Krud Kutter & Other Useful Liquids

"Kuttin" the "Krud" all up in my toilet area.




Supplies: Speakers, I-Pod, Grapefruit juice, Beer, Toilet Paper

iCOLOR!

Samantha came to play! Actually she came to work and work we did. After taking in some fresh air at Avery's soccer game and some food at Mara's Cafe & Bakery, we got our paint on (both Sam's overalls AND the walls!)


Light coverage...




Medium Coverage...




Heavy Coverage...




FULL COVERAGE...




OK, so with the destroyed tile flooring, and lack of lighting in the room it looks vaguely like a locker room in a horror film, but I promise it will be beautiful!

Spending the Weekend in My Bedroom

So after a weekend of Brendan and I getting our solo paint on, we brought in the artillery. How many Lucarini's does it take to prime a closet you ask? Why how fortuitous that I can show you!




Would you believe he did the entire ceiling with the tiny roller and extension? Would you believe TWO tiny rollers? ;)




Then we reaped the rewards! (Denville Dairy)

Recycling...

So OK, it's not bad enough that I have turned to blogging to sort of let everyone know what's going on with the house, but now I am plagiarizing my own emails to use as blog material. Who cares- it's good for the environment!

:)

Picture updates from last weekend to come, but until then... this is where I stand:

Giving up for now on:
fireplace, baseboard heating, finishing bathrooms before moving, and finishing kitchen before next year.

Pending giving up:
residing the house, finishing the sun room. (the outside looks dreadful and will be more noticeable as the weather gets nicer. Can't reside until I am ready to fix/replace sun room windows because they might be a different size. Can't replace windows until I am ready to insulate the walls and fix it up because it would be silly to spend the money on better windows is the walls and floor are still uninsulated)

Reasons why:
have to upgrade electric. had to pay for permits and inspections by licenced electrician, may need to put in hard wired smoke and carbon detectors, will need to pay for some of the painting and trim work that I originally thought I could do myself, some plumbing needed in the bathrooms to put in scald guards, all of which at this point is totalling about 6-8K.

Good News:
getting my 7 radiators picked up, cleaned (via sandblaster), repainted, and dropped back off for about 2/3s of what it was originally quoted. Hooray for the benefits of paying cash and good family friends.
Also, while it stinks that I will be paying for some of the painting, they are giving me good rates on the labor, and I think in the end I will be both happy to have my life back sooner, as well as happier with the final result.

Currently: wall work is being finished, Brendan and father should be doing the floors this weekend, and in between that there shall be continued painting of the upstairs. Electric should be mostly done this week.

Oh to be a Better Painter!

Time for the second coat. Did the ceiling, and then most of the closet, and the first coat in the bathroom ceiling.








Unfortunately the ceiling is in odd condition: kinda looks creepy. (Note: buy better paint and rollers.)




Brendan removing bad grout with paint in his hair.




We are clearly Na'vi warriors. (Don't do this, it is extremely irritating to the skin.)

Moving Right Along

What the contractor did (until the permit dude stopped him)...

The Kitchen: they took out the wall between the radiator and the counter and did a whole lot of sheet rocking.






Living room: sheet rocked, and tiny 'closet' cleaned up.




We pushed the doorway in to the bedroom/office making the hall bigger. I think it looks fab. (Now the laundry is in the hall instead of the bedroom.)






Office/ Bedroom: We had found water in this wall and the guess is that it's from the A/C unit in the wall upstairs, and now that it has been open and dry, despite a monsoon, I think the problem is solved.




What I did...

First coat Saturday: Clearly we took this very seriously.




My new front door, lights, and fan:








This was what I was "Krave"-ing.

Paperwork Submitted

This Is How Big It Is

My First Original Art Purchase

So once upon a time i was googling my name and came across an artist, Camilo Lucarini. After looking through his website I noticed two things.
1) This guy is awesome, he met Sean Connery. (These are actually two separate things, but I think they go well together.)
2) I LOVE his paintings, specifically Desnudo en Rojo. Really all of it is gorgeous. I think my favorites are the nudes and the beach scenes. The statues and wildlife are gorgeous, but I am more partial to hanging pictures of people.
In any case, feeling bold one day I decided to e-mail him to see if he would respond...
He did! I started e-mailing with him and his wife, who are very sweet. And the rest is history. I can't wait to be able to frame and hang this so that I can show it off in person.

It is most likely going in the living room (with deep gold/yellow walls), however there are some thoughts as to putting it in the hall/stairwell area and or bedroom.

Hooray for new art and new friends!

p.s. if I haven't shown you the site already...
click here!

Building Permits

Soooooo, ... I thought you needed permits for changing big things, or putting on an addition. I didn't know you needed permits for every stupid little thing you do. Basically, I buy a house and don't want the walls to decay and crumble around me... I need a permit. I find a bathroom vanity constructed out of sheet rock and wrapped in wallpaper then painted over unsavory, I need a permit. If I want to replace frayed wires with new, or make sure I have the proper scald guard on my shower plumbing, I need a permit.

