Superficial Updates

Two purchases for the Litter Box that have made it just that much nicer to live in.

Last winter, when our electrical guy was bringing his gear into the house, his ladder hit a wonderful beveled mirror that Jason had modified for hanging on the wall. Jason tried to fix it, but it looked rather cagey. Early this spring, CRASH! Down it came.

We visited an architectural salvage shop in Madison and found these great ceiling tins that had been modified to include a mirror. Most had been painted for a "cleaner" look. I decided that the rustier one was best for us. It never hurts to have a mirror at the front door for that last minute spinach between the teeth check before you open the door to a guest.

When we got little Kaiser this spring (he's 10 months old now!), we purchased a cheap shag rug for our living room. It has always nagged at me because an all brown rug combined with an all brown couch is never a smart decorating choice. I would have been totally thrown out of Top Design. But we couldn't find a nice rug within our price range. The brown rug is now in Ellie's room upstairs.

Just last month we went on our yearly trip to a cabin up north. We stay for about 5 days in a cabin on a lake with Jason's parents, brothers, their wives and children. Basically a ton of people. For the first time after years of staying at this cabin, my MIL decided that us women should take a trip into town to visit the shops. Especially since there was rumored to be a yarn shop and all of the females (4 adults, two teens) were into knitting. My mind was focused on visiting the yarn shop, but everyone else wanted to hit the other stores as well. And strangely enough, I found the perfect rug! 100% wool with all our colors: brown, green, tan, blue... gorgeous. And only $400. Talk about a crazy purchase when you are supposed to be hanging out at a cabin!

I love this rug. It totally ties the first floor together. You'd swear that we decorated using this rug as a baseline.

Other more major things are happening at the Litter Box. Last weekend Jason installed a new kitchen faucet, which I'll post about later. We also put on a request for baseboard materials at a local lumber yard (mmmm baseboards). And we ordered hallway lights for the first and second floor from Rejuvenation. The electrician visited today to give us an estimate for installing the 3 lights (one new one) and a coat closet light. Oh I'm so excited...

Floor grates update: Um yeah. Totally not worth it to strip myself. They are definitely going to get blasted clean at some shop. Where still needs to be determined!

Mudroom Finis!

I am so excited and pleased to announce: the mudroom is completed! Yippee!

Somehow I got the idea this year to beg Jason to install the mudroom shelf as my birthday gift (Oct 2). I slyly kept mentioning that "It's all I want for my birthday..." And I was completely serious! I just couldn't stand the thought of that gorgeous shelf sitting in the basement any longer. It had been languishing down there for two years.

One small reason why I loved this house was opportunity for a mudroom. Granted, it's just a tiny area off the side door that enters the kitchen, but it had potential in my eyes. I'd always wanted a mudroom for all the junk that is a part of daily life. It could provide a place to set the mail, hang the keys, leave my bag, store my dirty shoes, hang the dog leash and gardening hat, plus store my library books. And now I am fortunate enough to say that I have that type of space.

The first thing Jason created for the mudroom was a bench for putting on our shoes. Next came my big idea for a key rack which Jason and I created together. Then Kaiser moved in with us, so I provided the idea for a small leash rack to hold his leash, harness, treat bag, and paw towel. The only thing missing from our mudroom was a shelf to hang our raincoats and store library books.

The color for the mudroom had been a bit of a challenge for me. The first time I painted the mudroom, I used our dining room color of Sweet n' Sour. But earlier this year I changed it to the same color we used in our bedrooms. The space was just too small for pumpkin colored walls. I'm much happier with this tan color. And yeah, you can still see that pumpkin on the weird trim area above the mudroom window.

Jason was hesitant to install the rack because he made it out of oak. The stud placement was awkward and he was worried it wouldn't hold the heavy shelf. He also was delayed because the hooks we had originally purchased for the rack had been too long. It wasn't until this spring, when we visited my parents in Minneapolis that he finally found the perfect hooks at an antique/garden shop. But they were rusty hooks, so they got stored away in the basement with the unfinished shelf. Two weekends ago, Jason used a dremel with a wire brush to clean off the hooks and install them on the shelf.

