almost there.

since i'm in a state of denial about all things football related this weekend (my likely fantasy win doesn't really make up for that embarrasment on sunday) let's just focus on some other happenings of the past few days. what? things exist outside of the NFL? the world revolves around something other than football season? why apparently, it sure does. and just in case you've forgotten, in our little world everything revolves around the neverending fireplace room project.

thanks to all the rain this week, Mark's softball game was cancelled on Tuesday night. he made the most of his evening by starting to fix the doorways into the room. he managed to remove the old too-small door casings without having to remove the existing trim on the other side of the door. this apparently saved us a lot of time and frustration. i was duely impressed. 

by the end of the evening, the lengths of all the pieces had been calculated and double-checked, all measurements had been measured at least twice, and everything was cut to length and fitted into the doorways before it was taken to the basement for the first coat of primer.

over the next few weeknights, the pieces all got two coats of primer and two coats of paint. i would be lying if i said i helped with that at all. not that i didn't offer, just that i was not needed at this stage of the game.

when the weekend finally came, we knew that before we did anything else with the doorways, something had to be done about the floor in the fireplace room. because not only was it getting kind of hard to work with all the stuff to step around and avoid stepping on, but all that junk was also covered in a nice thin black dusty film of spraypaint gunk. it was almost entirely imperceptible until it was transferred onto your feet or hands and then left black painty fingerprints and footprints all over everything that did not need to be covered with black painty fingerprints and footprints.

we meticulously wiped down absolutely everything in the room with a damp rag, and rolled up the plastic as we went. we put away tools that we were done with, but kept close the ones we might still need. then i vacuumed the floor, and swiffered the floor, and wiped the whole thing down with a wet rag on my hands and knees, and swiffered the floor again, and then swiffered it all with a wet cloth too. and for about a half an hour, the whole room was spotless.

oh, and i took advantage of the freshly clean environment to take another pic of the fireplace in all her trimmed-out spraypainted awesomeness without the clutter on the floor or tape on the ceiling to take away from how good she looks.

anywho, then it was back to the business of the doorways. Mark started with the kitchen doorway. he nailed the frame together lying down, then stood it up to fit them into the doorway. and thanks to his careful calculations and measurements, it fit perfectly!

then Mark used his studfinder so he would know where the studs were in the wall when it came time to put up the trim and make sure everything was all secured and in place. i didn't help with this part either, because i don't need a studfinder to find my stud. (ba-dum-bum-chissshhh) (i told mark when i took this picture that i was going to make a really funny studfinder joke that he wouldnt think was funny at all. he mostly ignored me.)

since Mark was doing most of the work at this point, and doing SUCH a good job of it, i took it upon myself to simultaneously enjoy my super clean floors and the first time we've seen the sun all week by sprawling out in the middle of the room and staring out the window at the gorgeous blue sky. a major contribution on my part, honestly. i am so helpful.

my cloud-gazing break had to end when Mark had moved onto the front room doorway and needed my floorspace. so i kept blue glove buddy company in the kitchen for a while.

fitting the second doorway into place had a few more bumps than the first did. turns out the opening was just a hair too narrow, so Mark had to cut back about a quarter inch of drywall on each side of the door. this made sure the doorframe would fit, and also made a mess on my freshly-clean floor.

since my help was only needed sparingly, i transitioned into a role not unlike a supervisor who watches the workers, offers encouragement or a helping hand when needed or requested, but who mostly sits around and does nothing. see how helpful i am?

i am happy to say that thanks to my diligent oversight and surveillance of the process, this was our only nail gun casualty of the day. no fingers or toes or animals were victimized, just the hub's patience. bonus points to anyone who does not mention this or point this out to him when they come to visit, as it is kind of a sore spot for him. extra bonus points to whoever finds out where in the world that nail went.

wow, this is getting long. i guess you should just be glad i'm not sharing all almost-80 pictures i took of the whole process. but to make a long-ish story short-er, the doorways are officially fixed! i am so thrilled. i had almost forgotten what the room looked like with real finished doorways and trim and baseboard.

oh, you'd like to see what it looks like too? no problem, i'm happy to share. we ended up having to borrow a smaller nail gun from Mark's dad to put up the quarterround at the bottom of the baseboard on sunday, but everything was in place and cleaned up in time for the Sunday night football game.

i'm never quite sure that the to-do list ever gets any shorter for this room, but the things on the list are of a much smaller scale than they used to be. we are definately in the home stretch here, and it feels good.

Still To Do:

- fill all the nail holes with wood filler and sand smooth.

- put a thin layer of touch up paint over the nail holes and fingerprints.

- clean a few paint splatters off the brick.

- clean, paint, and re-install the air return vent covers.

- put up all the light switch and outlet covers.

- re-hang the light fixture in the nook.

- figure out what to do about window treatments.