Finally a break on the slab

After almost two weeks of trying to remove the slab, we finally caught a break today. The equipment rental company could not pick it up today, so we got to use if for a day free. We made some more progress today, but I really can't wait for that slab to be gone. It's funny because there has been a ton of work on the house since it was built in 1952, and not one permit has been pulled. So, a lot of the work is really bad. But the things I wish they had done a little better on like the electric and plumbing were done really poorly. This like this %$#@ slab, which I wish wasn't done so well, was built to withstand an onslaught of any force!

Believe it or not, we will be painting the interior soon. I wanted ample time to pick paint colors, so I ran to the paint store first thing today. Benjamin Moore makes 2 oz. paint samples in 260 colors that cover a wall area of 2' by 2'. It's really brilliant - I mean the colors always look different on the wall than on the 1" paper chip, and the only way to try it on the wall is to buy a quart. The samples let you try several colors right next to each other, and you can see how they look in the light in your room, how they look on different walls and at different times of day. I'm leaning toward an assortment of rich neutrals for the whole house. It's just too hard to actually pick a color without the furniture in place, and if I find the perfect couch on clearance I don't want to not be able to buy it because it doesn't match the color of the living room. I do like colors on walls though, so we may eventually change the paint.

An interesting thing about the paint store - I went to a small, mom-and-pop place and they have only a few parking places out back. It was filled with contractors. While I was in the store, someone double parked and blocked me in. Due to the small number of spaces, I learned this is normal there, and people who double parked expect to be called to move their car or truck. I asked a couple of guys standing outside if it was their car that was blocking me, and they said no, but one of the guys volunteered to find out whose it was. He went to the door and yelled "Who has a black toyota? The lady needs to get out." The driver came and moved it. I thought it was very sweet for him to recognize that I was new to the scene, and didn't know the protocall and volunteer to help me out.

Most of the rest of the day was taken up by driving over an hour each way to pick up new grout for the bathroom tiles. I already have some, but I wasn't crazy about it and later found the perfect grout. I'm much happier with the one I have now.

Here is how the slab looked at the end of the day:


Here are two of my paint choices for the living room. You really can't see the color very well in this photo.