Bugs, Smoke, and Dirt Oh My!

  Oh the joys of remodeling houses! In every cabinet I open I find a new bug cemetery, each strip of pipe smoke ridden carpet we pull out reveals at least an inch of dirt and filth that has been resting there for who knows how long. Being a clean freak myself I can't wait to get my hands on all of this and whip it out as fast as I can, my brothers ripped out the carpet in the living room and the night before in one of the bedrooms revealing tile linoleum from 1955 when this house was built. I vacuumed the dirt that had been trapped by the carpet and the boys finished it off by mopping on their hands and knees to clean the rest of the grunge that had been left behind. The house smells so much better with the carpet removed, I can only imagine what it will smell like with new flooring and fresh paint.


  Now the cabinets are a whole other story on its own, Mom and I have been working on them for at least a week now collectively, and it just scares us and grosses us out more each time. Imagine this: Cabinet liners with bug bodies, large cob webs, and anything that goes along with bugs.If anyone has ever been in the same position as we are then you will realize all of the work that goes into cleaning cabinets that are in such sad shape as this. We are vacuuming out the cob webs, then spraying down the insides with pine sol and wiping them down several times (meaning at least 3 or 4 times), then caulking the gaps between the wood and the wall, then finally painting the backs of the cabinets that were just plain sheet rock. The cabinets feel so clean now and there is no way that bugs are getting through, and they thought they were smart ;) lol!


  Now it's on to:

• Carpet in my brother's room, gotta love him, he painted his closet hunting camo!
• Painting the inside and outside of the bathroom cabinets which haven't been painted in years....and years....and years.
• Flooring in the rest of the house, hoping to put in tile but will see what our budget allows.
• Building a closet and shoring up the floor in my bedroom since the floor slants-it had previously been a garage that was converted into a room back in the 1970's.
• And landscaping! Can't wait for that :) Going to plant some palm trees, lemon, trees, other fruit trees, roses, etc.

  This is going to be an ongoing project and I will be sure to inform ya'll on the progress. I really love remodeling houses, my family tends to be the "House Rescuers". We always find a house that is barely hanging on. Then we restore almost everything in it updating it so that it still holds it's vintage character but can function in a modern world. I just don't think that I would be able to live in a new house, it just doesn't have stories and character to go along with it. I like to think about the people who have previously lived in the house, what they were like, their stories, parties they held, etc. Old houses just have a warmth that go along with them, even if you have to sweep past the dirt to find it.


  Well I'm on my way to do a little sweeping and painting,


                            Adios!


                                 Jessie Lou


P.S. Hope to post some pics of the progress soon :)