Flibbertigibbet

No Before Photos

I went out to my new apartment yesterday to see how it was without that dude in there. It's not bad. It's a hideous mess.

So, immediately, I tore up the carpet, which revealed a floor covered in a shiny, plastic, laminate in a parquet pattern. It's better than the carpet.

Then, I took a bucket of bleach water and wiped down the walls and windows and found that the guy who left had patched holes in the wall with something that dissolves on contact with bleach water. Still, at least it's clean.

The walls are baby blue.

There was one bit of the wall that was cracked and when I picked at the crack, big pieces of a thin coat of plaster and paint came off revealing a nice, smooth under coat of plaster. Hoping the entire wall that was that way, I scraped away a bit more. The rest of the wall was not that way.

We went to Home Depot to buy some paint stripper, paint, plaster patch, and other such things.

And I spent yesterday evening patching holes and stripping paint.

Lessons learned:
- Old carpet is nasty. Old carpet in old, dirty buildings is beyond nasty. I think I have cancer, TB, Bubonic Plague, giardia lamblia, cholera, and fleas now. But, getting rid of it is better than living with it knowing those things are living under there under an inche of pure dirt.

- Do not pick at cracked plaster. Simple remove the offending part and patch that because patching a whole wall is not as easy.

- Paint stripper burns. It burns your hands. It will burn your face. Keep a moist towel handy when applying paint stripper to places that are above your head.

Sadly, I didn't take any before pictures, so I can't share with you the changes I'm making.

Next weekend, we're going to tear up the laminate and refinish the wood floors. Yes, you heard me.