Well last time I left off was right after Christmas and time has been flying since.
Mom & Dad visited us the day after xmas and we took them to New Orleans for their first time. It was a quick trip that was absolutely soaked by rain, but we tried to make the most of it. Our hotel was just 3 blocks outside the French Quarter, but lesson learned, it was too far, especially in the rain! This time, we got to venture out to the Garden District so that was my highlight of our trip!
About a week or so after the holidays, Ross' mom and brother came to visit us for a week. They lucked out on the week they were here because it was our normal Alabama winter, not too cool and not too warm. The week before I think we all experienced the Deep Freeze weather that hit all of the eastern US, including us! And the week after they left it got unseasonably cold again.
Then shortly afterwards, which brings us up to last week, we got hit by Snowmaggedon 2014!! ha. I guess that is what people are calling it now :) Ross & I are extremely fortunate that 1) we had a warm office to sleep in that night with coworkers we trust whereas most people were stranded on the highways in their cars 2) we made it home safely the next day while driving past thousands of stranded cars all over the hwys 3) dakota was ok after being in her crate for a straight 28 hours 4) etc. etc. etc. We can count our blessings a thousand times over!
NOW.... Ross & I are finally settling down and getting back to our normal routine. We took a break from working on the house for awhile but we're slowly making progress again on the mudroom, which Ross promised me back in November would be finished in a few short weeks. haha *famous last words*
Besides that, the rest of the house just feels overwhelming with everything that's been happening in January. Numerous things around the house have broken, clogged drains (two calls to the plumber & $600 later, it's all fixed), broken garage door, leaking kitchen sink, etc. It's overwhelming and I feel like we can't keep up. We're finally looking into our home warranty because we can't afford anymore fixes. Hopefully they cover a good bit!! I'm so tired of this house already. Next time, I definitely don't plan on renovating. The inspiration is just sucked right out of me!! :( O well. As soon as we finish the mudroom I may (hopefully!) have higher spirits. Deep breath, One project at a time....
*Kristin*
Showing posts with label House Projects. Show all posts
Showing posts with label House Projects. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Patience
God grant me the will to be patient.
I have not been a very nice person for the past few weeks. I'm stressed beyond my limit. I've snapped at Ross countless times. I'm stressed about the house, the projects we're trying to accomplish, about family visiting, about dakota and everything in between.
Yesterday was another breaking point. I went grocery shopping after work, came home to immediately start on some projects that had me covered head to toe in drywall dust. Got another headache (which seem to be on and off for the past few weeks now), showered, only to discover the water wouldn't get past luke warm, then finally sat down at 8:30 only to discover that dinner was nowhere in sight. Just once it would be nice if Ross would offer to cook dinner.
On top of it all, Dakota has been acting up every morning. I spend more time cleaning up after her than I care to admit. She's 5 & 1/2 years old and I still feel like she's not housebroken. Frustrating beyond words.
We have no hot water this morning, so I asked Ross to call the plumber. He thinks the burner under the water heater just blew out since we've had some pretty rainy/windy weather the past few days. And being that the water heater is in the crawl space, it doesn't have a lot of protection. I hope that's all it is b/c I can't take one more problem in this house.
It's been almost 5 weeks since I've had a washer/dryer. The new washer/dryer are being delivered saturday, and I can't wait another minute. Not only is 5 weeks a long time to wait for ordinary laundry, but when you're renovating a house, we have stacks upon stacks of dirty work clothes, rags, towels, etc. building up on top of the normal laundry.
And last but not least, we may need to look into purchasing a new furnace. I thought we could wait, but Ross wants to pounce on a deal he found. Our savings is below the thresold that I'm comfortable with. I knew that buying a house brings initial costs but I just want to STOP spending money.
I'm just praying that all of this will pass and over the next few months things will start to turn around. Projects will finish, family will visit, holidays will pass, and we can start saving again.
God grant me the will to be patient.
*Kristin*
I have not been a very nice person for the past few weeks. I'm stressed beyond my limit. I've snapped at Ross countless times. I'm stressed about the house, the projects we're trying to accomplish, about family visiting, about dakota and everything in between.
Yesterday was another breaking point. I went grocery shopping after work, came home to immediately start on some projects that had me covered head to toe in drywall dust. Got another headache (which seem to be on and off for the past few weeks now), showered, only to discover the water wouldn't get past luke warm, then finally sat down at 8:30 only to discover that dinner was nowhere in sight. Just once it would be nice if Ross would offer to cook dinner.
