More Cleaning

Spent the morning with Mom cleaning the living room. I haven't touched it since Rachel moved out a few weeks ago, and there were piles of unwanted stuff everywhere. Plus dirt, plus dust, plus more olives . . . .

I should have cleaned it, but my priorities were firmly focused on the bedroom. My recent decision to paint the concrete in the bedroom has forced me to clean the living room so I have somewhere to sleep while the floor paint dries!!

I hope to get the floor ready to clean this evening and late tomorrow afternoon, and actually mop the thing to death tomorrow night. Once it's been mopped it takes about three days to dry, according to one book, which means I can start painting on Friday after class. The first coat should be simple -- roll paint on floor. After that dries (by late Saturday with any luck) I can tape off the checkerboard pattern and paint it into place. I can let the floor dry all day Sunday.

Maybe on Monday I can get a sister to help with the molding. That would be great. I could finish the entire room over Labor Day weekend. No, wait, I'm supposed to go to Charlotte's party on Labor Day. I can't reverse the order and do the trim first because I'll need time for the floor to dry. OK, maybe on Friday following labor day?

Still trying to figure out exactly what to paint on the floor. I've tentatively decided to go with a checkerboard pattern at a diagonal, in a dark green and the medium green I'm using for the trim. It's very much like the red/green floor I had originally planned, except without the metallic accents. I'm considering painting on the metallic accents anyway, after the paint dries, but I'm not sure how durable they'll be. I guess I could seal the entire floor afterwards, but one article I read said to avoid that as a worn floor actually looks better.

Guess it won't kill me to try. I can always paint over it.