Revive. Restore. Renew.

Not So Scary Anymore..

2012-01-16T11:00:00.000-05:00

This is actually a project I finished over the summer, but I finally just took pictures of it this week. Between work, other projects and a LOT of cloudy days, I had an excuse every day for months.

You'll remember from earlier posts that this is the room we've dubbed The Twilight Room. When we first viewed the house it was completely empty, except for two Twilight posters. And the walls were a beautiful striped montage of black, magenta, and purple, with a lovely bright blue carpet. Just delightful.

R claimed this room as his soon after we moved in. He took the desk that the previous owner had left and that's where he had his computer. He doesn't use it much.. maybe once or twice a week. The room wasn't really a priority. We have the guest beds set up in the Guest Bedroom, and R didn't really care about the scary walls (which by this point were primed, but you could still see the stripes peeking through).

However, this spring, I was attempting to organize all of the remaining boxes upstairs and realized that I could empty the majority of them if only I had somewhere to put my excess office supplies. I had boxes and boxes full of art and craft supplies, pens and pencils, notebooks.. etc. Plus a bunch of random stuff like our winter coats (downstairs coat closet isn't very high on our to-do list), all of my gift wrap, and what I call my memory boxes (basically plastic boxes filled with mementos). As I was sitting on the floor amid all of this stuff, I realized that I had a huge closet in the Twilight Room, sitting there basically empty.

In April and May I got to work on the closet.. not as easy as you'd think, seeing as it was covered in hand prints.

Once that was done, I started filling it up. That didn't take long. But I managed to unpack almost every box left in the Guest Room! Plus all of the boxes that I had accumulated in the Twilight Room.

The walls weren't that bad. Two coats of the light yellow paint, over two coats of Kilz covered all of the stripes. There are still a couple spots where you can see a little raised line (whoever painted the stripes taped off the lines and there are some spots where there's a raised line of paint along where the tape was), but only if you look really really close. The trim and windows were a pain because the paint was so dark and I was painting it white. I'm still not 100% done with the doors... they're taking an obnoxious amount of paint!!

Over the summer I moved in some furniture I had in the Guest Room. We got R's childhood bed and I had to rearrange the Guest Room, and all of the furniture didn't fit any more. I moved in his old bookcase and Madison's papasan chair. We also have an old filing cabinet in here that was left in the house. It's broken and not very eye-pleasing, but it's too heavy for me to move out of the room, let alone down the stairs, so it's staying in here until it bothers R enough to move it (it'll be here for awhile).

In the fall I bought some Ikea curtains for the room. The next time R went to use his computer, he was like "What is all of this? What happened to my office? There are flowery curtains and stuffed animals in here!" It had definitely gone from being his room to mine.. My craft supplies take up one whole wall, there are stuffed animals on the shelves there and on the puppy's papasan chair.. there are flowers on the walls and curtains and there are pink stripped tie-backs on the curtains. His wall does have a nice panoramic view of Fenway (I said, if this was my room I definitely wouldn't have hung THAT up!) and all of his books and CDs and This Old House magazines, etc. by his computer still :)

The room still isn't completely finished (what is in this house?). I haven't painted the ceiling yet and we're planning on getting a new carpet soon. I plan on painting the ceiling and touching up the base trim when we get the new carpet. I also need to finish the doors and install the re-painted hardware.

**Picture disclaimer** I broke our camera. Our good, fancy camera. So these pictures are blurry and not the best (after waiting so long to take them you'd think they'd at least be good!). Sorry.

Madison's corner of the room. It's her favorite spot to sleep.

All that's left of R's space in the room

Bought these frames and pictures at Ikea for a total of $3. I spray painted the frames black to match everything else in the room.

Curtains from Ikea with ribbon tie-backs. I spray painted the existing curtain rods black.

Our 2011 Goals... How'd We Do??

2012-01-06T09:21:00.001-05:00

First off, here's the list. Most of the finished tasks link to my progress posts.

*Finish the Kitchen I'd say it's 90% done.. we're almost there!
*Landscaping the front yard Instead of doing this, I did a little landscaping in the backyard (my sidewalk)
*Cleaning up the front entrance/porch
*Get the rest of our boxes from our parents' houses
*Buy chickens and build a coop
*Fence in the backyard This is going to be our #1 large project of 2012.. as soon as the ground thaws
*Install new exterior light fixtures by back door They're purchased. That's something, right?
*Install new motion detecting flood light Same here.
*Renovate downstairs bathroom Our plans have changed here. We're now leaning toward just replacing the fixtures and leaving the layout the same. For now.
*Re-work/re-build the back staircase The back stairs/lean-to are a project we may tackle this summer.. it's a big one because we're going to be completely re-building the lean-to and putting in a foundation, so it may get put off for another year...
*Finish off closet under back staircase
*Figure out what to do with my pantry
*Install shelving in Living Room closet It's painted, just not installed. The walls need a lot of repair.
*Figure out lighting solution for Living Room
*Strip paint in Living Room Ended up being a lot more time consuming than I had originally thought (and expensive). I'm working on it though!
*Re-do front Hall
*Install chandelier in Dining Room
*Get a Dining Room table We have a folding table with a table cloth on it in there for now. Better than nothing, right?
*Organize tools in basement They're actually in the basement now, which is Step 1 :)
*Buy bookcases/etc for office
*Make new bulletin boards for office
*Second coat of paint in Guest Room
*Paint Twilight Room
*Re-do upstairs back Hall
*Lighting solution for upstairs Bathroom and Laundry
*Clean out Laundry cabinet
*Install permanent dryer vent

Now here's my disclaimer. I never really made it apparent on here, but 2011 was filled with a lot of job changes for me. So there was a lot we had planned to do that we weren't able to do (especially the larger projects), because we were figuring out other things. Things are pretty settled for now, so here's hoping to a very productive 2012!

I've also realized there were a lot of things that we didn't include on the list.. like a garden and a dishwasher (though I guess I included in the Kitchen task). I still feel like we got a lot done this year. Just having almost the entire second floor be finished feels good. And have I mentioned that there's a floor in the Kitchen???? :) And of course we also had the unexpected projects.. painting/cleaning the other bedroom closet, the need to do some electrical work in both the back Hall and Kitchen, plus the expensive new chimney cap that we desperately needed!

Our Second Christmas in the House

2012-01-06T08:44:00.001-05:00

This Christmas was a little different than last year. I decorated more, for one thing. We had more finished (or semi-finished) rooms. It was also nice to be able to do a lot of baking in the kitchen. Having a kitchen table again definitely helped! I think I made over 25 dozen cookies (some of which I brought around to our neighbors).

And this isn't even all of them! I think I made about twice as many as shown in this picture!

We (and by we I mean me) decided to change things up this year and put the tree in front of the front windows. I love being able to see the tree from the street (which you couldn't really do.. oh well.. you could see it a little!). I've also been wanting to try out a different furniture layout in the room. We moved the loveseat to in front of the fireplace. I like it. R doesn't. I think it makes the room feel larger. The only downside (according to me) is that the coffee table is a little awkward because of the tree.. it can't be centered on the couch, so it's just kinda hanging out in the middle of the room.

I especially loved being able to decorate in the kitchen. Last year at an after-Christmas sale we got these two artificial trees for $2 each. The garland was about $1.

I think this was one of my favorite things in the house this Christmas. I could never seem to get a really good picture of it though.. It looked awesome when all of the rest of the lights in the room were turned off though!

This year at an after-Christmas sale we bough some night pewter and white candles to put in the windows (for $1 each!). We're considering keeping them up all year long. There's another center chimney house across town that does this and I've loved it ever since I was little.

Party Deadline

2011-12-12T09:56:00.001-05:00

It has now been exactly one month since the big party.. which means that I haven't blogged in over a month.

In case you're wondering, we did meet our party deadline. Well, kinda. We didn't finish everything on the schedule, but that was partly because we lost a week and a weekend due to the power outage. But I was still pretty pleased with the progress we made.

The last progress post I made was on day 1 of the floor installation. Since then....

We finished the floor.
We painted the walls.
We painted the ceiling.
We installed the dishwasher.
We installed the lights.
We installed the door trim.
We installed some window trim.
We had a successful party.

