Lost In Space and Other Unintended Consequences

Progress, no matter how little is still progress.  I keep telling myself that.  I finish one job on the house and discover two more things that need attention.  I've been trying to correct little things, things that really don't bother you or don't really matter, but to get the house to the "WOW" factor, I want them done and done right.

When we met with our realtor last January, he recommended we remove the wallpaper in the kitchen and repaint in neutral colors.  He even had a couple of sample paint chip cards in his pocket that he said people love.  Being the trustworthy soul that I am, I took it for action and we got all that work done.

Looking back to admire that new paint job, we noticed the kitchen counter now looked pretty shabby.  So we went to Lowe's and had the countertop replaced with new Corian unit.  An unintended consequence.

Standing back to admire the new countertop and Marti decided she didn't like the cabinet and drawer knobs.  An unintended consequence.

Off to...Walmart this time, we occasionally need some food in the house, so while we were at it, we picked up new knobs to replace the flowery ones.  All thirty of them.

Painting other rooms in the house made us aware that the carpet was looking shabby.  Off to Lowe's and in no time a complete replacement of all the carpet was done.   An unintended consequence.

The day before the new carpets were installed, I had finished painting one of the bedrooms and I had a paint can emergency.  I had a can of dark green paint that the previous owners left behind.  They had painted one wall in that bedroom and all the trim, plus had installed matching green shades and drapes.

 We liked the color and even our realtor did, so I just touched up a couple of spots and sealed the can.  The other walls I painted "realtor neutral".  Cleaning up all the paint stuff from the room I picked up the can and noticed this.

No big deal, I thought maybe a little paint had dripped down the side of the can, but it was on the old carpet.  I walked to another room to put the can with other paint and supplies.  I turned around and saw I had left a little trail of green paint drops all along the old carpet.

I wondered where the paint was dripping from, the top was on tight and the sides were all dry.  I lifted the can up to look at the bottom and...

The can had a hole in the bottom.  The can had sat in our basement for at least 13 years and rust must have formed and eaten its way through the metal.  A paint can emergency!  Off to Lowe's for a replacement paint can to salvage most of the remaining paint.

Another unintended consequence.  I was very thankful this happened on the old carpet (VERY thankful!). 

Now, we stood back to admire the refreshed kitchen and the linoleum floor looked shabby.  You know the drill by now. 

Back to Lowe's, we picked out new laminate flooring that looks just like tile and is going to be installed right after the Memorial Day weekend.  An unintended consequence.

The storm door on our front door always closed a little funny for my taste and I thought if it bothered me, it could be a turn off for a potential buyer.  This needed a little adjustment (I thought).  After fiddling with the striker plate and the door latch for several hours to get it to work just right, I stood back to admire my work.  Then I didn't like the weather stripping, it looked old and worn.  As I went to remove the weather stripping, there was a nest of tiny sugar ants living behind it.  It was war!

Ant spray, my shop vac and a scrapper were employed.  The battle raged back and forth but finally I the upper hand and sucked all those little ants up in the shop vac.  Now that the weather stripping was removed, the trim looked old and shabby.  Yep, another unintended consequence.  Out came the paint and all the trim was repainted.  While it was drying, another trip to Lowe's to get new weather stripping.

While I was there, I spotted a grill spatula.  Our grill spatula is lost in space, somewhere between the house, the newly rented storage unit and the Journey.  For dinner I was going to grill some burgers and couldn't envision trying to flip them with a pair of pliers and a screwdriver, so I spent the five bucks and bought a new one.  An unintended consequence.  I'm going to hide it from the house staging people.

When I left Lowe's, the cashier reminded me to make sure I punched out on the time clock before going home.  I think she was trying to be funny.

Will this kind of stuff go on when we sell the house and finally hit the road in the Journey fulltime?  I'm sure it will, but the Journey has two major advantages, it's much smaller than a house so there is much less to take care of, and I can drive it to Lowe's!

I guess you could say I've finally broken my Walmart addiction. ;c)

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