Spring means projects.

Two weeks ago, I pulled on a small section of our wallpapered entryway. I just wanted to see how easily it would come off. It turns out that it came off really easily. Great right? Well, I fixed this minor (!) hole in the drywall and primed everything. Unfortunately, I also found a section of drywall that had been rotted through, so my small project became a big one.

Armed with the knowledge and a spare piece of drywall from my work friend Mark, I attacked the rot this weekend. Yep, that's right, I drywalled. (Is that a word?!)This is the wall in the middle of scraping off the wallpaper paste. Dif gel was recommended to me and was a lifesaver in getting off the crap left behind after I peeled off all of the paper.

This was after I primed and before I found the rot.

Rut Roh. As much as I just wanted to paint over it, Mark advised me not to. So you can see in the below photo, I pried out all of the rotted drywall and was left with a blank canvas. Of sorts.


I cut the correct size to fit the empty space. I used a nifty exacto knife that I picked up during my second trip to the local hardware store. I forgot it on the first trip when I bought the drywall tape.

I nailed on the drywall, joint compounded, taped and joint compounded again. When I got up this morning, I sanded a bit and re joint compounded. The pink makes it very clear to someone like me when the goop is dry. Below, it is wet. By the way, none of the terms in this post are actual technical jargon. I have a long way to go before anyone mistakes me for Bob Vila.

While I was trying not to get the goop all over the place, Tim finally got the lawnmower working! We worked for a few hours yesterday in the yard, raking leaves and cleaning up the winter's casualties. Today, he attacked the lawnmower with some brand new oil and after a few minutes of cursing he was off and running.

After the lawn was chopped in half, we played with lawn nutrients that we bought at Lowes. It's in remarkably good shape for being covered in snow for four months.

It was a very successful weekend and we checked a few things off of the Excel Master House Spreadsheet.

More fun to come. With any luck my joint goop will dry smooth and be easily covered with paint. Cross your fingers!