Whitewater's DIY House Project Journal

[Whitewater]

June 5th, 2008

Today I discovered that Home Depot has pre-made countertops! Yahoo! Now we won't have to A) spend a TON of money we don't have or B) have to live without countertops in the kitchen. Believe it or not, there's only one tiny counter in the whole kitchen, and the stove is currently just kind of hanging out in space against the far wall, without a backsplash or anything. It's just *there* -- which is dangerous, not to mention incredibly unappealing. So in the kitchen, there's this wall (easily six feet long, possibly 9 feet long) that only has a stove on it. It's literally a blank canvas.

Countertop time! HD has pre-made laminate countertops in 4' sections (with beveled edges and all) for $40! Yea! And I figured out a way to have one 36" long cabinet and 1 12" cabinet under the 4' countertop, so that there would be 18" on the one side of the stove (so that it's in from the doorway a little). This means that there's going to be a gap from the end of the countertop/cabinets to the *other* doorway, but perhaps (just maybe, hope hope!) it will be just big enough to shove the fridge in there. Currently the fridge is hanging out in the middle of the kitchen, sort of in the middle of nowhere, and it's really in the way. I'd love to move the fridge to the wall with the new countertop, and then put more storage in the little nook where the fridge is now. Maybe another smaller countertop/cabinet combo and a wine cooler . . . .but that's all in the future. Right now, the kitchen is really a mess and has no cohesive design. I plan on turning it into a galley kitchen with a decently large eating area, and an open hallway through it so that people can come and go into the office (which is behind the kitchen) with a minimum of fuss.

The small cabinet is $53 and the larger one is $109. All together, including paint, hardware, and handles, it'll be roughly $250 for 4' of countertop and cabinets -- and that is an awesome deal! I was quoted about $2200 from HD if I let *them* do it. No, thank you! I can get exactly what I wanted for a fraction of the price if I do it myself.

The cabinets in question are pre-made raw oak, but that's ok, I'm going to paint them a hi-gloss dark reddish brown. I'm also going to paint the existing cabinets the same color, and buy the same silver handles for all of them, so not only will they look new, they'll also look the same (or close enough), which will make our relatively small (12x15ish) kitchen look bigger. Thank goodness the cabinets come pre-put-together, because I can screw cabinets into a wall, etc, but I can't put them together from scratch!

On the walls of the kitchen I'm going to strip the one wall of its really ugly 80's wheat colored (textured!) wallpaper and the wallpaper border, and then paint all the walls a nice mocha color. Not tan, but a light brown, to tie in with the darker brown cabinets. I'd also like to put crown molding in the kitchen, but I think that might be a shade too ambitious, not to mention over-decorating just a tad.

I'm going to have to live with the fugly yellow linoleum for now, there's just not enough money to do the new cabinets AND the new floor, and frankly, getting a countertop and cabinets in is much more important. Maybe in the next couple months we'll find the money somewhere. HD currently is running a sale and they have some gorgeous Italian 16" stone tile squares for .99 a tile, and I absolutely love them. The color is kind of salmony but without the pink tones, like pastel terra cotta, and I think that will look splendid with the brown and the cream/sand countertops. Hopefully they will still be on sale when we have the money! It'll take a good $300 to do our kitchen floor in tile.

I would really like to do this kitchen up right but there's no way in H*ll we can do really nice cabinets and granite and all that right now. Heck, we can barely afford the $40 laminate! But even that will be better than what's in there now . . . . we'll just start with the cheap stuff (what I've already described, plus a nice rough marble backsplash, so pretty, that stuff is on sale too -- $4 for a 4"x12" strip, and I'll only need about 5 strips-- and the kitchen sink backsplash is literally falling apart so that NEEDS to be replaced) and add on as we have money to do it. Besides, I don't think we'll stay in this house forever, so I'd like to save the money for the posh stuff for our non-starter home.

Tomorrow (friday June 6) after closing we're going straight to the house to get the keys from the lockbox and then, I'm going to change out of my nice clothes (there's no way I'm tramping around a dirty house and a big home improvement store in heels and a $150 outfit!) and wait for the gas company to send out their guy to turn the natural gas on. That will be the last of the necessary utilities. I've already called and arranged water, elec/heat, and trash pick-up (which will start on Monday the 9th). Once the gas is turned on and the utilities guy leaves, I'm going to HD and the grocery store to buy all the paint and cleaning stuff (like Borax) and so on that we need to get the basics accomplished. Then, I'm going to dump it all at the new house, change the locks out, and go back to our duplex to spend the rest of the night packing.

This weekend we're going to cut away some of the existing cabinets -- about half -- (hence the desperate need for replacements!) and buy/install a dishwasher. I was also hoping to prepare the various places outside that I wanted to plant some plants (including the veggie garden) but alas, the weather forecast for this weekend -- and all next week!!!-- shows nothing but storms and rain. Dangit. Oh well. I have all summer to do it since my planting zone is 4A and it's almost too late to plant anything now, except perennials that will show up next spring.

Monday I clean! The new house is really dirty, and you don't want to get me started on the disgusting stuff I found under the stove when I moved it . . . ugh. I also have to paint on Monday because I have to get the guest room ready -- my best friend in the whole world is coming to stay as of Tuesday!

I'll be posting pictures here, but as of right now I can't get into the house to take any of the pics, so that will have to wait until tomorrow or Saturday. There will be a ton of 'Before' pictures, trust me. I know that more folks than y'all will be interested in my remodeling efforts! And I will be pleased to have somewhere to record all of my efforts. You never know, the insurance company might need them, or I might have to have these pictures for when I get the house re-appraised. So yes, lots of pictures are on the way!

I can't wait to actually get started on all of this stuff!!!!!


Whitewater (it all begins tomorrow . . . )

[Nekochanpurr]

What about that snap together tile? My grandma got it, and its awesome! :D Its suppose to be cheaper and easier to put down, too..

[Whitewater]

June 9th, 2008 10:10pm

Good lord, I am one tired person. After the debacle on Friday we wound up closing today and at 10am I left our current apartment to go across town to my soon-to-be brother and sister-in-law's home to pick up the tools and equipment that they are letting us borrow for the duration.

at 11am I left their house and then travelled about 40 miles in the opposite direction to pick up a used lawnmower, which we need because we have a decent backyard now, and nothing to mow the fast-growing grass. When I bought it, the lawnmower worked -- I know this because the owner demonstrated it. However, by the time it got to my new house, it didn't work anymore. I don't know if I'm just not strong enough to give it a good yank or what. Will have the future husband and handy male friend look at it.