On top of it all, Dakota has been acting up every morning. I spend more time cleaning up after her than I care to admit. She's 5 & 1/2 years old and I still feel like she's not housebroken. Frustrating beyond words.
We have no hot water this morning, so I asked Ross to call the plumber. He thinks the burner under the water heater just blew out since we've had some pretty rainy/windy weather the past few days. And being that the water heater is in the crawl space, it doesn't have a lot of protection. I hope that's all it is b/c I can't take one more problem in this house.
It's been almost 5 weeks since I've had a washer/dryer. The new washer/dryer are being delivered saturday, and I can't wait another minute. Not only is 5 weeks a long time to wait for ordinary laundry, but when you're renovating a house, we have stacks upon stacks of dirty work clothes, rags, towels, etc. building up on top of the normal laundry.
And last but not least, we may need to look into purchasing a new furnace. I thought we could wait, but Ross wants to pounce on a deal he found. Our savings is below the thresold that I'm comfortable with. I knew that buying a house brings initial costs but I just want to STOP spending money.
I'm just praying that all of this will pass and over the next few months things will start to turn around. Projects will finish, family will visit, holidays will pass, and we can start saving again.
God grant me the will to be patient.
*Kristin*
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Keeping Busy
One thing I won't miss about Pittsburgh...the rain! It's been pouring down here all night, and so far, all day. I had my umbrella break on me on my way into work this morning, which in turn forced me to run in my high heels to get into the building semi-dry, while juggling my heavy purse that was carrying my work laptop and a box I had to mail to Ross later. What a morning!
But regardless, it's weird being back home in an empty house. I have many things to accomplish though, luckily, so I'm definitely keeping busy.
The house, for one, needs to be put on the market soon. My father-in-law and a local handyman he's friends with are finishing up a few last minute projects on the house to get it in tip-top shape before we list it. There were just a few unfinished things that Ross & I never got around to which will make quite a difference for open-houses, so I'm happy they are finishing them for us! I'm even a little jealous that we didn't do these things sooner!! Once they finish up, I can't wait to get it on the market, and see what kind of feedback we get. Hopefully we get a quick offer, but I'm also telling myself to not get my hopes up just so I'm not disappointed if we don't, and I have to stay here longer than planned. Either way, I'm anxious to get the house listed!
Secondly, my best friend is getting married in June, so me and her other bridesmaids, also my other closest girlfriends, are planning her shower, which will be at the end of March (which I just realized is only 1 month away!). So I'll be busy getting all the final details planned. I'm so excited to get to host this for her and it's so much fun having my other girlfriends be a part of it to help me with the planning! It'll be a great day and I can't wait!!
Other than that, I guess I'm enjoying some of my free time, not having any obligations to cook dinner, watching any chick flicks that I want, etc. :) I gotta live it up a bit because I know Ross is! ...As he keeps insisting the apartment is an all-out Bachelor Pad until I move down. Thanks hun! So this road goes 2 ways!
But for now, I'll keep on dreaming of the warm weather Ross is enjoying, and dreaming of the Caramel Brownie Chunk ice cream I have waiting for me at home for dinner :) Who says that's not a balanced meal?!
-Kristin
But regardless, it's weird being back home in an empty house. I have many things to accomplish though, luckily, so I'm definitely keeping busy.
The house, for one, needs to be put on the market soon. My father-in-law and a local handyman he's friends with are finishing up a few last minute projects on the house to get it in tip-top shape before we list it. There were just a few unfinished things that Ross & I never got around to which will make quite a difference for open-houses, so I'm happy they are finishing them for us! I'm even a little jealous that we didn't do these things sooner!! Once they finish up, I can't wait to get it on the market, and see what kind of feedback we get. Hopefully we get a quick offer, but I'm also telling myself to not get my hopes up just so I'm not disappointed if we don't, and I have to stay here longer than planned. Either way, I'm anxious to get the house listed!
Secondly, my best friend is getting married in June, so me and her other bridesmaids, also my other closest girlfriends, are planning her shower, which will be at the end of March (which I just realized is only 1 month away!). So I'll be busy getting all the final details planned. I'm so excited to get to host this for her and it's so much fun having my other girlfriends be a part of it to help me with the planning! It'll be a great day and I can't wait!!
Other than that, I guess I'm enjoying some of my free time, not having any obligations to cook dinner, watching any chick flicks that I want, etc. :) I gotta live it up a bit because I know Ross is! ...As he keeps insisting the apartment is an all-out Bachelor Pad until I move down. Thanks hun! So this road goes 2 ways!
