Day 50: Trimming

Into the sun room:


Windows trimmed and room continuing to take finished shape. Can't wait for the tile!!!!!


*a note... I am nervous about the paint color. Baby bluer than I orig thought, and YES while it is changeable... now that it is painted, it's moved down the list of priorities... like - throughout this process I have been given a lot of ideas as far as "well it would only be a couple hundred bucks more for..." and they are great ideas. BUT, thing is... we are doing work to the kitchen, dining room, office, guestroom, master, sun room, living room, minor bathroom stuff, attic, halls/stairs, closets, outside (siding, three doorways, outside lighting), and eventually yard. There are probably 50 to 100 EASILY thought of things I could do slightly nicer, better, etc for 200-1000$ a piece. But the issue is, can't do them all. Have to pick and choose.
Also, at the end of this, we will be continuing to look for deals on new appliances, a new couch, new arm chair, guest bedroom furnishings, etc. Soooooooooo...it's not my fav color but FINGERS CROSSED it comes together because we certainly have someplace more important to put the $ to redo it.

Mess - one day this will be a dining room not a storage room... excited... they plan to paint it soon! We are going with the old kitchen color. Its like a bisque tan color. The yellow was bright and fun for a while but a little extreme considering most of the rooms have a more historic classic look:


And THANK YOU to MICHAELINE and MOM for providing our touch of Christmas this year! Was a sad year without a tree but I come home to this wreath every day and smile.

2011 Status Update

So... going into the year I had a meeting with my financial advisor, who felt that given the projects that I wanted done by end of 2013...

-roof
-attic conversion to bedrooms
-siding
-porch
-front door to porch

...that I should look into getting them done sooner than later. Based on reasonable expectations of my future income it seemed plausible. Until it suddenly wasn't. So the thing is, these things STILL need to get done by 2013. While it is very clear it will not be happening this year, it is also very clear to me that I need to remember that nothing is a given, and I need to really save as much as possible to get ready to have this done. Yes I would LOVE kitchen cabinets, or the stairwell to be fixed up, or the bathrooms to be done asap (these will get done this year), or a myriad of other tasks. But the fact is... if I want to have a kid, I need a room for him/her. So this year there is not going to be the kinds of transformations we saw last year. This year is more about functionality. My 2010 New Years Resolution was to become more handy. My 2011 is to become a better hostess. So just a heads up that the general theme of this year will be working more to make my house a more livable home by increasing storage, functionality, and organization.

Anywho. more pics to come soon, finally got some hanging done!!! (I've had some decorations that have been waiting forever to make it to the wall).

Other things to look forward to:
- finishing the bathrooms
- making a walkway to the front of the house
- better tending the garden
- creating an outdoor "hang out" area with table and chairs, and putting in a dog run
- organizing and cleaning out the porch to make it a usable area at least in the warmer days
- window treatments that are not paper blinds

What's New?

First...MY KITTY relaxing in the living room:



OK... enough kitties...Updates:

getting rid of the wholes in the door by hammering in ill fitting white pegs...



peeling off the tape...this is what blue tape did...


peeling off the tape...this is what the green tape did...


LESSON: GO GREEN!


bought this chair...(along with a coffee and side table)...


my living room is now cozy...



and so we had a PARTY! (well invited over 2 friends)...



This is my porch. Apparently there are people in town complaining about the appearance of my porch hurting their property values. So instead of spending my money on a sink in my bathroom, or insulating pipes in my basement, or getting a basement door, or windows that close, or screens without holes, or cabinets in my kitchen, or up to code plumbing with scald guards, or fix the grout in my shower, or blinds for the rest of my house other than bedroom, or shelves in my pantry,... I could go on...

THEY believe TOP of that list is trimming the hedges to proper shape, putting in a walkway to a front door I don't use, and emptying a porch I use as convenient storage and instead storing tools, tiles, and stuff I plan to sell in a basement or attic or garage where it's not as climate controlled or easily accessible, SO THAT when they drive by... the look of my front porch is more appealing to them.




SO I will be figuring out how to get a happy medium accomplished AND FAST.

The Month of Nothing Done

So the electrician did his final inspection. Now I need to get the town guy to come out and sign off. THEN I can get vents going. I think my guy for the vents is getting me an estimate this weekend. He originally did not think he would have to damage the walls in the upstairs bathroom. Now he things he might. Boo. I asked that he try to do it by damaging the hall outside the bathroom instead (this is why I haven't finished the hall- so that in circumstances like this it's all good :).

I hope the light we end up putting in there is brighter. I have this BEAUTIFUL blueish greenish deep wall color that I love, but the light in the room is so yellow that it just distorts it all and makes it look kinda crummy.

July isn't going to be much better. Going to the shore (YAY AUNT DEBBIE!) this weekend. Then I have work on the 10th, 18th, 25th, and I think 31st. Baptism on the 11th, graduation party on the 17th, birthday that I will likely miss but if I can make it to part of I will on the 18th, and no party but both of my brothers' birthdays are this month and will need to be attended to. Oh, and trying to get to a Lady Gaga concert.

So fun stuff, just not terribly house-ish stuff. We do mow the lawn on a regular basis, and have recently looked into the recycling situation. Also, Brendan put up a shelf! (Perhaps I will get a picture of that).

Oh, and we still have the two trees in our back yard. There were two folks that offered to take them- neither of which has had time. And so now one of them I am pretty sure has a new resident: the most ADORABLE chipmunk. It will be sad when he loses his home. *Think Ferngully*

Anywho, that's it for now!

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.

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