House Excavations, green border
family home projects work in progress

Moving Furniture & Door Improvements

by Mary

Work continues on the house at a breakneck pace in between handling other life events. I have moved, so Erik has been tackling the home improvement projects on his own.

Prior to my moving in with family for our transition between the old house and a new one, I wanted to make sure most of the big furniture was moved out of the house and all the smaller stuff was packed and moved.

With the help of a couple of Young Son’s friends, including one we consider our stepson, we managed to clear out the larger furniture on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. It was an exhausting day, but we got up Sunday and moved the room divider components (the mid-century modern Founders room divider I discussed the last time I blogged), then loaded what I needed into the trailer and hit the road to get me moved.

Here are some photos of the chaos of our upended house on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend.

Livingroom, September 3, 2022.
Livingroom, September 3, 2022.
Livingroom, September 3, 2022.
Livingroom, September 3, 2022.
Dining room, September 3, 2022.
Dining room, September 3, 2022.
Front entry, September 3, 2022.
Front entry, September 3, 2022.
Downstairs front bedroom, September 3, 2022.
Downstairs front bedroom, September 3, 2022.
Downstairs back bedroom, September 3, 2022.
Downstairs back bedroom, September 3, 2022.
Upstairs hallway, September 3, 2022.
Upstairs hallway, September 3, 2022.
Upstairs back bedroom, September 3, 2022.
Upstairs back bedroom, September 3, 2022.
Upstairs hall closet. Doesn't everyone keep a random lamp on the floor of the closet? This one had been set out of the way so we wouldn't break the glass parasol while we were moving other things. September 3, 2022.
Upstairs hall closet. Doesn’t everyone keep a random lamp on the floor of the closet? This one had been set out of the way so we wouldn’t break the glass parasol while we were moving other things. September 3, 2022.

As I look through these photos, I can’t believe how much stuff was still in the house after we had already spent months moving dozens of boxes into storage. Where did we get all of it? And, the bigger question for me, how can we get rid of a bunch of it so we don’t have to move it all again?

Aside from moving furniture, our primary projects over the past couple of weeks were finishing doors. Before I moved, I made a new curtain for the pantry doorway.

BEFORE: Striped pantry curtain. August 31, 2022.
BEFORE: Striped pantry curtain. August 31, 2022.
AFTER: Leafy green curtain, which goes much better with the yellow walls. August 31, 2022.
AFTER: Leafy green curtain, which goes much better with the yellow walls. August 31, 2022.

Meanwhile, Erik stripped the copper-toned paint off the front door in a screen tent in the backyard and painted it light blue to match the back door.

A view of the front of the house with the copper-toned front door. While the copper color was nice, the paint was peeling in places and the interior of it had never been painted, so the whole thing needed to be redone. July 18, 2022.
A view of the front of the house with the copper-toned front door. While the copper color was nice, the paint was peeling in places and the interior of it had never been painted, so the whole thing needed to be redone. July 18, 2022.
Front door on sawhorses being painted. August 31, 2022.
Front door on sawhorses being painted. August 31, 2022.
Screen tent in backyard where the front door is being painted. August 31, 2022.
Screen tent in backyard where the front door is being painted. August 31, 2022.
The newly-painted light blue front door reinstalled. September 4, 2022.
The newly-painted light blue front door reinstalled. September 4, 2022.

This week Erik has been working on finishing three doors in the addition. We put the addition on in around 2004. We wanted to put a finish on the doors that allowed the wood of the doors to be revealed but didn’t do it when they were installed. We didn’t actually have the tools to do a proper job of it at the time. It wasn’t until we operated our mid-century furniture refinishing business between 2011 and 2019 that we had the equipment to do so. While we closed the business in 2019, we still have the compressor and spray gun we used for the business, and Erik now has the refinishing knowledge he needed to shellac and lacquer the doors.

Here is one of those doors, which is the door for the downstairs front bedroom.

Wood door with shellac and lacquer finish. Door is for the downstairs front bedroom. September 10, 2022.
Wood door with shellac and lacquer finish. Door is for the downstairs front bedroom. September 10, 2022.

Our list of home improvement projects prior to selling is whittling down, but there is still plenty to do. If you’re handy, local, have some time, and are willing to help, let me know!