We’re making so much progress, we just don’t have time to write about it or take enough photos

This is really just the tip of the iceberg.

After tearing the plaster ceiling out of two rooms on Saturday and Sunday (with the fantastic help of Rachel’s family — still going strong!), we’d generated a mammoth amount of trash, most of which was accumulating on the front porch waiting for a pickup truck. These were the “fruits” of our labors: About 12-14 bags of plaster, filled about 1/4 of the way up — about as much as I could lift with two arms in a bear hug — and a monstrous pile of the old wood lath from the walls underneath the plaster.

The porch has been an unfriendly place to be ever since I first started pulling the plaster down on the master bedroom walls and filling up bags at least a week ago. It had a few brief moments last Saturday during the workday when it was clear after taking those bags of plaster to the dump. And then by Saturday evening it was full again.

Thanks to our good friends Chelsea and George, we had a pickup truck for a few hours in the afternoon on Tuesday. Two loads and two trips to the magical Ft. Totten Transfer Center later, we had a porch that was suited for sittin’.

We also did some yard maintenance in the front with the sawsall, cutting out a huge ficus or something tree out of the yard, as well as other tree-like plants growing up through the ivy on the fence. I need to get some before and afters up of that view.

All the drywall is up in the master bedroom and the foyer and living room, and we’re well on our way to painting on Friday. There are a few more walls that need to be skimmed or mudded in places before we can sand and paint, but almost everything will be prepped for painting by the end of Thanksgiving Day. Some have already been primed.

Rachel’s brother is flying into Dulles at 7:20 tomorrow (Thanksgiving) morning. Her dad and I are going out to pick him up and then we’ll head right to the house to work until lunchtime. Hopefully, we’ll have the walls all ready for painting on Friday.

Floor refinishing starts on Monday. By next Wednesday, our living room and bedroom will look finished. All new drywall, all painted, floors redone, and ready for habitation.

Here’s your parting shot. The new deck stairs went in, and I don’t think I’ve shown those yet here. They turned out great. Should we stain them or just leave the pressure treated wood showing?