This summer Jason found a wooden mailbox at an antique store in town. The weekend before my birthday Jason took the time to hang up the mailbox and the shelf. It was the best birthday present ever.

We eventually have plans to completely change the mudroom as a part of the kitchen/pantry remodel. We plan to tear out the wall between the mudroom and the pantry (that's the wall with the shelf). Then we'll close off the doorway between the pantry and the kitchen. This will create space for a small half bath that will open into a larger mudroom. Nobody wants a bathroom that opens into a kitchen. I still remember my mother-in-law mentioning how no one likes a kitchen that smells like crap. Unfortunately I don't see that remodel happening for at least 2-3 years.

Of course, the horrid stairs aren't forgotten. I just got sidetracked by my new dog and my knitting obsession. Jason reinvigorated my house mojo by installing the mudroom shelf, so I started stripping our floor grates. There will be a post about that later. But my next big goal before winter hits is to finally install baseboards on the first floor. I refuse to go another winter staring at those scary cracks. And maybe we'll also install new picture rails on the second floor...

A Photo Tour - 2nd Floor Office

Our office originally contained two desks and two bookcases. The first three photos show the original setup. A bookcase on the south wall for Jason's books - plus a bunch of his crap piled in a corner. One desk on the east wall for Jason's laptop and research, plus a tall bookcase for my books. And the north wall held my desk with my desktop computer. A few weeks ago, my tall bookcase was moved to the living room and the laptop was moved to the dining room for first floor quick web access.

Now that Jason's thesis was finished, I was very excited to reorganize our upstairs office into an office/sewing room. At Christmas I had received a sewing machine from my grandmother and had excitedly taken up the hobby of sewing (discussed on my sewing/knitting blog). Unfortunately, the only place for me to sew was in Ellie's bedroom.

For the last few months, I have been using Ellie's tiny desk for my sewing machine and storing fabrics & patterns in her dresser. Since Ellie is coming back for the summer in June, I knew I had to find a new solution. The only thing we were still waiting on was the sewing machine table from Jason's grandmother. I was lucky enough that Jason's parents personally delivered it to us at the end of April.

What with Jason no longer needing to cover his desk with thesis research, we could now use his desk for my desktop computer. Which would then free up my desk as a cutting table for sewing! So we moved things around to create two work new areas. See the last two photos.

Only three things had to be purchased for the transformation to be complete. The first item was a plastic office floor mat for my sewing area. I can't believe it cost $40. For a measly sheet of plastic! Clearly I am still shocked at the cost. The second item was to hold my yarn stash.

At first I had planned to store my yarn by reusing an old CD rack that Jason had built. I wasn't especially happy with it for two reasons. One, I was worried that the yarn would collect dust since the yarn sits in the open. Two, I was afraid Kaiser will grab a skein and destroy it with crazy puppy glee. So this past weekend, we went to Target to find a rack for the computer printer and I looked at storage options. At first, I wasn't very happy with what I saw. They looked pretty cheap, weren't in the shape I needed (a tall skinny storage area), but I liked the concept of using storage cubes to store my yarn. As I wandered away from the closet storage area, I came across the bathroom area and the angels started singing... I found this spa style shelving system for $90. And the squares are just the right size for purple and cream storage cubes ($5.99 each). The shelving unit was the perfect width and depth to fit the awkward space. I hadn't planned to spend so much money on a solution, but I'm very happy with the result, so it was worth it. The final purchase was a wood topped microwave cart ($40) to hold the printer and computer tower. It's hidden in the corner to the right of Jason's desk in the last photo. It wasn't exactly at the level of the desk, so Jason sawed off sections of the metal legs to make it look more seamless.

Within the next month, we are talking about purchasing, staining and installing picture rails in the office and bedrooms. Then I'd get to hang some of my Japanese prints in the office!

And how could I forget? With the heavy rains a couple weeks ago, our basement had a flooding problem. I'm so grateful to Jason for dealing with the clean up. I was emotionally traumatized by the whole mess that I didn't even think to take photos. But due to Jason's forethought, nothing in the basement was damaged because everything is raised off the concrete floor. The washer & dryer were the only things that he hadn't raised (due to my concern that they might rock off their stands) and he completed that project on Sunday. The sump pump also kept things at a manageable level. But talk about noisy! I see a new sump pump in our future...

