who doesn't love a good deal?

So i found this vase at Gabriel Brothers a few weeks ago and was debating whether to get it or not. At the time, it was $19.99 and I wasn't sure exactly where to put it. Anywho, I stopped in the store again today to take a look around and came across it again ... but 50% off. Now I don't know about you, but for a good sale - I can find a place for it. I'm thinking probably an accent in the dining room. :)

we have a working toilet - kind of a big deal!

so my mom met our furnace/plumbing/handyman Tim out at the house today to finish up the work from over the weekend. we had to wait to wrap up until today because Tim needed parts that he couldn't get on Saturday. To make things short and sweet, all plumbing and heating is intact which means we finally have a newly installed working toilet, running cold AND hot water, and no leaks outside. :)

Here's Tim's accomplishments for the day... can't wait to head over after work!

• Put a new spicket on the outside of the house
• Put a new shut-off on the gas line the kitchen (for the stove), the other was dated and more proned to leaking
• Installed the new toilet, the other had a crack in it
• Fixed the faucet in our utility room
• Installed the wand sprayer for the shower
• Turned on the hot water tank, necessary!
• Fixed bathroom faucet, it was loose last time he checked. we bought a new one to replace it but didn't need it. Love the savings.
• Fixed the water line, no more leaking on the side of the house!
• Cleaned the bathroom fan, and it needed it! It was super loud when running.

My mom said the work Tim did would have cost over $400 had we called a plumber out, but when you're able to find a good handyman who does good work for a great price, you can get a great deal. With all the parts and labor, this project was $188 + $99 (toilet).

plumbing / heating

saturday, 3/26
Seeing that my brother was in town, my mom and I took this to our advantage and had him help us move my dining room set from our rental in Willoughby to Tremont. The table is super heavy! Shortly afterwards, my mom and I met our furnace/plumbing repairman Tim at the new place to take a look. Notably, heat is not rising to the second floor and there was a noticeable water leak when the Water Co. came out. Tim found that in the gas line, three valves or vents (I forget which term he used) were closed. He guessed these could be for upstairs, so he opened them up. Another suggestion he had, in case that wasn’t going to do the trick, was to install “dampers” or magnetic rectangular strips on the downstairs vents so that the upstairs will heat first and then the furnace will work harder to maintain temperature downstairs. He said that’s the best solution considering the house was old. Regarding plumbing, we learned the toilet had a crack in it and would need replaced. This would explain the leak from when my mom flushed the toilet. He found the crawl space to get to the plumbing and learned there had been a space to access the plumbing in the family room that had been closed up. Since Tim didn’t have all the supplies he would need to get the plumbing up and running (some would need to be bought), he’s coming back out today (Monday) to install everything. My mom, Adam and I made a trip out to Home Depot to buy our new (elongated) toilet ($99.00), Magnetic Damper Strips (2 pkgs - $4.47, 3 sheets in each pkg) and a small utility door to access the plumbing ($11-$14). Once it is installed, we can just paint it and it should just blend into the wall. While the inspection was happening, I worked to touch up the upstairs bedroom / future closet.

Having a little fun in Home Depot. :)

I think Adam and I are young at heart

I think she found us a toilet!

Adam felt the need to test out the selection.

sunday, 3/27
Sunday was the ‘big reveal’ to my brother. My mom told my brother she was taking him “on a field” trip which ended at the house. He said he was definitely shocked but had a feeling something was up when she started driving towards Cleveland. He seemed generally pleased with the house, mentioning he’d like one of his own and for the price we paid – it was a great deal! We walked down to Lincoln Park where C-Town Chow Down was wrapping up. All but one of the food trucks was still serving food, but the line was still 15-20 people long so we just walked into Civilization and grabbed a coffee and croissants. Then I drove my brother around Tremont a bit, so he could get a feel for the area. He has never been, other then by the Christmas Story House. As my brother was driving back to D.C. that day, he didn’t stay long. However, I decided to stick around for more touch ups and to get some purple paint on the wall.

I decided to play it safe and start on the dining room wall opposite the living room. I painted enough wall that I could really visualize how the color would look. Standing in the living room staring at the wall, I became perplexed. I was surprised the purple looked as shocking as it did. Was it too much? I called my mom immediately to question her thoughts. She thought maybe because the walls had been white it was natural for it to look shocking and suggested I just finish the wall as she could take a look in the morning when Tim returned. Instead, I decided to paint the opposite wall (seen from the kitchen, looking into the living room) as I thought the purple would look nice against the brown in the living room. Yes, love. I love the purple and against the brown looks great. I finished the one wall before it started getting dark, and frankly I’m not sure how to proceed on my next visit. Perhaps, rather than painting the whole room purple, a light brown, deep tan would complement the brown and purple. We’ll see what my mom thinks.