But for now, I'll keep on dreaming of the warm weather Ross is enjoying, and dreaming of the Caramel Brownie Chunk ice cream I have waiting for me at home for dinner :) Who says that's not a balanced meal?!
-Kristin
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Bathroom Revamping
I can't quite call this a bathroom demolition since we didn't really remove anything as far as flooring, hardware or the pink tub! I really wanted to just get this bathroom cleaned up enough so that we could start using it for the first time since moving in almost 9 months ago! Before, we just kept the bathroom door closed at all times and considered it a 'storage' room for bathroom items. Not once have I set foot in there to use it or clean it (except when first moving in). Yuck!
So 2 weeks before our big New Year's Eve Sha-bang (aka party :), I thought to myself, "Hey, what better way to stress myself out but then to give myself a 10-day timeline to get this bathroom completely up-to-date?!" Not to mention we had a ton of other things to prepare for with Christmas only a few days away! So yes, there was a LOT of stress, some tears, lots of effort...but ultimately...JOY!
So off I set to tear down all the old wallpaper, which I started before moving in...only to get distracted by a million other projects. So there our bathroom sat looking distraught and gross. Ross ripped out the old medicine cabinet as well b/c he said it was broken. So we also had a nice hole in the wall above the vanity:
Do you notice the "spotlight" light fixtures they have above the vanity?? There were in fact 8 spotlights all together. EIGHT!!! Count 'em! 3 in the one corner and 5 more above the right side of the cabinet. They had no rhyme or reason to where they were placed, so it annoyed me to the extreme!
Here's the awesome hole I had to stare at for 8 months:
And what's a bathroom makeover story without a pic of the old toilet :)
Here's where the pink comes in to play. And the retro glass blocks...oi!
Lastly, here's a view of the vanity. It actually looked pretty new or rarely used b/c the drawers inside were pretty clean except for a few clean Q-tips left behind. So we kept it....the vanity...not the Q-tips :)
I should also mention that almost none of the plumbing in this bathroom worked before moving in! My family of plumbers gave us a new faucet fixture and fixed the shower plumbing (along with a new showerhead) before we moved in. And in the end, during my week of revamping, Ross & I decided to just purchase a new toilet since the old one was quite gross. Also, the sink was clogged once we finally started using the bathroom, so we called the plumbers again to fix that too! Geesh. Plumbers are expensive. Even when you get a family discount!
Since I have no 'during' pics, let me explain what all we did before the big reveal:
1. Once I removed all the wallpaper, I noticed that the wall was in no condition to paint. Not once in this entire house did I come across old wallpaper paste that wouldn't budge. So I knew the only way to fix this bathroom was to cover up the walls again.....bring in the wallpaper!! Ugh. I hate wallpaper too. But then I found something called Beadboard wallpaper. I was intrigued. And it was an 'easy,' 'less expensive' fix, then tearing down all of the walls, which we actually contemplated! (after all, Ross & I are quite the drywalling duo!).
2. We decided to keep the ceramic flooring, pink tub and tiles, and the vanity. After all, these things were in fine 'cosmetic' condition. Of course, anyone who knows me knows how much I despise the color Pink, but we really didn't want to sink money into this bathroom.
3. We replaced the bathroom lighting, which involved rewiring since I replaced the ceiling lights with 2 wall sconces. This project alone took 3 days in my timeline after I thought it would be an easy fix. Ross was a champ though in figuring out how to rewire everything...correctly(!) and feed the wires down to where they needed to go :) At one point he sent me off to Lowe's with an old piece of wire to tell them "I need 4 more feet of THIS (show wire)" haha I also had to patch the old holes from the ceiling fixtures, to which I would say I matched the previous texture quite well :)
4. I also had to patch up the old medicine cabinet hole since we were going to put up just a normal mirror, since the vanity provides TONS of storage. Besides, the old medicine cabinet was not centered over the sink, so it drove us crazy!
5. I also had to paint the beadboard wallpaper, and went ahead and painted the ceiling to clean it up.
6. After we got the sconces on the wall, after I wallpapered and painted, we noticed they weren't positioned correctly. Enter Doomsday. I had to tear down a strip of wallpaper and move the light fixture box over 2" to the right. Boooo. Always measure TWICE Kristin, TWICE!!