FYI: the walls are the same color in both sets of photos. Again, it is just a matter of different levels of daylight.

Sick = Painting Time!

I don't know what it is, but every time I end up sick, towards the end of my illness I get the bug to paint. That happens about once a year.

In November of 2006, I had painted the upstairs hallway in a color I did not like: Benjamin Moore's St. Martin Sand. The pink undertones killed me every time I walked through the hall. I DO NOT LIKE PINK! At least not in my house...

With the nice weather and an end to my walking pneumonia, I decided to celebrate by painting the upstairs hallway a shade darker than the upstairs bedrooms: Benjamin Moore's Hidden Oaks (1129). Once again I used the Eco-Spec, a low-VOC paint, because I love the lack of fumes. The second photo is a comparison of the old rose color with the new tan color.

Painting walls is the easiest thing to do ever. I don't bother with taping since in this old house the multi-coated trim is bumpy and won't hold the tape well. I'm lucky that I have a firm hand when painting around trim. The first coat went on Saturday and the second coat was put up Sunday morning. Unfortunately, my problem was painting the top of the stairwell. Clearly, there was no way to reach it with just a ladder. I had horrible images of Jason falling if he rigged something up, so I called in our trusty friend and handyman Fritz. Using a ladder, a small step stool and 2 old waterbed boards, and a ton of bravery, Fritz worked his magic. For an hour's work ($40) he finished the hard-to-reach areas and my upstairs hallway was done!

But I had purchased 2 gallons of paint because the first paint job had required 2 gallons ($84) - and of course the paint store is across town so I thought I'd save myself time by purchasing 2 gallons immediately. For some reason this paint job didn't even finish up the 1st gallon. Ugh - $42 wasted. But *ding ding ding*!!! I remembered just how much I disliked the mudroom color.

In October 2006, I had painted the mudroom with leftover paint from the dining room and downstairs hallway. I love the color in those bigger rooms, but in the tiny mudroom with the bright sun, the room was completely overwhelmed by the orange.

So Sunday night I tackled the mudroom. I've got one more coat to do later this week. I'm still debating on whether to keep that trim portion orange or paint it with the Hidden Oaks. What do you think? Keep the orange or cover it up?

And now that Jason's thesis is finished, I got him to continue working on the mudroom shelf. He got it patched, sanded and stained. Unfortunately he hit a stopping point when he discovered that the hooks we wanted to use did not fit the board properly. Hopefully this weekend it will get new hooks and be installed on the mudroom wall. I am so ready to be done with that mudroom!

Next project: Install picture rails in the upstairs bedroom & office. But if the weather is nice, we will scrape up the mat of crab grass, till the backyard to remove the hills & dales, and plant new grass.

The Ugly Corner

Wow, I can't believe it has been over a month since I've posted. I guess getting a puppy and dealing with walking pneumonia sort of takes it all out of me. And yes, I'm still dealing with both of them...

Well, as many house owners are doing, Jason and I debated on how to use our federal tax returns. One option that was to the forefront of my mind was totally superficial: get rid of that UGLY TV STAND! I've hated the NE corner of our living room ever since we moved into this house.

The first photo shows what we started with. A Pier One TV stand and a plant that our Realtor gave us upon closing on the Litter Box. I've always hated the stand and the clunky TV. Jason despised the plant.

Considering the fact that we had a nice little chunk of money coming in, I started to think about the TV stand replacement that I've been drooling over for many months. It's actually a Pottery Barn console table, but I thought it would work great as a TV stand. I reminded Jason of this table that we had visited a few months ago and he was game as long as I got rid of the plant. But first he wanted to check it out a second time before making such a large purchase. The 2nd look resulted in a change of mind. But at the cost of 700 dineros, I didn't want to get something he wouldn't be totally happy with.

