Demolition!

It all started out innocently enough. I was going to paint the living room and the kitchen. And the next thing you know we were patching giant cracks in the walls, cutting and installing missing moulding pieces, moving furniture . . . It is definitely out of hand!

How many things are wrong in this picture?

Brandon needs to earn his Family Life merit badge, and one thing he has to do is organize a family project. So I suggested he organize the painting of the living room.

Brandon tapes.

Brandon paints while Kaylie removes the curtain rod.

Kaylie paints.

All the kids paint.

Bruce paints.

I paint. 
(You have no idea how brave of me it was to stand on the highest step of the step-ladder, with the ladder right on the edge of the stairway. I was working on a second coat.)

And I still couldn't reach to the top;
I had to have Bruce finish it later.

Ryan helps me tape and paint the kitchen.

Luna wasn't very excited—no, she was excited, but not very happy about the scroll-saw. (Which is not the best tool to use to cut mouldings, but it's what I had.)

Right in the middle of The Big Painting Project, we had The Toilet Trouble that I talked about in my last post. And since we had to remove the bathtub so that we could fix a humongous hole in the floor, I decided we should get started on that while the toilet was out. So, out came the tub-surround walls, and out came the bathtub...

You are thinking, "That is not a humongous hole!"
That's because you are not seeing it from the basement.

Ryan works on cutting away caulk.

Scott and Ryan carry out the wall/surround pieces.
(Out to the back deck, to join the toilet.)

lovely

Well, I got the overflow drain, and the spigot, and the shower-mixer handle off; I got the surround walls down, but I couldn't disconnect the drain in the bottom of the tub. Gregory came over and did that for me. Now I'm pretty tough, and my friends call me brave for doing things like taking out the toilet, but I didn't think I could actually take the bathtub out by myself. Or even with my boys' help. I saved that job for Bruce.

Bruce had to tear out the actual walls—and the moulding from the door—to get the bathtub out.

Luna, the camouflage cat, was very, very interested.

Bruce and Brandon carry the bathtub outside.
Do you like the blurry action-shot?

Peek-a-boo, Lindsey!

And Rachel is showing us what the bathroom looks like now.

Once the bathtub was removed, I got back to painting. The painting is almost finished—just some doors and trims to do. And the bathroom. But before I can paint the bathroom we have to tear out the rotten floor, replace it, put in a new bathtub, tile the floor, and tile the walls around the tub. And then, maybe one day, my house will be all put back together again. Maybe.