A fresh coat of purple for the dining room.

Lastly, I learned one of my good friends from high school, Danielle, and her boyfriend are moving to Tremont. Her boyfriend works in Akron so the commute should be interesting. However, Danielle has voiced her desire to move downtown when she finishes up grad school (she’ll be done in July, she’s studying in England) so I think it’s a compromise. All I know is he found a cheap place for $400 and lives near Lolita, across from Fat Cats. All I know is the more “community” I have from the get-go, the easier transition so I’m excited to have more friends in the area. :)

And just to keep track on the furnishing process, my brother was nice enough to swing by the Ikea in D.C. seeing that it was only 20 min away (as opposed to me having to drive to Pittsburgh from Cleveland) and picked me up some things.

• MAVAS entertainment center for the living room ($79.99) http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40140635
• 3 - SPONTAN Magnetic Boards ($12.99/each) http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/30159442

perhaps reconsidering the kitchen renovation?

so last night turned into another work day. i planned to finish up the upstairs bedroom (future closet) but only was able to finish painting the edges by the ceiling before it got dark. my mom called to make arrangements to pick up the bar I had mentioned in an earlier post and arrived just before 8pm with the new bar. The previous owner and his father in law were able to get it into my mom's truck and we had hopes that between Adam, my mom and I, we could get it out of the truck into the new place. And we did. We decide the best place for the bar would be in front of the utility room. There's plenty of room to get behind the bar when I need to wash/dry clothes (which happens once a week). The only reconsideration that is needed would be for the doors we'll put on the utility room. There are three stools that came with it - they have a cherry red finish. One is a bit faded but nothing major. We will have to get some brackets to attach the countertop to the bar. There is also a bracket to attach to the wall. Can't wait to get some use of this bad boy!

the family room, pre-bar

The new bar finally made it in the door!

It was only fitting to have a drink directly after (or atleast pretend to), haha!

Adam worked more on the cabinets, to chip away the paint that covered the screws in the cabinet. We decided to try take one of the cabinets down, because heck - why not. Well that didn't happen. Even after taking all the screws out that were securing the cabinet to the wall, it was not budging. The previous owner (or maybe the original owner) has used caulk around the edges to secure the cabinets in place. It also appears as though the cabinets were not attached to the paneling that is on the kitchen wall, but rather sit in it. This could require a full days work. So, since we didnt have all the necessary equipment (goggles for sure and a cover for the sink) ... we stopped there. Pictures coming shortly.

This is what a "manly man" looks like, haha.

New Grill!

My mom totally snagged this grill for the deck for a great deal - only $50. I'm hoping the boys can take the lead with this one.

what we have here is a cellar

So in liau of it being girl scout cookie season, i thought i'd share some insight from a cookie delivery to one of my good friend's from high school parents home. i was telling them all about the new place and the projects we were tackling (considerably the lighting) when my friend’s dad commented on a few of the commonalities of home’s built in the time. Kitchens were not designed with lots of cabinetry as back in the 1890s, people did not own things such as coffee makers and other common kitchen appliances. Pantries were common, but were not overwhelmingly large as people did not shop for 2-3 weeks worth of food. They went out daily or every other day to pick up fresh produce and meat. There were no preservatives in food back then. Rooms were lit with kerosene lighting – which would explain the gas line in the dining room. Stairs were made narrow and tall (as are mine, they’re very steep with a high ceiling). Closets were few and far between and at that, small, as most people only had 3 outfits they wore. I mentioned that I believed the “word floor” in the dining room to be laminate, but had hoped to find real hardwood underneath considering the age of the home. My friend’s dad said to be cautious as the hardwood I could be ‘expecting to find’ (from what I’m used to) may not be what is underneath. I’ve also come up with a better term for my “not a basement but not a crawl space” where my furnace and water heater are.” A cellar. Yep, that’s about right. Anywho, it’s nice to hear some explanation behind some of the projects we are coming across in the new place.

My neighbor thinks he has come up with a solution to the “gas line” lighting in the dining room so let’s hope that happens soon. At some point, the furnace man will be coming back out to find out why there is no heat making its way upstairs and to look at the plumbing leak. My brother will be in town this weekend and I’m hoping to take him on a field trip to the house as the whole project is a surprise to him. We’ll see what is reaction is.

