The Panic

Pop the champers – we’re homeowners!! Settlement went perfectly to plan and on Friday afternoon we picked up the keys and had one blissful evening walking through our new house and imagining all the changes we were going to make. We really should have enjoyed that time more…

On Saturday morning the work started. With only seven days before the removalists arrive and an entire house to sand, prep, prime and paint, the pressure was really on. Luckily we had some fabulous, worth-their-weight-in-gold family and friends who came and got us started with the work. I’m pretty sure that if they hadn’t arrived, Mr Fox and I would still just be sitting on the floor crying about how impossible it all was. In hindsight, we should have been more worried. On the first day there were eight of us, on Sunday we were down to four. Last night it was just the two of us, and at 8.30pm – 36 hours after getting the keys, we had only just finished sanding, filling holes in walls, more sanding and an epic clean up. By 1am there was primer on the walls, but not all the walls. With four more days until we move in the panic is starting to set in.

 

 

The time pressure hasn’t been the only problem – on other teensy little issue that arose right after we finished stripping wallpaper – asbestos. Or maybe I should say suspected material that could potentially contain asbestos. We already knew that there was asbestos in the study, and we very intelligently closed the door to deal with that one later. What we didn’t expect was to strip (the world’s ugliest) wallpaper and find sheets of something suspiciously fibro-ish. Cue panic stations. I’m still face palming about not investigating before we started work on the wallpaper in the kitchen and the spare bedroom. There’s still a paper layer over the board (Masonite? Fibro? We still don’t know) and none of the boards are broken. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t go home on Saturday night and spend a loooong time with Dr Google looking up asbestosis. We’ve booked in the pro’s to come and have a look and take samples on Friday, so obviously those rooms won’t be painted when we move in, but that’s ok.

As for the rest of the week, we do our eight hours at work, put in eight more hours with the paint brush and wish that there were more than 24 hours in a day. Tonight we really, really want need to get the ceiling done to have a chance of finishing by Friday night. Now, time to bulk by the caffeinated beverages and smash out the rest of this week.