ramblings

#tuesday

painting the house

our painter steve came by to take a look at the whole property. he's agreed to spray 3/4 sides so i guess my mom will have a time with the other. before we do our part, we'll have to remove the tree in between our place and the neighbors, plus a few bushes. sounds like fun, eh? he's coming early saturday with another guy and should finish up sunday. anywho, here's our laundry list:

• 1 - 4' roll of painting paper
• 3-4 - 2' rolls of painting paper
• 1 gallon, white exterior semi-gloss paint
• 1 gallon, porch floor paint
• 10 gallons, exterior house paint
• 5 - 8' long porch trim pieces

supplies to paint a house, porch trim photo to follow.

checking out at home depot. mom with the porch trim.

cleaning the kitchen cabinets
i finally got around to cleaning the cabinets, at least the upper ones. i stopped at walmart on monday and picked up some shelf liners. i'm hesitant to clean the bottom ones just because we don't have countertops yet and I'm worried that debris might fall into them after they're clean so that can wait. the funny part is the only things i have to fill in the cabinets at the moment include: (1) set of martini glass (2) a bottle of riesling, vanilla vodka and creme de cocoa and (3) poptarts, hot chocolate, a few granola bars and peppermints. i should probably get on that.

not much there yet, but i'll get there!

privacy in the pantry

i also got around to putting a privacy film up on the window in the pantry. not that i'm worried because it just looks out at gary's house, but atleast i dont have to worry about keeping the pantry shut. this film didn't have an adhesive backing. i merely had to clean, then wet (i was supposed to use a spray bottle but didnt have one) the window then squeegie (?) the film on. we'll see how long it lasts.

painting the furniture

mom also got around to painting the other dresser and bed frame. once i do the paint touch ups in the spare bedroom, it should be ready for use. atleast then the mattress and box spring leaning against the wall will have a home and i will actually have a bed i can use!

my grandpa's old bedroom set (brought into 2011) – almost ready for guests!

taking care of business ...

Firstly, did I mention my mom bought an outdoor bar from an estate sale for $100?

Did someone say party on the patio?

My Vacation From Work

• Touched up the Paint in the Office
• Installed Chains for the Screen Doors
• Repainted the side door and closet door an "off white." The color we thought matched the closet was really too white and made the doors stand out so I picked up a different color.
• Put on First Coat of Deck Stain. It took 2 gallons of deck stain (well, close to). We picked out a color called Cappuchino. Half way thru the process, it started raining and we had to cover up the deck (documented below). Thankfully, it cleared up shortly later and we were able to finish the first coat.

Before (pressure washed)

Supplies

Getting Started

... then came the rain

El fin ... with the first coat that is!

• Installed Folding Doors for the Utility Room

• Installed Blinds for the Closet, Kitchen and Back Room
• Re-Painted The Living Room (I bought a gallon of the closest matching brown and went for it. Luckily, it blended enough that I didn't have to repaint all the edges. I'm pretty happy, it makes the room look fresh).
• Started touching up the walls of the master bedroom... they need some work but nothing a little joint compound won't fix!

This Past Weekend:

Saturday, Mom and I did yardwork the whole day. Mainly, I wanted to remove all the "brushery" by the deck. I wasn't sure exactly what was planted there, but it was very overgrown and in my opinion, an eye sore. My mom took some of what we dug out home (a forsynthia i know for sure) and we moved the lemon plants (an herb) to the other side of the yard. I knew it would be hot out so I wore a bathing suit but at the time i left the house, it wasn't sunny. Therefore, I didn't think to bring sunscreen and boy did I get burned! Today (Thursday), I'm finally starting to peel eep.

Before – an overgrown eye sore in my opinion!

Much better!

The other big progress of the day was the kitchen cabinets went in. All, but two that is. Over the course of 7 hours, he was able to get them all in except for the one that i call the "fake island." It's not really an island because it will be attached to the wall, but it's the closest we're going to get. It's also meant to be a corner so there is more space in between the drawers, but handyman Tim is going to widen them and put in wider drawers (we have extras) so you won't even notice! (phew). We also need to locate a 27" upper cabinet to fill out by the stove. We had a 30" upper but even with taking out some paneling encasing the chimney, we're 1.5" short. Luckily, we have some extra cabinets we can take the doors off of. Next step ... countertops, backsplash, and repositioning wall paneling.