So I thought I would have to live with my ugly corner for at least a few more months until we could find a suitable replacement. But a few nights later, I came home from my knitting group (the KnitWits) and discovered that Jason had played some musical bookcases while I was gone. And thus our ugly corner has been reborn! Later this spring, we will be reorganizing the upstairs office to make me a sewing space, so we needed to find a new home for one of the bookcases. I'm actually quite happy with the corner now, so I don't see a new stand in the near future. In fact I'd much rather get a flat screened TV with a bigger screen than we have now (hint, hint).

But honestly, I don't see a new TV on the horizon either. Instead, I see baseboards being installed on the first floor, replacing the rotted living room window, repainting the second floor hallway and stairwell, repairing the drywall hole in the living room ceiling (you can see it in this last photo - it's from the fan installation) and installing picture rails in the upstairs bedrooms and office...

FYI: The living room wall color hasn't changed. They just look different in the photos due to time of day lighting.

Leash Rack

It's less than two weeks until we get Kaiser, so this weekend we pressed forward on preparing the house for a puppy.

One major item on our agenda was to create a leash rack for the mudroom. I don't want to pile things up on the floor or the mudroom bench (to the left of the window), so Jason and I designed a leash rack. First we picked a stain that would be similar to the key rack that hangs above the leash rack. Jason cut and stained a piece of oak, screwed in the hooks (courtesy of Menards), then he screwed the rack into the drywall.

There's a hook for 4 different items: a leash, a harness, a treat bag (since we will be doing MAJOR positive reinforcement training), and most importantly a paw towel. I can't stand the idea of dirty wet paws tracking crap throughout the house, so a towel by the door will do the trick. Granted, I'm thinking we may need to move the treat bag to a safer location, but we will see if this works.

The other house project this weekend (not dog related) involved replacing some items in the bathroom. Since we aren't finished, I'll create a post with photos when were done. And I'm STILL waiting for Jason to finish the mudroom coat rack. I'll definitely be putting the screws in him to get it finished this summer!

A Cushy Living Room

Last week I realized that our house really isn't cozy enough for playing with a new puppy. The only rug in our house is up in the office and that's white/cream/tan. Definitely not something to play on when a puppy isn't completely in control of his bowels or kidneys.

Jason and I would love to get a gorgeous patterned rug for the living room, but we can't afford anything like that - probably for quite a few years. But I figured I could find a decent rug at a sale price that would work for us. Thus the Target special - a 5' X 8' brown shag rug for $80. It was the best deal I could find on the internet for that size of a rug. Jason & I were rather surprised at how much we like it. Granted, it's chocolate brown like our couch, but since it's a shag rug, it has good texture contrast. Plus the brown won't show the puppy potty accidents like a lighter color might.

Just under 3 weeks until Kaiser comes home with us!

Excuses...

If you go to my other blog, you will see something very exciting...

I'm sure it will keep me from more house repairs for at least a couple months!

A Warm & Toasty Home

Now that the electrical work is finished, Jason and I were able to get into the attic to take care of the insulation. Since we already had some cellulose bagged up in the attic, we decided to continue using cellulose. Especially since it is considered environmentally friendly (85% recycled content plus it takes less energy to make vs other insulation choices).

Reminder: we have had ZERO insulation in the attic since this summer. The old bathroom fan used to vent into the attic, which caused some of the cellulose insulation to rot - good job P.O. Jason bagged up all the crummy insulation, plus some nasty trash to throw out (wood chunks, dehydrated squirrel, crumbling wallet, an old bank statement...). But there was a lot of good insulation left, which Jason also bagged up and stored around the edges of the attic. Honestly, I'm glad he did it. I believe it was this time-intensive act that allowed our electrician to figure out how to get new Romex up into the attic without cutting holes in our plaster walls. It was just unfortunate that it took our electrician TWO winter months to get into our house to get that job done.

On Saturday we started by patching up any cracks or holes in the attic floor. The goal is to prevent any moisture or heat from accessing the attic from the rest of the house. Some of the holes were freshly made by our electrician, so we plugged them with perfectly sized wood dowel chunks and gorilla glue. We also used Great Stuff Insulating Foam Sealant for the cracks. You can also see that we stapled orange plastic tape to the roof to mark the locations of the bedroom fans and the stairwell light.

