Today was a waste of my time. I took off work to meet with a guy to fix the air conditioner. I waited around for two hours in the hot ass house and there was nothing he could do. Why? because the power was off. The breaker had been turned off and none of them were labelled. And I couldn't just ask him to start flipping switches, not with exposed wire land upstairs. We already had one fire. There was nothing he could do so he left. And I couldn't get in touch with Tony to try to figure out how to turn it back on. FRUSTRATION! I hate wasting my time.
I at least got the yard mowed and cleaned up part of the leftover mess from the pile that was in the backyard. But I really didn't have to take off work for that. *grumble*
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Doors
We went on another 'shopping spree' today. This time we got all the interior doors. Happily Sam's part is almost over.
Tuesday I made an appointment with someone to check out the air conditioning. I'm afraid of how much its going to cost :(
Tuesday I made an appointment with someone to check out the air conditioning. I'm afraid of how much its going to cost :(
Monday, June 15, 2009
Not Much Done
We didn't have a lot of time to work this weekend. Too much running around >.<
We decided to use the light we were previously going to use in the dinning room and use it in the hall. We're going for a chandelier in the dinning room now. We picked up the one that matches the kitchen series. 
We got a vanity light for the bathroom and a light for the computer room too. Nothing too remarkable. Sam hasn't gotten much more done, but he's at least been working. The bedrooms are just about finished. Tony talked to him and sometime this weekend we're going to get doors. Once he's cleared out we can get some real work done.
I've been debating what kind of counters to get. I investigated the Formica the rep. was talking about. Turns out its cheap, but doesn't handle heat or chips as well as other more expensive surfaces. You get what you pay for. So now I'm thinking about Zodiaq (and other materials of that natures, such as Silestone) and granite. Granite is classic and nice, but requires more maintenance. If its not too much of a budget blower I think the Zodiaq will be a very good choice.
Hopefully we'll make some progress this weekend. I'm hoping to get the floors done.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Snake, snake, it's a snake
I can't believe I forgot about the snake!
While doing yard work Tony, to my surprise, found that a bag of grass seed I'd bought had been nibbled at by mice. Having cats, I don't normally think about keeping things out of the way of mice. But I thought that the dried food that I had been storing in the basement from the move had best be moved before the mice attacked it. While doing the yard work and talking to the kitchen guy Tony and I must have run up and down the basement stairs half a dozen times. Our last trip up, carrying that groceries, I saw out of the corner of my eye something black sitting on the top step. Since the house is a hot mess and pieces of construction brick-a-brack are laying everywhere it didn't quite register until I was right on top of it that what I was looking at was a snake. I didn't get a picture of the culprit, but it looked a little something like this:
While doing yard work Tony, to my surprise, found that a bag of grass seed I'd bought had been nibbled at by mice. Having cats, I don't normally think about keeping things out of the way of mice. But I thought that the dried food that I had been storing in the basement from the move had best be moved before the mice attacked it. While doing the yard work and talking to the kitchen guy Tony and I must have run up and down the basement stairs half a dozen times. Our last trip up, carrying that groceries, I saw out of the corner of my eye something black sitting on the top step. Since the house is a hot mess and pieces of construction brick-a-brack are laying everywhere it didn't quite register until I was right on top of it that what I was looking at was a snake. I didn't get a picture of the culprit, but it looked a little something like this:
It was only a black snake and it retreated under the step without so much as a fight. But I had one of those holy-crap-there's-a-snake-staring-right-at-me-and-its-loose-in-my-house moments. I hope it'll eat the mice.
A New Wrinkle
Today we went over to do more yard work. Tony continued cleaning the shed and I mowed the lawn (I know, totally gender backwards). We couldn't really do anything else because Sam still hasn't worked on the dry wall!
We went over there mostly because we made an appointment with another kitchen guy to get an estimate on the kitchen (this was before we bought cabinets (an we get a free gift card to Target for listening to his schpeel)). He said a lot of pretty stuff and told us 'kitchen renovation is expensive but he was the cheapest guy in town'. Don't they all say that? He went on saying how even cabinet refacing costs at least $14,000. That's funny because just a few days ago we bought new cabinets for $4200. He thinks we're suckers, lol. He took some measurements, made some suggestions and did a little act like he was crunching numbers. He didn't actually tell us a cost but spied and I saw him write $37,000 on his note pad. Now, I agree that's expensive, but this is for cabinets, counters and labor.
The good things about these free estimates is that the people give you ideas that you can incorporate for cheaper. He told us that Formica counters were a cost effective way to get nice counter tops that we can get in practically any shade and not have to pay out the ass like we would granite. And he told us do not get granite at Home Depot, if we went that route, because they don't ensure that there's no cracks in the middle of it. He also suggested a slim counter & cabinet between the stove and the fridge. Both really good ideas that we'll be doing later for not $37,000. Thank you, sir.
