Camp Contentment!

Last Summer when Coach and I walked through this cute little 1950’s house, we had a bright idea

about downsizing and ultimately simplifying our lives! The Magnolia House, our favorite yet,

was a beautiful house and property which required more upkeep/maintenance than we wanted.

So, we made a plan but weren’t in a hurry. That is until I ran by to visit with my friend Susan and

discovered her Mother’s old house would be for sale in the near future. One look  and our plan

was set into motion. Magnolia House went on the market in August. Football season is not the ideal

time to move but we didn’t want to miss this opportunity, so we went for it! The house showed well

and often but we would not get an offer until the middle of November. With a January closing date,

we would use every minute of the Christmas holiday to purge, pack, paint, refinish floors, have a

huge sale and move. By leasing the house before closing, we were able to start painting 3 weeks

early. I certainly don’t consider myself a great painter, it takes a lot of time and patience but after

getting a few bids I realized our small remodeling budget would stretch much further if we did the

work ourselves. So, bright and early on Monday, December 16th, I pried open a 5 gallon bucket of

Valspar D’jour white and started rolling.

Most of the wood floors were covered with celery green shag carpet which were coming up at the

end of the week so I used them as a drop cloth….a real time saver when painting walls and

ceilings. Another short cut was to use the same color on both. Unfortunately, I forgot to take before

pictures but the walls and trim were the same color as the carpet. It was A LOT OF HARD WORK, but

after five long days, I finished just in time for Coach to start ripping up the carpet! School was out

for the holidays and he was raring to go. In no time flat he had the carpet rolled up in the back of his

truck and was prying up the tack strip. With a tight schedule, I jumped in and took over the tack strip

removal job, careful to pull up every nail, while Coach gathered up all the sanding and varnishing

supplies. At this point, to be completely honest, I was worn out! It was Christmas and I was missing

all of the fun stuff but I trudged on by dreaming of iced sugar cookies and singing Christmas carols at

the top of my lungs.

Those were some tough days! After painting walls and ceilings for 5 days, I was on my hands and

knees  for 2. To say we were exhausted would be an understatement ….and beat up! Cut up hands,

sore knees and backs. At the end of each day I felt so old and wondered if we could keep it up but

each morning I was surprisingly able to get out of bed and keep going. Mike had a plan laid out which

helped me to focus  and stay the course. In the past, we haven’t always  worked well together but

there was no arguing on this project. We didn’t have the time or energy:)

Two days before Christmas we spread polyurethane on the floors and let them dry while we took a

much needed break.

Back at it on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, I finished sanding and painting the wood work with oil

based paint. Things were starting to take shape. It was encouraging to see what we had accomplished

in less than 2 weeks! But we couldn’t celebrate long because the movers were coming on Monday.

Yikes! The move!  I haven’t even mentioned that this little house would be half the size  and we would

only bring with us the things we love most. Which would mean letting go of years of accumulate

treasures. I thought this might be painful because I like stuff! However, I’m pleased to say, I found it

rather liberating!

Last night, at dinner, Coach asked me if I had missed living at our old house…our nicest house, ever. Without pause, I quickly said, “ Not once”.

We love our new, little old house. It reminds us of our very first home. It is our new favorite! We are more than happy. We are contented.