Spent the early afternoon having lunch and then spent money ($600 at Home Depot! I also went to Sears) then had two friends over, both of whom knew I am on a tight deadline and were *supposed* to help clean and so on, but wound up chatting, although the one (my Deputy MoH, actually) did help me unload all the stuff I had in my car, from the aforesaid lawnmower to about 12 gallons of paint to various odds and ends -- all of the stuff $600 will buy.

Identified various plants in my yard and figured out which to uproot, because they are weeds.

Finally got rid of my friends (having borrowed a cordless drill from them) at 5:30pm. Went home and took the dog out, then loaded up the car AGAIN with all the cleaning stuff (and the dog) and went back to the house. Spent the next three hours cleaning the floor in the kitchen. Talk about a mess!!!! And I only got half of it done!!!! Granted, I did the *worst* half, but still, I'm a little worried because I didn't get more done today.

Went to the store and bought bottled water for the folks that are actually coming to help the rest of the week, also dinner for tonight, went back to the new house, gathered up the dog (who by that time was pretty comfortable in her new surroundings and didn't want to leave!) and crawled back to our apartment, finally coming in the door at 10pm.

I *wanted* to stay another hour or so and at least finish cleaning the kitchen floor, but I took a good, long, realistic look at myself and knew that if I was going to be of any use tomorrow, that discretion was the better part of valor and that I was too tired to do anything more tonight.

So far today, I have bought all the paint for the rooms, cleaned the worst of the kitchen floor, bought a lawn mower, delivered the shop-vac and the lawnmower, bought just about everything we need for the new place, delivered it all to the new house, picked up the tools we're going to borrow, delivered *them* to the new house (as well as our cleaning stuff from our current apartment) and introduced the dog to her new surroundings.

I think I did a lot. I'll be able to do more tomorrow (hopefully I'll finish the kitchen floor before Deputy MoH gets there, then the two of us can finish cleaning, and by the time MoH gets here, we'll be ready to start taping and priming -- and THAT will get us back on track!) because it will be myself and my two friends for the day, then Fiance will join us in the evening for a few hours.

Whew! It's a LOT of work and my feet are killing me (and I'm all sweaty and stinky) but I've made a good start. Pictures tomorrow, when I'm not tired enough to fall over.


Whitewater

[Nekochanpurr]

Its a good pain though!! :D You sound like you got a LOT done! Great job! *^^*

[Whitewater]

June 10th, 2008

We continue to be behind!!!!! Luckily my MoH is a whiz at time management and prioritizing and she was able to help me figure out a new schedule and figure out what we *have* to do and how much time we have to do it. So we're working on a revised schedule and so far it seems to be working well.

We pretty much finished cleaning the kitchen today! And we took off the cabinet doors and drawers in preparation for the dishwasher, which with any luck will go in tomorrow.

We also took off the heavy, icky, circa 1983 blinds in the living room and lord, what a difference! It opened up the whole room!!!!! And suddenly you actually notice the fireplace mantle -- always a good thing, since a fireplace is *supposed* to be the central focus point of a living room. Since the bricks surrounding the fireplace are faux anyway, I'm seriously considering painting them with the dark mahogany/red color that's going on the walls of the library. With the white trim, that ought to give it some punch.

We cleaned out the fireplace too. It's wood-burning, and there was about 3 gallons worth of ash in there, which is a tremendous hazard, so we got rid of it.

Let's see, what else did we do -- oh yeah, we brought the kettle part of our Weber grill to the house. Now we just have to put the grill together, and we'll be able to eat outside.

We also began to take off the huge (74" across, according to the pencil scribbles behind it) mirror above the mantle and between the two windows. Unfortunately they stuck each mirror 'slice' onto the wall with some seriously nasty black putty-like stuff and when that comes off, it takes the wall off with it, right down to the plaster. At least it's not leaving gaping holes, which is what I was worried about. We'll just sand everything down, prime it, and paint it and you'll never be able to tell the difference.

We washed the walls in preparation for painting (we're going to put on the primer tomorrow) and most of the trim in the living room is taped.

I tried to put new, bigger house numbers on the outside of our house but our aluminum siding doesn't take well to being drilled. I'm not sure how to get the numbers on, since they're supposed to screw in.

All of my clannkin want to come over and see the house :) I am more than happy to do that, but I want them to call first and make sure that we're there! I don't mind people coming and looking at the place while we're working on it -- they all know that we're in the midst of redecorating. Man, it's going to be awesome when it's finished and painted and all our furniture is in there!

Today, for the first time, I felt like our new house wasn't just the house that we've paid for with blood, sweat and tears (also a lot of money!) but our HOME. I went up to the master loft with Fiance and we measured out where our bed was going to go and where to put end tables and so on and quite suddenly, I realized that I actually loved my upstairs loft bedroom (despite the wood paneling and utterly blah grey carpet), that I felt safe and comfortable there and that I didn't want to leave it. It felt like my upstairs bedroom was my secure castle! When I went downstairs I suddenly felt a rush of affection and security for our new home, a feeling I hadn't yet felt. It really felt like this was OUR home, where we were supposed to be -- it just felt right. Like we'd been living there forever, which of course logically isn't the case at all. When I look at that **** yellow linoleum, though, all those affectionate feelings go away. I can't wait until we have the money to put the stone or tile floor in!!!

Tomorrow we're going to commence painting with the primer and hopefully get the whole main floor primed and ready to go. We're also going to finish taking down the mirror, and install the dishwasher. Oh, and we're going to go get the queen bed that my in-laws are giving us, and put that in the spare room. A handy friend of mine is also going to come over and we're going to fix the furnace and get the hot water going and figure out why we're not getting water to various appliances. We're also going to program our new garage door openers and hopefully be able to start storing stuff in the garage! Also parking our cars in the garage, instead of on the street.

Thursday one of my clannkin and her two teenage daughters are going to come over and help us do the actual with-color important painting. Oh, and she's also going to bring me raspberry bushes! So there will be six of us, and we ought to get the painting done in a flash. Then Friday we let the paint dry and do cleanup, also last minute things, and Saturday we move all our stuff in!

Things are progressing. No pictures today because the batteries in my camera died and I can't upload them without power! Tomorrow! (I know I keep saying that but this time I mean it. I think! Depending on how tired I am.) Although I might just make another thread solely for pictures. . .


Whitewater

[Whitewater]

June 15th, 2008

WOW a lot has changed! 1st things first -- a recap, since I've been too busy to post the last few days.