I would have thought maintaining a standing house with the proper structure, electricity, and plumbing was something that in itself helped the town in that the property values are protected, less foreclosures, house fires, etc. I think one (the Reeves) should pay the town to NOT do that kind of maintenance. But it is a bit of a double whammy to have to pay the town to better the town. It's not like I was putting on an addition.

Oh well. My dumpster tipped them off that I was ridding my house of the creepy, weird, and disgusting. I didn't realize I needed a permit, but then again after reading this paperwork I think I might have opted to avoid it anyways (kidding!).

Gargamel!

I'm Famous!

Fan Blades, Cast Iron, and Tape-age

Sunday was a mix of things. John- the electrician- started his work and his father Steve came by again to go over the final touches. We discovered water in the walls which we are hoping is left over from a poorly sealed a/c unit in the wall that was since taken out. My Uncle came by, and that was pretty cool. Sometimes in big families I think it's easy to feel a little lost. It's not that you don't think that they all care for you but all 10 aunts and uncles are not going to make it to every event and really not going to make it to most, whereas I think in a smaller family unit there might be more involvement. In any case it was a pleasant surprise to see him there.

So the things we did... more cleaning of the upstairs. Dust and ladybugs have the darndest ways of being EVERYWHERE.


We disassembled this fan. I feel there may have been an easier way but it took two of us to bring it to pieces.





Brendan removed the first floor radiators. I had an action shot but it got deleted because really it wasn't about the effort here. Anyone can exert on a monkey wrench, but great success like this can only be described as a 'man make fire' moment, or a 'dog catches a squirrel'. You tend to want to jump about in victorious EE EE Ah Ah elation, all the while not knowing what to do with it not that you've 'caught' it. Then you realize our arms hurt and you just want to go sit back and relax.




And lastly was the tape-age of windows. So we left the house, the upstairs ready to paint, and the downstairs ready to be made ready to paint by the contractors.

Last Weekend Without Paint!

So this Saturday (March 6Th) was the final run through with my general contractor. He is sheet-rocking over most of the first floor and patching what he doesn't sheet-rock, putting on new base trim in bedroom/living room/hallway, moving the door in the hall of the bedroom to put my laundry closet in the call instead, switching out some other doors, prepping for the one day installation of a gas fireplace, moving my dryer vent to the right area, taking out the chunk of wall between the radiator and counter in the kitchen, and sheet rocking the kitchen ceiling.

Meanwhile his son is bringing my outlets to code, moving wires for my cable and Internet, adding outlets where need be, and putting in the wiring so that when I get cabinets I can eventually get the under cabinet lighting put in at a fairly low cost. There is more I am probably not remembering off the top of my head, but in any case it should be no wonder I spent a lot of time walking around following a contractor with a notebook/clip board in my hand. Apparently it is a look my happy helpers were none too pleased with!




So I came Saturday and Pete was there (surprise) finishing up some work. Said goodbye to him that morning and gave him the heads up that I may have some soapstone to be cut and bathroom sinks to hook up, etc, but that I would only call him with it if I could get it all organized to be done in one day so it was worth the ride up. Pete came to about 3K and I think it was a very worthwhile investment.

My Dad and Brendan emptied out the garage, (as well as helped my mother empty the porch, and clear the side of the house) of debris. In the end I somehow have already filled my 20 cubic yard dumpster.






My Mom went out and got cleaning supplies and she, Brendan, and Dad scrubbed and scrapped the upstairs bedroom. After they left I basically went to war with all the dust from the spackle, and worked on getting it out so that we might paint the ceiling Sunday.




We also cleaned up the nails and staples in the ceiling downstairs so that it was all set for sheet-rock.



By the end of the day my check engine light was off (it had gone on again that morning) so yay. Great success. We did, however find some presents left behind that had been previously hidden by snow. Going to wait to fill the dumpster till I have another lined up or the construction guys are done.




Dinner at Old World Food Market; Best Supermarket Salad Bar Eva.

Making Up for Lost Time

So this weekend felt a little bit lost because a lot of time was spent speaking with and dealing with contractors. I Got a few plumbers in to do radiator estimates, and a couple of guys to discuss walls. In the end I chose a wall guy, who is actually a general contractor named Steve, and his son John (who it turns out I went to school with) to do the electric. They were particularly helpful in going over everything, sharing honest opinions and helping me organize my head without making it seem like I was crazy. It is these two who may make my wildest ideas come true. Just you wait.

In the mean time here is what we did:

Pulled out the ceiling in the kitchen.




Dad making short work of the moldings with his large pry-bar.




Brendan proving his smaller pry bar is not made for Play Skool.




Remnants:






Colors Discovered Under the the Moldings:










Problems (dryer vent was left outside the washer/dryer closet and the door way to the kitchen from the downstairs office/bedroom is a lil' funky):






Possibilities (cuz I like to end on a high note!) new vanity and shelf:




BTW, Mom and I were there managing the debris.