Home Improvement for Busy Families | The New Home Ec

We have been planning for over a month now to redo the stairs. I?ve searched for ideas, bought the supplies, and scheduled no less than 3 work days. It seemed like a fairly simple process ? pull up the carpet, paint the stairs, choose a decorating scheme.

Then, life happened.

At first, we had trouble finding a free weekend. There was volleyball, soccer, Girl Scouts, and school activities. Once we made it through the sports? seasons, we had a little more time on our hands. I thought for sure we?d be able to tackle the project in just a few hours. Yeah, I?m hilarious.

On our first planned work weekend, the tween was diagnosed with scarlet fever (no, seriously) so the weekend was spent hauling her to the doctor, then the urgent care center, and then to the pharmacy. We spent the rest of the weekend nursing her back to health and keeping the children separated.

I can?t even remember what happened the next weekend, but I know the work day disappeared before I even knew it. Finally, I just started ripping out the carpet. I thought I could at least see what it would take to make it happen. The next thing I knew, I had ripped all the carpet out and was pretty much locked into the project.

I removed nails, pulled up carpet tack, and scraped old drywall mud. When the hubby arrived home and saw what I was doing, he didn?t even roll his eyes before pitching in and finishing the job. The stairs are clear ? and I already love it so much more than the old, ratty carpet.

That was when I realized the stairs needed a little trim work before they could be finished. There were a few gaps here and there, due to the builders not taking the time to finish them properly. After all, they probably never imagined an insane woman ripping out the carpet one random Saturday night.

By that point, Home Depot was closed so our project was on hold. And Sunday was already booked. The rest of the week was fall break, with family fun activities and kids underfoot all day. Today was supposed to be another work day, but I hadn?t considered the evening?s plans with this idea. The girls are having friends spend the night, which makes dealing with wet paint a little difficult.

Okay, so tomorrow, right? Except by the time all our visitors are home, we still have the problem of finishing the job and getting the paint dried before the girls need to go up stairs for bed. And, this is a problem every weekend ? the girls are around, the pets are in the way. How do we paint stairs in a busy house?

I think we?ll have to get started early one morning, right after the girls are at school. Even if the stairs are not dried before they get home, at least we?ll have a few more hours to bedtime. Now, who wants to keep 2 cats and a dog while we paint?

A big thanks to The Home Depot for sponsoring this campaign. Click here to see more of the discussion.

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Source: http://blogs.babble.com/the-new-home-ec/2012/10/27/best-laid-plans-life-vs-home-improvement/

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