Rrrrrrrip... Trim Removal (and Children)

Last weekend, Sam was able to go on a backpacking trip with his best pal from college - in Colorado. I was truly glad he had such a fantastic time to catch up with Edwin and enjoy the Rockies, again. He went to school out there at Mines, and it's always good when he gets to reconnect with his inner Mountain Man.

Meanwhile... what's the Little Wife to do back at home while her man hikes through treacherous terrain at high altitudes? Why, rip out trim, of course! It's helpful for me to keep track of how long certain projects take, so I can plan well for similar future projects. Mostly for me, but it might entertain you if you're a touch bored or just happen to be interested in the DIY projects of a stay-at-home-mother-of-many ;)

Here's the play by play of a *very* profitable day of DIY with four kiddos in tow.

11:25 AM - begin. The plan is to rip out all of the existing trimwork in Shug and Punkin's Bedroom before lunchtime so I can get to painting ASAP.

We move the beds out of the way. Oh, dear. Punkin! Tidy under that bed, child. See that under the bed bin lid? She has a little bin for all that junk...er... all of those "treasures".

I grab my little crowbar. Not sure I've used one of these before. I know enough to pry a little at a time and gradually loosen the board. Ripping one spot all at once would likely tear out a chunk of drywall underneath. I'm surprised to see the closet door trim coming off all in one piece.

Good thing the kiddos were sequestered in the corner ;) Aren't they great? They had a good time cuddled together, watching their crazy mom rip things off the wall.

About ten minutes later, the closet trim is down. All nails are accounted for.

About ten minutes after that, the door trim has bit the dust, too. The children are tired of watching now. It was only entertaining while it was novel. After the first few big pieces came down, things started to get a little rowdy on that bed in the corner.

11:50AM - Time to give the children something else to do. SweetP (age 8) and Little Man (almost 2 and a half), go into SweetP's room to play with some toys. My girls are a huge help!

Shug (age 7) and Punkin (4 and a half) move to Little Dude's room to play with Little People and pretend the bed is something other than a bed.

11:58 AM - I'm back at it in the bedroom. I get the first whole wall done. Easy does it. I wanted to get the entire length off in one piece to make it easier to carry out to the garage and then out to the trash on pick up day.

12:06 PM - The other wall comes off fairly easily, too. As I go, my crowbar leaves little indentations in the sheetrock. Good thing our new baseboards are much wider than the ones we're replacing. If they weren't it would've been a good idea to use a piece of scrap plywood or even cardboard between the crowbar and the drywall to prevent the denting.

12:35 PM - Finish cleaning up, including vacuuming just in case there were little bits of splintery wood lying about. Take final pictures. Time for lunch! This is how I leave the room. Plan to start cutting in with the new paint once I get Little Dude and Punkin down for nap.

Total time to get the trim off: about 1 hour and 15 minutes