Week ending 11/25/11

Over the weekend, we went to Bed, Bath and Beyond and got a rug for the den. It's a beautiful cream-colored shaggy rug. I thought it would go nicely with all the high-tech tv and my modern, minimalist taste. As we put it in the car, I thought to myself "What am I doing? A cream colored, shaggy rug in a high traffic room in a home with dogs?" I seriously think I lost my mind for a moment since it would look so good. We decided to keep it since it was not expensive and just accept the fact that it would need to be replaced sooner than a different rug.

Well, we got it home and it didn't fit! We spent about an hour clearing the room and laying a pad only to find that the door wouldn't clear the additional height of the rug. Ugh! It was so disappointing. We had to roll the rug back up along with the pad and we'll have to return it and hunt for something new. I think we're going to wait until after our new love seat is delivered to get the rug. Now that I know a full-room size rug will not work with the door, I have to see what size I want to get.

C was off again this week, and on Wednesday, we rallied some energy and got to work on the garage! It was NOT fun, but it was really a relief. When we moved in during May of 2006, it was not only a terrible time in the remodel but also the contractor was months behind and almost nothing was ready for us. We had just one 9' x 10 ' room to live in. We each had one small suitcase, one computer on a folding table and our bed. Everything else had to go in the garage since no other rooms were done.

Over the years, that room has been torn apart and completely moved about half a dozen times. We've unpacked some things as we've been able, but really it was only the last few months that the house was done enough to really unpack. Now that's come to the top of the list. We took 2 carloads of stuff to Salvation Army and Goodwill. I'm not a packrat at all - I love empty closets and cabinets and would love a much smaller space than we have. But when you don't stay on top of your stuff it piles up and doesn't reflect your life right now. I'm of the belief that you should regularly touch everything you own, because if you don't then why have it?

It wasn't fun, but it feels really good to be started on this.

Week ending 11/18/11

On Tuesday, I had the plumber come and tackle a few small jobs that have been annoying us for a while. It's nice to finally be at that point where these little things don't seem like they're never going to happen. He fixed a leaky outdoor faucet and a slow bath vanity drain. The big thing though, is our new kitchen faucet.

When we first put the kitchen in, I ended up rushing to get all the materials because we weren't going to do a full kitchen remodel. When we started demolition and cleanup though, it was clear the kitchen couldn't be saved - it was just too gross and deteriorated. So we were in a rush to get it done since were doing construction anyway. I grabbed a faucet from Ikea because it was cheap and convenient, but it turned out to be a poorly functioning item. The hot water had to be on full blast or not at all because if it was on a low flow the handle would drop and shut it off. The plumber told us it couldn't be fixed and that we needed a new one.

So now, 5 years later, this has finally made it to the top of the list. The new faucet is so much nicer and it's much bigger too, which makes for more room in our too-small sink. It's probably too big decor-wise, but it's really nice so I don't mind.

Here's a shot of our kickin' new faucet:

Week ending 11/11/11

This week, C was off work but we spent a hectic few days making arrangements for his father's memorial to be held on Saturday. No house progress this week.

Week ending 11/4/11

C was still on vacation this week, and we were supposed to have been on vacation until Wednesday so not much house activity this week. Things have been really busy with arrangements, etc for the last month or so due to C's dad passing away.

Thursday, we were supposed to do something fun but we decided to go furniture shopping instead. We've been working on the den and right now only have one over-sized arm chair in there for seating. After a lot of work, we found what we wanted at La-Z-boy. Yuck, that sounds so unstylish but it's a really nice love seat from their theater seating collection. We should have it in 8 weeks.