Let's Paint!

Ah, the joys of homeownership! Twice as much space to clutter, repairs we have to do ourselves, bonked heads and more! To the left is the most public physical evidence that the house is ours.
Someone obviously was so excited, she kicked the sign several times, and the top had rotted right through. Down it came! Unfortunate timing, as the next door neighbor to the right (Women want him and fish fear him, and his pitbull and tattoos sure look tough) was just arriving home. Oh well. Hopefully this first impression won't ruin us as neighbors.
Billy stopped by when the crew was replacing the sewer line on Thursday (see fresh soil in the middle of the lawn for placement). He suggested that if they had time, they might rip out the 10 feet of boxwood lining the driveway. Yay for Soil Solutions! The sewer scope guy was knowledgeable, personable, professional and motivated. I can only assume that the sewer line repair guys were as well, as they were the owners and finished the job in only a few hours.
Yesterday I got up at 7am and enjoyed a couple of hours alone in the house, scrubbing the walls and woodwork with TSP. I finished the whole upper floor before I had to leave for a show. (My choir sang in a festival for choral composer Eric Whitacre. We performed his song cycle Five Hebrew Love Songs. I had a small, simple solo during one and it went well.)

Billy arrived around 11 and soon began to prep the walls.
He has a fun new painting tool that he went a little crazy with, enlarging cracks and holes and even exposing the lath and plaster in one place (not pictured). Later, we had fun at the paint store. We had talked about our choices in advance and Billy was opinionated, which took care of my indecisiveness over which exact shade to get. Whew!
During the 8 hours after I left, my dad replaced the electrical box, rewired the disposal/outlet in the kitchen and did something to the bathroom outlets. He also worked on the doorbell, which is an actual bell with a clapper on the side. It may be broken but we'll see. Then Chris and Megan dropped by to see the place, the plumber came by to give an estimate on plumbing the kitchen for gas, the range was delivered, and Billy got the studio completely prepped and ready for priming. We'll paint that room a dark slate blue with grey trim. The bedroom (in the front of the house) will be sage with darker sage trim. The living room will be the color of the trim in the bedroom (or something like that). I'm thinking maybe a burnt orange for the upstairs bathroom with a dark brick red over it. That's still a WIP, though.
Ok, I'd better rouse that man I live with and get to the new house, stat! We're going to look at a polydactyl kitten this afternoon as a possible adoption. I hope those paws don't hurt when they slap!