7. One project Ross has not finished yet? Baseboards. Wa-wa-waaaaa.
So once everything was put back together, I got to buy the proper accessories (tp holder, towel holder, and some cute accessories).
Here is the long awaited reveal (for those of you who haven't seen it in person :)
I love the bronze accessories on top of the white textured wallpaper! The sconces were $15 each from Home Depot. LOVE THEM! And they provide TONS of light.
The mirror was from Target ($40). It was the perfect color too, since I didn't want a bronze mirror (bronze overload!) or white (fear it might clash with the wallpaper) but something different :)
HELLO :) Anyone else notice my 'pinky flick' when I use my camera?! Haha...trying to break that habit asap!
Then I was at Target 2 weeks after I bought the mirror and found matching picture frames in a clearance aisle for $5 each!! Enter "SHRIEK" "gush" in looooove......
I put some wall decals in the frame for some easy and quick wall art! Then again, my party was in 1 day and I needed wall art, PRONTO :)
Another view of the vanity:
My bronze pillar candle holders fit in perfectly! An awesome find at Goodwill 2 years ago! They were $1.99 each and had a Pottery Barn sticker still on the bottom.
I painted the beadboard wallpaper the same white as the rest of the trim in our house to keep the bathroom very neutral and calm (after all...our tub is still pink!!). But around the doorway, I used a light beige so that our 'mock' trim would still stand out :) See?! No?! Well amuse me anyway!....
The pink doesn't bother me as much now that everything else is white/beige. I bought a white waffle-weave shower curtain. I also replaced the doorknob. We're slowly converting all the old gold doorknobs in our house to bronze.
Gotta have a new toilet pic! Ack...ignore the missing baseboards!!
This is the closet in our bathroom. I repainted the door white to clean it up and match the rest of the white in the house and replaced the doorknob. See the beige wall and white trim again? No?! I thought it would be too much wallpaper to go around these nooks and crannies and since our 'trim' is not actually trim, but just a curved-in-wall, how would that work with wallpaper?? Where would it end?! Who knows. Painting was the better alternative!
And the cost breakdown:
Drywall Patches, Misc. Patching Accessories = $15
Wallpaper, Primer, Paint, Painter's Tarp = $80
New Wallpaper Steamer (after electrocuting the 1st one...oops!) = $80
Mirror = $40
2 Sconces = $30
Accessories (tp holder, towel holder, etc.) = $50
New Doorknobs = $40 ($20 each)
New toilet + labor = $135
Labor for unclogging sink = $120
Total: $590
For an almost purely cosmetic fix-up, I think that total was higher than I was planning. I was hoping to come in near $300, but with those few calls to plumbers, the quote really skyrockets. Lesson learned. But the use Ross & I are getting out the bathroom now, and thoroughly enjoying, is priceless! Especially since I got this done in my 10-day timeline just in time for our party :)
~Kristin
So 2 weeks before our big New Year's Eve Sha-bang (aka party :), I thought to myself, "Hey, what better way to stress myself out but then to give myself a 10-day timeline to get this bathroom completely up-to-date?!" Not to mention we had a ton of other things to prepare for with Christmas only a few days away! So yes, there was a LOT of stress, some tears, lots of effort...but ultimately...JOY!
So off I set to tear down all the old wallpaper, which I started before moving in...only to get distracted by a million other projects. So there our bathroom sat looking distraught and gross. Ross ripped out the old medicine cabinet as well b/c he said it was broken. So we also had a nice hole in the wall above the vanity:
Here's the awesome hole I had to stare at for 8 months:
Here's where the pink comes in to play. And the retro glass blocks...oi!
Lastly, here's a view of the vanity. It actually looked pretty new or rarely used b/c the drawers inside were pretty clean except for a few clean Q-tips left behind. So we kept it....the vanity...not the Q-tips :)
I should also mention that almost none of the plumbing in this bathroom worked before moving in! My family of plumbers gave us a new faucet fixture and fixed the shower plumbing (along with a new showerhead) before we moved in. And in the end, during my week of revamping, Ross & I decided to just purchase a new toilet since the old one was quite gross. Also, the sink was clogged once we finally started using the bathroom, so we called the plumbers again to fix that too! Geesh. Plumbers are expensive. Even when you get a family discount!
Since I have no 'during' pics, let me explain what all we did before the big reveal:
1. Once I removed all the wallpaper, I noticed that the wall was in no condition to paint. Not once in this entire house did I come across old wallpaper paste that wouldn't budge. So I knew the only way to fix this bathroom was to cover up the walls again.....bring in the wallpaper!! Ugh. I hate wallpaper too. But then I found something called Beadboard wallpaper. I was intrigued. And it was an 'easy,' 'less expensive' fix, then tearing down all of the walls, which we actually contemplated! (after all, Ross & I are quite the drywalling duo!).