But I need to be perfectly clear - the attic doesn't really have a "floor". Just joists with plaster & lath between the beams. I would feel this terrible vertigo every time I went into the attic because I had to balance on the beams the whole time we worked...if we stepped on the plaster/lath, we may break through the ceiling. Talk about stressful.

Once the hole patching was done, we had to lay plastic sheeting as a moisture barrier. Jason found this awesome 15' wide clear plastic sheeting which meant we only had to cut 2 large sections and two smaller sections to cover our whole attic. We started at the north side of the house, laying the plastic from east to west. You staple down the edge, then dip the plastic down between the joists (so it lays directly on the plaster/lath) then allow it to rise over the next joist. We stapled the plastic along the joists with heavy duty staple guns to hold it in place. The plastic is laid over all the electrical wiring. This part of the project took the most time, but it helped that we each had a staple gun. Once we laid down one section of plastic, we started dumping Jason's bagged insulation onto the plastic at a good depth. We used a rake to even things out.

Partway through the process of laying that northern portion of attic insulation, we had to take a break to rent the blower. We rented a cellulose insulation blower from a major tool rental company in town. It was the same place we rented the floor sanders when we first purchased the house. The blower only cost $45/day, plus $8 for insurance. It came with a 50' hose, but since were weren't "quite" sure that it would be long enough, we also paid $10 for an extra 50' hose (which we never needed). What worked to our benefit was that the company was closed on Sundays, so we could pick up the blower on Sat afternoon and not have to return it until Mon morning. And we only had to pay for one day - woo hoo!

On Sunday we worked on the south side of the house laying the other large chunk of plastic and dumping more bagged insulation. As expected, we didn't have enough insulation saved from Jason's bagging, so we planned to take care of the rest of the attic by using the blower and fresh new cellulose insulation. Once the rest of the plastic was laid and stapled, I went downstairs to work the blowing machine. Jason stayed in the attic to direct the hose.

The machine was quite big: 44" high and 33" in diameter (it's a circular blower - see 2nd photo). Plus it was monster heavy: 165 lbs. Thus there was no way we could take it upstairs into the attic. We also don't have a outside attic wall vent to blow insulation in from the outside. That meant we had to haul the blower into the mudroom to allow the hose to go up the stairs, into the attic. We taped off most of the doorway between the mudroom and the kitchen to keep things as clean as possible.

This was definitely a dirty project. I still laugh to think about the drawings on the insulation bags. They show a smiling woman running the blower in a short sleeved shirt - no mask, no goggles, and no gloves. I would have been a wheezing, red-eyed mess without that extra gear. My job was to shove a square chunk of insulation into a circular blower. Next, press the agitator switch for the blades at the bottom of the blower to start breaking up the insulation into smaller pieces, then press the blower switch to start blowing the insulation through the hose. By the way, there wasn't a lid on the machine. Talk about messy! Jason had purchased 6 cubes of Green Fiber Cocoon Insulation (cellulose) and it was just right for the leftover space. The insulation, foam sealant, plus the plastic cost about $100.

Insulating your attic: $163.00.
A warm bedroom and bathroom: Priceless.

Sunday night we were amazed at the immediate difference in the house. On the first floor I no longer HAD to use a blanket when laying on the couch. We no longer HAD to run a small floor heater in our bedroom right before going to bed to warm up the room & bedsheets. I also no longer had to dread stripping down to take a shower. I am in love, love, love with our warm and toasty house.

Next weekend we plan to take care of our drafty mudroom door and installing a deadbolt lock or chain...

Rest in Peace Katze...

I'm devastated to say that we had to put Katze down on January 17th. I still can't believe it. I love her so much. Everywhere I look I think of her.

Right before we went to MN for the holidays and Jason's grandmother's funeral, Katze wasn't eating much. She had done this once before, but the vet had told us last time she just needed to find the right food. So we thought it was the same thing again and bought a ton of different foods before leaving town. Our friend and cat watcher came twice a day to give her different foods, but she wasn't eating and we couldn't leave MN because of the funeral. Right after we got back I was shocked to see her so skinny and I took her to the vet.

