Day 13-14: Minor Developments

So starting from the back, note the lovely overhang at the door, and the budding stairs:




Then into the kitchen, note the pipe that lead to the upstairs steam heater is gone! Yes we are removing said heater and replacing with electric baseboard. This will create better usable wall space, as well as consistency in each bedroom being on it's own electric heater. Also, and most importantly, it removes that awful pipe through the kitchen, and allows us to move the kitchen heater to a better location.


Heading upstairs, you might note this spacious hall. Follow the puppy, she show you the way.



The room with the door is still a mess but to the left we have the newly steam-heaterless room. Baseboard installed, and tested. Worked marvelously.



And well nothing much new in the walk in closet, but the trim is up... Hanging rods and shelving to come!

Lazy Updates

So I was a little lazy and lacking in wit last night and for the most part just posted pictures with little to no real explanation.

Here's where I stand. I need to paint the downstairs bathroom, a vanity for the downstairs bathroom, and I need to paint trim in the bedroom. Actually I need to paint trim everywhere. But here is why those first two things need to happen:

Once I paint the trim in the bedroom, I can
1) put the furniture in its final resting place
2) fill the furniture with the clothing currently residing everywhere but in drawers
3) take tupperwares of clothing out of attic (thereby clearing attic space) and go through and organize what I need and don't need (mostly basing it on what I can fit reasonably in two Tupperware, half a closet, a pant trolley, and drawers)
4) Have a clean organized room.
5) Organize desk area / unpack my office supplies currently loitering in Brendan's office.
6) Hang pictures (there by also clearing space in attic room and living room).

Once I paint and get the vanity for the downstairs I can:
1) Call the plumber to hook up toilet, sink, and radiator in downstairs bathroom, as well as check plumbing in shower
2) Put an above the toilet cabinet in
3) Begin unpacking toiletries in a more permanent manner
4) Clear out (take apart toilet) in upstairs bathroom
5) Floor upstairs bathroom
6) Return tile saw (clearing area in sun room)
7) Have plumber back to put in upstairs vanity and toilet (also clearing area in sun room)
8) Put in linen closet/shelving in nook by shower
9) Unpack rest of toiletries-towels-linens, freeing up space in living room, bedroom, attic, and closet downstairs.

At that point, ladies and gents... I will be able to walk in my sun room again, thereby being able to organize for a garage sale. I am not 100% sure I have enough for a real garage sale but I think I do... (sink, vanity, books, toys, porcelain dolls, may be a book shelf, dvds, stereo, etc...) also once I have the room to move and put things, I may have more that I don't even know of. I will also happily at that point take things from others to sell in their stead in a grand ol' joint sale.

After that? I get to actually focus on making the place presentable to have company (yay).

So there it is- the hold ups: I am lazy and sick of painting (getting over that this weekend) and Lowe's won't get me my vanity (supposedly arriving tonight).

THE BIG MOVE (Part II)

We woke up in the new house. Despite the lack of heat, it wasn't unbearably cold, but definitely not something I could deal with during the work week. I had agreed to house sit for my mother (hence not prioritizing radiator hook ups), so it was all good.

The agenda: finish cleaning out apartment, head to storage, take it all back to the house, and meet Andrew at my Mom's house around 3 to load up the stuff I have there, and unload for the final time.

It was raining, but I figured if I can close in a snow storm, I can finish moving in a rain storm.

We came to realize that in order to pack the truck in a way to keep the stuff from the apartment from sliding around, we would not be able to make the apartment/storage space one load. While we were in the apartment, taking the packing process very seriously...




...my friend Pat called. Brendan was very optimistic thinking we would be back at the house in an hour and a half. I thought two hours would mean we really rushed. Three hours later, we were still at the apartment, a little dumbfounded...




We bid a final farewell to the apartment grounds. The rain, thankfully, had begun to abate.






Weary and a little wet (more me than Brendan, he was mainly packing the kitchen up while I was running back and forth to pack the truck), our apartment lives were OFFICIALLY over.




Brendan would get his due (as if he hadn't lifted enough yesterday). We got to the house around 3:00 pm, where Andrew and Pat met us. This meant it was unlikely we would get everything we wanted done, but with the three guys there, we managed to unload the truck, drive to Mahwah, reload the truck, drive back, and unload it again all within 3 hours.


Brendan, Pat, and my brother Andrew got my long dresser (kind with the vanity mirror) up the stairs and made it look easy! Andrew pulled from the top of the stairs, Pat took the middle platform, and Brendan lifted from the stairs base.




It was very cool to watch. Sadly- Andrew had to go home and do homework, but Pat, Brendan, and I went to Heritage Grill for some burgers and appetizers.


Lastly we said goodbye and Happy Birthday Eve to Pat!




And off we went to spend the week at my Mom's with my brother.

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.

Progress

I thought I would just post a few pics of the current status of the house.


Things that haven't really changed:

First Floor Bathroom:


Attic/ Harry Potter Room:



Minor changes:

Stairwell:



Big changes:

Bedroom:


Second Floor Bathroom:


Office:


Kitchen:


Livingroom:


Radiators:



Things I am glad not to change:

Curb:

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.

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.