I'll do posts for all of the work we did, but first... let's talk about the party.

It was the first time some of R's family had seen the house... and the first time some of my family had seen it in almost a year. So everyone got a tour :) Then everyone got to meet the chickens.

Then we ate. We had chicken parm (R's favorite dinner), ziti, spaghetti, garlic bread, and salad (plus a million appetizers!). For dessert, I made this cake for Ryan and these cookies.. so so good!! (Remember that the party was suppose to be in October.. hence the pumpkin/Halloween theme!)

By the end of the night, we were all exhausted... especially the dogs :)

Our New Kitchen Floor

2011-11-06T20:07:00.000-05:00

This weekend R continued working on the Kitchen floor. It had been put on hold thanks to the power outage, so we were now very behind in our schedule!

He got quite a bit done Saturday.. but wasn't able to finish. Sunday, however, was a different story. He had finally gotten the hang of it.. and it was going down incredibly quick!

He first had to go to Lowe's to buy some more plywood. While he was gone, I put a second coat of paint on the walls (I'd prefer to paint when there's just plywood on the floor) and painted the ceiling. The ceiling looks so much better.. you can't even tell where the old upper cabinets used to be (we also used some spray "popcorn" to cover up that area).

This is how much he had done by dinnertime on Saturday...

Barely half of the kitchen.. and about half of that was from the previous Saturday. By dinnertime on Sunday, he was done! We still have to do the little hallway that goes to the Living Room and Bathroom, but we haven't decided what we're doing with the walls in there (lead paint that would take FOREVER to take down.. we might just replace the walls with drywall...). But we'll worry about that after the party.

Also on Saturday, he unpacked the dishwasher. It's not hooked up (again.. that'll have to wait until after the party. Sadly), but it's in place. Madison enjoyed playing in the dishwasher box for awhile. So much so that we're keeping it for her..

Because the last couple rows were pretty tight (with the wall/hutch there), I got to do them! It was a lot of fun.. and not that hard (especially seeing as everyone told us it would be impossible..torture..worse thing ever to install the floor).

And look how pretty it is!!

A Week in the Eighteenth Century.. Day 5

2011-11-05T09:53:00.000-04:00

Day 5. Everyone in the state is complaining like crazy, but I'm still having fun. Madison has been sleeping in our bed with us, smack dab in the middle of us, for the whole night. She's so small I worry about her being too cold. So she's been spoiled all week... big bed... going to grandma's house everyday... everyone paying lots of attention to her!

When we drove up to my parent's house this morning she was excited, but not near as excited as usual (I guess the fun is starting to wear off). Despite the heat and electricity, I still plopped myself down in the living room on the floor. Only this time I had my laptop and cell phone charging next to me.

Before we both left this morning, we cleaned our refrigerator and freezer. It was killing me, the quintessential Yankee, to throw away all of that "good" food. Ugh. And of course R had stopped at the store on Friday night to get a couple things we'd been out of all week.. orange juice, butter, milk. All of which I had to throw away, completely unused.

Freezer before (please excuse my messy freezer that needed to be cleaned out before the storm!)

Freezer after (with the ice cream for the party)

I didn't do a refrigerator "before" picture... but here it is after. By the way... what do you think about condiments? We had 5 days without power... some websites say they're ok, some say to throw them away... I threw away all creamy dressings and marinades, but kept stuff like ketchup, bbq sauce, steak sauce, etc.

Fridge after (basically everything not on the door is all new, for the party)

Again, trying to be optimistic, my fridge and freezer really did need to be cleaned out. I hadn't cleaned it out since we moved in, so the last time it was cleaned/purged was a year ago. It was due. I just wish we didn't have to throw away so much good food. I also wish all the ice pops on the freezer door didn't melt and create a sticky mess all over everything...

This was empty before I cleaned out the fridge. I filled it up with all of the plastic/glass bottles full of stuff I had to throw away!

Around 6:00, I was on facebook, waiting for R to get to my parent's house, when I saw that one of our neighbors posted that our village was back in the 21st century! The entire village had been out for 5 days.. even stoplights (and let me tell you... that was a disaster! If a stoplight isn't working, the intersection becomes a four way stop people. You can not just speed through the intersection going 90!) I called our house, and the phone rang, meaning that she was right! R stopped by on his way home and took this picture, to "prove" it.

My poor cornstalk just did not make it :(

A Week in the Eighteenth Century.. Days 2-4

2011-11-04T09:24:00.000-04:00

Bad picture quality because I was driving, but you can kinda see a tree snapped over, leaning over the road and power lines.

So crazy... this street was one of the last to get power in our area..

Woke up Monday morning still without power (Happy Halloween!). I'm still having fun. I've always loved losing power. Reading by candlelight. Walking around the house with flashlights. It's all fun to me.

R went to work today (the town he works in is along the shoreline and they only had 1% (so basically like 1 household) without power). I decided I didn't want to stay in the cold house all day by myself, so I drove me and Madison over to my parent's house. My mom and sister were home and we all camped out on the living room floor in front of the fireplace (which had only been lit once before... in 1979). It was fun! Madison loved it! Everyone laying on the floor with tons of blankets and puppy toys? It was her dream come true! And she even got to wear her Halloween costume (she was a bumble bee) all day! My dad came home about an hour later. His work had no power too.. so he had gone over there to talk to any employees who came in. My dad is worse than R when it comes to not having power. He was just walking around aimlessly... not knowing what to do.

My parents prepared a little better than we did. They got out the big beach coolers and filled them with ice on Saturday night right after they lost power. All perishables (that they could fit) went into the cooler. They were able to save mayonnaise, drinks, meat, eggs, etc. by doing this (our food wasn't so lucky..). My mom made tuna sandwiches and soup (boiled the water on the grill) for lunch. Mmmm...

My dad and I ventured out in the afternoon to pick up some things from the grocery store (ok, mainly I wanted hot chocolate...). We also tried to get gas... that was just a joke. Most gas stations were closed.. the two we found that were open, one didn't have gas and the other had lines to get in that were over a mile long. The cars at the end were turned off and just parked there they had been waiting for so long!

All afternoon I read and played with Madison and worked on a Christmas craft I'm making. R came after work for dinner. My dad made kielbasa and baked beans on the grill and my mom made some baked potatoes in the fireplace (soooooo good! a million times better than grill potatoes!). They only got 1 trick-or-treat group. My dad and R were out in the driveway cooking on the grill and the group (and their dad) walked right up to them (the house is up on a hill, on a long driveway) and wanted candy. My dad was like "uhh... Happy Halloween... Want some kielbasa?" (this is apparently Polish Halloween this year). My mom reluctantly gave up some candy (she's a first grade teacher and was mad that kids were out in the unsafe conditions... plus we had kinda been eating the candy all day).

Around 9:30 R and I left and came back home. Still no power... but we spent weeks last fall without heat, so sleeping here wasn't a problem. Also, it turned out that my parents still had hot water (gas fired, not electric), so we were able to take showers before coming home.. which was nice!

Tree in parking lot at work.. all of the trees in front of our building were like this. They were cut down by the end of the day :(

Tuesday I dropped Madison off at my parent's house (and picked up my car, which R insisted I leave there... he didn't want me driving home in the dark) and I went into work. I work from home normally and this was the first time I actually worked in the office. It was weird :) My boss was wicked nice and even said I could bring in Madison and take a shower there. For lunch, the receptionist and I got Chinese food (the only place open in town!).. and it was so nice to be warm all day! And have internet!! After work, I drove home and waited for R to get out of work. Then, back to my parent's house. Tonight we had pizza.

Branches down in my parent's front yard.

Two houses down from my parents... trees snapped and broke their fence and went into their pool.

Wednesday was pretty much the same as Monday, without Halloween. R and I stopped at Dunkin Donuts on our way to my parents and got everyone coffee and munchkins! I finished a whole book today, and broke my head (ok, not literally... but Madison and I were playing pretty rough and I smacked my head on a coffee table... I have a huge bump. I'm such a klutz). In the afternoon my mom made baked apples in the fireplace.... sooo much better than ones in the oven!!! Around 5:30 my dad came in from outside (he'd been cleaning up branches and stuff outside all day) and "fixed" the fire in the fireplace (my mom just wasn't able to keep it going today for some reason!). While he was doing that, power came back on!! For dinner my mom made basically everything in the freezer that was about to be no good anymore. We had chicken, hamburgers, kielbasa, two kinds of french fries and three kinds of vegetables. It was crazy. Still no power at our house though..

