Last Minute Rush (Before Winter)

A close up of all those layers of paint on the door with an unintentional view of the house across the street.


How it looked when we first moved in. Notice the lovely fake parquet floor.

I've been having a problem with motivation. The problem is I'm just tired and don't feel like working on the house. I'd rather sit around on my computer all day and drink coffee, especially on the cold days. I have found on the days that I give in and do nothing I feel depressed at the end of the day because no progress has been made. Living in your renovation can sure have it's drawbacks.
Anyway, I decided to actually do something today, and that was to work on the front door. I have been working on the foyer for about two years and the front door is one of the last projects I have to finish. Actually the foyer has been many small projects rolled into one big project. It started with removing the old square parquet tiles covering the gorgeous oak floor, then removing the glue that was left. Then the stripping and staining and poly-ing that went on forEVer. The removal of the stair rail to be stripped of it's white paint was next and then the paint on the walls. Almost all that is left is the threshold entering the living room(just one more coat of stain and poly, and it's just one strip of three inch board) and the front door. When I moved in the door was painted white. I added to the layers and painted it cream. Then I decided I wanted to strip it completely and stain it a deep mahogany. I started stripping it about the time I first started stripping the floors, about two years ago. I found out there were a LOT of layers of paint, including a really pukey green hidden almost at the very bottom. (The same ugly green as K's room was, and the original stair risers, and the ceilings in both girls rooms, and the original wallpaper hidden behind the fireplace; The original owner must have had a thing for green.)
One day the summer before last I decided to take the door off. I didn't realize how heavy it was until all the hinges were out and it was resting with it's full weight on my arms. Tom was out of town, which left just me and my twelve year old(at the time)to carry it outside to be stripped. It must have been a couple of hundred pounds. It isn't one of those cheap hollow core doors, this thing is solid. The whole house shakes if somebody slams it. It has intricate detail around the windows and they were caked with eighty years of paint. As soon as I got it outside and really got into the job it started raining, don't you know. I had to get my twelve year old to help me get it back inside and back up. I never did finish getting all the paint off, especially in the grooves around the window panes.
So, as I say, I decided to do something with my day besides bite my nails over the presidental election. I got out my supplies and set to work. I stripped and scrubbed with an old toothbrush and stripped and scrubbed some more. After about three hours I had removed very little. The stuff was baked on or something. It just wasn't coming off, especially in the intricate areas. Finally I had to clean it up and get on with cleaning up the house. I neglected to do the daily cleaning so I could have more time to work on the door, and as a result Tom ended up cooking while I was doing housework.
So, back to the drawing board tomorrow. I think I'm just going to sand the door itself (*sigh*I swore I would never sand ANYthing inside the house again) and maybe go buy a dremmel to get in the small areas. I am so looking to being done, done DONE with this foyer project which has turned out to be the mother of all projects. This weekend Tom and I have slated to be a happy family work weekend. Well, the kids are not going to be happy about it, but we have about seven different things going on that are all near completion and we just need to get on with it. So hopefully by Monday we will have the drywall completely done in K's room, the wallpaper back up in the bathroom (that will be another blog), the front door done, the drywall back up around the A.C. in the living room( I thought there was mold behind the wall and removed a small piece to make sure there wasn't. There wasn't.) The carpet in the living room needs cleaning, and the yard needs to be mowed one last time before winter and last but not least I need to disconnect the fountain's solar pump before we get a freeze. And as long as I'm dreaming, I need all my closets and junk drawers cleaned out, my desk cleaned and paperwork sorted and a million dollars to finish this renovation and somebody to buy me a new bed with a tempurpedic mattress. Of course then I'll never want to get out of bed to do the work. Talk about your motivation problems...but I'm willing to take that chance.