It's a pretty steep learning curve

Well, the family completed our first home improvement project last night. We didn't kill each other in the process. Go us!
The walls were baaaad. We thought they had been painted an antique white, maybe an ivory. We started washing them, and the discoloration between covered and uncovered areas wasn't really cleaning up. So we decided we'd paint. I pulled off the border around the ceiling and discovered that the walls were supposed to be IMPERIAL WHITE. Ewwww! Heather's comment was, "That's gross. I am never, ever smoking." Jerry, the former owner, smoked; apparently in the basement. It took about 2 hours to clean the walls and prep them for painting.
Last night painted until late in the night. We finally cleaned up and headed home at 10:00, we started prep work (taping the wood finish baseboards) at 3:00. Urgh. The good news is that the basement looks really good now. Go Us!!
The carpets was another huge fiasco. We started by renting a carpet cleaner (Rug Doctor) at the grocery store. What a joke. We put down a gallon of solution in an 8'x 8' area, and picked up less than a pint. So, I took that back and got my money back. I went and rented a good machine from the rental store around the corner from my house. Much better. I knew it was a better machine, I used to work with them years ago when I worked for a rental store called All Seasons (too bad that job doesn't pay very well, I liked that job).
Amy busted her but and cleaned the carpets in the basement and the 3 bedrooms upstairs. All total about 1000 square feet, and the basement carpet had to be done twice (500 sf).

So, what did I learn:
1. I learned that 1 gallon of paint is not enough.
2. That supplies will always cost more than you thought
3. That 400 sq ft of paint, means on the wall, not square footage of the room.
4. That I should listen to my wife more often.
5. That we, as a family, can do these jobs. That makes me feel good. My dad always did the projects with minimal help from my brother and I. Mom rarely helped except to lend a third hand or hold something in place. I think a lot of that had to do with my father's approach, but also the fact that my mother is not very mechanically inclined. I like working on these projects as a family.
6. That despite being dead tired and sore as hell when I was done, it was very satisfying to see work done by US in OUR house. :-)

In one hour my brother is picking me up so we can go start moving. YAY!!
tomorrow I'll probably be saying "Ohhhhhhh, my back." But for now, I can be excited.

Neil