Well, I guess it would be more accurate to say – things they are a ‘changin back.
Two years ago I shared how we had purchased this sweet house in Waco –
It seemed weird, at the time, that even though we were in Pennsylvania we could buy a house in Texas. Ah, the magic of technology.
So today it didn’t seem quite so weird that even though we are (again!)in Pennsylvania we have been able to sell a house in Texas.
It was a bittersweet moment as we bid farewell (in a distant kind of way) to little bit of Waco, but I must confess that it was much nicer to see money arrive in our bank account rather than have it get sucked out. We wish the new owners much joy in the house, and pray they love it as much as we did!
But we’re not done with Waco. Not by a long shot. Even though the Parrott Ave (aka the PAZOO) Era is over, there is still lots to love about Waco. No, it’s not Chip and Joanna. It’s the friends we’ve made over the 10 years of our Waco connection and of course it’s these guys most of all –
Yes, Waco – We’ll be baaaaack!!!
Tag Archives: Pazoo
Painting Trim
To say there is a fair bit of trim in this sweet Waco house is quite the understatement. It wasn’t all in bad shape, but if you’ve ever tried to match old white trim paint – well, it just seemed simpler to give it all a fresh coat. We’re not talking big change here – but I think you can see where the new paint on the right looks better than the old paint on the left.
So let’s look at this room (it’s the smallest room in the house) and just see how much trim there is. There are those two windows (in the picture above) and then two more windows in the front, along with a door to the living room.
At the other end of the room is a closet, the door to the hallway, and a cupboard.
Oh, and six inch baseboard all around.
Every day I fill up my paint ‘jug’ and paint until it’s empty. In the six days that I’ve been painting trim I’ve gone through 1.5 gallons of trim paint, painted 17 windows, six solid doors, one set of french doors, 12 door or room openings, and haven’t even made it to the second floor.
I will confess to getting pretty agile with a 2″ roller and I’m developing a solid ‘cutting in’ technique.
Pretty sure I’m going have to move my SOWER Skill Sheet (graded on a 0 (can’t do it) to 5 (it was my job)) painting level up to a solid 3.
Maybe even a 3.5 (if there is such a thing!).
With another 11 windows, 8 doors/doorways and 2 book shelves (and 4235 +/- feet of baseboard) waiting for me on the second floor, I’ll be making a trip back to the paint counter at Lowes soon!
Oh – did I mention the stairway?
Yeah, that gets painted too.
Thanks for stopping by (and listening to me whine!! Sorry!).
Contrary to popular belief….
We have not fallen of the face of the earth. It’s been so very quiet here in this corner of the internet because we have been totally and completely consumed by getting this sweet little house in Waco ready to sell. Although we have an interested party, they are not sure it will be happening for them (although we would both like it to!), so we have moved ahead with getting the house market ready. And you know what that means, right? Exhaustion!
Let’s start at the beginning. We were so blessed (and I mean like blessed our socks off) to have our dear friends Don and Jenny join us for our first week of the Waco Reno. What a great way to kick start the process! While Gary was working (mostly) in the attic on the electrical upgrade,
Don began tackling some of the outdoor challenges. The lawn got mowed (thanks to a sweet neighbor who loaned us her mower), some of the weeds got wacked (thanks to Josiah’s weed wacker) and the deck (and any number of other areas) got a long overdue pressure washing!
Jenny and I were hard at work doing interior painting.
They were here for 6 days – and it was a great way to kick-start this renovation!! By the time they left Don had made a good dent in the yard work department (along with being our spackle – fix it guy as we moved from room to room) and Jenny and I had gotten five rooms painted. Phew!!
Although I’m trying to put together some good before/after shots (when I remember to take the ‘before’ pictures that is), here is a sneak preview of the living room makeover. (Ok, it’s really just a paint job, but makeover sounds so much more official.)
Before –
and after –
We finished off our time with Don and Jenny with breakfast at Magnolia Table.
While Chip and Joanna did not stop by, we had a great breakfast and are pleased to pass on the tip that if you arrive around 8AM on a Wednesday, you don’t even have to wait for a table! You’re welcome.
I’ve so much more to share, but today was filled with lawn clean up, weed pulling and floor scrubbing, and this tired puppy is heading to bed!! Thanks for your patience as we navigate these getting-the-house-ready-for-market days.
A different Waco Weekend
We loved spending a couple of extra days in Waco following our February SOWER project. While we did get to spend a bit of time with the kids and the grands,
(A fun Chick Fil A dinner with the boys!)
our primary focus was working on the house, pressing on with getting it ready to sell.