2. We decided to keep the ceramic flooring, pink tub and tiles, and the vanity. After all, these things were in fine 'cosmetic' condition. Of course, anyone who knows me knows how much I despise the color Pink, but we really didn't want to sink money into this bathroom.
3. We replaced the bathroom lighting, which involved rewiring since I replaced the ceiling lights with 2 wall sconces. This project alone took 3 days in my timeline after I thought it would be an easy fix. Ross was a champ though in figuring out how to rewire everything...correctly(!) and feed the wires down to where they needed to go :) At one point he sent me off to Lowe's with an old piece of wire to tell them "I need 4 more feet of THIS (show wire)" haha I also had to patch the old holes from the ceiling fixtures, to which I would say I matched the previous texture quite well :)
4. I also had to patch up the old medicine cabinet hole since we were going to put up just a normal mirror, since the vanity provides TONS of storage. Besides, the old medicine cabinet was not centered over the sink, so it drove us crazy!
5. I also had to paint the beadboard wallpaper, and went ahead and painted the ceiling to clean it up.
6. After we got the sconces on the wall, after I wallpapered and painted, we noticed they weren't positioned correctly. Enter Doomsday. I had to tear down a strip of wallpaper and move the light fixture box over 2" to the right. Boooo. Always measure TWICE Kristin, TWICE!!
7. One project Ross has not finished yet? Baseboards. Wa-wa-waaaaa.
So once everything was put back together, I got to buy the proper accessories (tp holder, towel holder, and some cute accessories).
Here is the long awaited reveal (for those of you who haven't seen it in person :)
I love the bronze accessories on top of the white textured wallpaper! The sconces were $15 each from Home Depot. LOVE THEM! And they provide TONS of light.
The mirror was from Target ($40). It was the perfect color too, since I didn't want a bronze mirror (bronze overload!) or white (fear it might clash with the wallpaper) but something different :)
HELLO :) Anyone else notice my 'pinky flick' when I use my camera?! Haha...trying to break that habit asap!
Then I was at Target 2 weeks after I bought the mirror and found matching picture frames in a clearance aisle for $5 each!! Enter "SHRIEK" "gush" in looooove......
I put some wall decals in the frame for some easy and quick wall art! Then again, my party was in 1 day and I needed wall art, PRONTO :)
Another view of the vanity:
My bronze pillar candle holders fit in perfectly! An awesome find at Goodwill 2 years ago! They were $1.99 each and had a Pottery Barn sticker still on the bottom.
I painted the beadboard wallpaper the same white as the rest of the trim in our house to keep the bathroom very neutral and calm (after all...our tub is still pink!!). But around the doorway, I used a light beige so that our 'mock' trim would still stand out :) See?! No?! Well amuse me anyway!....
The pink doesn't bother me as much now that everything else is white/beige. I bought a white waffle-weave shower curtain. I also replaced the doorknob. We're slowly converting all the old gold doorknobs in our house to bronze.
Gotta have a new toilet pic! Ack...ignore the missing baseboards!!
This is the closet in our bathroom. I repainted the door white to clean it up and match the rest of the white in the house and replaced the doorknob. See the beige wall and white trim again? No?! I thought it would be too much wallpaper to go around these nooks and crannies and since our 'trim' is not actually trim, but just a curved-in-wall, how would that work with wallpaper?? Where would it end?! Who knows. Painting was the better alternative!
And the cost breakdown:
Drywall Patches, Misc. Patching Accessories = $15
Wallpaper, Primer, Paint, Painter's Tarp = $80
New Wallpaper Steamer (after electrocuting the 1st one...oops!) = $80
Mirror = $40
2 Sconces = $30
Accessories (tp holder, towel holder, etc.) = $50
New Doorknobs = $40 ($20 each)
New toilet + labor = $135
Labor for unclogging sink = $120
Total: $590
For an almost purely cosmetic fix-up, I think that total was higher than I was planning. I was hoping to come in near $300, but with those few calls to plumbers, the quote really skyrockets. Lesson learned. But the use Ross & I are getting out the bathroom now, and thoroughly enjoying, is priceless! Especially since I got this done in my 10-day timeline just in time for our party :)
~Kristin
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