Wed 6/11 was spent cleaning (yeah, I know, but the house was REALLY dirty -- and we still need to clean out the kitchen cabinets even now!) but in the afternoon after work one of my clannkin came over and he fixed a number of the plumbing issues. This house has a LOT of them and I find it kind of strange -- they are problems that are neither difficult nor expensive to fix, and are really obvious, but the former owners of this house just didn't do it, for some wierd reason. So now we have to, which is ok -- after all, we're living here now and we can't have leaks everywhere! My friend wound up cleaning the filters in our furnace and telling us that we need a couple new parts (they're broken, and this is apparently a common occurance with this particular furnace -- he can install the new ones but we have to buy them!) but that after that, the furnace and A/C ought to work just fine. The furnace works now, we get air and all, but we aren't getting heat, and that's because the electric ignition isn't functioning. Put in a new electric ignition switch and that should take care of it.

He also cleaned out the hoses that lead to our clothes washer and now we have hot and cold water in the washer, which we didn't before. My fiance and my friend brought our new-to-us dishwasher into the house, and my friend finished knocking out the cabinets and put the dishwasher in. It fits perfectly, and there's even room to install a VERY skinny cabinet on the other side (useful to store cookie sheets and whatnot!) We didn't have to take out the countertop or anything!He is going to come back to actually hook up the dishwasher next Sunday, the 22nd. Hoepfully at that time he'll be able to get cold water flowing in the kitchen and stop the bathroom sink from leaking.

Myself and my MoH also got rid of all the wallpaper and the border(s -- there was another border, equally ugly, under the maroon and blue upside-down paisley that was on top) with a wallpaper steamer that we rented from Home Depot. For $26 we got it all day and boy, it was SO worth it! I will never scrape wallpaper again! We got an entire border (from a 12x15 room!) and one entire wall (probably 9x15) off and done -- including the glue -- in two hours!!!!!!

That was a wise choice of money, you bet! The steamer made things a little sweaty (felt like I was getting an all-over facial) but it was so much simpler and easier than doing it the hard way.

Thursday the 12th more clannkin friends came over and they mowed the lawn and we primed the entire main floor!!!!! Kitchen, living room, guest room, library and hallway! That's all we did, the whole day. It took 6 of us about 30 hours (4 of them worked for about 5 hours, and then MoH and I kept working for about 8 hours, 4 more hours after my friends had gone) to do all the priming. It's a lot of work!

By the end of that day MoH and I were totally worn out. We went back to my duplex and packed my stuff for a couple hours, then met Fiance when he got off of work at 11:30pm, had a very late meal at Perkins (kind of like Denny's, but much better!) and then went to bed, at about 1am.

Friday the 13th we spent the ENTIRE day (from about 9am to 11:30pm) packing, thus proving that two determined people CAN pack 90% of an entire house in two days. The only room we didn't get done was the laundry room, because virtually all of it was already packed. We use the laundry for storage and most of the stuff in there was already in boxes or totes.

We figured (silly us!) that the movers we hired would take all the totes and boxes and so on from the laundry room and that the only things we'd have to move ourselves were the few odds and ends that we needed.

Wrong. We moved on Saturday and I'm going to write an entire post just on that, because it deserves it. Let's just say now that nothing went according to plan.


Whitewater

[Whitewater]

June 14th, 2008

What a mess. Most of the issues were caused by the moving company. When I called them and set the move up, I told the guy how many boxes we'd likely have (120, based on how many I counted when we moved into the duplex a year ago) and how much furniture we had (ten bookcases, a kitchen table, 8 chairs, a queen bed, two desks, two televisions, two computers, etc) and eh gave me a quote for time and money, which wound up being dead on BUT . . .

This is a big BUT

BUT he wrote on the paperwork to dispatch the actual truck and movers and so on that we had HALF the stuff we did and that we only had *80* boxes and so, when the movers showed up, they didn't have a big enough truck!!!!

They took what they could, including all of the heavy stuff and all of the furniture, but there is still A TON OF STUFF left at the apartment that we ourselves have to move. Stuff like a sewing machine in its own cabinet, and Fiance's microwave, and all of the totes and boxes from the laundry room. Ugh.

We're going to have to move that all ourselves and all because the moving company got it totally wrong.

I really don't want to have to move the rest of our stuff. I'm going to call the moving company on Monday and see what if anything they can do for us -- the movers said that we have "half a truck load" still of stuff left in that apartment and that we should have had TWO trucks to begin with. Since this all was clearly the company's fault, I'm going to ask them to come back for free and move the rest of my stuff. If they won't do that, then maybe they'll knock an hour or two off of what we were charged (We paid $150/hour).

Because we have a LOT of stuff (obviously) I was really expecting it to be cramped and squished in the new house -- just like it has been in the apartments that Fiance and I have been living in all our adult lives. I got the surprise of my life when the movers followed my directions and actually put the boxes into the rooms based on what I'd written on the boxes (that was a surprise too, the other movers I've had have just thrown boxes into the apartment, without regard for where they were *supposed* to go) -- and the boxes weren't taking up all the space! Neither is our furniture taking up all the space either! What a shock! I am so used to being hedged in by boxes when I move that I have to unpack right away in self-defence, and this time, we have all kinds of room -- the boxes don't take up hardly any space at all, neither does our furniture, and that is taking some getting used to.

Alas, the box spring to my queen bed didn't make it up the stairs to our new house. It was too big, and the ceiling of the stairs was too small. So we had to spend about $240 for something called a 'split top' box spring, which I'd never heard of before. Basically it's a box spring that comes in two parts, kind of like two really small single box springs, and that's so that you can maneuver it into small spaces -- like up our stairs. They sit together on the bedframe and act like a single box spring.

We got our new split top box spring at a store called The Original Mattress Factory. I like it because it's an independent business -- and they make their mattresses right on site, so quality control is excellent. They also get their stuff from Amish workers, and it's very high quality. It makes me feel good to buy from them, knowing that I'm supporting not only the Mattress Factory, but an Amish business as well. I like to support independent businesses any way I can.

Now it's Sunday morning, and we've spent our first night in our first house. The new box spring works well with our bed and the animals (our cat, Fish, our dog, Roxie, and our Black Orchid Betta Fish Tornado) settled right in. It's too bad that the work isn't done!

We still have to put the actual paint on the walls, get the rest of our stuff out of our duplex (and clean it!) and sort out the new house -- unpack the boxes, and arrange the rest of the furniture.

