This weekend was free of scheduled activities, with sailing being the exception. As a result Tom and I got a lot done on the house. Friday we spent the evening working in the yard- transplanting peonies, planting the rest of my bulbs (160 total!), weeding, and removing bricks and large rocks. We made a lot of progress and the back yard gardens look much better. I’m not sure our peonies are going to survive their transplant, but the burning bushes are doing wonderful!
Saturday we decided to focus on the kitchen. I focused on the applying and sanding down the joint compound, and Tom worked on cutting the drywall and filling in the holes. Our team work paid off, and we were both very satisfied with what we were able to accomplish. Hopefully one more day of drywalling and we will be ready to paint! Our biggest accomplishment was finishing the electricity for the half bath. There were several holes in the kitchen that we couldn’t close until that was finished. So Tom went to work, figured out which wires went where. There were four wires we had to deal with: 1 for the light switch in the bathroom, 1 for the light switch to the kitchen, 1 for the bathroom fan, and 1 for the outlet in the kitchen. Tom had to detach one of the wires from its box in the kitchen and pull it all the way through the wall. (When the electricians did the job, they didn’t thread the wires through the wood beams, making it impossible to drywall as there were wires in the way- bright move eh?) Anyway we fixed it. The whole situation turned out to be quiet hilarious because we had to turn off all the electricity right? (Or at least we did just to be safe). Well it was getting to be later in the day and there wasn’t enough light to be matching colored wires together and snaking wires through small holes. So we went in search of a flashlight. We found one tiny one, but it was weak and we didn’t have any working batteries. So off we went again in search. I recalled a Christmas present Dad had given all of us kids a couple of years ago. A radio flashlight- a wind up! So I collected it out of the basement, and for a good hour a wound and wound and wound the big flashlight so that Tom could do his work. Thanks Dad, your flashlight saved the day!
We are not quite finished. I have taped and partially patched all of the holes in the kitchen proper. I still need to tape and joint compound the holes in the hall. The walls are pretty much done. We are both really happy with how they turned out. I have sanded and touched up about 10 times on them, but that’s just what it’s going to take. After several friends told us we should really hire a professional drywaller. Tom made the observation. “I think for a project like this, you either have to have skill or a lot of patience.” We’re resorting to the patience.