Mmmm... munchkins and hot cider

She loves to snuggle!

She also kinda really likes fireplaces... Too bad we don't have one. Oh wait..

Best baked apple ever!

A Week in the Eighteenth Century.. Day 1

2011-11-04T09:01:00.000-04:00

We're all gung-ho about getting the kitchen done. We have a schedule. I'm posting every day with our progress. Then I drop off the radar for a week. Where was I?

See all that black? That means that 90-100% of the town doesn't have power. Guess where we live. Yuuup.

Here in New England we had a major nor-easter. In October. It was crazy. R and I enjoyed it at first. Saturday was a gorgeous day filled with snow (we love snow in this house!). R cut the grass early in the morning (in anticipation for the snow) and I painted the kitchen. Then we set up the miter saw and started installing the floor. By the end of the day we had 10+ inches of snow on the ground and a new floor in 1/4 of our kitchen. We realized that we weren't able to use our stove though (can't walk on the new floor for 12-24 hours while the glue dries), so we went to a local pizza place and got pasta take-out and sat on the couch with our warm food and watched American Horror Story. A fun night.

1:30 in the morning we were woken up by the volunteer fire department's siren going off. We had just lost power (siren goes off when we lose power). Ok. This is fun. No power. We went back to sleep. Woke up around 7:30. Still no power. Ok... now my eye is starting to twitch. We were suppose to have a long day of working on the floor! We had to finish the floor today!! I decided to look at it positively however. I grabbed It by Stephen King (my book club's October book) and took advantage of my hidden blessing.. I now had time to finish reading it in time for our Halloween discussion on Monday. R said he was going out to fix our SUV's heat, which he had noticed the night before wasn't as warm as it should be. I said ok, bye, without looking up from It.

2 1/2 hours later, he comes walking back into the house complaining about lines at Dunkin Donuts. Apparently he wasn't fixing the car... he had driven around for 2 1/2 hours looking for an open Dunkin Donuts (a man and his morning coffee... sigh). The closest DD to us was open, but had a mile long line. The other DD down the street had no power. He drove to my hometown (town of 17ish DD). One was closed. One was open. One had a long line. One had no coffee. You get the picture. He drove by my parents house to see if they had power. They didn't.. and there was a HUGE tree down blocking the road that had fallen from one of our neighbor's yards. He gave up and came home. Without his coffee.

Now, I'm a person who can adjust to no power with no problem. R can't. All of his "fun" consists of TV, computer, power tools.. and it was all taken away. He wandered around for a little bit. He ended up taking a nap upstairs without dog. Meanwhile, I'm plowing through It! This is awesome!! Then it's time for the Patriots game. And we still don't have power... He found an old battery powered radio the previous owner left, hooked up his ear buds and sat on the couch listening to it. While I read (almost done now!). Then it started getting dark. I pulled out some candles from the candle cabinet. It was pretty in here.. and smelled pretty good too!

Then it was time for dinner. R grabbed some meat out of the freezer (might as well use it while it's still good!) and some potatoes and threw them all on the grill. If you've never had potatoes on the grill, do it. They were so good! Well, except for the bacon bits he threw in there that just got completely charred... other than that... a little olive oil and Sicilian salt... mmm so good!! We ate in the almost dark... with Madison sitting on the end of the couch staring at us trying to figure out what was going on. About an hour later (football game was over by now), R was ready for bed. I said I wanted to finish my book first. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore, so I said fine. We'll go to bed. Then I looked at my phone. It was 8:31. Sigh. Is this what time people in the 1700's went to bed? I felt silly going to bed so early! Then I decided to be stupid. I read the last 50 or so pages of It in bed. In the dark. With a flashlight. Needless to say, I kept seeing and hearing things all night...

Luckily, we didn't have too much damage in our yard (we had more damage in the hurricane, when we didn't lose power). Our next door neighbor had some really large tree branches fall in her front yard, but luckily none hit her house!

Only Two Weeks Left!

2011-10-28T09:13:00.000-04:00

Ok.. I'm starting to get freaked out... We only have 2 more weeks (4 weekend days...) before the party! In those 4 days we need to get the floor installed (most likely will take up 2 full days), install the dishwasher, install the window casing, install the door casing (only on 2 doors... 2 already have it), install the lower filler panels on the cabinets, install the toe kick and install the base trim. And install the light fixtures!

AHHHHHHH... I don't know if we're going to make it!! And on top of all of that, during the week I have to not only get my work-work done, but I need to finish painting the walls and ceiling, paint the trim and beadboard, unpack, bake and cook for the party, and finish everything else on my "party to-do" list (cleaning for our overnight guests, vacuuming, clean up the old plywood from the backyard, etc.). Because have I mentioned that my house is basically just a big disaster area??? I know that as soon as the floor is done and I can move some stuff into the kitchen it'll be a little bit better... but... AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

We really need to get our butts in gear. We're already planning on going to bed really early tonight so we can wake up really early tomorrow morning and get working immediately! It's going to be a long long day! If we can get the floor done and the dishwasher hooked up by Sunday night, I'll be happy. That will leave all of the trim to the following weekend... which shouldn't be too too bad... the windows will probably take the longest, but I've already primed everything, so that's a start!

Then this upcoming week I can tackle a lot of the cleaning and stuff, and the following week (right before the party), I'll finish up painting all of the new trim.

We can do it... we can do it... I just need to keep repeating that to myself!!

Hey! What's That?

2011-10-27T15:52:00.000-04:00

Other Weekend Progress...

2011-10-26T13:47:00.000-04:00

There were some times where I couldn't help R with the plywood this past weekend, so I found other ways to be useful. I worked on the sidewalk a little...

There's that rock that got in my way... It's kinda hard to see because of all the sand and leaves, but I think I worked it in pretty well..

Once I literally hit an impasse (asphalt with electrical wires underneath... a job for R), I moved back indoors and tackled the downstairs bathroom.

The downstairs bathroom is something on my "Things to Get Done Before Party" list. In the past year, this room has become our dumping zone (when we run out of room in the Dining Room.. seriously.. it's bad). We rarely use it, so who cares that it's so full of crap that you can't walk in there! But we have some people coming to the party would would rather not walk all the way upstairs to use the bathroom, so it needed to be done. I spent a couple hours organizing everything in the room into piles, then realized that I had piled myself into the room and couldn't get out, so I had to re-pile everything. Most of the stuff went in the basement, a ton went in the garbage and some got packed up in a box to go in the attic. Now all that's left is the window casing for the kitchen and a couple boxes that will be unpacked when we finish the kitchen. Yay! R's comment was "What? There's a floor in there?" I mean seriously... our Christmas tree stand was in there. And still had some dead needles and branches in it. So embarrassing!!

Hello New Plywood

2011-10-25T13:13:00.000-04:00

This weekend we got all of the new plywood down in the kitchen! It went down pretty well. We started by the cabinets and moved toward the built-in cabinet. We started with full pieces and then cut smaller pieces where needed. Most of the time R would cut the pieces while I was screwing in the previous piece. On some of the larger pieces we had races though, to see who would finish their piece first (gotta make it fun!) (PS I won).

So you know what this means. Next weekend we're going to start putting down the new floor! I am so so excited!! Monday night R printed off the instructions and read through them, preparing himself. I think I'm going to cry tears of happiness when it's all done!

This is also means that I need to get my butt in gear and get the room painted before Saturday though. I need at least one coat on the ceiling and two on the walls. I'm not a super messy painter, but I've been known to get a drop or two on the floor and I just can't "ruin" my new floor so soon after we install it, so it needs to get done before the floor goes down! Especially the ceiling...

