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Archive for the 'home improvements' Category

So far

Published June 23, 2015 bling blog , home improvements 1 Comment

We’ve been in our little gem of a money pit on the busiest street in America for a little over a year now, so I think it’s time to post a list of things that we’ve done or had done to the house so that I can feel a sense of accomplishment (instead of my too-common feeling of will-we-ever-get-anything-done-on-this-house-before-we-send-Molly-off-to-college). These are just things that would stay with the house if we moved, not decor-type things. Here goes (and in no particular order):

Driveway partially repaved
Fence completed
Sump pump installed
Trim painted
All rooms painted nicely (thanks AO), except the guest room and the sewing room
Blinds installed (except in a few rooms)
4 garden boxes made (thanks AO)
AC fixed
One medicine cabinet added to the master bath
Leaky bathroom fan fixed

Hmm. What else? I honestly thought there was more. Although many of those things — ahem, sump pump — were an awful lot of money. Here are the things we still want to do (because I apparently want to overwhelm myself this afternoon):

Landscaping
Tree removal
Kitchen remodel
Paint the fireplace, retile the floor around it and install a mantel
Make the attic space an inviting play room
Redo all of the top light fixtures (they’re total ew!)
Expand the master bath
Paint the sewing and guest rooms
Clean out and prett-ify the porch
Repave rest of driveway
Rip out deck, put in slab and have screen porch built
Possibly restain the floors

Not too bad, right?

Closing time

Published April 18, 2014 home improvements , local , Madisonia 2 Comments

It’s been more than nine years since my first and only house closing (I’m not counting all the refinancing that’s been done) and today – gasp! as long as everything goes according to plan – marks the first time I’ve ever sold a house! That’s right, loyal readers, at 2 p.m. today, we sell the only home I’ve ever owned and at 3 p.m., we buy our first single-family, more-than-one-bedroom, backyard-having, free-standing forever home. At least that’s the idea. Wish us luck?

Bleeding money

Published January 27, 2014 home improvements , local 9 Comments

Buying and selling houses is causing me a wee bit of financial stress. First, there was the urban farmhouse that we got bumped on. That was fine, but I wish we hadn’t spent $400 on the mortgage application and another $400 on an inspection that did little more than shave a few years off of AO’s life with the stress it caused him. Next up was the offer we accepted on our condo. It was a great offer, but then came the inspection that revealed a few glitches in the place. We agreed to fix them, but spending boatloads of money on our place for someone else’s enjoyment is sad. Necessary, but sad. Now we have ourselves another accepted offer! It’s so exciting, but I just forked over another $400 for the new application fee (the fees go to the appraiser, or so I’m told). And soon will come the earnest money. And then the inspector’s fee. And then the billions of other fees. And then the more expensive mortgage.

But with it all comes a beautiful new (to us) home that I’m thrilled about. Oh, and because it’s so much bigger than our current digs, I suppose we’ll have to figure out how to bleed a little more money for new furniture.

It was 6:15 am on Saturday

Published August 17, 2013 home improvements , toddler stuff 5 Comments

Oy, she gets up early. So today is the day. We bought blackout shades. We waited (not patiently) at Home Depot for someone to save us from our nasty early morning lifestyle. We went home with our purchases (cut to fit cheap-o – though not as cheap as garbage bags – roller shades) and I ripped off the garbage bags. Before I did, though, I took a pic of what the room looked like on a bright Saturday afternoon in August.

3:30 pm, Saturday, August 17

Dark, right? So, why am I messing with this amazingly dark space? It’s not just because garbage bags don’t complement my aesthetic style.

Garbage bags and masking tape

It’s because sometimes, like say in the middle of the afternoon on a Saturday, I’d like to be able to let some light in.

I forget: am I supposed to let her play with plastic bags or not?

So, the bags came down and the shades went up. Well, they went up after AO made a run to the hardware store to get a new drill bit in order to go through the metal door. And here’s the result:

Argh

Yes, that’s light coming through. Right onto her bed. On the end that she puts her head. So, stay tuned for Will They or Won’t They Move the Bed? It’s sure to be at least as fascinating as Will Blackout Blinds Keep Bear Happily in Bed until Seven?

Before & after: the sewing room edition

Published May 26, 2013 home improvements 8 Comments
Tags: Ikea, sewing space

As you know, Dear Reader, AO, Bear, Gracie & I live in a one-bedroom condo. Over the years, we’ve made a number of changes. Some might even say improvements. At least I hope they would. Space, though, remains an issue. The most recent dilemma with space I faced was my strong longing for a sewing space. I had had the sewing machine on the dining room table, but that was annoying. It was either annoying because the sewing machine was on the dining room table, or annoying because I’d put it away in a closet. And then it was in the closet. I’m a million times less likely to sew (or do anything) if it involves taking items out of a closet and setting them up. And then undoing the whole thing and putting them away. Because I really wanted to commit to this new sewing endeavor of mine, I wanted the machine out in the open. Just not on the dining room table. Enter: Ikea! The Seventh Circuit called me down last Monday for an argument, so I took myself to Greatest Store on Earth as a reward for not passing out in that gigantic courtroom of theirs. And this is what happened to our bedroom, aka the basement.