We have arranged what we could of the living room and the office, and the guest bedroom furniture is pretty much placed (we had to set up the queen bed that my in-laws gave me, because that's where my MoH is sleeping!) because my MoH needed somewhere to stay, but aside from that, nothing is done. The kitchen is still a mess, the downstairs is completely at sixes and sevens, and the library is piled almost to the ceiling with books. And our upstairs loft bedroom? A shambles!

So yeah, we have a lot of work to do to get our first house in order. While MoH is still here (she goes back to Michigan this Thursday) I'd like to get the painting done and get the rest of our stuff out of the duplex. After that, we can clean the duplex and arrange the house at our leisure.

I'm still taking pictures, but I've just been way too busy to get anything done with them. It takes a lot of time to upload them and get them onto a photo hosting site! But I promise that I'll not only get them uploaded somewhere, but I'll start a new thread with them actually here on Onewed, and when I do, I'll announce it in the General forum, so that people don't miss them.

So much for now, more later as things progress.


Whitewater

[Nekochanpurr]

Dang!! You got a lot done!

[Whitewater]

Yeah, we did a lot and got a whole ton accomplished. I forgot to mention that on Saturday the cable guy also came and installed internet in the office and cable downstairs, so now we can watch television and get online (duh!). And while waiting for the movers, Fiance programmed our garage remotes so now we can open and close our automatic garage door.

No matter how much we get done, though, there's SO MUCH stuff to do that it feels like we'll never catch up!

Time to write another update :)


Whitewater

[Whitewater]

June 15, 2008

Today, we slept in. Well, Fiance had to get up to go to work but MoH and I slept the sleep of the hard-working, and we actually wound up sleeping for 12 hours! We were that tired, I guess.

Today we painted all the walls in the kitchen with the mocha color I'd picked out, and about half of the cabinets in the dark chocolate fudge color. I was responsible for the cabinets because they have a lot of little fussy bits and I do good freehand work with trim and corners and so on, so I got the job. It was slow going! Friday night I'd aggrivated an old rotor cuff injury because of all the repetitive motions involved in packing, and I could only do so much of the cabinets before I had to stop, but they're getting there.

Because the wood stain of the cabinets is practically orange, the dark fudge color wound up with a slight mahogany tinge to it (which isn't in the paint itself), which I think is a pretty effect. It certainly helps with the 'warm' and friendly feel that I'm trying to achieve. And HGTV was right, painting your old cabinets DOES make them look new. We bought some new handles too because the old ones were so 1970's it wasn't even funny, and as soon as the second coat dries, the new handles are going in! They're smaller than the old ones, and a semi-brushed silver finish, with decorated ends. It's called a 'Colonial' style at the store -- I just call it 'classic'.

We don't have any of the warm white paint on the trim yet (doors, windows) but that will happen tomorrow, I think.

It's amazing -- three gallons of paint, new cabinet handles and some elbow grease, and our kitchen now looks up-to-date, and brand new, all for less than $130! That's literally all we did to it. We just gave it a thorough cleaning, new paint, and new cabinet handles. I'm so excited, the kitchen is coming together exactly like how I'd planned -- even now it's warm and inviting, and it's only half done. The boxes aren't even unpacked yet! Today a couple friends stopped by and we wound up just sitting around in the kitchen, chatting -- behold the power of the right paint colors! The kitchen looks SO GOOD, I'm glad I took pictures of what it looked like before, so I can look back at what it was like and say 'No wonder I changed it all!'

The only thing that doesn't work is the ugly yellow floor, and that will go away soon, perhaps by next spring.

Today in addition to painting the kitchen I set up my 5 gallon aquarium, went to Home Depot (again!) to buy some tile for the kitchen sink backsplash (it's a lovely warm grey which will go nicely with the cabinet handles and not clash with the paint colors -- we tried it out tonight and it rocks! It brings some badly needed texturizing and 3 dimensional feel to our sadly 1 dimensional kitchen), went to the pet store to get some food for the cat, brought back a big load of stuff from the duplex, and bought the right kind of faucet for the bathroom sink. Oh, and yesterday Fiance installed the new shower head. Yesterday we also arranged the furniture in the living room, and when my friends came by today it got road tested and the arrangement works! Yea.

The showerhead rocks! It's got a stationary showerhead with a bunch of different settings, and then it ALSO has one of those hand-held hose things -- and if you want, you can use both at once. :) It's shiny chrome, and best of all, it was only $40! It felt so good this morning to take a shower and be CLEAN.

I can't wait to install the tile. All we need is some adhesive (no grout!) and we'll be done. I got the tiles for .97 each, when they were orginally $2 each -- because our particular HD store won't be carrying them again. That's ok with me, all it means is that nobody else will have my particular kitchen :) And they'll always carry something complementary we can get when it's time to do the stove backsplash, so I'm not worried. Grey is a popular color.

Wow. It's 3am, time for this DIY woman to hit the sack, so I can finish painting the kitchen tomorrow (and possibly start on the library or guest room). It's not going to be all work, though, we're also going to meet with my Deputy MoH and figure out bridesmaid dresses, then meet yet another friend at the Mall of America for some shopping and dinner.

I think I'm falling in love with my house.


Whitewater

[Brian's Bride]

Dying for pics here!!! :) Kitchen sounds beautiful, LOTS of work, but well worth it, I'm sure! We just started looking for a house, now that our wedding is over. I can't wait to get dirty with new-house projects!!!

[Whitewater]

Just to warn you, the house DIY seems never-ending. You have so much to do that no matter how much you get done, it doesn't feel like enough!

I'm throwing in the towel early tonight. One of my friends had some very bad news and that kind of made the whole night a bit down, and I missed out on sleep yesterday, so going to bed early seems like a good thing to do.

Hey, we found three candidates for bridesmaids dresses -- two from Alfred Angelo and one from the coture collection of a designer named Bill Pesce. Anybody heard of him?

Will post pics of the dresses soon, since I'd like some opinions.

Whitewater (journal entry to follow)

[Whitewater]

June 16, 2008

Put Tornado into his new tank today, once the water heater and the filter etc were finally doing their jobs. The poor fish, he was stressed out so badly he was turning pale (Bettas do that -- they're not the naturally almost colorless fish you see in the pet store), so I knew I had to get him into his new home right away. He loves his new 5 gallon home. I had the fish tank from before, so I bought a small heater and some live plants that are particularly good for Bettas and he really is loving life now.

Our darn kitchen is coming along, though so slowly that sometimes it seems like we're moving in reverse! Today we put the white trim on the windows and doors (two each) and the bottom wood trim . . . .the whole room's worth. About 1/4 of the white has its second coat of paint, the rest needs another going-over, to really look right, but at least the idea is there and even one coat provides the contrast and dimension that the kitchen requires. My MoH finished putting the 1st coat of the chocolate color on the rest of the cabinets and she swears that she'll finish the cabinets tonight. I don't think she will :) Just because they need to have their new pulls installed and that's not going to happen because drills are loud! And self and Fiance will be sleeping!

I think the kitchen is done enough to start unpacking the kitchen stuff, so we'll probably do that tomorrow too.

Fiance came home tonight and couldn't stop talking about how great the kitchen looks! Yea! See, because he's working close to 80 hours a week I rarely get to see him and I kind of planned the color scheme for all the rooms on my own. I just consulted him in general, when I could catch him, about the colors and so on and he was like 'I trust your judgement -- you know what I hate' so I was nervous about him liking this, because I wasn't sure whether he'd like the design. But he does! This gives me confidence that he'll like the other rooms as well.

I was supposed to go and buy new curtains tonight but due to an emergency in the family of one of my friends, the shopping was cut short. We only got to figure out our bridesmaid dresses -- we've narrowed them down to three candidates. Hopefully we'll be able to decide before Christmas, when my friends have to order them. The shop woman was really a jerk -- more on that in a separate post. Tomorrow, though, we're going shopping again and hopefully I can find curtains then.

I've been working on the house so much I've kind of been ignoring my dog -- I mean, I'm taking care of her physical needs but I haven't played ball with her or sat around and petted her or anything (she LOVES to be petted, she particularly likes back massages) and I think she's starting to feel it. I have to remember to take time out for a balanced life!

Balance is important. No more working ourselves into exhaustion and dehydration, no more staying up until dawn, no more stressing out because we're not staying on schedule -- it's all too much. From now on we're going to be sensible about it and if it takes longer, it takes longer. I want to enjoy living here, not get stuck in the mindset of 'This house is nothing but a big To-Do list'.


Whitewater

[ger]

I second the idea that we need pictures. It sounds like you are working hard. I swear that any house is a continous DIY projuect. Have fun doing it...it may never end.

[Whitewater]

June 17, 2008

Today we unpacked the kitchen in its entirety, unpacked the bathroom, started in on the linen closet, finished painting the kitchen cabinets and the trim that was going to be chocolate brown, and installed the new kitchen cabinet handles.

The kitchen looks fantastic! It actually looks better than I had planned and I was never so surprised in my life as when we were done unpacking and discovered that there was still room left over in two of the cabinets! Granted, we'd put together a box of kitchen stuff (Bundt pans, french fry makers, etc) that Fiance has that he never uses and won't throw, to put in the basement in storage, but still.

We have a lot of room! I am pleased about that, though I hope this won't encourage Fiance to buy more stuff.

The shiny silver cabinet handles are fantastic and make the space look more classic and less modern, which is what I was hoping they'd do.

Sunday our friend comes to hook up the dishwasher! No more washing dishes by hand!

We worked today from roughly 11am-3pm, then again from 8pm to 1:45am to do all this stuff. I have declared a moratorium on buying any new kitchen gear, unless something breaks and we need to replace it. We don't need any more 'stuff'.

The microwave fits under the cabinets (yay! I was worried about that) and there's room for everything in the kitchen that we use daily, monthly, and occasionally. The only stuff that went down to storage is the stuff that we use never or rarely.

Next, ie, tomorrow, we paint the library and finally get to start unpacking the books. This is very important to us, as Fiance and I are avid readers and between us, we had 45 boxes filled with nothing but books -- and 40 of those were liquor boxes, the kind you see stacked up in the liquor store. When we finally get to put our books back on our shelves, it will truly start to feel like home. Forget clothes! We unpack our books first :) We estimate that between the two of us, we have approximately 2500 books -- but only about 200 DVD's.

I haven't watched television for a solid week. You know what? I don't miss it! I also haven't read any books (that I DO miss) or played my online game (Pirates of the Caribbean Online) -- it's all been 100% house/moving, 100% of the time.

I *have* been painting, packing, unpacking, setting up, tearing down, cleaning, and getting dirty. I would never do this day in, day out for a living, and I'm beginning to lose enthusiasm, but it's been kind of fun so far. All this stuff is so different than my normal life -- though I miss my normal routine and would like to get back to it ASAP. I dislike change, and I want everything to settle down as quickly as it can!

Tomorrow: More painting!


Whitewater

[Nekochanpurr]

Ohh Dishwasher! I'm jealous!!

[Whitewater]

We found our dishwasher on Craigslist for $35!!! It's not new, but it's in really good condition and has all the bells and whistles on it that I could possibly ask for. It FINALLY got hooked up tonight! Along with the (brand new) InSinkerator garbage disposal, which also got hooked up tonight. Plumber friend really came through -- he *also* took out the old brass faucets in the bathroom and installed the new ones that have been sitting around for a month, which I bought because the old faucet was brass and was so old that it had a hole through it -- an unfixable problem.

July 10th, 2009

I forgot about my journal! It's been a busy couple of weeks -- I really don't need to feel guilty about not writing, but I do. We stopped working on the new house for a week in order to get the old apartment in order, and finally turned in the keys to our old apartment on the 27th of June. Then, I took a couple days off entirely and slept, because apparently I needed the sleep! Shortly after we turned in our keys we discovered that the floor drain for our washer and dryer was plugged up!!!! The plumbing fixes continue . . . . but this we were able to fix ourselves, without calling in the cavalry. We got some of the professional strength granules and dumped them down the drain and voila, we have a working drain. Which is good, because life doesn't stop while you're unpacking, and we needed to start doing laundry!

Once we got the laundry sorted we turned our attention to the rest of the plumbing issues. My handy friend was able to get enough water flowing so that we can use the shower, the bath, and the kitchen in addition to the washer/dryer but we STILL (as of 7/10/08) have no idea why we aren't getting water in the bathroom sink. There should be water. There is no water. Friend's best guess is that there's a clog or sludge or something in the shut-off/on thingies under the sink, and when we clear that out, there will be water.

We have managed to unpack most of our clothes, most of our books, and all of the kitchen, including the stuff we use but once a year (or never). In addition to unpacking, I've got 90% (maybe 95%) of the painting done in the library, in fact, enough of the painting is done so that I could put the shelves where they're supposed to go and put books in them! We're now looking for another shelf on Craigslist and a rug, to go in the middle of the room, 'cause honestly, it looks really bare and unfinished without a rug. I'd prefer a round rug, but a rectangular rug will do.

Next is painting the guest room! We bought curtains for the guest room and the living room and they'll look great once the paint is on the walls. We also bought more sturdy curtains for the upstairs master bedroom, because the lace that was there just wasn't cutting it, particularly at night. I don't mind if the neighbors can see into our first floor windows, but I do mind if they can see into our bedroom! Additionally the new curtains cut out the light, which is nice because while Fiance has to get up at the crack of dawn for work, I *don't*, and have been going to bed around 4am and then waking up at noon. Our window faces east and yeah, the sunlight was a problem. Not anymore, though, thanks to the curtains. They are a very light butter colored brocade and match the contrasting 'birch' color of my furniture nicely. They also help lighten up the room, what with all that dark paneling.

We bought a big white board that has calendar spaces, a Notes section and a cork bottom (plus it's magnatized) to help us stay organized -- got the idea from one of my friends, and BOY does it make a difference! We're both of that age where we have to write things down or forget them, and a dry-erase board is very handy and helpful.

I also bought a small lamp to go over the bed in the guest room, and I continue to slog away at painting. Once the library is finished, I'll move on to the guest room, then do the living room, and then be done with painting!

One of the unexpected issues in the library is that the closet doors are on rails and they slide . . . . at least, in theory, but not in practice! I'm going to take them off their rails and install a nice heavy curtain that works with the rest of the library decor. That closet only holds my hanging clothes and shoes anyway, so there's no need for actual doors.

Yeah, this house doesn't really have closets up in the master bedroom. His hanging clothes are in the office, mine are in the library, and the winter coats are in the entry way closet -- unless by the time we unpack totally there's still room in *our* closets, in which case his and her coats will live in his and her closets, respectively. His underwear and whatnot lives in the dressers in the guest bedroom, and mine live in my dressers upstairs.

Tomorrow Fiance promises to help finish painting the library (I'm too short, even with a step stool -- I have a 5' extender, but the library is a small room, too small for the extender to be put into play) so I think I can finally move on to the guest bedroom. Yea! All that white in there was starting to bug me. After 16 years of living in apartments, I refuse to have the majority of my house painted *white*. Color all the way! The country blue that I've chosen is a medium intensity shade (almost a neutral) and it won't be too dark for the room, particularly not with the warm white trim, the taupe curtains (we told Fiance they were a 'silver tan' since he hates 'taupe' as a color . . . little does he know!) and the light comforter/sheet set that my MIL gave to us when she gave us their extra queen bed set. It's amazing, too wierd to be a coincidence, but the sheet set has ALL the colors in it that I'd originally picked for the guest room -- and when I picked them, I had no idea what the sheets for the queen bed were going to be!!!! Can you believe that! The blues will match exactly . . . it's almost eerie. I admit, I picked the curtains based on the comforter, but everything else happened without my conscious knowledge.

But today the big deal is that we got our garbage disposal installed and working, and we got the dishwasher hooked up and working too. Go us! It took three hours to do everything -- why it took so long will be in a separate post.


Whitewater

[PGDesigns]

Sounds like things are coming along! Yay!!!

[Whitewater]

Coming along indeed! I still feel wacky and out-of sorts, but I know that I'm not going to feel really like I belong in our new house until the boxes go away and I get everything up on the walls and unpack every single last box (excepting, of course, the stuff that stays in boxes in storage in the basement!) and get all the stuff in the house that SHOULD be in there, but is currently living in the garage. Etc. I'm discovering that I'm having some interesting emotional/psychological issues about moving, and permanence, and house vs. apartment, but I'm working through those ok, I think, at any rate I was having re-occuring nightmares about house stuff the week before, during and after closing and moving in (so, for about a month) but those have stopped now, so whatever is going on I'm apparently dealing.

Saturday, July 12th

We finished painting the library tonight!!!! It really looks swell. The main color is an oxblood/deep chestnut on the walls and the ceiling will stay white. The trim will be white too -- right now there's only primer on the trim, but it's enough so you can tell what it's going to look like . . . and it looks really nice. Fiance wanted at least one room that looked 'old world', ie, Victorian/Edwardian and the library will be it, so that's nice for him. All the books fit in there! Of course, there's at least one bookshelf on EVERY wall in that room, but heck, it's a *library*, that's what it's for! Although I didn't realize we had quite so many books . . . .

I started painting the guest bedroom walls today while Fiance was finishing the library off and oh, my goodness, that's a lot of blue. It looks nice, and once the curtains get up it won't be too overwhelming, but right now the blue is a high contrast to the white primer and it looks really bold, not at all what I had in mind. Also, right out of the can it looks gun-metal grey, and it dries darker -- but I had to remind myself not to panic when I opened the can! The oxblood in the library looked *orange* in the can and it turned out very pretty, and sure enough, when the blue dried it looked nice. It's a Federal/Country blue, and will give the guest room a warm, friendly, welcoming 'cottage' type feel.

All the library needs now is a rug (the traditional 5x8 Persian kind), and a better light fixture than what's there now (small, and vintage 1950's -- not at all suitable!), and we'll be good to go. Soon, I hope we'll be able to replace Fiance's battered recliner for a black leather one, with matching footstool, then the library will really look sharp.

Tomorrow I'm having a Guild meeting, I hope (I'm filling in for the regular person, who couldn't host it -- she says in three months they've had one person come for the meetings!) so I'll spend the morning trying to make this place presentable, but if nobody shows up, it'll be back to painting. With luck, I'll be able to get most of the walls in the guest bedroom done tomorrow using a roller and an extension.

Then we get to figure out what to do with the enormous pile of broken-down cardboard boxes in the living room, because that's what's getting painted next! The living room, I mean, not the boxes :)

Today we did more than paint and put away three more book boxes. We took the dog to our monthly poodle Meetup at the dog park, and all three of us enjoyed it. It's been a while, what with closing and moving and repairing and so on. Afterwards we went to a small independent coffee shop that had a little outdoor patio where the dogs could sit while we socialized and had coffee. I had a smoothie, 'cause I don't do coffee. Then Fiance put in a couple hour's worth of overtime at his job, and I took a nap. I got my allergy shots yesterday and they always put me down for the count. I don't know if anybody else has that reaction, but they tire me out for a few days after. I spend a lot of time napping, hence why I get them on Fridays!

Tomorrow I clean and do dishes (in our new extraordinary dishwasher!) and have friends over, I hope (nobody's RSVPed) and then more painting, and spray some weed killer on the front lawn -- we have thistles growing 3' high!

