Replacing trim...one door at a time...

This project has been a long time in coming and I'm finally getting around to it: replacing the trim upstairs. We moved the doorway for the bathroom when we remodeled which meant we tore off trim and never replaced it. When we removed the massive oak cabinet last summer before the carpet was replaced, it left a wall with no trim.

On top of that that it has to be the most detailed baseboard I've ever seen which is impossible to clean. It's been painted a couple times over the years and because it's difficult to paint trim up against carpet the mauve carpet stuck to the wet paint and even when we ripped out the carpet, there was a strip of mauve still attached to the baseboards. It's been on my to-do list for a while!. Once the shed was up and my dad was gone, I started ripping out and replacing trim. Its a process, especially when it's sandwiched in-between carpool for tennis, snack time and making dinner.

I'm spraying the moulding outside (using my Graco TruCoat Plus II) 10-12 pieces at a time. My backyard has looked like this for the last three weeks:


Tearing off and prepping (getting the old caulk off, repairing any damages) took much longer than expected and I think I averaged two doors a day for a week; our loft alone had 8 doors to trim. Each door doesn't take much time, but it's about all the time I could give.


After the loft was finished I was ready to clear my patio of sawdust and my lawn of drop cloths. But knowing we had company coming this week, I decided to kick it into gear to get two more bedrooms done. Of course, Hunter's trim replacement prompted a quick painting of the whole room which set me back just a bit!

People often ask how I'm able to get projects like this done with life swirling around me. This is how I roll:

I have to make a list of every little task and in this case a timeline to make sure I could get it done in time (before guests arrive). Let me remind you, I allocated about an hour to an hour and a half per day that I assigned myself a task so it didn't disrupt life too much. This could be done during nap time (tasks not requiring the loud air compressor), late afternoon while the kids were outside playing or after the kids went to bed for the night, which is what I prefer but once again the compressor! Here's my task list that I created last week

Pick up paint - Mon am
Tear off Hunter's moulding - Mon pm
Paint Hunter's room - Tues
Spray Moulding - Tues pm
Install Hunter's moulding - Wed & Thurs
Caulk/Putty/Touch up - Fri
Remove Guest room moulding - Sat am
Spray trim for Guest - Sat pm
Install guest trim - Mon & Tues
Caulk/Putty/Touch up - Wed
Guests arrive - Thurs

It's Monday and I'm on time and on-budget...there's a first time for everything!