Gas leak, living room update, paint stripping!

Wow, who knew that working on a home renovation by yourself is actually really hard?  With Emilio coming and going for business trips (way to bring home the bacon, hon!) I have been starting and abandoning projects all over the place.   So far, the house still stands.

I am extremely grateful that Emilio was here for Easter Sunday.  I ran off to the park (glorious spring day!) and was relaxing with all the dogs and people in the sunshine when I got a text message from Emilio.  He smelled gas.  Followed by: "Do not panic."

Me, panic?  Nahhhh....  (AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH)

BUT.  Do not worry your dear parental heads.  The gas leak(s) have been managed by a professional and now the house probably won't explode.

Yeah, it's not comforting to find out that the house with faulty "creative" wiring also suffered from gas leak(s!) but at least it's fixed.  Thank goodness Emilio smelled it and handled the situation!  And, hey, we needed a plumber anyway.  The plumber not only fixed the leaky pipes, but also did a few other small projects while he was here.  Yay!  No more weird camp stove in the basement!

So here's what I've been up to:
cleaning everything.
moving woodpiles out of the house
supervising the Verizon installation
calling contractors for quotes
de-junkifying
raking and yard clean-up
toilet fixing
organizing
dog-walking
paint stripping

Paint stripping is my big project.

Here's a sample of the trim in the master bedroom.  I've tried several methods here, but the one I'm sticking with is CitriStrip.  It's non-toxic and seems to work pretty well.  This is a labor-intensive project that takes forever.  You paint on the orange goop, wait a while- I find at least 2hrs is best.  Then, scrape and wipe down with mineral spirits.  And then do it again.  It's taking at least 4-5 applications to get down to wood.  Some of the trim is in good shape, so we won't strip that trim, it'll just be sanded before painting.

At one point, I felt like this was too slow so I bought some of the industrial strength uber-toxic POISON CANCER DEATH paint stripper that everyone says works really well.  It didn't do any better than the non-toxic stuff, honestly.  It was a bit faster (20min sit time) but it smelled awful and then you have to worry about rags lighting themselves on fire.  I do not have the patience for taking all of my rags outside to dry before disposal.  Bah to you, ZipStrip.  Bah.

I want to try to do a video tour so folks can see the house as it is now.  I'm very proud of how far we've come and it's starting to feel more like a home.  I can turn lights on and off and plug things in and everything!  The toilet doesn't run anymore, the trash from all the wallpaper is gone, the flowers are *this close* to blooming.



Just to remind everyone (especially me) that progress is happening, here's a series of pictures of the Living Room:

    

  It's not done, but that right there is progress! 

Keep cheering us on, we love the feedback.