Our handyman Tim does great work!

On Sunday, my mom did some appliance hunting. My mom said she knew of a "scratch n dent" used appliances store on Miles Rd. but forgot the name. After doing some online research, I came across it. True Deal Appliances. We drove out to Warrensville and ended up walking away with most of what we needed. It was interesting. It was a huge warehouse of new and used appliances and it appears that only two guys run it. There was a store across the street that was closed with a True Deal sign, but the warehouse across the street was not labeled. We got a brand new white LG refrigerator ($550), used white GE stove ($175), washer and dryer set ($400/pair) and a brand new mattress and box spring set for the spare bedroom ($275). He gave us a little bit of a discount for buying multiple appliances, but not huge savings ... around $50. But heck, everything was discounted already! Since we were still out of luck with finding an 18" mini dishwasher, we went over to B&B Appliances (which appeared to have the cheapest new ones) and ordered a white one for $349. Should take 10 days to get here. The last thing we're in search of is an overhead microwave for the stove. I don't imagine it should be too hard to find.

This Week:

Over the course of two days (Monday and Wednesday), our handyman Tim installed the kitchen and utility room floor tile and grouting. The vinyl tile I picked out is called "Mammoth" and my mom actually used it in one of our rental houses so it was easy to come to a mutual agreement. The grout color is called "Earth," Both carried at Home Depot. We also looked at some vinyl wood flooring planks that we might consider for the dining room, but that would be a future project.

Tuesday: My goal for moving out. #Fail

Today:

Appliances were delivered! They still need hooked up and cleaned, but still a huge step closer to moving out! :)

Used Washer and Dryer

Used Stove

Like New LG Refrigerator

Over the stove microwave

can someone say DEMO!?

Earlier this week...

My mom got started painting some of my bedroom dressers with espresso... they're naturally birch which I'm not so much a fan of. Work in progress.

mom finishing up the first coat of espresso!

Weekend Accomplishments...
While I wish I could say more, I did no more than merely finish painting the utility room and painted some of the trim on the dining room entry door which still needs finished.

showing off the rest of my family room / entertainment space... loving the wall color!

utility room before painting

getting started on the utility room painting

The Result!

However... I do have some noteworthy mentions from this week...

A - I finally found lamps (Marshalls, $39.99 each) for the living room! I love them. They have cream/greyish shades and the base looks like tree branches. I bought two, which I plan to sit on my Great Grandmother's sofa table my mom is generously letting me use. Along the way, I also picked up a neat bowl (Marshalls, $5.99) wrapped in branches that I can use to hold mints or candy, or perhaps just decoration. I was having quite a successful shopping trip on Monday.

My new living room lamps + decorative bowl

B - Tonight, my mom's handyman Nick came over to take down the kitchen cabinets. At first I was a little hesitant as my mom, Adam and I struggled to get them to budge but apparentally, all we needed was a 240 lb man with a lot of manpower. He made it look so easy! His son Noah also helped picked up the pieces, talk about a cutie. We have one piece of cabinet left to remove, but Nick will need a saw as the cabinets were installed before the plumbing. Which means the cabinets don't have holes cut for the shuts off, so we need to saw them to make space. Nick has Thursdays off from work, so if all goes as planned - we may have new cabinets in place by the end of the week. This would be amazing considering the kitchen is the biggest project so far! He definitely is looking for some projects to work on ... so we may just add to his list: adding tile in the bathroom, pulling up the back carpet, installing the plumbing spring door, adding the extra fence and plenty more. He also offers great prices. Just to take down the cabinets he only charged us $30. I definitely know my mom and I couldn't have done it ourselves.

Kitchen when we bought the house


Before the demo began...

one cabinet down ...

our handyman nick removes the counter top


demo'ing of the other cabinet begins

... and then there was one.

To be continued ...

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.