WHEW.

I forced myself out of bed at ten this morning to get so I could go to town early and pick up the paint I ordered yesterday. I came home and went straight to finishing the prep: sanding, washing with TSP, and rinsing. Then, I primed everything that still needs to be painted except the trim and the doors.

I was about halfway through when I began to get some serious hunger pangs, but I ignored them since I hate to stop in the middle of a project. I wanted to hang in there then go out to get some groceries including a frozen pizza for dinner since my kitchen is less than functional. Next thing I knew, my beloved neighbour came home from work and handed me lunch through a window. Talk about drive-through service! Thank, thank you, thank you to my sandwich faery!

Here’s a glimpse of what the peninsula looks like right now:

I didn’t remove that door because of how difficult it was to hang. The corner where the hinges are isn’t visible in the least, so I’ll leave it unpainted. Paint is a great equalizer; the peninsula is going to look great once it’s done instead of being an eyesore of mismatched finishes. I’ll also be able to add the door pulls, which will make accessing my new cabinets so much easier!

Now, I’m debating whether I’m done for the day or if I just need a break. I could get a head start on the cabinetry painting at least, but I’m too burned out at this point to promise myself that!

There’s so much going on right now that I’m having a serious bout of insomnia. I thought that the last thing I needed was to worry about the end of the renos, and then I realised last night that this is exactly what I should be focused on. Get it done, and next month I can take some very badly needed time off in my clean, beautiful home.

This renovation experience has not been unlike running a 5K (3Mi) race. I started strong, kept a steady pace, and started to fizz out at the end. But I’m 250m from the finish line! It’s time to grab that final reserve of energy and run all out! Finish, and then collapse proudly!

I finished my first 5K in just under 46 minutes, bottom of the second third for my age class. I’d only started running six weeks before!

Today, I began the prep on the library and kitchen. I might even be able to prime before bed if the wall compound has decided to cooperate.

I will be doing the final painting in two stages. First, I’ll do the two coats on the walls and the cabinetry. That done, I will rehang all the doors and paint them in situ. The hinges go behind the door panels, so I can paint the front without having to worry about hardware. Doing it this way will double my time but be easier since I won’t have to worry about finding a place to lay the panels down for painting and drying.

I’m devoting the next four days to doing as much as I can. Wednesday, I’m packing all the tools up and putting my house back together, no matter what’s left undone.

There will be so many little decorative touches left to do, but they will be things I call weekend projects; inexpensive crafty-type things that will make the rig look more polished and put together. One of those is getting my lounge chair reupholstered; I’m tired of moving the box of fabric around!