And just because everyone loves stories ...

Earlier this week I got a haircut (Tuesday to be exact) and found out my hairdresser (new to me) lives in Ohio City on Franklin Blvd. She said her commute to Willoughby takes her 20 minutes each day but she’s usually going into work around noon. She told me not to worry though because I will be driving against traffic so there shouldn’t be too much congestion. She advised me (like many others before) not to leave valuables exposed in my car. Her boyfriend (who she lives with) works at Lucky’s Café in Tremont and I guess he has caught someone trying to break into his car outside the café. Luckily, I’m not that stupid and also, have tinted windows and off-street parking. Hoping I don’t jinx myself, but I’m well aware. She made me laugh when she told me she would be at home getting ready to go to Target but would be stranded because she’d see a homeless man drinking a forty on her stoop. Haha. She said her friend thinks the homeless people in Cleveland are pretty aggressive. I don’t know personally but I haven’t had any problems with them yet.

Lastly, in regards to housework, I went after work last night and started painting my future ‘walk-in closet’. I figured it was time to see exactly what the cream paint I had bought looks like. However, I didn’t get to the house until 7pm as I worked out beforehand so I had limited time before it got dark. I used the roller to get most of the walls covered, then used the paint brush for corners. I’m planning to return tonight to work on the edges and hoping I didn’t have any paint runs that were unseen in the dark. Hopefully I’ll pick up some purple paint to get started on the dining room also. Adam stopped by (out of boredom) and helped pull up some more of the kitchen floor. We’re pretty close to having it all up despite my mother’s opinion which was to not pull up the floor (which she voiced after the fact). No pictures this time as I forgot my camera last night and it was too dark for my blackberry camera to pick up anything. Look for photos in the next blog update.

kitchen and bathroom projects

completed projects for today:
- painting the bathroom (done!)
- picked up my third sample of purple paint (perhaps a step closer to deciding on a dining room color)
- towel and toilet paper rods installed (which i would like to note was an effort started by adam but completed by my mom)
- curtain rod installed in the bathroom (kim/mom), now i just need to buy a valence to put in there.
- bought a towel rod for the tub (walmart - $10.97), just need to install it now.
- started pulling up the kitchen laminate flooring with adam ... about halfway finished.
- bought a bar with three stools for the family room! ($350), so excited to see it! i found it on craigslist. my mom and i took a look tonight, put down a deposit, now just need to make arrangements to pick it up with some man muscle.

adam also gets credit for installing my living room curtain rod, door knobs for a closet, pantry and bathroom along with a little bathroom painting earlier this week.




Installing New Bathroom Rods

Kitchen Photos

short and sweet

my nails are covered in white paint from painting doors. i made a quicky trip to tremont after work, managed to paint the closet door (in the dining room), pantry door and bathroom door. looks fresh and for the latter two, covers up the steel kick plate and dirt. they're all ready for door knobs now. :) my mom did a good job picking out the matching white from my Olympic Whites swatch book.

let the painting begin...

so today was another productive day - it's soo nice to see progress! my neighbor chet (the retired electrician) came over to get started with some of the electrical. i stopped at home depot prior to to pick up some 60 watt bulbs for the fixtures (3 - 6 packs for $3.47 each). each light fixture requires two bulbs. steelyard commons is soo close - i was completely unaware! made fror a speedy home depot trip. anywho, chet was able to install the bathroom light fixture, put up a new kitchen fixture and replace the one in the bedroom. however, he didnt have a meter he needed to install the dining room, office and 'pink' bedroom light fixtures so we'll have to reschedule. we also confirmed today that the previous owner took the doorbell, so i will be needing to purchase that sometime. i am planning on going with a wireless one that plugs in. i was kind of leaning that way anyway, but wanted to make sure there wasn't wiring in the house for a doorball already. chet removed the doorbell buttons from the outside of the house so we can start fresh.

another big step in the process - my mom convinced me to take the plunge today and pick up some paint. i didn't want to go too crazy since i'm still not 100% sure on all the colors but i bought a few cans to get started. As seen to the right, i bought 1 qt. of Valspar's 6002-4B Garden of Paradise green for the bathroom (semi-gloss), 1 qt. of Olympic's Gypsum D30-2 white for trim and doors (semi-gloss), 1 gallon of Valspar's Warm Buff 3002-10A (satin) for T.B.D. and then two samples of purples im considering for the dining room. Each quart was $11.74, the gallon was $25.74 and each sample was $2.94. I tested both purples on the dining room but am thinking of going with a lighter swatch considering how dark the brown in the living room is.