I've spent the rest of the night thinking what kind of cabinet I'd like there, as well as over the fridge. I think one of those vertical baking sheet holder cabinets would be nice, but drawers would be more useful next to the stove. And an open bookshelf would be nifty up top. I'm also torn between having a lattice wine wrack over the fridge or a plain cabinet or nothing at all. How often do people really use those things? They're so hard to get to, especially with my cereal and snackie food blocking it. I'm also trying to figure out how the measurements for that built in shelf. Nothing comes to mind yet, because I'm mentally arranging where I want all the kitchen stuff to be.
We went over there mostly because we made an appointment with another kitchen guy to get an estimate on the kitchen (this was before we bought cabinets (an we get a free gift card to Target for listening to his schpeel)). He said a lot of pretty stuff and told us 'kitchen renovation is expensive but he was the cheapest guy in town'. Don't they all say that? He went on saying how even cabinet refacing costs at least $14,000. That's funny because just a few days ago we bought new cabinets for $4200. He thinks we're suckers, lol. He took some measurements, made some suggestions and did a little act like he was crunching numbers. He didn't actually tell us a cost but spied and I saw him write $37,000 on his note pad. Now, I agree that's expensive, but this is for cabinets, counters and labor.
The good things about these free estimates is that the people give you ideas that you can incorporate for cheaper. He told us that Formica counters were a cost effective way to get nice counter tops that we can get in practically any shade and not have to pay out the ass like we would granite. And he told us do not get granite at Home Depot, if we went that route, because they don't ensure that there's no cracks in the middle of it. He also suggested a slim counter & cabinet between the stove and the fridge. Both really good ideas that we'll be doing later for not $37,000. Thank you, sir.
I've spent the rest of the night thinking what kind of cabinet I'd like there, as well as over the fridge. I think one of those vertical baking sheet holder cabinets would be nice, but drawers would be more useful next to the stove. And an open bookshelf would be nifty up top. I'm also torn between having a lattice wine wrack over the fridge or a plain cabinet or nothing at all. How often do people really use those things? They're so hard to get to, especially with my cereal and snackie food blocking it. I'm also trying to figure out how the measurements for that built in shelf. Nothing comes to mind yet, because I'm mentally arranging where I want all the kitchen stuff to be.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Progress
Cabinets and paint all in one day. Oh my!
We met this morning with a man from Yorktown Cabinets. I can happily say he was much more competent than the woman we met with at Just Cabinets. He actually did a lot to help us design the cabinets in a cost efficient and more useful layout. And the price was right. Just Cabinets wanted nearly $3000 for just the cabinets by the sink (well $1800 if we wanted them less than pretty). We got the whole kitchen done there for $4200. And that includes all wood drawers with full extension and with the no-slam feature, plus the door pulls and handles. We could have ungraded to all wood doors for an extra $1000, but I'm happy with the style we picked. The doors were pretty solid, all wood maple frame and maple laminate inside door panel.
On top of everything else he was helpful. He made it clean that if we decide to do something crafty and add wood embellishes or something spiffy he could supply us with stain to match. He wants to meet with Sam to give him instructions on how to build the bar part of the cabinet. I was impressed. They have to order the cabinets so they will be in in a month.
We met this morning with a man from Yorktown Cabinets. I can happily say he was much more competent than the woman we met with at Just Cabinets. He actually did a lot to help us design the cabinets in a cost efficient and more useful layout. And the price was right. Just Cabinets wanted nearly $3000 for just the cabinets by the sink (well $1800 if we wanted them less than pretty). We got the whole kitchen done there for $4200. And that includes all wood drawers with full extension and with the no-slam feature, plus the door pulls and handles. We could have ungraded to all wood doors for an extra $1000, but I'm happy with the style we picked. The doors were pretty solid, all wood maple frame and maple laminate inside door panel.
On top of everything else he was helpful. He made it clean that if we decide to do something crafty and add wood embellishes or something spiffy he could supply us with stain to match. He wants to meet with Sam to give him instructions on how to build the bar part of the cabinet. I was impressed. They have to order the cabinets so they will be in in a month.
Sink Cabinets
Bar Cabinets
Cabinet Face Design
Cabinet Wood Color
Later we went to Lowes to get paint. I had a coupon for 10% off and I intended to use it wisely. We got primer, paint and rollers to do the entire house and we ended up saving a whopping $45 dollars. The whole order was less than I expected.
Yay! Colors!
BTW, we ran into Sam. He's been sick this week. But not sick enough not to beg us for another advance in payment *groan* Tony told him he'd better get the dry wall and doors done this week.
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