Dog Day Afternoon

My soap room needed a serious overhaul. This is the one room in the house that Gus and I have yet to refinish. We have worked pretty much non-stop since we bought this house a few years ago, so it's not like we haven't wanted to tackle this particular project. It's mostly just been a matter of time and money...(what's new, eh?). With relatives coming in a few weeks for the wedding, we decided we should probably get to it. That and we had some unwanted visitors of the four-legged furry kind coming through a hole in the floor. Fortunately, they were confined to only one small area! This particular hole in the floor has been covered by a nice tall shelf in my pantry area, next to my soap room. Out of sight out of mind, right? Necessity is the mother of motivation, or something like that. So when I discovered little brown poo-poos in my pantry I needed to get hoppin' on this right away!
My husband has always said, "If you want to get started on a project, tear down a wall!" Well, I didn't need to take out a wall, but I did need to tear into the floor to find out just how deep this rotten had gotten. (That was a little pun). By the time Gus had arrived home from work, I had his evening lined up for him. I don't think he minded too much...at least he didn't complain much. I decided to retain the old cupboards because they are very old, made of old growth redwood, and they run just about from floor to ceiling.
These are definitely not just any old cupboard. As you can see from the close-up photo, they are beautiful tongue and groove redwood with very old hinges. While I was out one evening, Gus rebuilt them for me and made them useful again.
Once he repaired the floor and rebuilt the old cupboards, I could begin sanding and painting.

This room used to be bright yellow! Ugh! We called it the "Yellow room." Does anyone else name the rooms in their house? (other than the usual, living room, dining room, etc.) We have the piano room, which became the toy room after my pianist daughter moved out. Then there is the sun room, the Earth room which used to be the yellow room, and we have the garage room.

Anyway, once the room was structurally sound, I began my color assignments to the walls and cupboards. I have to explain a little bit about the way I decorate. I don't like half empty paint cans taking up space in my garage, so I like to paint with what I have before I go down to the paint store to buy more. I was able to paint most of the room with colors that I had on hand, then I bought just one gallon of wall color. I had to tear off the old counter top which was in reality not a counter top at all but a piece of linoleum glued to plywood.
I wound up having to scrape and re-paint the base cabinets because I didn't sand them very well and the paint just peeled off in long slimy strips. (The re-painting I have yet to do!)

I couldn't get Tilly to help at all! She just laid there...

By the end of the week, Gus was pretty darn tired. I found him snoozin' in the hot tub after a long evening of cutting and hanging drywall. Poor guy. He works so hard. No wonder he wants to retire in Mexico!