Replacing the trim around our new bedroom windows was painful. We tried multiple types and colors of stain but never really came close to matching the existing. The only saving grace there was the new pieces didn’t lay against the old and with distance there’s room for variation.
Not so this new living room flooring project. New baseboard had to butt up to old at the two kitchen entrances and the hallway… not to mention the fireplace and built in bookcases.
It was a major challenge.
The husband and I made three trips to three different stores and bought three different colors but nothing worked.
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The piece on the left is what we needed to match. Most never came close. And mind you baseboard moulding is sold by the foot so every test piece that fails?
Ka-Ching! 💰
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We had to stain over 100 feet and I wanted it to look nice.
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Three more stores, three more rejects. I couldn’t understand it, we’d bring in my sample piece and match it perfectly to theirs only to find it wasn’t close when we got home and applied it.
Then we went to Sherwin Williams. Turns out they’ve bought the Minwax company… and guess what?
They can color match stain.
What!!! Why did no one ever tell me this was possible?
They also told us the reason we could never match our color was because all the store samples are done on oak and baseboard moulding is typically pine.
What!! Why did no one ever tell me this?
After stifling my anger at the stain industry, we purchased a can of perfectly tinted stain and happily started the process.
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Have finger, will travel.
Yes, the stain looks red but when gently applied with a rag and my forefinger instead of heavy handing it with a brush, it was almost perfect.
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Sadly my old Grateful Dead tee shirt gave its life to the cause.
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Two coats of stain, two coats of amber poly and one giant air bubble in the plastic later, we were done.
And since my husband is retired again … (did I mention that? He went back to work for 6 months but decided to call it quits for good this time. Or so he says)… our contractor has put him to work with the time consuming annoying jobs.
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Like pulling out all the little pieces of old carpet trapped under the frame of the brickwork.
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So many little pieces.
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Of that horrible dusty rose crap that’s still in our bedroom.
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Its removal will be the next project we tackle after this one.
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If this one is ever finished that is.
And because you know nothing goes smoothly here…
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See the threshold piece wrapped in plastic on the right? See how it matches the flooring? There should have been 3 tubes of that, we got 1.
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The other 2 tubes looked like this.
Not even close… which means another delay and annoyance while we wait for the store to replace it.
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Furry inconvenience?
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We’ve got that too as Lord Dudley Mountcatten has developed a fascination with power tools.
When I was painting the living rooms walls, I removed all the light and outlet covers. That included the ridiculous switch on the right the previous owner had installed.
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It went to the hot water heater which apparently she shut off every night. We never do that and I was tired of looking at it so I had the contractor remove the annoying red light. This meant rewiring some lines in the basement.
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And the discovery of a corpse.
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Poor little thing.
Trying to keep my husband from talking to the contractor …. while paying him $55 an hour to listen…. I found a project to keep my spouse busy.
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Installing cellular shades on our new bedroom windows. He gave me the look when I told him that meant putting holes in the new trim but before long he was reaching for his hammer for some none too subtle adjustments.
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This job took the better part of an afternoon..
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And didn’t seem to bother His Lordship over much.
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When my husband started chatted up the contractor again, he was asked to help with some laser assisted measurements.
After cleaning and bleaching the black mold off the wallboard, our contractor wanted to make sure there wasn’t a larger problem lurking behind the wall and hauled out his spy camera.
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It’s a wonderfully nonevasive way to take a peek.
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And in a very unexpected turn of good luck in our usually cursed house…
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Everything looked fine.
No water damage, no mold. Yay!
Before the contractor started on something else, I had him remove an old useless thermostat left over from electric baseboard heat that was used in the ‘80’s.
Under that thermostat?
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Some really beautiful vintage wallpaper.
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Not!
But it does have all those wonderful 1970’s colors… olive green, gold and orange.
🤣
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A few more pieces of wood ripped out …
And then the reason our contractor loves charging us by the hour becomes clear.
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My husband, talking.
And talking. And talking. And talking.
Ka-Ching!
💰
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His Lordship?
Sleeping in the sun with a catnip mouse.
I wish my husband would do that, it would be so much cheaper.
