Projects this weekend

Lot of mish-mash to do this weekend:

• install new showerheads
• more clean-up
• empty out dining room
• test out peel-away
• experiment with dining room ceiling

Hopefully this will give us a good grounding for more exciting things soon!

Windows. To replace or not. Discuss.

My windows are crappy. This should not surprise anyone - not like the house was heavy on upgrades - but replacements are called for. At the very least, the downstairs windows should lock without the aid of a large bolt. And personally I feel as though you should not feel a breeze on the opposite side of the room when the windows are closed...

So here's the subject for debate. At least 2 windows will be replaced as soon as I schedule the installer. But do I replace 4 windows and do the whole first floor? Or 5 windows and do the whole front of the house? All 10 windows will have to be replaced eventually, but I can't afford to do it all now... Talk amongst yourselves ;)

Kitchen Pictures

Ok, Dad has been waiting patiently for these - painted kitchen pics, from wall prep to gorgeousness:



Slideshow for today:

I am Mighty Mouse!

Combo'd with Wonder Woman!

Ok, maybe not quite so much. But I fixed the downstairs tub hot water! Take that Home Depot! Take that plumbing supply stores! Hooray for the power of Google! Also hooray for faucetpartsplus.com, who not only have pictures of their faucet stems (so I could find the one that looked like mine), but also actually had the faucet stem and shipped it super fast. Now I suppose I'd better actually call the plumber to estimate the other leaks.

And apparently the house is challenging me to a duel, because this morning the upstairs tub hot water started dripping. But I shall overcome.

Projects this weekend are about clean-up:

• clean the downstairs
• hang the mailbox
• tidy the basement so I can actually find the tools
• take the rest of the tape off in the kitchen

That sort of thing :)

One painted kitchen

So many questions come to mind when painting. There are the philosophical (how many cracks must a woman patch?), the practical (can you really see that painting mistake from the floor?), the technological (why does it take 4 hours for the paint to dry?), and the anatomical (how did I get paint under my chin?). It also gives a great full body workout! I encourage you all to try it - should you need a place for the attempt, I can offer a dining room, an office, and a hallway... Kidding. Sort of.

Anyway, after four days of patching and sanding (over the past couple weeks), we finally primed and painted the kitchen! For those of you thinking to yourselves, "Damn, Erin and Sarah are slow! I can paint a room in an hour!" well, so can we. But these aren't your boring fresh smooth drywall walls - these are lovely used and abused plaster! Almost 100 years old. So plenty of nicks, cracks, bulges, and challenges to work through. One application of patching compound is never enough. In fact, in several cases I'm not sure four was enough...

But it looks great! Just imagine that for a bit while I try to remember to upload the pictures ;)

Projects this weekend

Head cold permitting, I swear we are actually priming and painting the kitchen this weekend. Really. I can feel it. Additionally, it would be nice to:

• Hang the mailbox
• Install the new toilet flapper
• Set up the dryer

And I have firm goals involving waking up without an alarm...

Painting Pictures!

Finally, sorry for the delay. The blue is the funny little room off my bedroom, the brown is my bedroom, and the gray is the living room. Erin's pink room was done(ish) already.



The living room took three coats, the blue room two, and the brown one two (I think?).

There was also a ton of cleaning done, and loose paint scraping - somehow I did not capture a photo of the brave (and well balanced) friend hanging off the ladder and over the staircase to get the hallway ceiling - but do not fear, I will capture the work before we patch! Yes, I must get better at using the camera. Somehow I'd rather actually work than photograph - which is just silly.



Slideshow for today:

These jeans are clean!

I know that because I washed them myself! After only two trips to the hardware store, and a well timed piece of advice from Aunt Deb, the washer works without leaking (keep fingers crossed for a while though). No plumber needed! The dryer isn't fully set up since the hose was too short, but we got a new hose so that should be done this week too. And in the meantime, clothes dried pretty quickly in the basement, which is the preferred method of drying anyway.

After many hours of sanding and patching, the kitchen walls are almost ready for priming. Somehow I always underestimate the amount of time the prep takes (and the amount of havoc all that sanding wreaks)... But one final sand on a couple spots, and we should be good. Erin did some marvelous work recreating parts of the wall out of patching compound. The taping was completed too - nice lines Onna!

The downstairs closet was cleaned, and I even hung the new smoke/carbon monoxide detector (it was propped on the stairs, don't worry Dad). I felt the installation had to be prioritized, after I accidentally kicked the first one down the stairs... That was a waste of $36.

To maintain the length of the to-do list, we discovered on Sat that the oven doesn't heat up. Anyone have expertise with gas ovens?

The Home Depot window salesman came to give me an estimate for the replacements, including installation. Who knew windows were so expensive? I mean, 50 year guarantees and full glass coverage is great - but for $680 per window? Ow. And those were the all vinyl ones. The ones with the wood on the inside made me actually choke. Getting another company in for a comparative estimate...

Projects this weekend

To continue the trend, there will be some plumbing work. We'd also like to:

• finish patching the kitchen
• prime the kitchen
• paint the kitchen
• clean up the basement (to make room for the DRYER, thanks guys!)
• get shelves for the kitchen
• clean the downstairs closet
• hang the new mailbox
  
• and just maybe, start removing the wallpaper paste from the hallway.

I realize that there's really no way we'll actually accomplish all that, but at least we know what we'd like to. And the Home Depot installer is coming to give an estimate on replacing the windows. So if you want to play, let me know!

I may need to date a plumber.

Anyone know a cute one? Maybe one without the stereotypical saggy pants and potbelly?

Ok, fine. I'll learn to do it myself. Maybe. Saturday I unpacked for forever, saving the exciting plumbing plans for Sun. On Sunday I cleaned the washing machine and hung the clothesline (thanks Mom!). All was going well - until both water cutoff valves to the washer started dripping everywhere. We'll just add this to the list. And Erin and I went to Home Depot to find the replacement faucet stem for the downstairs bathroom, only to be told it was so old they no longer carry them. I'm losing my confidence in my ability to repair it myself. Why must the plumbing industry be so non-standardized?

So far, we have a leaky expansion tank, leaky upstairs kitchen sink (betcha that one's gonna get me), dripping toilet, no faucet for the hot water in the downstairs tub, weirdly disattached pipe in the funny little room downstairs, and the washing machine issue. Oh, and possibly the downstairs sink may be dripping, must investigate. So send that cute plumber boy my way...