Press "Enter" to skip to content

Clean house, clean brain

Danm, that felt great. I’ve just sat down to rest after 24 hours of mad housework. I cleared about half the construction disarray, then scrubbed, swept and dusted. (Okay, I got a few hours sleep in there, too; but it was still a marathon.)

You have no idea how feeeelthy a house can get after six weeks of drywalling (even with all the work being done in a back room) and an even longer time of cutting up 2x4s, shims, and trim with a chop saw that has no good place to operate. The saw’s been in the living room all this time. Ugh. I gave up on trying to keep ahead of dust and wood chips a while back. It was beginning to look as if snow had drifted in.

Normally I’m pretty scrupulous about keeping an orderly house. I can’t think amid mess. But since last spring when I began shifting all the tools, materials, and general stuff out of the future bedroom so we could work on the back of the house, it’s been utter chaos with little I could do about it.

Heck, it’s been chaos for 4-1/2 years, but the last nine months have been the worst. This last full day still left a lot to be done. But it helped. Boy, did it help.

I also hauled one full carload and one partial to the thrift store. Farewell, half my clothes and the temp baskets they’ve been kept in. From thrift store back to thrift store with you all.

Then I vacuumed and washed most of the dog hair and mud out of the interior of the Kia. Thank heaven for the waterproof dog hammock Furrydoc gave me as a car-warming present. But even with that to prevent the worst, the combo of Ava and this climate is not a happy one for a vehicle. Or for a person who’d like to keep the vehicle from deteriorating into a particularly disreputable kennel.

Whew. Felt great, I tell you. Fantastic. As if I washed my mind out with a firehose.

Still, I can’t kid myself. There’s more and more and more to do.

I’ve got most of the rubble and tool storage reduced to two small rooms.

One of those rooms (not that one) will be cleaned out by next week.

But how much longer will it be before I can finally — finally! — remove all that scrounged hardwood flooring from behind the couch and actually get it installed in a truly finished room?

The defunct flooring contractor I got that hardwood from is serving a nine-year prison sentence for committing some nutzoid violent crime. He’s about two years into it as we speak and I fear he’ll be out on parole before I lay that floor. (Maybe I could ask him to install the flooring when he gets out; but then, he was a burglar before he upgraded to committing assault, so prolly not.)

And whatever am I going to do with that 68-feet of baseboard molding — most of it in 12-foot lengths — currently bridging the kitchen and the sun room and threatening to trip me when I go for a late-night snack?

I got it at a contractor’s garage sale a couple of weeks ago; it was too good a buy to pass up. I got other moldings at that sale that I’ve already made good use of in the bedroom. But I’m months away from even beginning to think about thinking about tackling the rooms where that stuff’s going eventually going to go. And it’s only MDF so I can’t store it in the damp of Neighbor J’s garage.

I think once the bedroom’s done, I’ll cut it into shorter lengths and … sigh, I dunno. Hide it under the bed?

9 Comments

  1. Bear
    Bear January 30, 2018 1:25 pm

    ” He’s about two years into it as we speak and I fear he’ll be out on parole before I lay that floor.”

    Hey; he may be looking for work then.

  2. Claire
    Claire January 30, 2018 1:42 pm

    Funny, Bear. While you were reading, I was still editing … and addressed that very thing.

    Added another photo and a couple more paragraphs, too.

  3. Comrade X
    Comrade X January 30, 2018 2:33 pm

    One word of advice; stay away from nutzoid’s!!

    Far away!!

  4. jed
    jed January 30, 2018 3:01 pm

    Thanks for posting those photos, Claire. It makes me feel better about the chaos in my nominal living room, and dining area, and bedroom. Well, there really isn’t any room here, other than the bathroom, that isn’t functioning as a storage area. The bathroom is just too small. πŸ™‚

    12-foot lengths of molding are a pain. Find the longest wall section where you might use it, and cut them all to the length + a little. Maybe that’ll be short enough that you can find a spot. It’ll mean more waste later, but if you got it super-cheap? Meh.

    I also end up feeling oddly refreshed after cleaning up some chaos. I suppose I should try it here some time — if I had anywhere to put things.

  5. ~Qjay
    ~Qjay January 30, 2018 3:31 pm

    12 foot lengths store on a few big hooks (think 4 bike hooks) put up above head height, Claire.
    You could even use a few cloth or cord ties if you only have a little like the picture makes it look.
    Get a thrift shop couch cover that “matches your room” for the stuff behind your couch until you are ready to install it.
    Get a few reasonably matched covers to use as “drapes” to keep things covered if you want a visual change of pace.
    Take care. πŸ˜‰ ~QJ

  6. Claire
    Claire January 30, 2018 4:21 pm

    Thank you, but I ain’t puttin’ bike hooks in my living room (which is the only room long enough to hold 12-foot lengths of molding). Besides, I fear that MDF is both too floppy and too fragile (relative to wood moldings) to handle that. Clever idea though.

    I think I’ll try what jed suggested, when I find the right place. Unfortunately, the best wall for that is … the one behind the couch where all the hardwood flooring is.

    The cover is a good idea, and I’ve already taken partial advantage of it. The couch is topped by an “exotic” wall hanging from India, plus half dozen pillows and a couple of stuffed dogs (one playing poker). So nobody but me usually notices the couch is a foot out from the wall with a stack of wood behind it.

  7. Claire
    Claire January 30, 2018 4:27 pm

    “if I had anywhere to put things.”

    There’s the rub, isn’t it? Half dozen times I’ve almost given in to the temptation to rent a storage unit. But it seems like both spending money on nothing and like a PITA to haul things to it, then haul them back from it. Anyhow, in my case the biggest problem has been needing a workshop. Storage would be nice. But a place to hang and use tools would be a real blessing.

    A house I pass every day belongs to a hoarder. His father, who dropped dead a couple of years ago was the original hoarder, and when the son inherited, I’m sure everybody in the neighborhood hoped the place would improve. But nope … stuff, stuff, stuff inside and out. And more keeps coming. So it could be worse.

  8. ~Qjay
    ~Qjay January 31, 2018 10:17 am

    Claire, put them on a shelf, then. A long one. As long as they are up off the floor and out of the way, AND you even get a long knickknack shelf out of it afterward. πŸ˜‰
    I’d recommend things that are easy to reach and dust repellent.

  9. Claire
    Claire January 31, 2018 3:02 pm

    “AND you even get a long knickknack shelf out of it afterward. πŸ˜‰”

    You’re very clever, ~Qjay. I might just do something like that.

Leave a Reply