the house
we closed on the house on october 7th. since then
1. completed dismantled and removed the cabinets,counter and entire kitchen, including removal of drywall and old insulation on the outside walls. removed layers of flooring. ripped down crappy drop ceiling.
2. ripped out a 1/2 bath on the first floor that killed the floor plan. (don't worry, we're going to replace it with a full bath when we finish the basement, hopefully in the spring.)
3. tore down a wall between the kitchen and dining room that again, fuckedup the floor plan.
4. relocated heat lines and electrical wiring that inexplicibly ran through the one wall we removed in the middle of the kitchen.
5. reinsulated and hung new drywall in the kitchen. redid the drywall on the ceiling. had a professional completely rewire the kitchen.
6. removed carpeting from upstairs hallway, steps and living room. upstairs is beautiful hardwood in nearly-new shape. living room is a bit worn and has a weird unfinished patch where a wall used to be. we'll refinish some of it and cover the weird patch with an area rug.
7. replaced old upstairs slider windows with double-paned, double hung energy efficent windows.
8. had a professional clean the oil burner that apparently hadn't been cleaned in a long time.
9. removed the handrail form upstairs steps and painted it "hammered black" and reinstalled it.
10. replaced light switches and outlets in visible places andinstalled new outlet/switch cover. mostly upstairs so far.
11. painted the entire living room, the front door, and the kitchen ceiling. primered the rest of the drywall in the kitchen to seal it. will paint the exposed walls on thrusday.
12. painted all the upstairs rooms, cleaned the radiators and hardwood floors.
13. replaced front and rear door locks.
14. cut the grass once. fuck it, i'm not raking leaves this year.
15. fixed a squeaky/soft spot on the kitchen floor before the sub-flooring was installed.
16. covered up a closet entry that was in the dining room inexplicably and knocked a wall through into a coat closet in the living room so now we have a huge, long closet.
17. removed way too many layers of wall paper from way too many walls.
18. main bathroom: removed some ridiculous make-shift thing that was built over the shower (wtf?) which had a curtain-coverd "storage area". removed old toilet and vanity. replaced with smaller pedestal sink (main bathroom i a little small) and a tall-back toilet. re drywalled most of bathroom. new paint. removed medicine cabinet and replaced with new vanity lights and a simple mirror with a small glass shelf over the sink. (there's a huge bathroom closet built into the one wall by the toilet.) replaced all tub fixtures and accent pieces with brushed nickel, pewter or both. got a nice heavy-duty faucet for the sink.
19. ran new heavier duty TV and internet cable to the upstairs to accomodate high speed internet and digital cable.
20. stripped and sanded the stairs. they had been painted several times and the last layer was a horendous electric blue color. probably lead based.
we have a bit more to do, but all the big projects are coming to a close. our new kitchen cabinets should be in friday, so hopefully we can put the kitchen back together soon. we're having them installed by a pro. same with the flooring and most of the rest of the kitchn stuff besides the painting.
the dinng room needssome tlc with wallpaper removal. we're going to paint it 2 colors and put in a chair rail and some new lighting.
the steps need to be refinished, but we'll wait until everythin else is done to minimize traffic on them.
i'd like to redo the basement soon. the outside needs a good powerwashing and some paint around the windows. i'd also like to put newer windows in downstairs. they're not in terrible shape and are nice big anderson windows, but they could use some updating and i like the tilt-in windows.
i'd like to get a gas insert for the fireplace before the winter hits us too badly. we might get a flat-panel tv for over the fireplace.
not having a kitchen is a bit of a pain, especially the lack of a sink. we have an old kitchen table set up in our living room right now with a microwave, toaster overn and coffee pot. i've been grilling most of our meals on this kick-ass 3 burner gas grill i got for a steal on clearance.
that's about it for now.
1. completed dismantled and removed the cabinets,counter and entire kitchen, including removal of drywall and old insulation on the outside walls. removed layers of flooring. ripped down crappy drop ceiling.
2. ripped out a 1/2 bath on the first floor that killed the floor plan. (don't worry, we're going to replace it with a full bath when we finish the basement, hopefully in the spring.)
3. tore down a wall between the kitchen and dining room that again, fuckedup the floor plan.
4. relocated heat lines and electrical wiring that inexplicibly ran through the one wall we removed in the middle of the kitchen.
5. reinsulated and hung new drywall in the kitchen. redid the drywall on the ceiling. had a professional completely rewire the kitchen.
6. removed carpeting from upstairs hallway, steps and living room. upstairs is beautiful hardwood in nearly-new shape. living room is a bit worn and has a weird unfinished patch where a wall used to be. we'll refinish some of it and cover the weird patch with an area rug.
7. replaced old upstairs slider windows with double-paned, double hung energy efficent windows.
8. had a professional clean the oil burner that apparently hadn't been cleaned in a long time.
9. removed the handrail form upstairs steps and painted it "hammered black" and reinstalled it.
10. replaced light switches and outlets in visible places andinstalled new outlet/switch cover. mostly upstairs so far.
11. painted the entire living room, the front door, and the kitchen ceiling. primered the rest of the drywall in the kitchen to seal it. will paint the exposed walls on thrusday.
12. painted all the upstairs rooms, cleaned the radiators and hardwood floors.
13. replaced front and rear door locks.
14. cut the grass once. fuck it, i'm not raking leaves this year.
15. fixed a squeaky/soft spot on the kitchen floor before the sub-flooring was installed.
16. covered up a closet entry that was in the dining room inexplicably and knocked a wall through into a coat closet in the living room so now we have a huge, long closet.
17. removed way too many layers of wall paper from way too many walls.
18. main bathroom: removed some ridiculous make-shift thing that was built over the shower (wtf?) which had a curtain-coverd "storage area". removed old toilet and vanity. replaced with smaller pedestal sink (main bathroom i a little small) and a tall-back toilet. re drywalled most of bathroom. new paint. removed medicine cabinet and replaced with new vanity lights and a simple mirror with a small glass shelf over the sink. (there's a huge bathroom closet built into the one wall by the toilet.) replaced all tub fixtures and accent pieces with brushed nickel, pewter or both. got a nice heavy-duty faucet for the sink.
19. ran new heavier duty TV and internet cable to the upstairs to accomodate high speed internet and digital cable.
20. stripped and sanded the stairs. they had been painted several times and the last layer was a horendous electric blue color. probably lead based.
we have a bit more to do, but all the big projects are coming to a close. our new kitchen cabinets should be in friday, so hopefully we can put the kitchen back together soon. we're having them installed by a pro. same with the flooring and most of the rest of the kitchn stuff besides the painting.
the dinng room needssome tlc with wallpaper removal. we're going to paint it 2 colors and put in a chair rail and some new lighting.
the steps need to be refinished, but we'll wait until everythin else is done to minimize traffic on them.
i'd like to redo the basement soon. the outside needs a good powerwashing and some paint around the windows. i'd also like to put newer windows in downstairs. they're not in terrible shape and are nice big anderson windows, but they could use some updating and i like the tilt-in windows.
i'd like to get a gas insert for the fireplace before the winter hits us too badly. we might get a flat-panel tv for over the fireplace.
not having a kitchen is a bit of a pain, especially the lack of a sink. we have an old kitchen table set up in our living room right now with a microwave, toaster overn and coffee pot. i've been grilling most of our meals on this kick-ass 3 burner gas grill i got for a steal on clearance.
that's about it for now.