She had lost 2 lbs. That was one quarter of her weight since her last vet trip the previous year. He said she was dehydrated and he wanted to do blood tests. But the next day was New Year's so results would come until Wed. He said I could put her in a pet hospital for 2 days or take care of her myself. I couldn't stand the thought of her being away from me after missing her for a week, so he taught me what to do. Subcutaneous fluids twice a day, then force feeding 3 times a day. Horrible but I did it. On New Year's Day, Jason noticed that Katze's paw was swollen - the vet hadn't noticed.

On January 3rd, the vet called me at work to say Katze's kidney's were failing, she was anemic and her thyroid levels were high. That she was dying. I broke down.

Later that day I called again to see what I should do and to mention the paw. They said she may get better if she could get hydrated and she might start eating again. I took her in for the paw and they said it was infected. The claw fell out when they worked on it, but they were positive because Katze really fought against them. They thought it was a good sign and that the infection may have been what was causing her to stop eating. Over the weekend she seemed to get a little better but not much. She was so tired and weak. Then I took her in again for bandage removal and the vet said the swelling hadn't gone down and he thought it was a tumor. That it was all bad...She just got weaker. Finally on Thursday, at 4:15 pm, Jason & I put her down. I can't get the image of her on the vet table out of my mind. I didn't want to leave her behind. I miss her so bad.

We got Katze from a farmer in northern Maine. Her mom was a surprisingly tiny farm cat and she was tiny herself - she used to fit in the palm of Jason's hand. Or curl herself into a tiny ball at our necks when we laid in bed and read, purring like crazy. She always had this uncanny knowledge that you were just about to get up and she would come and sit on your lap or lay on your chest - trapping you... If I lay on a bed reading a magazine, she would come, lay on that magazine and squirm to get my attention. She was a tease to our human friends. Acting so sweet and lovey to try to get them to pet her, then she would hiss and claw at them. Crazy cat - I don't think she ever got used to other people since she had been isolated with just Jason & I for so many years. She never got used to Ellie. Sometimes her tongue would poke out when she was really relaxed - it always made me laugh. When Jason would pour himself a bowl of cereal, she would come flying into the kitchen and beg for milk - it was a different cry from all the others. Then just like a dog, she would always greet us at the door when we came home - talk to us, then walk to the kitchen counter to beg for treats.

Now she's gone. I haven't functioned very well without her. I feel so empty. She was my constant companion. I miss you terribly Katze...

You Light Up My Life...

I can't believe it, but it's true. The electrician finished all the updates yesterday and he did a great job!

I am in heaven today. It's amazing how certain unfinished projects in your home can drive you crazy daily. At least they drove me crazy. So this is what we got out of our electrician:

1. In the three upstairs bedrooms, he replaced 3 frosted ceiling lights with ceiling fans. He also installed wall sconces and closet lights with wall switches. All fans are activated by a pull chain. This is a link to old photos of Ellie's room. I forgot to post about our bedroom in the tour I was providing over a year ago, but I'll do old and new photos of our bedroom at a later date. No office photos yet. I'll do an update after we install picture rails. Ellie's room (2nd photo) also shows the bookshelf that Jason built for her last year.

2. In the bathroom, the electrician installed our super duper quiet ceiling light/fan. Our old bathroom ceiling fan did not vent to the exterior, plus it was crazy noisy. It infuriated me that if you used the ceiling light you had to listen to the noisy fan. Our new fan/light has two switches - one for the fan and one for the light. But the fan is so quiet that you barely hear it. We were totally amazed. Not to mention it has a "nightlight" aspect which means that when you initially turn it on, the light is dim. After a few minutes it gets brighter. Thus when we pee at night or wake early in the morning to shower, our eyes aren't blasted out of our heads with normal lighting. We are given time to adjust...ahhhhh.... And the super exciting fact is that the fan is now vented to the exterior thanks to our handyman friend Fritz. It's unbelievable that the old fan had never been vented to the exterior, it was only vented into the attic. Thus no surprise that some of the cellulose insulation was rotting (which Jason removed). PLUS our electrician installed an outlet next to the bathroom mirror, thus resulting in my no longer having to use an extension cord to blow dry my hair. Woo hoo! Such tiny pleasures. No new bathroom photos since these are rather dull looking updates.

