7 posts tagged “home owner”

House Progress #8

Mar 30, 2008
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I am now (officially) moved in!!! Jess and I moved the last of my kitchen today and I dropped the keys to my apartment in the rent box. Yippee!!!

I learned today that my new fridge is HUGE in comparison to my old one. My freezer before seemed over stuffed with things, and this one is ready to take twice as much! So, it's nice to have space. I have almost everything loaded into it's place in the pantry, but when the rest of the cabinets go in, some things will need to be moved around. Just as in the rest of my house, my kitchen is suddenly full of WAY more space than I've ever had (or needed). It is fabulous. I want to shriek with joy every time I walk into it, and it's not even done. I still need some things for my bathroom and the rest of the house, but they will come in time. My two big things left are cabinets for my bathroom (one for medicine and things over the sink, the other for folded towels and things above the toilet) and a desk for my office. However, I can't fit anything more in my office until I have all my boxes that we just threw in there, out and unpacked.

At least I only have one place to be now. Unpacking is WAY cooler than packing. :)

I also don't have internet at home right now, so I'll be blogging on the go. Staying at Scott's house tonight, and maybe tomorrow, and then I hope by Wednesday I'll have internet working at the new house. I uploaded my pictures to my laptop today, but left it at my house, haha. So, I'm really hoping tomorrow to be my picture-heavy entry. You guys won't even recognize the place. :)

As or tomorrow, yet another full day. Working (hopefully) until 2 or 3 (if I can coax my angry muscles and body into getting into work by 6) and then I have to go do the stupid emissions thing for my car and spend an hour or so waiting at the DMV to renew my license plates. Way to wait until the last day of the month, right? I think you should be able to prove that you had better things to do, and skate off unharmed. Boo hiss to the damn DMV.

House Progress #6

Mar 28, 2008
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I woke up today sore in places I didn't even realize I had.

Got to the house at 7:40. Grouted the bathroom floor and had it done and cleared by the time my parents got there. (Very important - going the whole day with no toilet would be inconvenient.)

Then, we had to make changes to the kitchen layout, so I went to the store and we got everything fixed. Then, we were off to get all the cabinets and bring them back. After we gt them in the house (it was 2:00 by then), we ate a late lunch. Came back and spent the rest of the day hanging cabinets, painting, and trying to fix the damn heat, once again. We finally gave up and called someone, but it was too late for the day, so I guess well take care of that tomorrow. This is very frustrating for me. I want to scream and shake someone.

The kitchen is about as out-of-square as a kitchen can be, so that's made hanging the cabinets hell. I'm feeling a little more than crabby about that and the furnace, without even throwing in the number of clients that have called my cell phone in a panic today. Fantastic.

Tomorrow, I move. The house is no where near ready, but I don't really get a choice. At least I have a toilet and bathroom tile. The kitchen will really come together tomorrow, I can't wait to show it off...

House Progress #5

Mar 27, 2008
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Another full day of accomplishment. Grouted the kitchen (1/8" grout is a huge pain in the ass). We also set all of the tile for the bathroom. It's coming together so well. I really need to bring my camera home with me. I'll have a huge photo entry by the time I remember to do that.

Tomorrow dad and I are taking the day off. Mom will come out to help too. And, Matt has been nice enough to offer his help on his day off too. So, we'll get to install cabinets!!!! My kitchen will be so close to done so very soon!!!

House Progress #4

Mar 26, 2008
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Another 6am to 10 pm day of work today. Worked until 3, then went to the house and worked until 10. What fun.

Jess and Matt came out to see the house and visit. Matt nearly peed himself when he saw that I was custom cutting the tile to fill the kitchen gaps. Apparently he didn't realize that I was actually handy, haha. So, we got the tile in the kitchen set in. Yay! I feel like we're really far behind in the schedule, so I'm taking a half day tomorrow to get more work done. I really shouldn't. I need to stay at work and make sure that the ridiculous amount of things that are due get done, but since everyone there has made it very clear by their actions that they couldn't care less about the shop staying open and the clients staying happy, it's more important that i get my life settled so that I'm ready to move on after they ruin the business.

We also started on the bathroom. We got the toilet pulled and the underlayment in, and also did the underlayment in the foyer. We'll tile the bathroom tomorrow.

I can't wait until this is done.

House Progress #3

Mar 25, 2008
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Today was a big day. Dad and I met at the house at 3:30 and started to lay tile in the kitchen!!!We got all the whole pieces of tile down and set. We'll do the special cut pieces tomorrow, and then hopefully start on the bathroom and/or foyer. 4 days until the big move. I'm starting to get a little antsy...

