Week ending 5/27/11

On Saturday, I had a massively frustrating few hours trying to hang the window shade in the office. I took down the trash bags that have been on the window in lieu of a shade for about 4 years and it took over an hour of scraping, scrubbing and wiping to get the residue off. I was using Goof Off, which is a pretty smelly solvent so it was not fun. I ended up using my fingernails for some of the job because it was the only thing that would work and believe me I tried a lot of different scraping tools. It's a good thing I'm not into having perfect nails because I had to cut them all short after this job. Having a nice manicure is not compatible with a fixer upper house.

Once I got the shade out and ready to be hung, I had to cut a bit off the end cap to accommodate the window shape. Unfortunately with the ongoing chaos here I don't have access to all my tools and couldn't access the appropriate tools to make a cut. Off to the hardware store! I absolutely detest living like this. I'm a hard core minimalist and would love to have a small mostly empty house. In my last apartment, a modest 1 bedroom, there was vast empty spaces, empty closets, empty cabinets, empty walls and empty flat surfaces and that's exactly how I like it. But for now, we can only get to projects so fast and the garage is low on the list so that's the way it is.

I also found that Hunter Douglas only sent 3 screws for the brackets and I need 6. How ridiculous and this is the 2nd of 9 shades they messed up in this way. I was foolish to think I could hang a shade in one session. With almost any home improvement job, there are multiple steps all of which have to go right for it to get done. The problem is that each step has a high probability of not going right so the entire project almost never does.

I was really pissed, frustrated, disappointed when I had to again put trash bags on the windows as it got dark.

Monday, I called the store where I got the shades and they said I could come in and pick up some screws and that they didn't have to order them for me. They better actually have what I need or I'm going to be pissed that they didn't order them for me and instead told me to come in because they have them.

I did pick up the bedroom curtains that will be used as a closet door and get them rehung. They look good and I'm glad to have that project behind me. Onto the den closet next and then the office after that.

On Tuesday, I picked up the missing screws at blind store, and it went smoothly. I hope to install the shade tomorrow.

Wednesday, I got the shade up in the office but didn't take any pictures :-( . I'll post some of the shades in the bedroom when they are up.

Here is the new curtain I put up to hide the bedroom closet. It is so nice not to be looking into the closet when I'm in bed!

Week ending 5/20/11

On Monday, it was d day (or "decision day") for the master bedroom closet door curtain and we decided to keep it. I need to get it shortened now, but I'm glad to be moving ahead.

I also got the shade up on the side door - Yay! It looks so great and this is one of the few areas of the house where everything you see is in it's final state.

Here is the before shot with the white plastic trash bag held in place by blue tape. It's been this way for too long.


Here is the after shot with the shade installed - I'm pleased with how it looks.



Just for laughs, this is how this area looked just after we took possession. This is after some heavy cleaning out so you're not getting the full effect of how bad it was. The side door is in the dark on the left - not the greatest picture, but hopefully it gives you an idea.



On Tuesday, I buffed the office window and it's now ready to put the shade on. Yay!

Week ending 5/13/11

On Monday, I went to Ikea to try to get curtain panels and hardware to function as a door to the master bedroom closet. I struck out - I didn't like any of the curtain panels and the rods and hardwared looked cheap. I thought about picking up the rods and hardware and getting the panels elsewhere, but didn't want to risk mixing them and having it not work. I feel like Charlie Brown with the football - I keep falling for the same idea that this project will be easy and it never is.

On Thursday, I picked up the window shade I ordered last week and also went to Bed, Bath and Beyond and got the materials for the master bedroom closet "door." I put it up quickly and I think I like it but I'll decide Monday after we've had the weekend to live with it. It's good enough for now even though I don't love it and it will let us move on to other things.

Here is a shot of Danny sleeping in his bed next to the curtain covering the master bedroom closet. The panels need to be shortened which I'll do if we end up keeping the whole setup.

Week ending 5/6/11

Thursday I went to to a bricks and mortar store to order 2 more window shades. In a stupid move, Hunter Douglas made it harder to buy their products by not selling them online any more (at least not the ones I'm buying). Brilliant - in a down economy when people are spending less on their homes make it harder to buy.

The window shades have surprisingly been one of the more complicated parts of the remodel. I had it down to a system when I could order them online so I really did not like going to a store. Ugh. But it's done and I probably only need to place one more order after this.