Once there's paint on the walls and a real floor, it'll finally seem like we're almost there. And we are almost there. The party deadline is coming up very quickly... Only this weekend and one more! That's two weekends! We definitely aren't going to be 100% finished, but I think as long as we have the floor done, the dishwasher installed, the walls/ceiling painted, the light fixtures installed, the window and door casing up, base trim and beadboard trim up, we'll be good for the party. The fridge cabinet and crown molding (and fireplace trim) can wait until after the party.

Proud Owners of a New Dishwasher!

2011-10-22T22:32:00.000-04:00

R called Sears Corporate last week to discuss the issues we had trying to buy our dishwasher. The woman he spoke with was appalled at everything that happened. She said she would contact the manager of the store, who would put us in touch with his best salesperson. The next day we had a call from Al.

We went in tonight to see Al. As we turned the corner to the appliances section, there's our dear friend Laurie, plus 2 other salesmen. One of them is slightly apart from the other two, and I see that luckily, this is Al. I mention that he called us and we were here to buy our dishwasher. We walked toward the computers. Suddenly, guess who comes running around the corner toward us (but on the other side of the register) and stands right across from us, and starts telling another salesman that we were "those" people. So professional Laurie. So professional.

Luckily for us, Al was really nice. We walked over to double check that we had the correct dishwasher model number.. then back to the register, where we were happy to see that Laurie had left. Al entered in the model number, our $25 discount from Steve, plus another 5% discount. He then told me that Sears offered free shipping for any appliance over $499 (gee thanks Laurie). We could have it delivered on Monday. Umm.. yes please! He then asked for our phone number, and all of our correct information showed up. When he asked for an email address, I gladly gave it to him. Then it was rewards card time. He knew how to use it (scan it), and even better, asked me if I wanted to use my points. I said that I wasn't exactly sure what the card was, so he explained that you get points every time you use it, and those points translate into money off. So we were able to get an additional $7.86 off our order. May not seem like much, but I was definitely a lot happier than last time!

In the end, we brought the $799.99 dishwasher down to $546.24. Discount of $253.75. Not bad... not bad. Plus, did I mention the free shipping?? We also bought the installation kit (Al knew exactly what was in it... so we bought it). He also rang it up separately and we got another $5.39 by using our points from the dishwasher!

When we were all done, he apologized for our bad experience (and Steve came over and apologized too) and asked me who we dealt with last time. I whispered "Laurie" and he was like "ohh.... yea... sorry about that". Like it wasn't the first time he'd heard that.. Ugh.

We got in the car 15 minutes after we got out of the car. NICE!

Goodbye Old Floor

2011-10-16T22:41:00.000-04:00

Today was a little bit of a mis-match of work, at least for me. R was in the kitchen removing the last pieces of old plywood while I sanded the walls (still! It's never-ending!). However, I didn't last very long. I have asthma and the dust from sanding from the dust being kicked up from the plywood and the saw R was using were starting to really bother me. I went outside to get some fresh air and ended up working on my sidewalk some more.

Yes. I'm still not done. I had a good rhythm going when I first started, but then the kitchen schedule took over and I wasn't able to dedicate an entire weekend to the sidewalk anymore. My dad came a couple weeks ago to help me dig out the area between the lean-to and garage, but then it rained one weekend, then it was a rare humid October day... you get the picture.

This afternoon I was able to get around the corner and past the rock that was giving us a problem (this whole area was filled with buried rocks and buried broken dishes and cups... however, this rock, it turned out, was supporting some of the random rocks that are helping to hold up our lean-to. We're planning on tearing down the lean-to, putting in an actual foundation and rebuilding it next summer). At first I was thinking I'd just go around it for now and next year when we took apart the lean-to, I'd put in the missing bricks. But now I really like how it looks and am considering doing it in a couple other places as well :)

Then I ran out of bricks. Oh well.. until next weekend...

While I was doing all of this, R made good progress in the kitchen. You'll remember that we did half of the plywood last Sunday, and this weekend we did the cabinet side of the kitchen. It was not as easy as the other side (hence it taking almost 2 days). The sub-floor on this side of the kitchen wasn't the old, original flooring.. maybe it had too much water damage or something, but it looks like it was removed around the 50's (helping to solidify our idea that that was when the last major work was done on the house) and "new" 6" boards were put in its place.

Another issue he was having was under the cabinets. He couldn't get the saw in all the way, so we still have old plywood for about 3" under the toe-kick.. and we also left it under the dishwasher (technically it's new there because we had to replace it last fall) and under the stove. Also, because we ran out of time and weren't able to get the new plywood down, our stove was left out in the middle of the kitchen... which means tonight was the first night of a week of take-out (tonight it was pizza. We tried a new place... it wasn't that good).

This Weekend, Last Year

2011-10-15T14:21:00.000-04:00

It's hard to believe that we've been in the house long enough to say that..

Last year on this weekend (the 16th and 17th), my cousin got married on Saturday, so we wanted to find a project that would only take roughly one day. The upstairs bathroom.

At the time, we were not willing to use the toilet in there, so in the morning, we'd wake up, go downstairs to use the toilet, come back upstairs to take a shower, then go back downstairs to brush teeth, brush hair, etc. Kinda a pain in the butt. Plus the upstairs bathroom was carpeted (seriously.. who thought this would ever be a good idea??) and soaking wet all the time, even when it wasn't being used, which meant that it smelled horrible in here and the mold was not good for my asthma, even though I'd take the quickest showers on record. The sinks and counter had become my paint station and this was where I would store everything and wash out my brushes and rollers while painting upstairs. So it was pretty gross. Plus the previous owners left a bunch of stuff in here.

We started by removing the carpeting and putting down some inexpensive vinyl tiles (on top of a new 1/4" subfloor). We then painted the walls, trim and ceiling (wallpaper was stripped a month ago) first with a coat or two of Kilz to hide any stains and enclose the mold and then with a coat or two of white on the trim and cabinets and green on the walls (leftover from our guest bathroom in our apartment). New knobs, faucets and a toilet finished out the project.

Since then I've also refurbished the mirror, added temporary curtains, rugs, and organized everything in the cabinets/drawers and decorated a little. It's not a beautiful bathroom that belongs in a magazine, nor is it a bathroom we plan on keeping forever. In a couple years we want to add on to the house, and the upstairs will get rearranged slightly.. laundry will move to where the Twilight Room is and this bathroom and the laundry space will become the new bathroom (the addition will have a master bedroom and bathroom). As a result, we didn't want to spend a lot of money on this.. we just needed something functional and not smelly :)

Because I was able to re-use a lot (paint, curtains, rugs)... we ended up only spending $250 on the total room makeover.

It's Here! It's Here!!!!! OMG!!!

2011-10-13T23:45:00.000-04:00

THE FLOOR IS IN OUR HOUSE!!! Like, actually, physically here!! In it's boxes, in the Dining Room!!! That's a huge huge step for us!!! We have everything we need to install it, the pads, the glue... we just need to finish up the new plywood first!! YAAAAYYY!!!! We picked it up after R got home from work tonight at the flooring company's warehouse (that way we'd get it a week sooner). Best trip ever!!!

Dishwasher Nightmare (This is a long one!)

2011-10-12T01:11:00.000-04:00

I've had a dishwasher for my entire life, with the exception of the 2 months after we got married when I lived in R's apartment. And for the past year. We've held off on buying a dishwasher until we got the floor ordered. We picked out a dishwasher a year ago when we picked out our other appliances. My mom offered to buy us the dishwasher (for a couple reasons... one, she knew how much I really wanted one, and two, it was my "payment" for designing and doing construction administration for her kitchen/family room renovation/addition). This is the one we chose:

It's a Kenmore 24" Built-in Dishwasher with a Stainless-Steel Tub (Model #1329). My two requirements were stainless steel and concealed controls. The handle on this model matches the handles on my stove and microwave, so that was a big factor in my decision.

A month or two ago we got a coupon in the mail (probably because we have a Sears rewards card). 25% off Kenmore appliances and 10% off all other appliances. The week where we would be ready to order it (according to the schedule) coincided with the Sears Columbus Day sale. Unfortunately for us, the coupon states that it's 25% off the original price, not the sale price. That's fine. Original price is $799.99. Sale price is $719.99. Coupon price is $599.99. Here's where the nightmare begins..

