We haven’t just been vacationing in our nation’s capital. Both before and after our trip, we have been preparing to redo half the main floor, more specifically the front hall, living and dining rooms. All these rooms have textured plaster walls, arched ceiling to wall transitions and arched entryways, in addition to stain glass windows and other neat architectural detail. Together, these rooms represent the showy side of the house. They were newly painted, when we bought the house. We’ve lived in this house for over thirty-years, raised two boys in it and all the while have never painted them. I think that it is about time now. The first step was to empty them of all the stuff that had accumulated in them over the years. We got most of it out before we left for DC, leaving only essential pieces of furniture or like the two couches, those pieces too large to move. We finished removing the rest this morning. The plasterer showed up and seemed impressed with all the work that we had done. He originally bid the job at his hourly rate. I think that he expected to have to work around all of the stuff that was in these rooms when he last saw them. He had allocated three days to repair all of the cracks, finishing this Friday. Looking at the progress that he made today, I bet that he ends up finishing early and then it is on to painting.