Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Long weekend

The long holiday weekend helped me attempt to wrap up a few odds and ends around the house. I painted the hallway, which is the last of the painting extravaganza, and it looks quite nice. I also hung the door back on the bathroom so that I can trap some heat in there while showering and also offer my guests some privacy when they need it.

However, I ran into some trouble when putting the doors back on the bathroom vanity. The hinges are not the exact same fit as the previous hinges, so I either need to re-drill mounting holes on the frame, or slightly chisel out on the actual door. The old hinges are long gone in the trash, and I haven't decided which option to make the new ones work sucks the least, so I am presently door-less (and as a result, photo-less for the completed bathroom project--sorry, I know the suspense is killing you!).

Mom attempted to use the wax stripper on the living room floor, and after much scrubbing with little result, we decided it is not a worthwhile endeavor. So I rolled out a carpet that was in her garage and called it done for now. :)

Sunday I decided I was fed up with sitting on my bed for everything, and given the speed at which I am moving on selecting a contractor, it's going to be a while before I need to vacate for construction. Soooo, I decided I needed to bite the bullet and buy the loveseat I have chosen. It's small enough that I'm sure I can fit it in storage when construction time comes.

Off to Ikea Mom and I go with a list of a few items I seek. The loveseat was out of stock, so I bought the two chairs I was planning for the living room. I also bought a rug for the bedroom to try to take the chill off the floor, and a runner for the hallway for the same reason (also to cover up the floor that was second in line for the wax solvent process).

I'm quite pleased with the net results--the runner picks up the blue of the walls as well as the green bathroom tile that peeks out, and is much warmer on the tootsies, the rug for the bedroom makes it somewhat easier to get out of bed into the chill of my house, and the chairs are all that I was hoping they would be--small but chic. The best part is that all this stuff fit into my wee little car in one trip from Ikea. That was quite satisfying. Who needs an SUV when you have an A3?

Monday, November 19, 2007

Paint, part II

I seriously love paint. It's instant gratification (mostly), and it's easily the cheapest way to spruce up a place.

I finally got around to painting the vanity and the trim in the bathroom, and it looks maaaaarvelous. I hate to admit it, but this trim painting experience wasn't quite as painful as the last one. My super-cheapo paint ($1/quart!) from the mis-mix bin at OSH went on like a dream (pics posted once I get the doors back on the cupboards).

I have made a major mental note to buy that brand again should I find myself needing to paint trim at any point in the future. I went ahead and painted the trim in the hallway too (while I had the active brush), and will be using the coming long weekend to do the ceiling and walls with some paint leftover from the condo. Nice and neutral, and most importantly, CLEAN and FRESH! And that will be the last of the mini-improvements until the big stuff starts.

My pansies made it through the week and are putting out lots of little blooms just as hoped. Something is eating them though, so I'll go out one evening this week on snail patrol (ick!).

Still waiting for the bid from a contractor who has been coming through with subs for the past 1-2 weeks. I've placed calls to two others recommended by Mrs Blanco and hopefully they will engage and whip out a quote in quick fashion. Right now, I'm tentatively planning to take the week between Christmas and New Year's off so that I can hunker down and do the planning with the designer/contractor of choice, and also go out and pick materials to refine the budget some more.

Monday, November 12, 2007

Gardening

My neighbor's yard is really shaping up--the sidewalk looks good, but the patio I don't like so much. In any event, I needed to step up my efforts for the cutest house on the block competition, even though I know the big work down the road will make me a shoo-in for that title. This recent activity next door called for some short term tactics that wouldn't be too far off course for the long term strategy, or be too much of a time or monetary resource drain. Bedding plants to the rescue!

We got lots of rain on Saturday, which I figured would help release the weeds from the rock-solid soil. It did, to a certain extent, and I pounced on Sunday. I pulled up lots of weeds from the bed that runs between the driveway and the fence, but there were some that still wouldn't budge. The soil in Redwood City is very heavy, dense clay, so it was a very muddy, messy task, but strangely satisfying.

I went to the garden center and got some gypsum and compost to mix into the bed for an interim fix. I know I'll need to do it again in a BIG way (with the help of more powerful equipment) when I deploy the big garden plan, but for now, I wanted to be able to plant some seasonal color. Mixing it in proved to be a challenge since the existing soil was like concrete about 2 inches down. So, I mixed it as best I could without damaging myself and then plugged in a flat of red and white pansies. They are so cute and perky and cheery, and just the trick to add some pop for the winter months:
As I left for work this morning, I caught myself talking to them, encouraging them to grow.

I am, maybe a wee bit crazy.
There are some weedy patches at each end of the bed that I just could not clear (see above, far right--the whole bed was like that), so I'll work on them again after the next rain, and will plug in some more pansies when the time comes.

Monday, November 5, 2007

Settling in

Last Sunday I completely committed to The Dump. I had previously mostly committed to The Dump, but was still staying a few night a week at Mom's house. All that changed when mom hit the limit with the feline's nighttime antics. So, Mali and I have taken up semi-permanent residence. I haven't moved all my belongings in or anything, but I'm essentially living there 100% of the time now and will do so until the heavy lifting construction starts. At the rate I'm going with actually choosing a contractor, that won't be until spring.

This means I needed to make some adjustments to the house so that I could maintain some semblance of order. Last weekend I cleaned out the bathroom drawers and lined them with fresh contact paper. This weekend I did the same with some of the kitchen cabinets so I could actually put stuff away without feeling like I was contaminating it.

I also scrubbed the floor again and then did a quick pass with Mop n Glo to make it shiny and extra clean looking. Then I did the thing that I had been avoiding...I cleaned the stove. Nasty, nasty, greasy, grimy, sludgey mess that it was, it cleaned up pretty well. There is some very cooked-on gunk by the pilot lights, but for the most part that is going to have to stay. Since it's all clean and I'm going crazy from not being able to cook a decent meal, I went and got my pots and pans out of storage. I grabbed my toaster oven too since I have no intention of firing up my match-light oven.

In other news, my semi-blighty neighbor must realize he has some stiff competition for the cutest house on the block award. He's been BUSY out in his front yard for the past two weekends. Last weekend he was pruning the heck out of his citrus trees, and over the course of the past week, his concrete sidewalk disappeared. This weekend he was out there laying a new stone walkway. We chit-chatted a bit and he's amenable to the work we need to do to the slab that is between our houses. Now if only I could get him to do something about his garbage cans that are in his front yard....