Dining Room After
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Dining Room Before
Nearly every day since April there has been one activity on our family’s list of things to do: the rental house. Remember that “hobby house” we bought a couple months ago? Or “the mistress,” as I call it on nights that M. disappears there until after midnight?
It’s finished. Done. Rentable. On the market. No longer the cause of sweat, tears, and the hemorrhaging of money.
I should be clear that working at the rental house has not been the number one chosen activity for everyone in the family. Although the kids have been there almost every day to drop off paint, peel wallpaper, clean, pull weeds, or let in workers, they have a love-hate relationship with the place. They love visiting it when the visit involves a bribe. Bubbles have been our bribe of choice, figuring the soap they inevitably spill would clean the concrete that was stained black. And not stained black like a hip urban coffeehouse that has a glossy coat of varnish on it. Stained black by pollution. Or possibly the former owners’ own oil spill.
The kids have complained about the rental house on Saturdays that we brought daddy lunch over there…only to eat our Taco Cabana on a concrete floor that had only moments before lost its rancid carpet pad. Oh, the memories we give our children. Other kids may have visited Disney World this summer…our two-year-olds can successfully operate a wet/dry vac.
Most importantly…we have before/after pictures! I’ve never in my life had before/after pictures of anything. Here you can see the new paint on the dining room walls–Classic Khaki, the choice of discriminating tenants everywhere.
Oh, and don’t forget to notice Sam’s excellent job on the laminate floors. Of course, I should also point out these wouldn’t have been possible without Catie’s work pulling out the old carpet, and Ellie’s handiwork on the quarterround.
Kidding.
Kind of.
I don’t know why our kids hate the rental house.
