THe holiday season is nearly upon us. What, oh what, will I do?
Perhaps instead of gifts I can take photographs of my new floors and tell people, look where my money went! They are, I must say, beautiful. Yay Treelovers!
Here is my revised plan for finishing the work that's underway and actually getting to move into my new house this month.
Big milestones:
Thurs. 11/13 -- can walk on floors. Things to do: decide about whether to upgrade electrical; replace rear door and dryrot on threshold; fix windows; put new lock in front door.
Start painting the walls throughout, to erase "tweety bird" yellow, per Andre.
That should take the better part of the weekend. Then, apparently, I'll have to go back to work.
My mom may be coming for a visit after the Thanksgiving holiday. It'll be nice to show off what we get done. Very few "before" photos. Must remedy that soon.
Love to all,
Judy
Monday, November 10, 2008
Monday, November 03, 2008
homeownership
Home ownership is good. Daunting, and I wish I had endless gobs of money to do everything beautifully. It's a bit of a relief not to, though, and to just live with things for awhile. Make do.
Here's what I learned today:
* You can always find wool carpet at a lower price
* It's no use trying to find most materials used
* Spend heaps on carpet padding
* Buy what you like, and don't worry about matching colors
* There are too many shades of white/tan/beige to consider the merits of all of them
* Listen to everyone, and make up your own mind
* Retro will always be in
Had my first major snafu today: arrived at the house this morning in my painting gear, to find the floor guys there and sanding. They were due to start 11/12. We rolled.
Here's the plan: they'll come back in two weeks to do the top coat, which will minimize any paint splotches that may happen. Voila! And I might even be able to move in sooner. Also heard that the rain is good for them; they'll swell a bit and fill in any cracks.
I've just about decided on all the paint colors: got seafoam green in my bedroom, a gray-beige in the office, and going to try a muted shade of "popcorn" yellow in the living room. It's tough to match the trim, which is brown with gold and rust. Evidently they did this thing in the 20s where they painted real wood to look like gumwood. There's actually a painter in SF who specializes in touching it up, because other people like me don't want to paint over it (it cost a fortune to create) but don't want to live with the dings and scrapes in their faux wood grain.
Colorwise, the trim is tough to complement. White looks gray, tan looks pink, green looks off, ivory looks stark. There's a muted "popcorn" yellow that might work in the living room, and I'm hoping a brown-beige can go on the stairs. Which, as of today, are getting recarpeted. Now I just need the money to hold out, so I can get a new kitchen floor.
It's not materials that are so expensive: it's labor. There's little point in paying $600 to lay a $300 carpet. So, of course, you get nicer carpet you can look at for 10-15 years.
Poll: what color linoleum flooring should I put in an all-white, 1925 the kitchen? Choices are: maroon (this is surprisingly cool), gold yellow, mottled red, bottle green, blue, a pale mix of blue, gold and gray/white. Keep in mind my dream is a bright green silestone counter (this won't happen). The insides of the cabinets are going primary. Everything else stays white. Should be fun.
Here's what I learned today:
* You can always find wool carpet at a lower price
* It's no use trying to find most materials used
* Spend heaps on carpet padding
* Buy what you like, and don't worry about matching colors
* There are too many shades of white/tan/beige to consider the merits of all of them
* Listen to everyone, and make up your own mind
* Retro will always be in
Had my first major snafu today: arrived at the house this morning in my painting gear, to find the floor guys there and sanding. They were due to start 11/12. We rolled.
Here's the plan: they'll come back in two weeks to do the top coat, which will minimize any paint splotches that may happen. Voila! And I might even be able to move in sooner. Also heard that the rain is good for them; they'll swell a bit and fill in any cracks.
I've just about decided on all the paint colors: got seafoam green in my bedroom, a gray-beige in the office, and going to try a muted shade of "popcorn" yellow in the living room. It's tough to match the trim, which is brown with gold and rust. Evidently they did this thing in the 20s where they painted real wood to look like gumwood. There's actually a painter in SF who specializes in touching it up, because other people like me don't want to paint over it (it cost a fortune to create) but don't want to live with the dings and scrapes in their faux wood grain.
Colorwise, the trim is tough to complement. White looks gray, tan looks pink, green looks off, ivory looks stark. There's a muted "popcorn" yellow that might work in the living room, and I'm hoping a brown-beige can go on the stairs. Which, as of today, are getting recarpeted. Now I just need the money to hold out, so I can get a new kitchen floor.
It's not materials that are so expensive: it's labor. There's little point in paying $600 to lay a $300 carpet. So, of course, you get nicer carpet you can look at for 10-15 years.
Poll: what color linoleum flooring should I put in an all-white, 1925 the kitchen? Choices are: maroon (this is surprisingly cool), gold yellow, mottled red, bottle green, blue, a pale mix of blue, gold and gray/white. Keep in mind my dream is a bright green silestone counter (this won't happen). The insides of the cabinets are going primary. Everything else stays white. Should be fun.
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