so much crap in that house that her patches were covered with her 10 tons of ugly furniture.  It wasn't until I moved in that I finally saw her stupid ugly patches and man was I mad about it!  I forgot to take before pictures of the areas, but after I had paid a floor guy named Rego (he's great actually) to repair the floor, I did remember to take a before and after pic of one of the patched areas.  Before:

After: 

I actually refinished the front entry way, the living room, and the dining room before Jared and the girls arrived because the flooring was so terrible, I didn't want to have any further damage done to it while I waited to renovate each room.  I'm going to have to do a few more coats to the floor now that I'm starting the actual room renovation, but at least I won't have to take it back down to bare wood again.  Praise.

Know what else Maria did in the dining room?  well, this:

See that shelf just cut off in the middle of the wall?  She had a big armoire in front of that area so I didn't see THAT idiocy until she moved out either!  The dining room has built in shelves around the entire room.  There used to be a door by that shelf and Maria and/or her cronies sheetrocked over said door and just left the cut out area without a shelf.  (Please don't ask me to discuss what I think about her sheetrock job)!  That missing shelf looks fantastic without anything in front of it let me tell you!  It's taken me nearly 2 years to decide what to do about it.  I have had exactly 4 ideas that I have pondered for the last 20 months and it was the fourth that finally won.  They are, in order of their conception, the following:

1. Find a 3D printed replacement for the missing shelf
2. Find a carpenter to manufacture a wooden replacement for the shelf
3. Drive to Cranston, find Maria, and murder her with the pipe and golf balls she left in the basement
4. Rip out the shelving and replace it with wainscotting

I hope it's going to look fantastic.  It certainly can't be any worse than what Maria left me!  At least I already have some good before and after pics of the shelf removal.  Before Jared started pulling off the baseboard:

After Jared started pulling off the baseboard:  

Gosh I love that plumber's crack.  It goes on for miles!  In all honesty, I hope I will have something really nice to blog about in about 6 months, but I'm actually afraid Boone and my parents will arrive to find a bigger mess than what my folks saw last year!  These things always take me longer to finish then I think they will.  Like my basement that I thought I would have nearly done by now:

Or my fence that completely needs to be replaced.  Look at my back fence with its two spots that are already waving in the breeze:

Heaven help me if we get a bad Nor'easter this year.  Any decent wind is going to blow that picket monstrosity down, and my poor back fence neighbors will have an unobstructed view of my horrible back yard - complete with the deep holes from the foundation I haven't finished digging out yet.

You're right Briana.  I'm a mess.  And a weirdo.  And...  hey, wanna come check out the three season porch falling off the side of my house?  Step inside and let's make your visit interesting...