Day 20: Post Holiday Updating As of Dec 2

These updates will be big and fast because while I might have been sitting on my toukas noshing on poultry and pie, these dudes were working hard!

Got up this morning (12/2) and here is where we stand:



Notice anything different?



WINDOWS!!!!!!!!!



The front door (used to be between living room and sun room) is making its way to the front:





Closet doors have been put on our laundry closet:



The kitchen and dining walls have been smoothed and spackled:





The back step is forming:



And well OK fine, spoiler alert... by the end of the day, the front door is actually in place:











And well I may not be able to decorate but check out the neighbor's bling helping my cause:

The Day Before Tomorrow (Friday)

The Plan: Wake up. Send Brendan off to work after he loads the boxes I have already packed. Pack more boxes. Drive each load over. Go to Lowe's and finalize vanity plans as well as check out shelving options. Be at house between 1:45- 3:45 for the washer/dryer delivery. Make sure I am in and around the house from 10 am on so when the carpet guys call I can get to house within 30 mins. Get carpet installed.

What happened: Wake up. Get phone call from carpet guys that they are on their way @ 7:30 am. Panic. Call Mom to have her or someone go by the house. She sends Dad. Carpet people call- no one at the house. They are at the wrong house. Dad calls, they won't lay the carpet without heat. He starts space heaters, but they refuse to come back later. Bedroom remains carpetless.





I run to Lowe's and yell. Spend next few hours trying to get a plumber to attach radiators and or a carpet installer to,... well install carpet. Eat left over indian food at like 10 am.



Pace through cold house. Freak out in warm car. Washer and dryer arrive 45 mins early. Dude refuses to push it in all the way, plays the "language card", until it comes time to explain how I can rate him afterwards, 5 is the top rating. Dad shows up and pushes it in for me. Washer/dryer dudes leave.



Later I find they broke my screen door frame. I unpack boxes that are in the car. Discover and kill nasty bugs.



Brendan arrives. We go out to dinner. (I swear this is the last time my fridge looks like THIS on the inside.



Determined to do SOMETHING productive and right, I prime the bathroom while Brendan does work in his office.





And then we go home to the apartment for the last time.

P.S. This is all from LAST Friday (04/23/10). I am just a week behind in posting.

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.

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.

Colors & Layers

Wall in the downstairs hall.




Inside the closet of the downstairs bedroom/ laundry room.




Behind the kitchen cabinets: