One Step Closer to Being Up to Code

Yes, that's right, smoke/carbon monoxide detectors!

We got the fancy ones--if they go off, you can turn them off by pointing any remote control at them and hitting a button.  Brilliant!  But.  The downstairs one is right above the stereo tuner.  And here's the thing, pointing a remote at it and hitting any button will also put the damn things in test mode.  So if you are, say, watching a movie and are less than diligent about where you aim the remote to turn up the volume, the smoke detector will start yelling at you.  Literally, it yells, and says you need to evacuate the building.

Needless to say the downstairs one is in a few pieces and without batteries at the moment.

2010 Recap

Well well, let's see if we got anything accomplished in 2010, compared to what I wanted to do:

Punch list, 2010

• Install new ceiling lights - DONE
• Restore downstairs bathroom - ALMOST DONE
• Refinish and install new front door - Not even close
• Repair foundation of back porch - ha!
• Install new door & windows on back porch - nope
• Squirrel-proof garden (or eliminate squirrels) - Bird netting sort of works, but you have to be vigilant about sealing the bottom, and you might accidentally trap a bird in it.
• Finish stripping and then refinish downstairs trim (yeah, right) - I actually made a bit of progress on this one.
• Install shoe moulding - We bought some, does that count?
• Rebuild stairs (a girl can dream...) - I don't know why I even bothered putting this on the list.

We talked to our contractors about the porch, and it would be around $16k to dig a full trench foundation, which is what it really needs because the original pier foundation can't support the two stories that the porch now spans.  However, if you add in replacing all the windows and siding and installing a new door, you get pretty close to what it would cost to tear the whole damn thing off and rebuild it, to code, AND add two feet on to the back of the house.  But, since we don't happen to have $50k lying around right now, and can only pull $30k out in a home equity line of credit, we're stuck saving up for a while.  (I'm lookin' at you, 2012.)

It took me a while, but I stripped and refinished the picture window in the front room, restrung the window weights so the windows don't come crashing down, and put up storms so we can have normalish screens now.   It also means Dexter's alleycat girlfriend will be less likely to try to bust in the house.  I hope.

We didn't finish a whole lot in 2010, but we poked away at a bunch of stuff.  The bathroom is nearly done, just needs a bit more trim and a door, which is arguably the most important part of a bathroom.  The linen closet was mostly ignored but made some progress.  I got a real desk/table for my office and some great salvaged cabinets.  We did some landscaping and gardening, though the squirrels are still confounding me.  We got the ducts cleaned--the guy said that they probably hadn't ever been cleaned, so we had I'm guessing 30+ years of dust in there.

We're getting there.

Cats Are Stupid

In a fit of what can only be called extremely poor judgment, the cats decided to make a break for the backyard as I was hauling the weeks of accumulated cardboard boxes and packing materials out to the alley (side note: we have ALL the pieces of the bathroom now).  It's in the upper 30's, which feels downright warm after the single-digit temps we had earlier in the week, but the cats were totally unprepared for the snow.  They managed to find some patches of grass to sit and then chew on.

 Also, I finally put the hammock away...

 Nom nom nom.

 Oh hai!

Halloween Decorations

Bad. Ass.

How Cute Is This?

Give yourself +1 if you said "cute as balls."

Master Bedroom

We got some new lamps and I finally got around to painting the furniture a color that doesn't clash horribly with the walls in the new bedroom.  Let's take a tour of the process, shall we?

First, I started picking at the buckling paint on the crappy plaster walls.  This of course escalated into a full-on OCD paint-scraping bonanza.

So after I had made a giant mess and scraped most of the paint off two walls, Jason decided that it would be best to start from scratch and just gut the room down to the studs.

 

The room sat like this for about 9 months, while we were squeezed into the then-crappy 2nd bedroom.  Although the two rooms are exactly the same size, the other room had awkward window, door, and shelf placement that made it feel really small.  We had to wait until the support beam in the basement was replaced before we could put up drywall.

Eventually, Jason re-framed the closet, combining the two tiny closets and funky pass-through into one giant closet with doors into both rooms.  By then the beam was done, and the drywallers were in and out in 2 days.  They did kind of a crappy job but at least we have walls now.

I'm pretty sure this is where the lazy damn cats spend most of their time while we're at work, paying for the roof over their furry little heads.

Dexter seems to be enjoying it.

And, these are the ceiling lights we got for the upstairs rooms.  Aren't they cute?  The shades match the dining room chandelier.  The flash made the etching and texture in the glass stand out more than it does in real life; it's pretty subtle, especially when the light is on.

One room down, 9 to go!  Oh man, that was supposed to be uplifting but now that I've done the math it's just depressing.

It Really Ties The Room Together

I love this rug so much.  And it was crazy-cheap on Overstock, which makes me love it more.  It's very cushy and I only had to vacuum it twice before it stopped making me sneeze (I'm allergic to wool).

I realized that I don't have any current photos of the living room up since we de-uglied it, so here's a full tour.

 Don't worry, the brackets are in studs, there is no danger of being clobbered by books when you sit on the couch.  The space between the shelves and couch always looks huge in photos but it doesn't seem so bad in person.  I can't think of what to put there that won't make the wall look too busy.

Here's a better view of the rug.  Also, I just rewired the lamp on the right, which had belonged to my great-grandmother.  The chair on the left also belonged to her.

This is where I waste most of my time... Up top you'll notice a Bolesta original, painted by grandpa and the only non-Bob Ross forest scene I think he ever did.