Since I was already in Tremont with nothing else to do on a Sunday, I decided to get started on the bathroom. My mom and Chet were finishing up when I got started but left while I was working. I think I did okay on my own, but started getting a little creeped out when it got dark out considering there are no lights in the front of the house. I have a few spots left to do, mostly above the shower/tub which adam has offered to help with (being taller than i). I've included a few pics of the progress. I am loving the green, which looks brighter then it is in the pics. Much better than the peachy color that was on the walls. It's amazing what a little color can do for a room. :)

The other notable part of the day was interacting with my neighbor. I didn't get to personally meet him, but he left a note on my car that I saw on my way home. The note basically said Hi, Please call your neighbor xx immediately with a phone number. A little freaked out by the urgency, I gave it to my mom promptly when I arrived home from painting. Thankfully, there was nothing to worry about. He wanted to warn us about some pipe that is sticking up in the driveway (as this neighbor's driveway is pretty much connected to ours) so that we don't run it over. His name is Mark and he has emphysema so he stays in most of the time. He told my mom we needed to come over and "bullshit" with him sometime, but to call first in case he is doing treatments. He has lived there his whole life and not had any safety related problems. He said the neighbor on the other side is as well a long time resident and drinks a lot, but he's the nicest guy and will give you the shirt off his own back. He told my mom the neighbors across the street were "questionable" but she implied that to be the younger/newer people that he didn't really know. I'm excited to get to know everyone on the street and frankly it's a relief that there hasn't been any safety problems. Speaking of neighbors, I found out I know someone else (sort of) who lives in tremont. He went to high school with Adam and some of my other friends. Definitely looking to gain some new friends in the neighborhood. :)

checking things off the list

so i pretty much spent the majority of my weekend in tremont. my mom and i went friday night after work to get some projects done. i assumed my mom would bring her spotlight but she assumed i had lamps so we were fighting with time for daylight. The light fixtures I purchased still haven't been installed because my neighbor had foot surgery on Saturday. Nothing too major. So we walked around the house in the dark with a flashlight and filled in nail holes. I took off all the outlet covers. Beyond that, we were limited. I started to pull up some of the dining room carpet, only to discover the 'hardwood floor' underneath looks like laminate wood flooring. My mom thinks the real hardwood might be underneath that layer. I must say I was a bit disappointed and now need to decide how to proceed.

Saturday, Adam met my mom and I over for what we hoped would be a full day of work. My mom worked on sanding and priming the places she had patched previously - a big help! Adam installed the exterior deadbolts and door knobs that he was able to. The old doors have skeleton key mechanisms so by removing them, they would leave large rectangular cutouts - not what we need for regular door knobs. So we either need to fill them or buy new doors. For now, the skeleton key holes are what it is with new bronze deadbolts. Adam installed a new screen storm door handle (with my help) too - the other was missing a handle. We also cracked open some of the paint cans in the basement. We came across what looked like the dining room paint, living room trim, some weird gold color, and the outside house paint. I guess when it comes to painting up the patched areas in my living room, I'm either trying to match the brown on the wall or repainting. Lovely.

Adam and I made a trip to Home Depot to buy 2 new hydraulic pumps to keep the screen doors from flying open ($14.99/each) and utility doors. The utility doors come in two different heights, 1 is 77" with a total height (including track of 78 3/4") and the other 79" with a total height of 80 3/4". We need the smaller of the two and since the 80 3/4" is standard, Home Depot (and Lowes) would have to special order the 77" doors. It takes 17 days and is an extra $30 charge. That brings door costs up from $53 to $83. They have 'hollow core' or 'safe and solid core'. The latter of the 2 helps to block sound and is an extra $40. I think my mom and I will look elsewhere before purchasing. After returning, the last of our projects was installing the hydraulic pumps we had just bought and my mom and Adam were happy to tackle. We'll put the chains on next time I'm sure.

