Let's Talk.

Huhllooo? Anyone still out there? Besides all of you crazies that keep googling "How to remove laminate flooring from wood floors?" Yeah, you people need to throw down sub-flooring. Scraping that crap up was a nightmare. (I still like how it turned out. I just like to make a drama out of everything.)

This sadly neglected blog has not had a post since 2006. Remember 2006? What a great year for home repairs. A new wrap around porch for this monster, a kitchen spruce up, a wood floor re-do, painting, oh I forget the rest. In 2007 we had um, what do I call it... a burnout. There was some landscaping. Lots of talking. Then more talking. Nothing really got past the talking stage.

2008. Now here is a year. A bright shiny spankin new year. This is the year we will do a little more than talking. Hey you. Yeah, you. The one who is laughing at me. I really mean it this year. I do. So shutup. For our first little project we really should tackle our hallway upstairs. It is the queen of ugly things. It has ugly blonde paneling that has faded to an odd green color. (If it would have had any decency it would have faded into an "in" green.) I am sure when the paneling was put in place, the acoustic ceiling tiles were a perfect match. Actually, they still are a perfect match. They are both ugly. The only appealing things in that hallway are the paneled doors, the trim, and the transom windows. Since it has those things going for it, the outlook looks good. Possibly.

I give you... Stairway to ugliness.


In recent months, during one of our talking jags, we have gone back and forth about what to do with this hallway. Gut it out? Paint over the paneling? We talked (yes, talked) to people who have done both. Most importantly, we talked to people who gut out rooms in an old house. The largest problem they encountered was trying to put back in the original wood trim. And how walls bowed because the original framing is usually uneven. So, that led us to think about painting the paneling. I have painted paneling before, with very good results. That paneling had a French country look that looked great in our little cottage home. It's uneven wood texture really added to the room. Here in a Victorian? Nah, not so good I think.

It screams... "Do something! I am sooo ugly!"


All of this talking led to more talking. Are you sick of the talking? Yeah, so are we. Wait, though. The talking led to another idea. Spackling. Spackling the grooves in the paneling. Making them all nice and smooth to look like a regular wall. Hummm... this puppy might work. If we can get past this talking stage. If you notice on the second photo, I did start spackling. Five months ago.

Ah. Pretty transom window and trim.


Ah. Pretty transom... HEY! What the? Who did that?


After this post, I have officially talked this project to a new level. The level of production. In the coming weeks, spackling will be my new best friend. Let's hope he treats my walls, and me nice.