That's the front bench in my entry way, complete with my giant soda mug. It currently has 2 holes almost like outhouse seats on the top of it and underneath are the original pine floors. It would make a great storage bin, or even better, a lovely little seat, if not for the outhouse holes. I've almost lived in my house for 3 years and it's taken me that long to figure out what to do about the unfortunate thing. I've decided that fixing the top so that it acts as a single lid might be beautiful. Since I am not a carpenter, I needed someone with more skills than I currently possess... Someone cheap... Enter my mom. I was sort of worried she would tell me no when I asked if she'd help me, but she was more than happy to come on out for the project. I found a one way flight from Salt Lake to Boston for a hundred bucks so obviously it was a sign from God that she was making the right choice. Dad was more than happy for mom to come help me, and wouldn't you know it, he wants to come too. He's going to let me have my mom for a week, then he's gonna drive out to pick her up, and then they are going to do some touring on their way back home. Problem solved. Just as a reminder, here's how the front entry looked on the listing when I bought the house. Notice the outhouse holes are covered with a grody homemade seat cushion:
That's right. She's almost stripped down entirely. And it's also right that I have had renovation supplies on that bench for 2 years now. I know... Shut up.... Just a fix to the bench and then some varnish and won't she be right lovely?! Jared and I are still working on the dining room, front entry, and stairway as an entire project; mainly because it makes sense to try to time them all together. I'm now hoping to get most of it all done before mom arrives so she only has to help with the bench. Along those lines, I finally ripped out a patch of plaster that was poorly concealing a spot on my tin ceiling in the front entryway. I suspected it was where the old radiator sat, but since you never know what you might find when you start picking away at an old repair, I was relieved to find out I was right:
I've been brainstorming how to fix the problem (besides cramming stupid plaster into the hole) and think I've come up with a solution. Just for fun though, I contacted the tin company where I purchased my dining room tiles and asked if they could custom make a piece of crown molding to match. Turns out they can... for 3,000 bucks! Since I don't happen to have a fortune sitting in the bank, I'm going to have to go back to my original plan. I'll keep you posted about how it turns out. When we first moved in, I placed a bookcase under that tin hole and had forgotten that underneath it, the wood flooring where the radiator would have sat was repaired poorly:
I actually had a floor guy come in when I first took possession of the house and I don't know why I didn't have him fix that. To be honest, I probably missed it what with all the other issues I needed him to repair. Anyway, it wasn't long before this happened:
Yep. Not only did I pry up the crappy patch but ripped down the poorly matched baseboard too. I secretly feel like the houses we have owned let out sighs of relief when we find little issues to fix. Almost like they feel better knowing our work will keep them up and running at their lovely best for years to come. Because I believe this to be true, I sat on the floor right in front of that hole, rubbed the wall lovingly and said to the house, "don't worry old girl. Momma's here." Jared didn't tease me at all because he agrees with me on this point. He just stood there, let me finish talking to my house baby, then helped me decide how to proceed from here. I kept stroking the walls and calming down my house, and before I knew it, Jared and I worked out a plan. Unfortunately, I started messing around before Jared left for work, so he couldn't stay to help me with the plan we devised. I decided since I was already dusty, I may as well get more of the texturing done in the front entryway. I was going to do the hallway leading up the stairs and then I remembered I had a spot of bulging lath and plaster on that wall. Maybe I should have just textured over it. Maybe I should have waited until Jared got home to talk me out of it. What actually happened? You guessed it. Before I knew it, I had ripped a whole chunk of the plaster out and then had to get started replacing it with some sheetrock:
By the time I remembered to snap a pic of my mess, the girls had started to come home from school. As each one came in, I blamed the hole on someone else in the family. By the time we got Bub from school, we told her Lily had gotten so angry she had busted through the wall like a hulk. I even yelled at Lily for a while to make it seem more real. Unfortunately, Bub has lived with my nonsense her whole life. She saw through the whole thing, promptly walked away, and started playing with a game I got from my company Christmas party. Lame. Even though Bub was not impressed with the show I put on for her, despite the fact that I had wasted at least 10 minutes staging it for her, I still managed to get the rest of the patch up and clean up my mess pretty quickly:
She'll need a few more coats of mud, and it might look like a bigger problem than what I had, but having that bulge gone will make my texturing much easier in the long run. It just so happens that the same night that I finished my patch was also the advance screening day for The Rise of Skywalker. Since I am married to a Star Wars nerd, and because Hannah THINKS she's a big Star Wars nerd, we got late tickets after Jared got out of work. Here's Hannah and me saving a place in line:
Was it good? Absolutely. Hannah as usual complained about nearly everything, but I enjoyed myself immensely. I am not an ass that goes around spoiling movies (I'm a regular type of ass) so I won't spill my guts here. Just know that I liked it a lot and don't care that the critics have sort of dissed the whole thing. Besides, I got to have popcorn and a giant Mr Pibb Zero. Then, I drank half of Hannah's Coke Zero, so life was pretty great for me.
I'm on call now so my projects will have to wait another day as usual. I'm also just winding down the last few days until the fat man flies again and hoping everyone has a merry holiday with the people they love the most. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night... You too old house baby. Momma is still here...
