Week ending 7/29/11

Saturday and Sunday, we did nothing on the house. We had a busy weekend, and I'm feeling kind of blah. I need a break from the remodeling so I'm not doing as much right now. Sunday we had some out of town company in, one of which had seen the house when it was a mess so it was nice to show off how much better it looks.

Monday I was supposed to go to Ikea to pick up the full-length mirror but I was too tired. I went instead to a local craft store to pick up magnets to keep the shade on the side door from swinging.

On Wednesday, I installed the magnets on the side door but I'm not sure if they'll work because they're really weak. Nothing in home improvement is ever simple.

Week ending 7/22/11

On the weekend, C had to work one day so not much activity happened on the house. I also felt the need for some time off from remodeling after hitting last weekend's landmark of "no longer a constructon zone."

On Monday, I finished buffing the back door which only took about 15 minutes. Buffing the woodwork is done except for the trim on the back and front door which isn't even shellacked yet. It was installed with the flooring in March, but it's far from the most annoying thing so we probably won't get to it for a while.

I do have to removed the tape residue on the glass so I taped off the woodwork so I can do that next work session.

On Friday, I got all the residue off the back door and it looks so good! It's the first time we've been able to enjoy how beautiful the back door is. Now the trim looks really bad, but such is life in a fixer upper.

Here's a shot of our beautiful back door:

Week ending 7/15/11

Last weekend was really busy. C worked Saturday and we had family over on Sunday for sort of a grand unveiling.

We also had a really busy week and I felt entitled to and much in need of a respite from remodeling. These last 5+ years have been really hard and I'm worn thin on the remodeling.

The only thing I got done was ordering a rug for under our bed. Currently we have cardboard under it, which was put there to keep the floor from getting scratched. It's the worst looking thing in the bedroom and makes the room look like crap.

Here's a link to the rug - I'll post pictures when it's put in place:

http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?SKU=130714&RN=852&

Here's a shot which is here just because it's funny:


That's Danny sleeping on his bed in our bedroom with his head in the closet.

Week ending 7/8/11

On Saturday, we did about 5.5 hours with both of us working hard. We did a lot:

• We got all of the renovation stuff out of the den
• Put up a mock up of tv up we want for this room on the wall with blue tape. We're between 2 sizes and want to see how the larger size works.
• Got the curtain up as a temporary door for the closet. It's a bit disappointing because it doesn't look very good, but it's done and can be revisited later.
  

Our new theme is "When THAT {whatever the current item we're not happy about} becomes the worst thing in the house, we'll fix it. And that will be a good day!"

On Sunday, we didn't want to do anything. Monday was a holiday and C had to work but I took the day off and went to the beach for the first time in a few years. We go several times a week to walk, but I hadn't actually sat on the beach for almost 2 years.

Thursday, I spend 3 hours putting up the last two window shades, and the window shades are DONE! They look great, I love the shades I picked. All the woodwork in the house is done except the back door and the trim that was put on the back door when we did the flooring.

Here's a shot of the den which I'm really happy with: Of course we need to get rid of the plastic shelf by the door, but all in good time.


On Friday, I spent about half an hour looking for a full length mirror. Do you believe we've lived here for 5+ years with no mirror? Ugh. It's one of the top priorities right now, but the reason I worked on it today is that I could do it from the computer. I didn't do any home improvement stuff until late, and I didn't have much physical energy but I could do mental stuff. I was only going to look at the long list and line up the next few projects but I got kind of excited about this one. While browsing, I saw some decorative stuff too, and that got me excited to hang some of our pictures. Someday.

One of the things about a full length mirror is that we need to order a custom one because C is so tall. We had a standard 5' one in our last apartment, but he couldn't see his whole body in it where it was placed. So I'm hoping to find one that is 6' tall.

Week ending 7/1/11

On Sunday, we did a big unravel in the den. We put a bunch of stuff in the garage and moved our big armchair in. This is a really big milestone for us - the chair has been sort of mythical for us and to actually have it in the house feels great and gives me a little bit of hope. We were glad to see it survived 5 years of being stored in the garage with no damage. I'll post pictures next week.

Our next big milestone will be to be company-ready, which includes:

• the last two window shades
• putting a curtain up to be a temporary closet door in the den
• getting the pile of things that belong in the house currently piled in the den put away properly
• get the pile of flooring stuff put currently in the den stored in the garage
  

There's still lots to do later, but just getting to this point would be great. We are talking about getting a tv set up in the den and looking to the future, which is great!

On Monday, I buffed the office door. It only took 20 minutes, but I just cranked it out without doing an A+ job. It's not a good investment of my time to buff really well - the difference between a half-baked job and a really thorough one is A LOT of time and not much difference in the appearance. I can always go back and re-do it when this becomes the most urgent thing in the house.

I also spent 30 minutes in the den and got more stuff put into closets. I think we need just a few more work sessions plus a big push push next weekend to get everything properly placed or moved. Today's session cleared enough space to start working on the window shades in the den. It looks like not much gunk on the windows so they may not take too long (yeah right!).

On Tuesday, I spent another 20 minutes buffing the bedroom door and I have just two interior doors and the back door to go. The back door buffing itself wont be too bad but there's loads of sticky stuff on the glass. My favorite - NOT!

On Wednesday, I spend another 20 minutes buffing the den door. I only have the bathroom door left and the interior doors are done. Can you tell I'm desperate to get these doors done? The bathroom is smaller than the other doors so maybe it will only take 15 minutes. I hope to tackle the bathroom door Thursday and then do the back door Friday when I have to be at home waiting for the gardeners anyway.

I spend a few more minutes unpacking the den. We're hoping to have it look like a real room by next weekend which is ambitious but do-able. C and I are planning a big work session over the weekend to get all the remaining flooring supplies out into the garage, so I'm working toward getting all the house items put away and the garage items into the garage pile.

On Thursday, I buffed the last interior door which means no more blue tape in the house! Just the worst one to go: the back door with it's mass of sticky tape residue. I also spent more time sorting out the den. I tried to put a shade up but there is still too much of the garage pile in the way so it will have to wait until the room is more sorted out. I was sorting out a laundry hamper in which we stored some things during the work - it held lots of little things that were laying around but had to be put away for the flooring. A can of shellac spilled in bottom and in the process of cleaning it up the shellac got all over my hands and I couldn't get it off. I still can't believe the crappy contractor we fired in 2006 is still giving us "gifts." He talked us into shellac and was supposed to do it as part of his work.