I also (finally) met one of my tenants today. That was interesting for a few reasons. One of them I'm going to leave out for a day that typing seems more fun, but the other was because the old owner was a slum lord. He'd let them live without heat for 2 months... Anyone remember that time STL was 15 degrees and under last month? Inhumane. Know what's even more awesome? The fact that his furnace didn't work? Totally not in the seller's disclosure. And the tenant has proof that the seller know about it and they'd talked. Fantastic. Looks like I'll be in small claims court in the near future. So, because of that, progress was seriously hindered, because we spent 3 hours working on the furnace. Got it up and running for the night, hopefully it still works in the morning.

I took pictures, but my camera is at the house still, so, you'll have to wait. Sorry. :)

House Progress #2

Mar 22, 2008
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Holy shit. We all worked so hard today. I got to my new house at about 9:30 and started to paint my bedroom. Got all the trim parts done by the time that Scott & my parents showed up. Carried a bunch of stuff in. Then mom & I painted the rest of my bedroom and finished the trim in the office while dad & Scott demolitioned the kitchen and fixed some plumbing issues. Then we went to lunch, and went to see my great uncle for a bit. Came back to the house and we got all the underlayment (stuff that goes under the new ceramic tile to make a sturdier surface and a cleaner one too) in and screwed down. Finally, we all left at about 8:00. I'm getting really excited about it all now. I mean, we made HUGE progress today, and it's only going to get better through out the week. Because I have to start moving by Friday to be out of my apartment by Sunday, I'll be working 7-3 at my 'day job' all next week and then meting my dad at the house every day after work to bust ass and get my tile in and finished for the kitchen, foyer, and bathroom. It's an unfortunate fact of life that I'll have to live there, at least for the first week or so, without a functioning kitchen. I'll have the fridge and stove in, sure, but not my sink or countertops (and maybe less a cabinet or two). So, the first week or so will be rough (read: I'll probably live at Scott's), but after that, it's going to be so awesome.

Anyway, enough typing. My hands are sore from holding a drill and screwing in 200 bolts. Here are some pictures:

My Foyer

Bay Window In The Living Room

My Bedroom Window

Backyard!

Awesome Cabinet In Hall

Mismatched Tile With Rabies

Yucky Plywood Cabinets

Kick Ass Fridge

LIME GREEN Yarn Room

Painting My Office

Dad Fixing Kitchen Plumbing

Scott's Handy With Drills!

"How'd I Get Roped Into This?"

Behind Scott in that last picture (and in the one with my dad) you can see the nastiness that was where the kitchen cabinets were. I should have taken a picture of the roaches and yucky bugs that were behind them. We'll probably end up ripping that wall down and re-dry walling it, or at least that part of it. We have to relocate the light switches to account for my new cabinets and rip off that icky splash guard too. I'm thinking of replacing that with neat little glass tiles that will match the 3 colors from my awesome custom order countertops...

Even though this is a shit load of work, owning a house kicks ass so far. I love making the choices and being able to decide how things will be, even when it's on my tab. :)

So, other than news about my happy house...

I can't believe I'm about to actually type this.

I'm seriously considering selling my Tib. I know I said I'd never do it... But, with all the other 'rebranding' going on in my life, it seems like the right thing to do. I'm going to need a bigger (read: 4 door) car in the near future anyway... And, right now the Tib is in the shop for a factory issue, and I was provided with this really freaking SWEET PT Cruiser that has made all my dreams come true. It's got good pick up, it's sassy, it's bright crystal blue (the exact color I wanted my Tib to be when I ordered it - except the dealer sent me dark blue instead - which made the pink happen), it has all kinds of sweet features (a little temperature gauge for inside and out, a digital compass, 4WD setting, neat seats, HEATED SEATS, factory AUX input for my iPod...). So, I think I'm going to try and list it on eBay and see what I can get for it. Maybe I'll take it up to a few dealers and see what my trade in value would be. I realize that it's a modified car, and that there are a few things I'll have to discount the cost for, but I really think I can at least get a few thousand or so more for it than what I owe, right?

Anyway, that's all for now. Tomorrow's Easter and we'll get to go see the Valley Park flood, so I'll have awesome 'natural disaster' photos tomorrow.

Luckiest

Mar 17, 2008
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St. Patrick's Day has always been more of a 'spring thanksgiving' for me. This year, I have *loads* to be the luckiest about:

My First House!!!!

#1. I closed on my house today!!!!! Yep. That's right. I officially own a home. A 2 family home, to be exact. It's everything that I've ever wanted it to be. I'll be taking a LOT of pictures in the next two weeks. Stay tuned to see how awesome I make it!!!