My Brother Greg is Getting Married!!

OMG!

We got to meet the lovely Tami at Thanksgiving/Margaret's Wedding and she seems...well...lovely!  So happy for them both and my heartfelt wish is that they always remain as happy are they are right now!  Congratulations, Greg and Tami!

 

Ho Finito

As in I am finished with the floors and I am personally finished/worn out...at least for the day.  I do have just a couple little things to do tomorrow but I am done with the powernailer and compressor and that goes back to Home Depot tomorrow AM.  I thought about  bringing it back tonight but then thought  better of it---I'm so tired and sore that I am not really sure that I could carry the compressor down the stairs tonight without a major mishap.

So here are some photos--I'll put the room back together this weekend (I must spend the next couple days focusing on my job search again!)--and then post some finished product photos but at least this shows what I've been whining about.

BTW, it's a lovely warm evening in KC.  The crickets and cicadas are making a racket and I think it is a little strange that for a person who really hates bugs, I really like the sound crickets and cicadas.  Attila and I are hanging out in the back yard and Attila seems mad at me--I think he thinks that I control the heat.  He keeps coming over to me to yell at me about how uncomfortable he is.

Sorry about the sideways photos--they are saved right way up on my computer but when I upload them to Blogger they show up sideways and I cannot seem to fix it.

The first is the view from the laundry room through through the closet to the Master BR, the 2nd is Ian's half of the closet, the 3rd is the MBR, the 4th is my half of the closet, and the 5th is the view from the MBR through the closet to the laundry room.

Everything Hurts

After yesterday's nine hours of installing the new hardwood floors in the master bedroom and walk-in closet, everything hurts.  My fingers, hands, wrists, shoulders, legs, and mostly, my back.  The sad thing is that I'm not done.  Despite my previous work on the sub-floor, I still needed to do more yesterday which took a lot of time and then all the detailed cuts around the door jambs conspired against my timeline.

Thankfully, it looks FANTASTIC so far which is the only thing that motivates me to continue despite my weariness.  Have you ever noticed that one's enthusiasm for a project is never enough to make it all the way through?  There is always that point when one surveys the project and thinks, "I am no longer excited about this, I don't care--I just want it over."

The palm of my hand is bruised from the kick of the pneumatic powerstapler.

I'll post pictures when I'm done later today.

Move in Ready. Yeah...right.

 My master bedroom. Looks lovely, no?  Note the beaten up paint- and plaster-spackled 100 year old floors with the black-tar-glued floor.  What did they have there?  Linoleum?  Did they every glue carpet down? I ask because there were tufts of BRIGHT red carpet stuck to the edges of the black and it makes one wonder...

Note Bodicea-the-Cat (A.K.A Boda-Baby, A.K.A Poopie 2) sleeping on the bed.  She didn't budge or flinch in the hours that it took me to pull up the carpet, the pad, the carpet tack strips, and the pad staples.  That cat's ability to sleep is unsurpassed.

Now...in the interest of full disclosure, I must admit that my supposedly "move in ready" house was not in this condition when we bought it.  I sought out this mess.  When we moved in the walls were sort of a Tuscan yellow and the floors were covered with a dirty, beige, builder grade crap carpet.

Unfortunately, I do not like goldy yellow (I don't really like warm toned colors at all) and I really hate dirty, beighe builder grade crap carpet. My first step was painting the walls "Reticence" beige/taupe and "Turkish Coffee" dark, dark brown (colors from Sherwin-Williams), and the next step is installing a refinished hardwood floor in pecan (dark brown).

I'm also working on the walk-in closet...here's the before:

Today I took the shelves out in preparation for installing the new floor--they will go back in later--and I painted everything the same "Reticence"color as the bedroom:

 Monday is the big day when I install the new floors!!

Before then, tomorrow, I am painting the stairway and upper floor landing.

OK...right now I need to go put all the clothes back which are currently piled up on the guest bed.  Since I don't really have a master bedroom for a couple days, I'm sleeping in the lovely guest room but...not until I put those clothes away...

It is NOT 94 degrees in Minneapolis

It's true.  It is only half of that--47 degrees--which means it's chilly.  On the other hand, when I left Kansas City yesterday afternoon, it WAS 94 degrees.  The only reason this matters is that I packed thinking it would be warm in Minneapolis and now I am here for several days and they are predicting snow this weekend and it looks like I will be cold and I am thinking I don't much care for Minnesota anymore.

Photos of the New House!!

Hey Everyone...just in case you are curious about our new house in Kansas City, I thought I would post a few photos.  These are some that I took last week when I was down there for the whole house inspection.  The results of the inspection were pretty basic--a couple things we would like them to fix or compensate us for but no deal-breakers.

Two photos from the street.  It's a nice saffron colored stucco and although you cannot see it due to the snow, there is a brand new roof (less than a year old) and some attractive, low-maintenance landscaping.

You enter through the door with heart-shaped wreath and there is a nice big foyer...

...and here are two views of the living room.  It is a rather odd shaped room and I am not sure how I will place our furniture but it is decent sized at 16x14.

This room is just off the living room and had originally been a porch but was closed in and they have been using it as an office.  We are going to try and use it as a formal dining room.  The photo is a little deceiving and the room is actually 12x10 which is about the same as our dining room before we did the remodel.

The kitchen is enormous and has both a little family room area and an eating area just off of it.  This photo is taken while standing in the family room. (The guy is the house inspector)

this is the opposite angle, looking through the kitchen with the family room in the background

More kitchen photos...

More kitchen photos...

The family room...

The kitchen eating area with sliding doors to the back yard...

This is the view while standing in the eating area and looking back towards the living room.

That is about it for the main floor, there is also a half-bath and a back entrance but they are not too exciting.  On the second floor, there is the Master Bedroom with walk-in closet, Master Bath and laundry room, plus a full bath in the hall and two bedrooms.  One of the rooms will be a dedicated guest room and the other one, which has access to a second floor deck overlooking the backyard, we will use as a tv room/den/library.

Master Bedroom

Master Bath

Laundry room off the Master Bedroom

Part of the Master Bath/Laundry Room off the Master Bedroom

My half of the walk-in closet

 

Ian's part of the walk-in closet

Guest Bedroom (note the massive floor to ceiling windows!)

View of the backyard from the guest bedroom

Poor quality photo of the bedroom we will use as a den.  To the right you can see the door leading to the deck.  Again, note the huge windows.  Despite the photo the rooms are really light and bright!

 That's it!  Our closing date for selling our current house and buying the new one is March 16th.  The movers will be arriving sometime between March12th to pack up the Minneapolis house and then will arrive between March 17th and 19th in KC.  For all of you living in denial that we are actually moving, I hate to hit you with this dose of reality, but in about a month, we will be out of 5500 Thomas!