Week ending 8/13/10

On Sunday, we did a planning session on the flooring and painting, starting with a scratch test on the linoleum. Unfortunately, or fortunately, it didn't pass! We did really light scratches with a key and they showed, and I was even able to scratch it with my fingernail. Imagine an 80 pound dog and a 45 pound dog wrestling on that! It's unfortunate because we both really liked the linoleum, but it's fortunate because we were glad to find out now especially since the linoleum is twice as much as the laminate. The laminate is also nice because I can buy it at Costco at a great price and they sell matching accessories like baseboard molding and thresholds. We've had the exact laminate we're going to buy laid down in a high-traffic area of the house for weeks not and it's held up well to dog and human foot traffic, dog drool and dog wrestling.

We also laid out a strategy to get the place painted, which already has me stressed out. First we are going to pick the paint. I want to dictate to the painter what to use so we don't end up with some cheap brand he can get a deal on. I also want to make sure it scores high on both scrubability and wipeability tests. Even though I much prefer a flat finish, we'll probably do something with a little gloss so it's more wipeable. It's all about the dogs ya know!

Once we've picked the paint we'll start interviewing contractors. We will probably hire a someone with a wide skill set since there is so much damage to be fixed on the walls; in other words this is far from a come in, tape up and brush on. There are holes, dings, cracks and unfinished areas all over the house. We also have to figure out how to keep the house functional with all of our stuff pulled away from the walls and disheveled. Ugh! I'm tempted to go one room at a time, but that will take months instead of weeks.

On Monday I spent about 30 minutes researching paint, and barely scratched the surface. It's like all things house - incredibly complicated and way too many options.