The O.G. (Old Guest Room): Prepping the Walls and Woodwork

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After a long weekend of work, most of it completed by my husband, this is how every surface of the guest room looks.  (I provided lots of moral support, and then left to attend my little sister’s bridal shower.  Thanks honey!)  It is mudded, spackled, puttied, and ready for sanding.  Did you know that these were three different things?  I do…now.

The woodwork in this room is probably the worst in the house.  When we first purchased the home, we had dreams of fully restoring the Craftsman-influenced trim moldings to their former glory.  Unfortunately, the wood is in worse shape than we realized.  Not wanting to replace +100-year-old, solid walnut trim and doors, we have reached a compromise.  We are fully restoring the doors, but we will paint the trim.

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I know, I know.  In a perfect world it would all be gleaming, stained woodwork.  But a perfect world it ain’t.  On some of the trim, there is more putty than wood.  Not exactly pretty when it’s stained.  The previous owner painted the base molding white in this room, and removing that paint may — based on previous experience — cause even more harm.  And having trim custom-milled to replace it?  Not in our budget and not reasonable for a home that we might like to sell for-profit in the next decade.

Do I sound a little defensive?  Sorry!  It’s just that I’ve defended explained our decision to folks so many times, it’s automatic.  We have painted the living room and foyer trim moldings so far and love it.  And we won’t be featured on This Old House any time soon.  Walk a mile in our shoes.  Moving on.

So speaking of previous owners, the picture above is the closet door.  The holes were left from a padlock hasp that was installed on the door.  Twice.  What on earth?

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Hubby filled the holes.

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And then gave it some time to dry.  Because there is so much to be sanded in this room (seriously), we are going to do it all at once.  But that, my friends, is a job for another weekend.

https://www.instagram.com/p/YGVtAXOPEe/

In the meantime, we are attempting to rebuild a large hunk of missing wood from the bedroom door frame with wood putty.  If I had to guess, I would say that it was damaged from another padlock-gone-bad.  Crossing our fingers and toes that this fix works like it does on the You-Tube video.

So let’s check out where we are on the list:

1. Move everything back out of the room
2. Fix the plate for the light fixture/ceiling fan
3. Repair and sand the plaster on the ceiling and walls
4. Putty and sand the trim moldings
5. Paint the trim and walls
6. Install the custom closet
7. Sand and stain the floors
8. Hang the ceiling fan
9. Hang the curtains and blinds
10. Move everything back into the room

Next weekend, we probably won’t have as many items crossed-off.  Sanding is a big job.  Picture us in haz-mat suits standing in the middle of a dust storm, and you would be close to envisioning the misery fun that awaits us.  At least we have a week between then and now to get motivated.  To quote the Beach Boys, “Help me, Rhonda!”

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