I am starting to wonder when all this will be over and we can stop having people in to fix things and stop having to 'run to the store' to buy something for the new house, and just settle down and start living. I'm ready to just enjoy the house, and to stop trying to make it match my vision, but with the walls half-painted and boxes everywhere, stopping at this point really isn't an option. I keep telling myself, it will be fabulous when it's done!


Whitewater

[Whitewater]

7/27/2008

I continue to slog along doing the painting of this house, also unpacking. Fiance helps out with dishes and laundry when he can, also yardwork, so thankfully I don't have to do everything anymore. We had a discussion about that and redistributed the chores, and now things are a little less overwhelming for me, and he feels like he's contributing more towards putting the house in order, so all is good.

ALL the books are FINALLY unpacked AND SHELVED -- boy, that was a huge job, lemme tell ya!

I've got about half of the guest bedroom painted, and the blue is turning out to be very pretty indeed -- better, in fact, than I'd hoped for. The only negative is that the color on the walls is making the room look smaller, but not by much, and I have a large art piece that (as soon as I get a new frame for it, while moving all the glass broke! We wrapped it up and everything, I dunno how that happened, but it did -- luckily Michaels is having a 50% off framing sale right now . . . ) I can hang over the bed and will help open things up a little bit. It's designed specifically to go over a bed, I think, and it will look nice in this space. It's a photo of a herd of wild mustangs, taken from above in a helicopter or a plane or some such, and they're in a foot of white snow, so the picture is mostly white snow with dark brown horses running in the middle -- all except for a shaggy palomino foal :) It's in a silver frame and the matte is blue, so it will look very nice. It's a signed and numbered print too, and I've been carting it around with me for literally almost two decades since I moved out of my parent's home, never having anywhere to hang it, and I am SO PLEASED that this print will finally see the light of day again!

One of my friends is leaving for Iowa State on the 1st of August to study for her PhD and she came over recently to take some of our left over boxes, hallejuah!!! We had over 100 boxes to get rid of, so I was urging her to take everything away that she could stuff into her car. The rest are tucked away in the basement and in the guest room closet, which is huge. Suddenly our living room is beginning to look empty again!

I have high hopes that I might be able to finish painting the guest bedroom this week and start on the living room. I've become re-motivated to do this since my *darling* fiance volunteered our half-done in-the-middle-of-renovations house for a familial get together this upcoming weekend consisting of his parents, brother and sister-in-law, and their almost-three-year-old son. *sigh*. So ALL my in-laws are coming this weekend for a barbeque lunch get together and my house is only half put together.

Yay.

I admit, I was kind of slacking on getting everything done, but now I have some serious motivation to get it ALL done asap! If only we don't have another streak of very high humidity days I should be able to get the guest room 95% of the way painted and at least SOME of the living room done. I won't be able to get the chair rail up in the living room, so the two colors of paint will look strange (the chair rail, in addition to being a decorative element in and of itself, is also designed to cover the abrupt transition from light paint to very dark paint . . . right smack dab in the middle of the wall!) but what can you do. At least they'll be able to get the idea of what's eventually going to happen.

I might also forego painting altogether and take down the rest of the bloody mirror. That will require taping the mirror with duct tape, then putting on protective gear (including long sleeves and heavy gloves) and shattering the glass, hopefully also shattering the old Gorilla Glue they used to stick the mirror up with in the first place. Right now, the mirror is rendering the fireplace invisible, and it's ugly to boot. I've had almost 2 dozen people in this house since we bought it, and they have ALL said 'What an ugly mirror!!!!'. Nobody likes it, and in its ugliness it's become the focus of the room. So it's coming down . . . even if I have to shatter it with a chainsaw.

And I have a week to do all of this!!!! Thank GOD I'm not working right now.


Whitewater

[Whitewater]

27 July 2008
Part II

(Ok, actually yesterday really was the journal entry for Saturday the 26th, but . . . )

Today (having spent most of yesterday cleaning up the house and at least trying to make it presentable, even if there are still boxes everywhere and the rooms aren't anywhere close to done) my in-laws came over to pick up their dog. We were dog-sitting for the weekend and the little guy came over and stayed with us, because we live a good 40 minutes away from each other and the dog pines if he's alone, not to mention having to be fed and whatnot. It's just easier to go get him and then have a doggie guest for the weekend!

Anyhow. Wanted to make a good impression on the in-laws, right, with the clean house and the put together rooms etc, because I don't want her high opinion of me to suddenly tank because I'm a lousy housekeeper. Granted, I'm not the most anal-retentative about cleaning, but hey, I'm not *dirty*, a distinction that I think is important. I might have piles all around the house (of clothes, of dishes, of paperwork, of dog toys, of books, etc) but they're CLEAN piles!!!!

Cleaned up the house with Fiance's help and realized with startled surprise that the place doesn't look half bad. And that I got a lot more done (particularly with unpacking) than I thought I had and that I really have very little left to unpack. Most of what's still packed can't be unpacked yet because the rooms aren't ready for collectables and so on.

But my in-laws loved the place!!! They admired the space (my house is only about 1500 square feet, with another 100 or so finished in the basement) and the layout -- it makes my house look a LOT larger than it is. They both made approving comments about how our home is designed specifically for the comfort of two adults and NO KIDS -- I think having a B&SIL who are due (again) in October makes them realize that if we don't give them more grandkids, that they are fine with the 1.5 they already have. And my MIL really likes my taste and style. I hope she still thinks that way when she sees the art on the wall! Most of my art is sci-fi/fantasy in nature and what's not sci-fi is theatre-based (autographs, cast photos, etc) . . . and then there's my $3000 sword-and-knife-and-dagger collection, which I fully intend to hang on the walls, now that there's room. So we'll see if she still approves of my taste once all the decor is really up! Fiance has a thing for candles and cast iron so I suspect that there will be more than a few medieval sconces along the walls at regular intervals too :) I think that our home will be decorated in Modern Medieval! But that's ok, it's OUR house and OUR friends will most heartily approve. My parents won't like it one little bit. But that's ok, they don't have to live here!


Whitewater (hoping I can convince myself of that when they come in, give a horrified and disgusted look, and make excuses to leave, and then tell me over the phone a few days later that I've disgraced and shamed them for my odd tastes, and that they're worried I've become a Satanist because of all the candles and 'things' around.)

[Whitewater]

Today Fiance was home from work, taking a personal day because he is really starting to have trouble working 80 hours a week -- and who can blame him? So he's having a mini-vacation at home, and I'm not asking him to do anything resembling work, so that he doesn't feel obligated.