As soon as R got home from work, I jumped in the car and we drove to the closest Sears. We parked right next to the door to the appliance department. We walked immediately to the dishwashers. I showed R the two I had been comparing and asked which one was his favorite. He took a minute (no more) to look at the two.. pointed to the one that was my favorite and I said "Good. Let's buy it!". Almost immediately, a sales associate (Laurie) walks over.

Laurie: Can I help you? Here to take advantage of the last day of our Columbus Day sale?
S: Yes. Actually, we'd like to buy this dishwasher... and we have this coupon.
Laurie: Oh! Great! I don't have to sell you on one! Makes my job easier!
S: :) Yup! I did my research! ::hands Laurie the coupon::
Laurie: ::examines coupon intently:: Ok... let's see here... where did you get this? 25% off? Ok... that's off the original price... ok.... ::walks over to dishwasher R is standing in front of and takes a notepad out of her pocket. She starts to write down the dishwasher's information, but is having a very hard time, so I helped her by holding the tag up so she can read and write at the same time (I'm just so helpful). When she's done she walks off, supposedly to her register::
S (to R): Hold on. I just want to look at it a little bit.. we were a little rushed.

We compare the two dishwashers, making sure this is the one we want. Once we're satisfied we've made the correct decision, we go to find Laurie. We find her standing next to a register with a tiny calculator smaller than my Blackberry.

Laurie: This calculator is so small.. I wish we had a larger calculator! I need to find another calculator. ::scurries off::

S and R give each other questionable looks... ok.... so we just look around a bit, at the pretty induction cooktop, at the washing machines..

Laurie: I can't believe we don't have a larger calculator! You don't have a calculator do you?!?!
S: Uhh... no.... I have a cell phone, but it's no bigger than your calculator...
Laurie: Yes!! Perfect!! Ok... type in $799.99 and tell me what 25% is.
S: ::uuhh... what?:: Ok... uh, it's $199.9975, so $200.
Laurie: ::writing this down on her piece of paper:: $799.99 minus $199.99 is.. hmm... let's see... carry the 1.. minus $719.99... ok, I need to take off $119.99.

At this point, I look over at R, who is just standing there with a confused look on his face. And it was well-deserved. I mean, we've both worked retail. When you have a coupon, these new-fangled things (computers) will do all of this automatically for you when you scan in the coupon. It's dummy proof.

Laurie: ::now typing things into the register, which is an operating system and program straight out of 1983:: Let's see.... dishwasher model 1329... price over-ride to $600.00... hmm.. well, this is weird. Why don't any of the price over-ride options apply (options such as, damaged floor model, price match to another store, price match to error in ad, customer satisfaction).. this is weird!! ::just starts randomly hitting keys::

She now gets on the phone intercom system calling someone over to help her because she isn't sure which price over-ride to use (uhh.. none of them?!?). Someone comes over after a couple minutes, undo's everything she has done, scans the coupon and it magically works!

Laurie: Alright. Here we go. It will be here for you to pick up on the 17th. Now, I need your information. Phone number first?
S: 860....
Laurie: Ok. ::hits the wrong key and erases it:: Oops. I need that again.
S: 860...
Laurie: Ok. Here's your information. ::computer shows someone else's name and address::
R: No, that's not us. We recently moved, so this is probably whoever had the phone number before us. It's not even the correct village (yes, our state is weird and there are villages within each town).
Laurie: ::with a huge look of confusion on her face:: Oh. Well. Um. What's your first name?
R: R...
Laurie: ::types:: Ok, middle initial I guess.
R: E.
Laurie: ::scrunches up her face in disgust:: WHAT?! E?!? Uh.. alright, whatever.

Ok, R's middle name is Edward. It's not an uncommon name. It's not like he said his middle initial was Z, or X, or 2!

Laurie: Alright, last name?

And you get the point.. all the way down to our zip code.

Laurie: ::staring at screen:: Well, I guess you aren't going to give me your email address are you?
S: ::starting to get annoyed by now:: No, I'm not.

I would have, but now she was giving me attitude so now I'm getting angry..

Laurie: Alright... let's see. This is a very sensitive machine. Very sensitive, small electronic parts in it. IT WILL BREAK. You need to buy this warranty program. It's going to break so you need it.
S and R simultaneously: No thank you.

We have a lot of handymen in the family... we can fix it if it breaks.

Laurie: Well. It's very sensitive. You're already saving money with the coupon so it's not like it will cost you a lot of money. And you need it. It's going to break!

So basically, Laurie, what you're saying is that we're about to buy a piece of crap that will break even before we take it out of the box? Yay.

R: No thank you. We don't need or want it.
Laurie: Alright.. you're making a mistake. I'm adding in the installation kit as well, for $20.
S: What's in the installation kit? I think I already have it.
R: Is it the power cord?

We had to buy the power cord for our range separately. Stupid.

Laurie: No, it's the installation kit. It has tubes and stuff.
S: But what's in it? I want to know if it's what I already have.
Laurie: ::confused look::
S: Ok... well, is it something I can return if it is what I already have at home?
Laurie: ::confused look:: Well, it has tubes and stuff.....

OH.MY.GOD.

S: Fine.. I'll just return it if I have it.

Just to get her to shut up and move on! Meanwhile.... another sales associate has approached a man, who didn't know what he wanted to buy, has sold him a dishwasher, done all of the computer information, set up FREE delivery for tomorrow (and I don't get it for another week, AND I have to pick it up myself), got it all paid for and set up, and he is gone and out of the store... and we aren't even close to done!

I go in my purse, grab my credit card and Sears rewards card... trying to speed things up!

Laurie: ::half under her breath:: We have .... program.... card.... ::faces the complete opposite direction as us:: sign up.... no... ::faces the computer again:: ok then. ::starts hitting buttons like crazy::
S: Umm.. do you mean the Sears rewards card? Is that what you're talking about? I have one right here. ::I've had it in my hands for the past 5 minutes::
Laurie: ::there's that confused look again:: Oh. You have one? Well... it's too late now. I can't do it. I hit no.
S: Well, I was standing here holding it and you never asked me if I had one.
Laurie: Well, give me your phone number again.
S: 860...

There's that other person's info again.

Laurie: And that's you?
R: No. That's not us. ::seriously?!? She just took our information, twice!:: That's the other guy.
Laurie: Well, that's the information that comes up with the phone number...????
S: Well, we moved. We got the card before we had this phone number... we didn't have a phone at the time.
Laurie: Oh, well.... hmm... ::takes the card:: Let's see then. ::starts hitting random buttons:: I don't think I can use it now. It's too late. I'd have to re-start all over again. You will just have to sign up for a new card.
S: Uhh.. I'm not getting a second rewards card. That's stupid, plus I have a lot of points on this card. We bought our stove on this card.
Laurie: Well, they can transfer the points between the two cards.
R: We're not getting another rewards card. That's stupid. Use this one.
Laurie: Can I have the card? ::stares at it really hard:: Ok. How are you going to be paying? Maybe I need to enter that in first.
S: ::doubting it, but appeases her:: Credit.
Laurie: Ok... let's see.

Here's the best part (or at least one of them... Is anyone still reading?). SHE SWIPES THE TINY KEYCHAIN REWARDS CARD LIKE IT'S A CREDIT CARD! And then doesn't understand why it says this is not a valid form of payment!!!!!!! This is about when I start looking around for the hidden cameras and the host of Candid Camera.

Obviously this doesn't work...

Laurie: Well, it isn't working. You will either have to sign up for another card or just not use it. Or sign up for a Sears credit card.
R: No. We will get our points (we're not even sure what the points get us... at this point we just want them!) on this card. Call a manager to fix it.
Laurie: ::sigh:: Fine. ::reluctantly gets on phone intercom again::

Enter Steve.

Steve: What's the problem?
Laurie: They want to use their rewards card, but it won't let me use it.
Steve: ::pushes a couple buttons, scans rewards card:: Ok, here you go. Anything else?
S: No. Thank you very much!
Laurie: Ok, so you're paying by credit?
S: Yes. ::hands her the card::
Laurie: ::swipes card:: It's not working.

Which is odd, because I checked the balance before we left and we had more than enough money on there. To speed things up...

