Work Around the House

Laundry room doors I hung

I learned back sometime ago when I was a newly married
woman and mom (yes, it was really a long time ago),
and money was always short that when things needed
doing you could not always hire them to be done.
I married at the young age of 20, had my first child
at 20 and I knew how to basically boil water, not much
more then that. Over the years of marriage, two kids
and a divorce I taught myself to cook, clean and tackle
a lot of other things, like home repairs. Now keep in
mind, there are some things I will not or can not take
on, but for the most part if my back will allow, I will try it.

When I left home I had never yielded a paint brush to
a wall before, I soon got over that and I could not tell
you the many walls and ceiling I have painted in the
years since. But as those years went on I tackled cabinets,
with the sander, primer and paint. I have laid floor, hung
wallpaper, stripped wallpaper, changed washers, hung
doors and even changed out a faucet. Although I do not
mess with electricity though. I caulk, I saw, I sand, I
drill, I hammer…..

Some of this may not be near what some of you
women do, some of it may be a lot more then what
some of you women do. But…as I sit here and think
back on what I have taught myself since I left home…
I am proud. While I am at it lets throw in there,
changing the oil in the car and my own plugs! I don’t
do those things anymore, I can now afford to have it
done, but there was a time where I could not.

I tell you these things just because I needed to write a
blog today and I could not really come up with anything
to write about, so I thought…why not this.

You see, my daughter and grandson lived with me for
over 5 years. In those 5 years I let a lot of things go that
needed doing but I refused to do them since they really
did not take care of my home. When they moved out, I
proceeded to get going and going things.

I painted the kitchen. I laid a new floor, I took up carpet
in the hall and laid the same floor in there that led to the
bath downstairs, I even took it into the bath. I had someone
come in and lay carpet in the living room. I primed all doors,
door facing and jams as well as baseboards and I painted
them all white. I painted the whole downstairs. I then
painted the horror area of the stairwell!

The problem came with the carpet on the stairs. I really
could not afford to have new stairs put in but I wanted
the carpet gone. So…I took it off, stained part of the steps,
painted part and I found a product, peel and stick strips that
I could apply to the top part of the steps. It worked great!

finished stairs

in the process

to begin with

working my way up

With that done, it was time to move it all upstairs. With my

health and sleep issues things started to move slower at this

time. I have only gotten the bath upstairs done at this time.

I still need to prime baseboards and paint 3 bedrooms and a

hall. I have carpet for one room to lay and a floor for the craft

room to lay. But I did get the bathroom done in May.

I primed and painted it. Did the cabinet also. Did some

repairs, laid a floor. I still need some help with getting a

new faucet and sink in, I can’t seem to get the old faucet

off. Yikes….Looks like this will be a hire job.
Next room that I need to work on will be my grandson’s

room. I have been promising to paint it and I really need

to get that done for him. But all in good time. Rate I am

moving though, I will probably get it done and it will be

time to start all over again! NO WAY!

Bathroom floor

Thanks for stopping in,

Pam