memorial day weekend and mixing it up

Sunday, May 29th, 2011

Hello! This is a photo-less post. And I am very sad about it—my camera stopped working today. I have no idea why, but I am not feeling too good about my little camera’s chances. At first I thought the battery was just dead, so I swapped out the battery for a freshie. No luck. Nothing. When I press the On/Off button I get no response. And I’m pretty peeved about the whole thing because this camera is less than 2 years old. That should not happen!

But I am trying not to let this get me down. I will call the manufacturer and see what gives. In the meantime, I cannot show you our first harvest of baby spinach and lettuces from the garden this weekend. I can’t show you the crazy thunder clouds that passed by on Friday. I can’t show you the amazing heirloom tomato starts I bought today.

And most of all, I can’t show you the comical, utter disarray that is our downstairs right now. We are in the process of vacating all the contents of our dining room and living room in preparation to have our hardwood floors refinished next week. We have been talking about this for years and years, pretty much since we first moved in. The bulk of the flooring is in great shape, but the path from the kitchen through the dining room into the living room is really worn and looks icky.

I started calling to get quotes because I do not feel comfortable attempting this project ourselves. After I got some quotes, I found a refinisher who offered us a deal we could not pass up—he had a contractor back out on a job next week, so he has an opening. And he’s giving us a steep discount.

Sign us up!

Perfect timing with the long weekend, so we’ve spent the past two days moving bookcases and tables and figuring out where to stash the loveseat and dining room table and houseplants and chairs and end tables and whatnot. Our house is pretty small, so there’s not a bunch of options for where things can go. However, I think (!?) we have a plan in place. Today we moved the bookcases that are in the living room upstairs to the guest bedroom. The dining room table is going to go out on the screened-in porch covered with a sheet or tarp. The computer and desk are now upstairs in the guest bedroom as well. The TV and TV stand will go at the end of the upstairs hallway.

The couch you ask. The couch? Well, I think this is the kick in the pants we need to finally say goodbye to it. Our couch and chair are hand-me-downs from Craig’s parents. And while they are very comfy, they are decades old—and very, very worn—and pretty much gross at this point. When we got married two years ago, we put aside some wedding money to get a new sofa. But Craig and I could never agree on one.

That was then! This is now! If we toss the ailing, sagging, worn couch, maybe—just maybe—that will force us to recommit to furniture shopping and finding one we love.

I am ever so hopeful.

I would also like to spend a little time rethinking our dining and living room layouts and maybe reconfiguring the spaces. It is almost like we are moving in all over again!

This is kind of fun. The downside is that summer decided to make its appearance quite suddenly and temps have been near 90°F for the past 3 days. It is oh-so-warm in our little abode. But we are making do as we haul furniture around, heave books, clear out the clutter, decide what we no longer need, and get ready to have our floors done.

I am so excited to refinish our red oak floors! I cannot wait! But here is what we are still stuck on… the finish. We are going to go au naturale with just a clear, low-VOC water-based polyurethane. However, do we go with a satin finish? Or semi-gloss? We have to decide by Tuesday. We have a satin finish now. And I like it. But I do wonder what the space would look like with a little more sheen… Decisions, decisions. I don’t want it to look like a bowling alley, but I also wonder how a little gloss might transform the rooms? Our living room gets a ton of light, so I don’t know if semi-gloss would be too reflective? I keep going back and forth.

Have you redone your floors? What finish did you go with? Any suggestions or recommendations? I would love to hear your thoughts.

And I hope you are having a lovely and relaxing Memorial Day weekend!

Tags: gardening, home improvement, housework, lettuce, spinach, spring, tomatoes
Posted in Household Management 101 | 2 Comments »