LIST
Posted: June 5, 2011 Filed under: bathroom, decorating, dining room, guest room, home buying, kitchen, living room, repairs, yard 2 Comments »
After three weekends in a row of chopping, hauling and stacking wood from the tree, I’m starting to feel a little overwhelmed. There’s still a lot more work to do, and more than anything it’s derailed my progress on other house projects.
So I’ve taken a cue from the work life, and made a list. Whenever you get overwhelmed, just stop for two minutes and make a list, put it in order of urgency, then just do it. If it works there, it’ll work at home, right?
Well, this list started getting a little long. It’s realistically a very long-term to-do list, (very roughly) listed in order of priority. It could easily be 5 years before we get to many of these items, especially all that upstairs crap.
But I thought by sharing it here, it could create some vague pressure to actually do these things. And it’s going to feel effin’ AWESEOME to cross things off. It always does.
- Remove all tree logs, limbs, and branches
- Repair broken fence panels
- Plant 4-6 Leyland Cypress trees along fence to replace privacy of tree
- Trim dogwood limbs in front yard
- Install new mailbox
- Plant long bed across side yard fence line
- Re-screen porch
- Tear down old deck and build kickass new one
- Paint front stoop
- Locate or build barn door and install on sliding track
- Buy light colored area rug
- Buy more appropriate coffee table
- Hang art wall behind sofa
- DIY art for frame on top shelf of built-in
- Macrame hanging planter for corner
- Remove crappy baseboards, marble shelf, mirror, light fixture
- Sand down all trim and walls
- Remove rusty shower curtain rod
- Paint uppers and ceiling w/ Kilz primer, then off-white paint
- Paint lowers in peacock blue
- Cut and install new baseboards
- Paint all trim
- Install new shower curtain rod at ceiling height
- Buy and install new mirror
- Buy and install new shelf
- Buy and install new light fixture
- Buy extra-long shower curtain and liner
Hallway:
- Paint all trim and backs of doors
- Paint walls w/ Glidden Inverness (need additional quart)
- Have 2×12”s cut to length at Home Depot for additional closet shelves
- Buy small trashcan/canister for dog food
- Buy short runner rug
- Hang small stuff on the open wall
- Paint all surfaces (walls need primer)
- Re-arrange furniture
- DIY upholstered headboard
- Buy cheap metal bed frame to get boxs pring off of the floor
- Buy 3-drawer dresser
- Buy and install new light fixture
- Buy 2 nightstands or side tables
- Buy 1 table lamp
- Buy and install new curtain rods
- Buy/make curtain panels
- Buy new duvet or quilt, other linens
- Accessorize.
- Organize closet and utilize dresser drawers
Stairs:
- Paint all surfaces
- Buy and install new light fixture
- Have new carpet installed
- Re-attach existing hand rail
Master Bedroom:
- Paint uppers off white
- Paint lowers navy blue
- Have new carpet installed
- DIY headboard of some kind
- Buy 2 dressers
- Buy 2 lamps
- Install long shelves to serve as night stands
- Buy and install new curtain rod
- Buy/make curtain panels
- Buy new duvet or quilt, other linens
- Seriously organize walk-in closet to utilize space and store small items
- Accessorize.
Master Bathroom:
- Build shower stall and remove tub (professional plumbing)
- Build built-in cabinetry to fill empty wall
- Replace vanity with pedestal sink
- Tile floor
- Paint all surfaces (walls and trim will all need primer)
- Buy long credenza or buffet to replace kitchen cart
- Buy more attractive garbage/recycling can solution
- Repaint trim (when Schooner gets older/lazier)
- Have gas line run into kitchen
- Buy new gas range
- Buy and install new countertops
- Buy and install a white subway tile backsplash
- Buy and install new sink and faucet
Office:
Nothing! (Unless it needs to turn into some other sort of room in the future.)
Tree Follies
Posted: February 27, 2011 Filed under: home buying, winter, yard 3 Comments »Friday, February 25 marked our one year anniversary of closing on the house. And to celebrate, this is what we woke up to:
Yep, that’s a giant chunk of maple tree collapsed on three sections of the fence.
Around 2 AM the night before, a huge windy rainstorm blew through. I heard a crash loud enough to wake me up, but I didn’t think the damage would have been this massive.
You may notice in the picture above that there was another huge limb cut off of this tree recently. That would be the incident last May, when a limb half-broke off and perched precariously on the roof of our screened porch. Here’s a little memento of that $500 mishap:
Basically, we’re incredibly lucky that this tree hasn’t completely smashed up our house or garage yet, because it’s doomed. And by doomed, I mean diseased. We’re pretty sure that it’s rotting from the inside. And although it still produced a full season of leaves last year, the bark is all black and yucky.
But to take a tree as big as this one down entirely would be VERY expensive. My uninformed estimate would be at least $1,000. I’m going to try to look into the insurance situation, and see if they’ll pay for it to come down as a preemptive strike against it falling and crushing the house.
The biggest bitch of this situation is that our fence was compromised, which means the dogs can’t be out in the back unattended. So we had to at least get the tree out of the fence line this weekend and put up something temporary for animal captivity.
There was a chainsaw involved and it created a gigantic pile of brush. But when the fellas actually get around to chopping up the big trunk, we’ll have a lot of firewood for next year.
We’re planning on putting up a wire fence around our garden this year, so we figured that we could buy a roll of that fencing early and use it temporarily to close the gap in the big fence for a while. So at least for the time being, it’s dog safe.
I know we’re all supposed to love these big beautiful old trees. But when they’re diseased and falling all over the place and causing property damage….I think it’s okay to hate them.
