Another BIG Job....DONE!

Good Sunday morning to you!   The sun is shining, and so far no wind.  We have had some big wind lately.  I get bad headaches in the wind, so I hope it is done blowing for a while!  Yesterday morning, we had a surprise visit from all three Grands!  Our daughter Eri and her little boy Noah showed up with a pretty pink box of donuts!

At the same time, our son in law Jake arrived with Hannah and Clairey to borrow the carpet cleaner.  Perfect timing!  We all sat around the kitchen table chatting and eating donuts and sipping coffee.  Erika and Noah wanted wash her car.  So Geeps was nice enough to go out there and give her a hand, and then they all washed my car too.

While they were outside washing cars, I decided to try my hand at tackling the job of re texturing the walls in my laundry room.  This was where nightmare wallpaper removal began.  I removed the wallpaper in that room a year ago, and haven't done a thing to it since!  Embarrassing, but true.  I knew that when I was done with that room, and also the removal of paper in the guest room where I just finished, that I would have to have the walls re done.  So I didn't do any more with the laundry room because I was going to have both the rooms done at the same time with the retexturing.   This is what the walls looked like before I started.

When we moved here, there was navy blue floral wallpaper in the kitchen and attached laundry room.  They had put up plaster over the texture on the walls to make it a smooth surface. Let me tell you that removing wallpaper over this is just awful!  I tackled the kitchen several years ago, had the walls redone and then painted.  But I didn't want to redo the laundry room at that time, so I repapered it to avoid having to do anything with the walls.  So it was time!
I started in the very furthest corner of the room, so that if it didn't turn out well, it was hidden.  But as I kept going, I got better and better at it.

Then I did all of the area at the top of the walls.

I discovered just the right consistency for mixing the joint compound with water.  I found that mixing it to appear like smooth peanut butter was just about perfect to apply and then allow the mixture to form small peaks, that will later be "knocked down" for the finished look.

I learned that the giant bucket of joint compound from Walmart for 5 dollars works just as well as the tiny container of joint compound I bought at Home Depot for 5 dollars and change.
By the time I got to the last wall, the most obvious wall, the one that will be most seen, I had developed a good system for applying the texture, and was on a roll.  I was also covered in joint compound from head to toe!!!   My friend Karen at 

The Vintage Bag Lady

suggested using a plastic grocery sak for applying the texture to the wall.  I learned that tying the handles tightly around the bag, holds the bag into a nice shape and almost makes it into a sort of mitt for holding onto it. 

  All done and drying!  I will paint this week, and then begin to add some new touches to my laundry room.  I am thinking about painted the cabinets in there, and just changing things up a bit for a fresh new look.

When I was done with the laundry room, I felt I had done a much better job and decided to take the little bit of compound I had left and go redo the patch on the wall in the guest room.  So that will also need to be repainted.  

By the time I was done with all of that, Jake had returned the carpet cleaner and I got busy shampooing the carpets.  It was a perfect day to do it because it was warm and dry and windy.  So no rest for the weary, or for me, and I got busy with task number two.

Yikes...I was over do on doing this!  A couple of years ago, I was getting some quotes on having the carpet cleaned in the whole house.  It was so high, that I decided it would be money well spent to purchase this Bissell 2X Carpet Cleaner!  I paid the same amount for the machine that I would have for the job of having someone else do it for me.  And I have been able to do my carpets any time I want to now.  Also, our kids have used it on their homes, and Geeps has done the boat carpet and motor home carpet too.  It was a good investment, and it works so well!

By the time I was done with all of that, darkness was beginning to set, and Geeps came in from his work in the grove, and went out to pick up some dinner for us.   We were both exhausted!  We ended our hard day of work with watching a GREAT new series I had  heard about.  It is on PBS Master Piece Theatre.  The series is Downton Abbey.  I had seen a few people comment on how good it was on some of my favorite blogs, and it piqued my interest.  I love English authors, and historical novels and such.  I knew I would love this show.  I told Geeps about it, but we couldn't find it!  I heard that season one was finished, and season two was in session.  With the fourth episode airing tonight.  I was panicked because I wanted to tivo it.  Well, it turns out, I was calling it DownTOWN Abbey, not Downton Abbey, and this is why Geeps couldn't find it.  He was able to locate it and set it up to record, and we also downloaded the first season series and began to watch it last night.  SO good.  SO SO good!!!!!  The acting, the photography, the period costumes, EVERYTHING!  So good.  Look for it!!!  We sat up and watched two episodes last night, and finally I had to call it a night.  We are about to watch episode three in a bit here.

Lastly, I put my binding on my little hearts quilt the other day, and am in progress on another.

Go make it a great day!!!

XO  Kris