R: ::hands her a different card:: Here, try this one.

Now I'm sad because the first card was our rewards card and the points from this purchase would have gotten me another Lowe's gift card :( But I didn't say anything.. I just wanted to go home! We'd been in the store for over about 45 minutes now.

Laurie: Ok. ::swipes, and it goes through. Receipt prints. She puts it on the counter next to her and leans down, staring at it. I look too:: Ok.. let's see here.. dishwasher... sale price... see! There's your rewards card number... hmm....

5 minutes later

Laurie: Oh. I put in "installer pick up" instead of "customer pick up". ::runs away, saying:: I need to make a copy of this.
R and S: uuhh.. where did she just go? We need our receipt!

10 minutes later, Laurie comes back.

Laurie: Ok, we need to void this because I put the wrong pick up option.
R: ::starts to interrupt to say, that's ok.. we'll just figure it out when we pick it up..::

Over comes another sales associate (maybe assistant manager?), running.

Enter Shelley.

Shelley: No! Laurie! Don't hit void!! Because it's the same day you don't do void. You can go back and edit it (wow, modern technology!) and it erases it, so it's like it never happens. ::turns to us:: This way it won't tie up your credit card. If you void it, it still gets submitted to them and they hold the money for 7-10 days. This way it'll be like it never happened and we can just re-do it.
S: ::relieved:: Thank you Shelley!!!
Shelley: Ok, Laurie, watch. See you do this, this, then this here... Then put the old receipt in here and it'll print void all over it. Now, we just re-ring the order again.
S: ::sigh. To R,:: Hey, I'm going to run over to the food court. We've been here for an hour and we haven't eaten, so I'll go get food while she's re-ringing it and then we'll be ready to go as soon as she's done.
R: Ok.

So I go to the food court, which is right next to Sears. I went to one of the first places, got the food immediately and was back, in less than 5 minutes.

As I turned the corner toward the appliance department, I saw Laurie and Shelley talking next to the TVs. Now, I've worked in retail for a long time. I know what a discussion about a problem customer looks like. And that is EXACTLY what I was looking at right now. I kept walking, turning by the washers, and I see R. Standing with his arms crossed and a very angry look on his face.

S: Ut oh. What happened? I saw Laurie and Shelley over there and they did not look happy with us.
R: Well, let's see. Where to start. Laurie just basically called me an idiot and said that this was all my fault and then stormed off!

So... while I was gone obtaining delicious food, Laurie and Shelley started to re-ring the order. Laurie seemed to have the hang of it, so Shelley left. It all went fine. Until Laurie got to the part with the rewards card again. She asked R for the card. Which I had put in my purse when we finished the first transaction and taken with me when I went to the food court. R said that, and Laurie asked for our phone number again. R gave it to her, but said that it wouldn't be under there because we didn't have that number at the time, unless it updated itself when we made the first transaction. Of course, it didn't come up. R was about to give her my cell phone number, which is what is most likely on there, when Laurie just flipped on him. She started going on and on about how this is all R's fault that we have to re-do this and how dare his wife run off to the food court with the card. If we had just gotten a new rewards card and not completely screwed up the first order, she wouldn't have to be re-doing it right now. R said, I have another number it's most likely under.. let's try that. But she had had enough with our insane requests, shoved the coupon and old receipt into R's hand and stormed off. As she walked off, R said that he wanted to speak with the manager.

A couple minutes after I got back and R had finished the story, Laurie walks back over with Shelley. Steve follows right behind them.

Steve: What's the problem?
R: Well, she has been giving us attitude for a little while now, for no reason, and now she's blaming me for her mistake. I came in here knowing exactly what I wanted and we've now been in here for over an hour because she doesn't know how to work the register.
Steve: Ok, let's get this settled. ::turns to the register and starts entering in our dishwasher information::
Laurie: ::leans in to Steve and says very quietly:: We talked about that. They want it.
S: Excuse me? Was that the warranty? Yes, we did talk about it and we told you multiple times we did NOT want it.
Steve: ::looks at us, then Laurie:: Ok.. ..... ::types stuff in:: Do you have your rewards card? Thank you.
S: Is there anything you can do, take off, for all of our trouble? We've been in here for over an hour?
Steve: I was planning on giving you $25 off.
S: Oh, thank you. (Wow... $25... oohhh! Lucky us! The tax was more than $25.)
Steve: Ok, Laurie. I think you're all set now.
Laurie: ::says something with attitude, horrible about us.. unfortunately I can't remember what she said::
R: Ok, we're not dealing with her anymore. We've taken enough of this attitude. Please have someone else ring us out.

So Shelley goes to the register and Laurie goes stomping off. R hands Shelley the credit card.

Shelley: Hmm.. it says it was declined.
R: Yea, because the other order just went through probably.

Note: We never use our credit cards. We don't have very high limits on them for this reason. Running a $600 credit through twice would go over our limit.. that's how low it is.

Shelley: Oh. Well, it shouldn't have though. It wasn't voided. It should be like it never happened. ::grabs the phone and calls the credit card company:: Hi, I'm Shelley, I'm a retailer and I'm trying to swipe a customer's card and it isn't working. We had to void the transaction and re-do it, but it should have been like it never happened. ::pause:: No, I don't want to sign up for a credit card. I'm a retailer, trying to use a customer's card to pay for their order. What? No. I don't want a card. I can't understand you. ::hangs up and calls back and goes through spiel again, hands phone to R, who talks to them:: Ok, it looks like it did go through. Do you have another card we could try?

S: Well, I guess we can try this one again. There's no reason why it shouldn't have gone through the first time.
Shelley: ::swipes:: Nope. Same thing. ::picks up the phone and calls Bank of America:: They say that they won't permit the purchase to go through.

Now I'm mad and confused because there is no reason the BoA card shouldn't go through...

Shelley: Do you have any other cards?
R: No. We don't have a lot of cards. Only those two.
Shelley: Well, you can sign up for a Sears card.
R: No. We're not getting another credit card. These two are two more than we'd like to have (we had to get them because we had no credit according to our credit score.. so we needed them in order to buy our house.. it's stupid how it works).
Shelley: Well, what would you like to do?
R: You tell me my options. I came in here to buy a dishwasher and you guys messed it up. It's not my fault the card is messed up now.

My phone vibrates. I have a new email. From Bank of America saying there has been suspicious activity on my credit card and now all of our BoA accounts are frozen. Great.

Shelley: Well, your options are to either pay with another card...
R: We can't. Even our debit card is frozen now thanks to you guys...
Shelley: ...or, sign up for a Sears card, or layaway. Layaway would be good because you pay like $25 now and you could pay the rest when you pick it up if you want.
S: But are there fees or an interest amount associated with the layaway?
Shelley: Well, yea, $35 or somethi...
S: No thank you. I'm not paying an extra $35 because of something you messed up.
R: So what should we do? We'd walk out right now if not for this coupon ($200 is a lot of money!)... we came in here to get a dishwasher that we had already picked out. We just want to buy it. You tell me what needs to happen for us to get our dishwasher. Can it be ordered now and we'll pay for it when we pick it up, once our accounts aren't frozen anymore?
Shelley: No, it can't be ordered and sent to the store until a payment has been made.
R: And you can't make an exception for this situation?
Shelley: No, I'm sorry.
R: So what are we suppose to do? This coupon expires today!
Shelley: I can write you a note saying that you are allowed to use the coupon for the next week, so you'll just have to come back another day.

Then she hand writes a note on a piece of printer paper for us.... it totally felt like one of those situations where when we go back with this paper now they'll be like Whhhaaa?? This isn't valid!

But, our food was freezing cold by now, it was after 8:30 and we just wanted to go home! So we took the paper and left. As we were walking out, R saw Laurie sulking by the dishwashers and she glared at him. No apology Just a glare.

R plans on calling Sears corporate tomorrow morning to discuss this with them and see if they will be willing to give us some more money off because of all of this. I'm so angry.. I would totally go buy at a different store but my stupid designer brain just has to have stuff that matches. GRRRRRR

I wasn't kidding when I said this was long, was I? :)

Removing Plywood

2011-10-10T12:51:00.000-04:00

This is what our kitchen floor has looked like for the past year or so. I started off removing the vinyl flooring, but it was extremely time consuming, and the other half of the kitchen has an additional layer of older vinyl or linoleum, with what appears to be an asbestos adhesive. Not something I wanted to mess with.