The Woes of Home Ownership
Posted: May 3, 2010 Filed under: home buying, repairs 2 Comments »After all the fun, exciting, creative things I’ve gotten to do in the past two months, here’s the reality check. There’s no more landlord to call when something breaks. It’s all you. Since the home inspection we knew there was some kind of issue with the plumbing around the washing machine in the basement, and over the last few weeks it’s escalated.
Before recently, I had never considered the way a washing machine functions. When we lived in Bay Ridge it was the little Chinese man’s problem at the laundromat, I just paid him all my quarters to handle it. Clean water comes into the washer, and dirty water comes out of it when it spins, right? And if the dirty water doesn’t come out, then the washer’s broken, right? Not exactly.
Before our inspection, the previous owner had the washer draining into the sump pump well. Like most sump pumps, it pumps the ground water away from your foundation and into the yard away from the house. Thus, she was pumping dirty clothes water into the backyard. This is called grey water, and it’s illegal here. And if its illegal in Knoxville, it’s probably illegal in most every city in America. But before we bought the house, we requested she fix it. When we closed on the house, it was all hooked back up to the wastewater system as it should be. Seemed easy, but the question remained of why the hell did she have it all half-assed in the first place?
It turned out that even in its “fixed” state, the waste water from the washer was not being pumped strongly enough to actually reach the wastewater line, about seven feet up at the base of the basement ceiling. Turns out that even a brand new $1200 washing machine couldn’t pump water through these jacked up, poorly installed lines. Even if the pipes were put in with more care, 12 feet is quite a distance for a washer, apparently. The washer is doing its job, but the bad pipe scenario just lets the dirty water slowly drip back into the basin. And its gross.
The plumber (that we found through friends) says that the most efficient way to fix the issue permanently was to install an external pump that takes the wastewater and pumps it up with some serious power to the main wastewater line. So we’re taking his word for it, and hoping that after he finishes tomorrow the problem will be solved.
And to top it off, this is what we came home to last Tuesday:
Yep, that’s a massive tree limb balanced precariously on the back of our house after a storm blew through. It was far too big to let Danny climb up there and try to saw it apart himself. So to the tune of $400, we had to call a tree service and have it professionally removed.
With these (mostly) unexpected expenses…my new furniture dreams have to be put on hold for another month or two. Along with my new camera dreams. And the new TV dreams that have been pushed back in that corner for years now.
To make myself feel better (or worse, probably worse) I’m going to paint the kitchen blue this weekend. Inspired by this borrowed Sherwin Williams deck from a kind co-worker, I’m feeling the “Icelandic” shade. It’s the second page from the left, second lightest shade. And for about $30, it’s an aesthetic home improvement I can afford. Let’s see how this goes…
5 Nice Little Things
Posted: March 13, 2010 Filed under: decorating, home buying 1 Comment »After being in the house for two weeks, I’m starting to appreciate some of the details. There are nice little touches here and there that give this place so much built-in personality. Here are some of my favorite things.
1. Tiny Closet
What’s that tiny door doing in the kitchen? It’s holding all my spices and stuff. I thinks its original purpose was to house a fold out ironing board. Considering the amount of times I’ve ironed in my life, this is much more useful. I’d like to paint the inside of it and add a few extra shelves.
2. Glass Door Knobs
All of the interior downstairs doors (closets and all) have knobs like this. I think it’s classy.
3. Moulding
I like how all of the trim and moulding is big and significant. The trim all around the downstairs floor is about six inches tall. And it’s got crown moulding throughout the downstairs. People seem to like that these days.
4. Marble Bathroom Shelf
Usually in bathrooms with pedestal sinks there’s nowhere to put anything. The soap is dangling off the uneven edge of the bowl, and there’s nowhere to take your contacts out. Not the case in this casa. The shelf actually looks like an old marble windowsill or something, its got some dings in it. But it’s okay. I love it.
5. Walk-In Closet
This is 4 times larger than the largest closet I had ever had before. It’s jawsome.
House Tour, Day Three
Posted: March 2, 2010 Filed under: home buying, Knoxville 5 Comments »
Welcome to our new house. Here’s a dog to bark at you and some pictures I took today of the inside of the house. We’re only about halfway unpacked and we haven’t bought anything new or painted anything yet. Although the house doesn’t need any major work immediately, these can serve as the “before” pictures. That is, “before” all the things I “plan” to “maybe” do “eventually”.
Anyway…the red front door opens into the living room.
And the living room leads into the (currently painted electric red) dining room.
From there, the kitchen is to the right.
And right through the kitchen is the door to the back yard. Sorry, it’s an ugly day today, it looks a little dreary back there. Just you wait ’till spring rolls around…
And the garage/shed in the back.
Back inside, here’s the office. It used to be a kid’s room, and it’s painted this blinding turquoise color. I know turquoise is the Pantone color of the year, but this is pretty awful. It’s so ugly the camera won’t even capture it properly.
And the downstairs bathroom, which is also the only shower in the house, so it’s actually functioning as the primary bathroom.
And the guest bedroom is the last room downstairs. It’s brown. Also needs a paint job pretty bad.
And upstairs is the master suite. It’s kind of an odd shape, and there’s only two windows, so it’s a little hard to photograph.
And the master bathroom upstairs. It’s got a tub but no shower. We’re thinking about spending some of that tax refund money on putting one in. This room is also quite brown.
And in hilarious other news, today we went to an antique mall looking for a new table, and Danny bought this commemorative plate from the 1986 World Cup. He says from now on, he will only eat meals off of this.