That said, I have finished the majority of the walls in the guest bedroom and he's promised to get up on the step-stool and paint round the tops of the walls, where I can't reach (even on a step stool!) because I'm too short. So basically, the painting in the guest room is done! Yay!

After a lengthy break I *did* ask him to hold the tape while I taped out the living room. I've been procrastinating because our living room is large and not only is it a lot of painting, it's two different paint colors, which means more work measuring and so on. We used a level and a yardstick and taped around the walls -- and OH MY, that's what the room needed! Even with just the paint tape and primer and without the chair rail (which is eventually going to go between the two paint colors) it looks fantastic!!! I took pictures, they will get up on the other thread tonight. I knew the room was missing something, (besides the paint, obviously!) but I didn't know that my chair rail idea was what was missing.

So, we taped and measured and leveled and then I checked my email (we're still looking for a rug on Craigslist, among other things) and I finally pulled out the paint.

Then, I almost cried. Because when I opened up the paint can and stirred it up, it was a muddy, swampy green!!!! Not the color I'd chosen at all!!! I reminded myself that paint does that, and that it would look fine once it dried on the wall, took a deep breath, and started painting.

Man, when it's wet this green paint is UGLY!!! But sure enough, when it dried it turned into a lovely mossy dark hunter green, and in the corners it almost looks black, it's so dark. Relieved, I opened up the can for the lighter green (which will cover more of the wall, and will go on top) and saw that it was very light. Really light. Pastel light. I hoped that the same thing would happen with it as happened with the darker green color and started painting the top 2/3 of my wall.

Success!!! It turned out to be a very nice spring green, more warm than mint but about that shade. As it dried, it turned into a pleasant leafy green with just the barest hint of yellow in it to warm it up a little, darker than pastel but not by much. I like it. I particularly like it in combination with the dark hunter green on the bottom 1/3 of the wall. Fiance keeps remarking on my 'amazing' and 'wonderful' color choices. He says that I haven't made a mistake yet! He really likes what I've chosen, and that's good. I would hate to have picked something out that I like but that he hates, and then force him to have to live with it.

The paint will look quite nice with the wooden chair rail, I think. Pictures to come! Right now we're breaking for dinner. Fiance is grilling steaks on the grill and we're going to have salad with it, and maybe cheese and crackers. A nice dinner with the two of us, and then I'm going to go back to painting! Nothing inspires me to get stuff accomplished like my in-laws coming over! LOL! I know, but . . . . and hey, if I get the house done ahead of schedule nobody's going to complain!


Whitewater

[Whitewater]

9-21-2008

Still slogging away. Now that the house is livable and virtually all of the painting is done I can slow down a little bit and not feel like I have to do a ton of work all the time.

Got the photos up on the one wall, though I'm still missing some and I *know* they're in a box we haven't unpacked yet. The wall still looks kind of unfinished, but, well, it will, it's just the nature of the beast.

Framed two posters and bought new frames for the pictures so that those that were standing up can now hang on the wall, and it looks nice if I do say so myself. Hung the one print in the living room, but the other needs some special hanging stuff, so haven't got that up yet. It's a fullsized poster and the frame is well-made . . . which means that it's heavy!

Finally have a nice (well-broken-in, second-hand, possibly third-hand) sofa downstairs. It's green leather and it's only 29" high by 72" long by about 34" deep -- but we can't fit anything bigger down in the basement! We have an old house, that's small, back when they were making small furniture. The futon that was down by the television is now living in the craft room.

We got the sofa from the annual charity fundraiser rummage sale that my parent's community holds every year. The charity is the Children's Hospital here in town and last year they raised over $33K for the hospital! My parents are well off, and so is everybody else in their community, so at this rummage sale there is PLENTY of really nice stuff. This year there was even a little Sunfish sail boat and some HUGE library shelving units, not to mention all the ancient silver (serving trays, coffee sets, etc) that was for sale too. We bought the sofa, then my folks bought us a glass rectangular patio table that has an umbrella attached to it as a housewarming gift! We really desperately need patio furniture because during the height of summer we had people over to grill and hang out at least once a week, and we didn't have anywhere for them to be outside . . . .now we do! We can easily seat 6 people at this table. I'm very happy.

At the rummage sale I also bought a nice all-wood 30-bottle wine rack (for $5!!!) and some fire dogs for our new fireplace and a TON of really nice Christmas presents, including 75 empty beer bottles and some beer making supplies ($8) for Fiance, who does home brewing. I also bought him a set of 4 mini beer glasses (they're half-pints) for his birthday on Wed. He really liked them, and I know he was disappointed to see them gone when he went over there -- he doesn't know that *I* bought them! What a nice surprise he'll get. I think they were $1. I have no idea where to put the wine rack (downstairs? In the living room? In the kitchen?) but I'm sure that Fiance will have a good idea.

So we've been busily adding to our furniture here and there. Got a lovely rug for the library via Craigslist -- just the right size and color -- and another love seat for the living room, plus a couple of outdoor chairs.

Will take pictures of all this stuff as soon as it arrives (my folks have a lot of it in their garage and will drop it off when they come over on Wed. for the birthday party).

My brother was over today and he spent 3 solid hours figuring out why the bathroom sink wasn't getting any water from the faucet. There was water at the main valves underneath the sink, so we couldn't figure out why there wasn't water from the faucet. Turns out that every single valve, joint, and line was clogged with calcium and metal deposits. He had to take apart the entire thing, clean everything out, and then put it back together. He says, now that there will be water running in the lines on a daily basis, that we shouldn't have that problem again -- that it was just because the water was shut off for at least two years (possibly more) back-to-back until we moved in, that's why the clogs.

Of course, the biggest issue here is that we really need to get rid of the galvanized steel and upgrade to copper throughout the house, but that will cost somewhere between $7-$10K and right now, we just don't have that kind of money. I think it will have to wait until next year. That's ok, we can cope until then. It's not like we haven't got running water or anything! My brother will come back on Tuesday and clean out the cold water line for the kitchen sink as best he can, because we haven't got cold water in the kitchen. Hot water, yah, but not cold. Which isn't really a big deal because the kitchen doesn't really *need* cold water, but still. It would be nice to have.

Without a shadow of a doubt, the single biggest issue our house has is the plumbing. Between the steel pipes and the extended vacant time, there are some significant plumbing issues. Nothing we can't fix, but the fix is going to be expensive.


Whitewater