We made an executive decision last weekend to take up the old plywood. It would end up costing us some more money, because we'd be buying brand new plywood, but the amount of time it would save alone makes it completely worth it. Plus we got a thinner plywood, so the top of the new finished floor will be level with the hearth and Dining Room floor.

We made it our goal to get at least half of the kitchen done today. It was mostly R tearing up the plywood (which was nailed every 2"!), but I would start each piece off, removing any screws and taking up the first couple nails. By the end of the day, we reached our goal and got all of the plywood out on the fireplace side of the kitchen. And we went and bought all the new plywood. We didn't find too many strange things, except that the floor we've been walking on in our hall is actually the kitchen's sub-floor, the plywood went underneath the "wall" separating the kitchen and hall (it's basically just a piece of drywall screwed into some wood paneling... no structural support at all.. about 1 1/2" thick), and that the floor wasn't in as bad shape as we originally thought. It's still not good enough for us to use as a finished floor, but it's not as unsafe as we thought. We've been walking on it for almost a week now and it's supporting us just fine!

The threshold between the kitchen and hall.. we've decided to run the new floor into the hall, to get rid of the awkward, thin threshold. The new thresholds will be between the hall and bathroom and hall and living room, and will be normal width and less of a tripping hazard.

The only area (so far, fingers crossed) that was in bad condition, though not bad enough that it needed to be replaced, was in front of the window, where the 700 lb. radiator sat for 60 years. There's a little water damage and some broken wood.

(If you look carefully, you can also see that I did a little paint test on one wall.. we both hated the color at first, but a couple days later it had grown on us and we like it now :) )

Done with Drywall

2011-10-08T18:44:00.000-04:00

All of the kitchen is finally drywalled! We kept holding back because we couldn't agree on what to do with the beams next to the big windows. Well, we finally decided to drywall them, and the compromise was that years down the road when we put on an addition (which will include making the kitchen bigger), we'll redo the beams with detailed wood, like they were years ago. And, we got to use our free drywall, and free is always good :)

While the joint compound was drying, Madison decided that she just had to help smooth it out. What a good little helper. And then it was off to her bath #2 for the day...

Weekend of Craziness #1

2011-10-05T10:49:00.000-04:00

As you know, we have a Kitchen deadline. I made a schedule. It's taped to the cabinets in the Kitchen, to taunt us.

This weekend was Weekend #1. And it was pretty crazy. On the schedule for this weekend was "Finish the drywall in the Kitchen (under the windows and on the beams), patch/sand the drywall, install the window casing, paint the Living Room and finish the beadboard backsplash".

I was pretty angry last week because we went on a vacation/business trip (which is why we didn't get any work done last weekend) to Minnesota and when we got back I had a TON of work to catch up on. Which meant that I didn't have time to finish the paint removal in the Living Room. (Not angry about the trip, which was amazing... angry that I didn't get to finish everything in time..) So before the weekend started we were already behind (I was going to have my SILs paint all the Living Room trim and woodwork).

But, we still managed to get a lot done. Not everything on the schedule, but still a lot.

By the end of the weekend, we managed to get the drywall up on one vertical beam (only one left to go!), and under the windows. The fireplace got two more coats of paint, plus the cabinet door got painted. The casing of the door opening between the Hall/Living Room and Kitchen got painted. The casing of the Dining Room opening got painted. 80% of the walls got patched, sanded and primed. The disconnected electrical outlet from under the windows got removed. The door to the stairs got scraped and taken down. The chicks got updated nesting boxes (they destroyed the ones I put in a couple weeks ago.. the new ones are screwed into the shelf.. they're Gladys-proof!). And the lawn got cut (it looked like we had a lawn service.. two lawn mowers going at once!).

Pretty successful weekend, even though we didn't finish everything on the schedule. We did do some stuff that was on there on other days though, so I think it evens out. I don't mind that the Living Room didn't get done. That was my fault, because of Minnesota and work. Couldn't be avoided. And the Living Room technically isn't part of the Big Schedule of October 2011. So who cares. It can be done in November.

We could have definitely gotten more done if we had been home last weekend to do some of this. We had 2 (3 on Saturday) extra helpers, but most of the time we didn't have any work for them because we had to wait for other stuff to happen first. Like, if we could have done the drywall and sanding, and/or the window trim last weekend, they could have helped me paint it all this weekend.

I have to say though... on Saturday we were all amazed by the Hall/Living Room opening casing.. it being white now (as opposed to half stained, half plain wood like it has been) made a huge difference! But that was nothing compared to white, primed walls by Sunday afternoon! It finally looks like we're almost there!

And on top of all that, we managed to go to two fairs, watch TV, have a nice big breakfast and wash and put away all the dishes from the whole weekend. We're pretty awesome :)

Floor Issues

2011-10-04T08:52:00.000-04:00

Things wouldn't be right in our world if everything went smoothly and according to plan. I should have known not to get to excited about the fact that we had finally ordered our floor.

Three days after we ordered and paid for the floor, I got a call from the salesman (when I saw his number on the caller ID I got excited, thinking, stupidly, that maybe the floor came in early!).. Turns out the floor we ordered (and loved) is an older type of floating floor. The type you need to glue. I told him that I'd talk to R and see what we wanted to do. After a lot of emails, phone calls, and research, we cancelled the order. Turns out that this type of installation takes a lot longer, is extremely messy and has a lot of room for error. Not something we want to attempt. So we're back to square one.

Last Thursday we went to the showroom to look at some new samples. I think we took home about 30 samples. They all looked horrible, except for one. It's another hickory floor, but it doesn't have the distressed, vintage look that the first one did. But it doesn't need to be glued. And it does match the Dining Room floor. R isn't completely sold on it and I'm wondering if I just like it because I want a floor. We need to make a decision soon though because we need to get it ordered and installed soon because half of the finish work left to do in the Kitchen can't happen until the floor is in.

R's sister had a good idea this weekend. What if we paid someone to install the floor, rather than do it ourselves. While this is exactly what we didn't want to do (for many reasons), it would let us get the floor we actually love, and not have to settle for another one just because it's easier and cleaner. So we're still in discussion mode on this one... it'll be more money and we won't be able to say "we did that!". What do you think? Would it be worth it? Or should we just order the other hickory floor?

Another Goal, Checked Off

2011-09-20T11:48:00.000-04:00

I completed another one of my 2011 Goals. While it may not seem like much, it was one that meant a lot to me.

"Figure out lighting solutions for the Living Room.. it's way too dark in there."

Our Living Room is in the Northwest corner of the house. It is dark in there all day long (unless you want to watch TV... then you get a weird glare on the TV in the afternoon). We had 2 lamps in there, which we received as wedding gifts and had in our Living Room in our apartment. They weren't cutting it. So I bought a lamp for my bookcase, thinking that might help. It helped at night, because it's hooked up to a switch, so at least we didn't have to walk through the room in the dark anymore. But other than that, no big difference (looks pretty though). We go out to church/dinner/shopping with my parents every Saturday night and while I was waiting for R to get ready, I flipped through the Bed, Bath and Beyond catalog that came in the mail that day. And there was a set of 3 lamps, one floor lamp, two table lamps. They were exactly what I was looking for! And all three for only $59.99! Add my 20% off coupon into the mix and you get three large lamps for $47! Not bad! I unpacked the lamps first thing in the morning on Sunday (R joked that it was like Christmas morning... Styrofoam/boxes everywhere and me with a big grin on my face). I put the floor lamp in the corner by the door/DVDs/fireplace and the table lamps on either side of the love seat. It was so bright in there!! Even with just the floor lamp on it makes a huge difference! It's amazing! It also makes the room look a lot more grown-up and nicer (the mess and clutter in the house is really starting to get to me, the neat freak...). I haven't taken a picture of them yet, because the room is a mess with paint removal supplies, so this picture is from the BBB website.