Amongst all of the house work, the Cleveland Water Company came out Saturday as well to reset our meter and turn the water on. I guess it has to be facing a certain way and it was positioned wrong. What I hoped to be a pretty smooth visit, turned into the discovery of a leak. There was water running out the side of the house by the air conditioner. Luckily, they didnt haven't to completely turn off the water. There is just a valve we have to turn on after the leak is fixed. It isn't connected to the pipes running in the kitchen so for now, until we get a plumber or contractor out there, we have kitchen water but no bathroom water. I can deal with that because at least it allows me to paint, but I'm also unaware of what fixing water leaks can cost. Hoping for the best.

i love cleveland and all but not the weather so much

so a few updates from my last post.

there is still no water. :( my main frustration with that is it prevents painting, which while i'm still debating on wall colors, it also prevents me from putting on door knobs and putting up curtain rods. anywho, someone from the water company came out to the house yesterday but told my mom (who thankfully was able to meet them) the water needed to be reset at the street before it could be turned on. whether by "reseting the water" refers the meter or the pump or something i don't know about, it requires a crew to do. my mom is supposed to call today to see if they came out and to have the water guy come back if they did ... but no surprise, cleveland was hit with a monsterous snow storm (12-12" of snow) and i wouldn't be surprised if it didn't happen. so we're kind of at a standstill. my neighbor chet (a retired electrician) was going to install the light fixtures this week (probably tonight) but with the snow i am guessing that is on hold as well. sigh.

in other news ... i've gathered a few more things for the place. i want to include a list and pricing and such to keep track of costs.

Home Necessities -

- 6 door knobs ($9.99 for lock-less and $10.99 for locks from Lowes)

- vertical blinds for the family room ($19.99 at ollies) - a great deal i must say!

- 10 curtain rods (99 cents for the shorter ones, $7.97 for the longer rods from walmart)

- 4 light fixtures (2 for $19.99 at Lowes)

Home Furnishings -

- purple vase for decoration ($6.99 at tj maxx)

- green bath math set for the bathroom ($19.99 at tj maxx) - should be super

comfortable!

- vertical wooden wall decoration for the side entry nook ($24.99 at tj maxx) -

i received 3 compliments on this piece just walking around the store with it. it has two minor wood knicks, but nothing a little paint or wood filler wouldnt fix. :)

- two cute decorative ceramic boots for plants ($9.99 each from gabriel brothers) - i couldnt resist.

- lots of sheer curtains (3 green panels + 4 brown, $4.75/each from walmart and 2 cream, $3.99 from gabriel brothers)

- an adorable brown decorative pillow for the living room couch ($5.00 from walmart)

- two green comfort pillows for the living room couch ($14.99/pair from Super K-Mart)

- 2 - 12 lb. hand weights for my personal gym ($6.99/each from Gabriel Brothers) - now I just need a 15 lb. and 20 lb. and I should be good. A treadmill or elliptical would be great!

- a 15-pocket double sided jewelery holder/carrier on a hander ($14.99 from marshalls) - with this, i can tuck my jewelry away in the closet and keep everything from getting tangled. i think it will be great to roll up for traveling. :)

- 4x6 magnetic photo frames ($1.25 from Dollar General) - gotta have a place to display pictures of my loves. :)

- a beige textured photo frame (clearance from walmart) - should tie in with the green, brown, purple + beiges in the living room and add a little texture.

my "man muscle" friends, lee and adam, are supposed to come by saturday to help with housework. i'm hoping the weather doesn't deter any progress.

here's some projects i think we can get started on...

- move furniture upstairs (the movers left it on the first floor)

- install curtain rods, vertical blinds, door knobs (interior and exterior), and utility doors (still need to buy!)

- pull up dining room carpet

- take out kitchen cabinets

- fill in nail holes and prime walls

- build my office desk

- install light fixtures (with my neighbor's help?)

- fix doorbell (might need to buy new one?)

- sand/prime/paint furniture (assuming we have water)

- paint doors (assuming we have water)

- fix fence?

things still to buy:

- shower nozzle (previous owner took it)

- t.p. holder (previous owner took it)

- outside light (previous owner took it)

- a new handle for the screen door (its broken)

- entry floor mats

- new door bell (maybe)

- new hardware for the dressers (with some espresso paint and new handles, should look brand new!)

- doors for the utility room

- tile + water proofing seal for bath tub

- outlet covers (need a final count first)

- frost pane for screen door for privacy, maybe one for the pantry (adam's suggestion, i like it!)

- blinds for family room window (1 is missing) and maybe bathroom but the window is tiny

- custom closet system

i've also been considering having the security system turned on. there is one installed from ADT and from what i've been told by my mom + friends, it will probably be $25-$30 a month for the service. i think it will help me feel safer being on my own in cleveland.