Wall Exposed!

Today I finally got all of the plaster off of the wall and completed one rigorous round of scrubbing with two different wire brushes.  I really wish that I could have completely finished the wire brush scrubbing today, since that would have completed all the messy parts, but my arms turn to jelly after four hours of this type of work, and my right hand has 3 large blisters.  So, I'll have to finish that piece another weekend.  I'm actually really sore today.  I worked on the wall 4 hours yesterday and 4 today, and most of it was ladder work.  It seems that put some strain on my back in angles I haven't been used to.  This all sounds like a perfect reason to watch a Game of Thrones episode this afternoon.  I've been catching up and am barely on Season 5 now.

The wall probably needs one more round of wire brush scrubbing, sponging with water, and then sealed.  It also needs the electrical outlet moved into the floor (it had been along the baseboard in one of those exterior boxes).  Longer term - probably coinciding with me painting the room if/when I decide to do that, it will need some type of trim/border all around.

(Side note:  One of the things holding me back from painting right now is that this house has been painted and painted past the point where someone should have just scraped the walls and started again.  The paint is 4-5 layers thick at least and over about 3 layers of wall paper.  I don't want to paint another layer over that, but I also don't know if I want to tackle a full trim removal, scraping, TSP'ing, priming, etc. right now - when I'm trying to get the room ready for fall use.  I'll decide shortly, but that is the situation for now.  Another factor is that this house as of now does not have a utility sink, which makes painting and cleaning of the painting supplies very hard.  I do have an outdoor faucet, which is an option... decisions, decisions.).

Back to our regularly scheduled program...

In addition to the wall work, I've made some progress on a few other objectives.

First, I had both my carpenter and the tile layer (?) in the house to look at the fireplace project and give me an estimate.  That is progress.  I'm hoping I can get that work done in October, but it might have to push until November.

I've also been researching the best source of firewood and read online that the Philadelphia Recycling Center gives away free firewood.  I called them and then drove there Saturday morning to see what the situation was.  It is true they do give away as much free firewood as you want if you are a Philadelphia resident.  However, it is in the form of basically an entire tree.  You have to be able to saw and split it and then you can haul away as much as you'd like.  So, that was a little disappointing to show up in my Saturn sans saw or axe and go away empty handed.  But... PSA - for anyone who does have all of those things, it is a source!

On my way back from the Philadelphia Recycling Center, I stopped at ReStore with the thought to see if they had fireplace grates or screens.  They didn't of the type/size I need, but I was able to pick up some small door knobs for my bedroom doors.  Those doors are the very thin kind with no hardware inside.  I had been using a string with a knot on either end.  Now I have nice crystal knobs.

Finally, I made a plan for some rather ambitious room redesign goals to make the space more usable and with better flow.  I reached out to a friend to see if he can come and help me with the heavy lifting in exchange for my charming company and conversational skills. ;-)

Here is what I'm planning:
- Particularly with the gas fireplaces getting installed on the 2nd and 3rd floor, I'd like to have my office in one of those rooms to make better use of the fireplaces and give me more room to work in a place that isn't so much in the public flow of the house.
- I'm thinking of moving one of my bedrooms to the 4th floor attic room... probably the 2nd floor frame, since that disassembles into smaller pieces - and then moving my office into the 2nd floor bedroom.
- I could move Jali's crate to the 2nd floor with Elora's things and it would allow the 3rd floor sitting area to be more social - space to play games, have a small couch opposite the TV, etc.

I *think* that the stairs to the fourth floor will accommodate all of this juggling, but I'm not sure.  I'll do some more measuring and for sure I'll need to remove the railings on the stair cases, but I think it is doable.

Well, that is all for now!  Off to have some hot tea and watch an episode of Game of Thrones.

Here is a link to the pictures from this weekend.