Paint Removal

2011-09-19T14:02:00.000-04:00

While R was being a weekend electrician, I was removing paint. With my mom's voice in my head saying "the house needs to look different!!", I decided now was also the time to FINALLY finish the Living Room! Last fall, my sisters-in-law came to visit and the three of us painted the Living Room. We painted the trim white and picked a paint color on impulse for the walls (which I now love!). However, while they were painting the crown molding and summer beam, I was examining the door and window trim, and fireplace. They were not in good shape. They were beat up, scratched, dented and had many layers of paint glopped on them. After asking everyone's opinion and R trying to see if we could sand it, we decided to work around them for now and I'd remove the paint another day. Because the paint is crackling on the window sills in a way that makes me think it is lead paint, I decided to be cautious. I bought something called Peel Away 1 from Home Depot, which says it's a safe way to remove lead paint (or any paint). It removes up to 33 layers of paint in one application. You spread the paste onto the surface, then cover it with the supplied paper and leave it for up to 24 hours. Then come back and peel away the paper and all of the paint goes with it. It's a safe way to remove lead paint because it contains it and you don't get any dust in the air. However..... reading the label scared me. It basically said you needed to be wearing a Haz-Mat suit while using it. The directions made it seem like your skin would burst into flames if you even looked directly at it. So I kept putting it off. I asked R if he would do the test spot, so I could see what it was like. But, another thing the directions said was that you should wear long pants, long sleeves and gloves, and tape your sleeves and pant legs around your wrists/ankles. It was way too hot here in the summer to do that. And in the winter it was too cold so we couldn't have the windows open to get rid of the smell. So I decided to wait until it was cooler. Enter this weekend.

The label was full of crap. Not that you should ignore safety precautions, but I accidentally got some of the paste on my finger and I was fine. Everything I read online said that it would instantly burn you, but I didn't feel anything. I washed it off and was fine. I started with the fireplace mantle. It took me about 45 minutes to get the paste on there and then apply the paper. It's definitely not a quick job! I had hoped to get the whole fireplace done in that time.

Sunday morning I applied the paste to the surround right below the mantle. R kept calling me needing my help with pulling wire through walls, turning off breakers, etc. I'd be gone for 5 minutes and come back and all of the paste had slid down to the bottom. So I'd curse him and try it again. A couple hours later, I was done with that section. I was too tired to move on to the sides, so I took a break and went outside to put together some nesting boxes for the hens. When I came back, all of the paste and paper had slid down to the bottom. I said forget it (the top 2 or 3 inches were left uncovered now).

I got to work removing the paper on the mantle. It was amazing! It left a mess.... but underneath the nasty black goop was pretty wood (I was this close to changing my mind and staining it. Then I remember that 1) I don't like that look and 2) it doesn't fit with our house).

This is what's left after you peel away the paper. According to the company, it's the chemicals liquefying the paint.

After scraping off some of the goop, you're suppose to use a scrubber (I used a Scotch-Brite pad) to scrape away the gray... I don't know what and what ever paint is left on the surface. Then using a squirt bottle and a paper towel, I washed away the gray stuff. It is extremely messy!! But the finished result is awesome!

I had to go back and re-do that section in front (I tried removing the paper earlier than 24 hours... I think that was around 18 hours or so... it was obviously too soon. It removed not even half of the paint, whereas the full 24 hours on the other side removed basically all of the paint).

My sisters-in-law are coming to visit in a week and a half and I'm trying to have all the paint removed by then so we can finish up this room. At the rate I'm going, I'm not sure if I'm going to make it. I'm hoping the door and window trim will be easier and quicker.

We're Back in the 21st Century!

2011-09-19T13:36:00.000-04:00

Since the end of July, we've had no power in the back half of our house. It's felt like a lot longer than that. For about a month we didn't use our downstairs bathroom, until R decided to run an extension cord to a lamp that's sitting on a pile of boxes. We had to use flashlights to get up the backstairs at night. There's a long exterior-use extension cord running from the Guest Bedroom through my Office and into the Twilight Room to power either R's computer or the air conditioner. Vacuuming was not easy. You had to duck walking down the stairs (well, duck even more than you had to before) so you wouldn't hit your head on the wires coming out of the ceiling (don't worry.. it's not like they were live or anything). Summer '11 was a crazy one for us and if we were home for an entire weekend, R's time was taken up by things that were a little bit more pressing, such as cutting the grass (pretty much an all day job) or building the coop or preparing and then cleaning up after the hurricane.

But... we have a goal now. R's birthday is smack dab in the middle of October and we always have a family party (his family lives in a different state and we try to do as many things as we can down here so both families can be together because as uncharacteristic as this is, they actually like each other). My mom brought up a good point when I mentioned the party to her. "You can't have everyone (mostly extended family, aunts, uncles, cousins) over here with it looking exactly the same way it did in January for your birthday party!" *sigh* Once again, mom's right. While it's not like we've sat around doing nothing for the past 8 months, the things we've done wouldn't really be noticeable to "normal" people. "Oh, you added another coat of paint in here? Looks the same to me!" "You updated this outlet? Woww....." "Is that a new chimney cap I see? Impressive!" "A garden? A chicken coop? Is that all you've done this year?" (Sense the sarcasm?) The main thing people will notice is that the Kitchen basically looks exactly the same. Yeah, I've unpacked more boxes, organized the cabinets, painted the fireplace, did patching/etc on the walls. But the overall picture is exactly the same. I can't have that!! So the point of this story is... by the end of October, that Kitchen needs to be done. Done as in floor: installed. Walls: painted. Trim: installed and painted. Fireplace: painted and decorated. New light fixtures: installed. With that huge room done it'll make a huge difference! Plus it'll be a nice room to sit in and eat/talk with our relatives, as opposed to a half finished, dirty room.

The old light switch at the bottom of the stairs. It was only 34 cents! Look at that scary wiring!

The first step was to get all of the drywall up, taped and sanded. However, a couple months ago R took down some of the drywall under the window (while I was crying "now we're going backwards! :'( ). He had good reason. When I was in the Kitchen cooking, every once in awhile I'd hear crackling sounds. We traced the sounds back to the outlets under the windows. This scared the pyrophobiac (is this a word?) in me. R immediately turned off that breaker and a month later took down the drywall and tried to fix it. Long story short, he wasn't able to easily fix it. And then the Crazy Summer happened and it got put off until this weekend. I asked him to put up the drywall around the posts near the windows and he said that he would do that when he put the drywall back under the windows. So he fixed the outlets first. He had thoroughly researched it and knew exactly what to do this time. Piece of cake. Finished in about 2 hours. Then he was on an electrical roll. He moved on to the hall light (the point of this post. Finally). This wasn't as easy...
I'll admit, I wasn't there while he was fixing it, so I'm not 100% sure of exactly what he did or in what order. (Pyrophobia, remember?) All I know is that apparently what is in our walls is a mess. He cleaned it up where he could, adding new wire where he could. I flipped breakers when he told me to. He had blown-in insulation fall all over him when the plaster ceiling broke a little while he was drilling through it. He installed two (well, three really because he replaced the one in our bedroom while he was up there) new light switches and two new temporary light fixtures. This hall/staircase isn't at the top of our to-do list, it's maybe 4th after the Kitchen. But it will be re-done in the near future. And when that time comes, new nicer light fixtures will be installed. For now, it's just nice to finally have light fixtures in the steep, scary staircase we the most. And it's a little easier to sleep at night knowing that the wiring is a little safer. Someday... in the far future... we'll replace all of the wiring. But that's a huge job that we couldn't do ourselves, which means it'll have to wait :)

Floor: On It's Way!

2011-09-18T15:38:00.000-04:00

Looking back at my posts so far this month, it feels really good to have a post where I actually can say I did something! We made progress!!

We ordered our Kitchen floor this morning!!!! YAY!! It should be here in about a week. We'll be busy with work-work next weekend, so we'll be losing a house-working weekend. So R will be tackling the plywood removal the following weekend (while I finish up the Living Room!!). Hopefully he'll get most of it done that weekend because the following weekend I'll be antsy to start putting some flooring down! I'm getting excited just typing this!! And the thing I'm most excited for? A floor means that I finally get to install my dishwasher!!! (Ah, the joys of homeownership/married life...)