While Gary continues on with the electrical ‘stuff’ –
I’ve been working more on things that present a more visible result. For example –
Somewhere in the history of this house (it was built in 1918) a great deal of wallpaper was put up in the closets. (At least it can still be seen in the closets – perhaps it was other places as well!). But since this wallpaper was put up over ship lap, it was nailed up, not glued. It also has a fabric-ish backing that disintegrated over the years (century?). The attic space was not only completely covered in this wall covering, but all of the shelving and trim – even the attempt to make it a cedar closet – was installed over it. (Actually, that’s probably what held it up!)
Pretty gross, right?
With (what I hope was) adequate protection, I began the task of reclaiming those walls!
The good news is without it being glued, big swatches did come down at once. The bad news was those blasted nails!
It was a long and dusty day, and with some help from Gary, we got it all pulled down and cleaned up –
Looks pretty spiffy, right?
We also got some yard work done – mowing the grass and cleaning up the sidewalks – and continued with some interior deep cleaning (you know, behind appliances where it’s always scary!).
We have this month away from the house and selling-the-house related projects, and I think that’s a good thing. We had a pre-inspection of the electrical work, and Gary does need to make some modifications on his original plan. It’s always good to take a step back and take a breather from big projects, and we’re thankful we have the opportunity.
Right now we’re getting settled at our March project (see Where are we Now for more details) and working on staying warm!! Hopefully March will become a little more lamb like as the month progresses!
Changes
Anyone still there? Did you think I’d go from a post a day to almost nothing? It really wasn’t my intent, but life got pretty busy here and somehow this little blog kept getting put at the bottom of the pile. (Truth be told, it was busy towards the end of November too, but a commitment is a commitment and I was determined to finish strong. And then it seems I fell off the map!)
OK – things are busy here in Waco. We’ve decided to put our sweet Waco house on the market. I know – crazy, right???? There were a lot of factors, but the bottom line was the realization that at much as we love that house, we just aren’t ready to hang up the RV keys and settle in to a non-moving home.
So our goals for our time in Waco became a bit more pressing. Since this would be our biggest opportunity to finish up the projects we’d started over the last year – like that shed and upgrading the electric service – we knew the clock ticking.
Here’s how we left the shed in the spring –
As you can see – Gary’s made some great progress –
Windows and doors in, trim almost completed, and really it’s just that upper access door to the ‘attic’ that will make it complete. He still needs to fix the garden area (the part in the front that looks like it could be a deck), but it’s really coming along nicely!
With the shed nearing completion, he moved to the electric upgrade.
Ooooo – so fancy!! When it came time to install the new smoke detectors on the second floor, he ran into an unexpected glitch. One that will require a bit more work. And the first step of that “bit more work” involved being able to actually GET to the wiring in the attic. And that required getting all of the insulation out of the attic. So…..
Gary worked in the attic, feeding insulation down the access door
while I smooshed it into giant contractor bags.
Yes, I wore a mask and gloves. Gary even had a dust mask on!
It was an all day event, but by the end of the day –
the attic was empty of insulation and deck was full of bags to drop down into the trailer to take to the dump!
(Have I ever mentioned that there’s this sweet second floor deck off one of the bedrooms. Check out this birds-eye view of the backyard-Â
Nice, right?)
This morning it was off to the landfill for us!
(Some unknown person dropped off a box spring and a recliner in the alley behind the house last week. Although it’s pretty rude to do that, the box spring was helpful in securing our jumbo bags. The recliner will have to wait until the next trip.)
You know you’re doing house projects when the guy at the landfill recognizes you and offers to help you unload. Or when you think taking a picture of “The View from The Landfill” might be interesting.
So much trash in this world!
My plan was to get the upstairs painted and all sparkly before we leave next week, but between the electric glitch (making a general mess of the second floor), Christmas sewing, being Gary’s helper, and baby holding (hey, that’s my job too!)
I’ve pretty much made lots of plans and picked up paint chips.
But while the SAD news is that we’re selling the house, the GLAD news is that it looks like we’ll be selling it to a sweet family that we’ve been friends with since we’ve been coming to Waco! It’s just at a handshake stage at the moment, but we’re excited about the possibility! Everything still needs to be done, but if nothing else, maybe she can help me pick out those darn paint colors!
We’re going to miss this place, but if things go as I hope they do, we might just be able to enjoy a couple more nights like this in the future!
Ahhhh……..