3. On the first floor he removed that junky chandelier in the dining room and replaced it with a new ceiling fan with a light kit (3rd photo). It's such an incredible improvement.

4. He also installed the ceiling fan in the living room (4th photo). Now this room never had a ceiling light, so he had to break new ground to do it. He had warned me that he might have to make multiple holes in our ceiling to lay the romex, but he only made one small hole. Yippee!

5. Finally he installed two new outlets in our basement for the washer and dryer. I had actually only asked for one new outlet, but it's too late and an extra outlet is always good.

It took him Monday - Friday to do the job and he had to do it all alone. He had just fired his assistant, so he was going solo. I was impressed because one of the jobs was to fish new romex from the basement to the attic to replace the knob & tube splices with romex that was originally used for the 2nd floor ceiling lights. We picked this electrician because he was the only one who said he would do everything he could to fish that wire without making holes on the first & second floor walls -- something that every other electrician said wasn't possible. And he did it! He chased a heating vent and was successful.

So even though he drove me crazy for months, chasing him for estimates, he ultimately came through and did an amazing job on our house. I'm really pleased and happy. Thanks Mark! But now that our rooms look so great with sconces and ceiling fans, I'm obsessing on the other tiny unfinished projects:

1. Installing new picture rails in the 3 upstairs bedrooms.
2. Repaint the upstairs hallway.
3. Install new baseboard in the 1st floor hallway, living room and dining room.
4. Sew curtains for Ellie's bedroom closet.
5. Finish that damn stairwell.
6. Install insulation in the attic! This is probably happening tomorrow.

I definitely have a lot to do before next winter, but I think it will all be possible with the help of Jason. Hey, I just realized that it was exactly a month ago that I was screaming about getting that electrician into my house...

Can you hear me screaming?

Warning: Plenty of cursing ahead.

Why is it so fucking difficult to get a goddamn electrician into my house? Huh? Why?

The guy looked at our house on November 4th and claimed "I'll send you the estimate on Sunday. I'm sure we can get into your house this Thursday to do the work."

1st estimate received after tons of phone calls: November 20th via email

I send him corrections to the estimate: November 20th via email

Today is December 12th and I STILL HAVE NOT RECEIVED THE 2ND FREAKIN' ESTIMATE!!!! AAAARGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am about to have a mental breakdown. I call him multiple times a week. I even called him last week to say this:

Me: "Let's be clear right now. Do you want this electrical job? If you don't want this job, that's fine. Just let me know and I will stop bugging you and find a different electrician."

Him: "We want the job, we've just been really busy right now. In fact, we just finished a big job today and we'll be available real soon. I'll send you the 2nd estimate tonight."

Nothing. I've received NOTHING. Day after day after day he claims "I'll send you the estimate when I get home tonight at 5pm." And he keeps saying that he sent it, but for some reason I'm not receiving it. Even though I've given him TWO email addresses and I've checked my spam in both accounts. Still: NO EMAIL.

Honestly, if he can't get to us until January. Fine! No problem. But let's schedule this so I don't go crazy chasing him every freakin' day! Our 2nd floor is freezing due to a lack of insulation and ice dams are building up on our heated roof due to heavy snows. I either want this done soon or I'm gonna put in insulation again and put off the electrical work until spring!

I can't take this any more. I'm ready to kill this guy.

It's hard to believe that two weeks ago I got the bathroom & dryer vents installed by a friend. Yesterday the gas guy came to install the basement gas hookup for the dryer. This Sunday the washer & dryer are going to be delivered. But the electrician, which I scheduled first, over 1.5 months ago, is still yanking my chain. If I don't get this taken care of soon, I'll be in the madhouse for the holidays...

Photo from here.

P.S. Minutes after posting this, I finally got the 2nd estimate. Woo hoo! Of course they added another $100 to the estimate, but the write-up was almost perfect (still can't get it that they will use the existing switches for the bedrooms' sconces). We'll sign it and send it back today. Now if we can just schedule a date!

Greetings Housebloggers!

Welcome to the Litter Box House!

You may have been directed to my blog from the Houseblogs feature article on How to Strip...Your House. I'm very honored to have been included in the article and I hope that you find my house posts informative yet a bit naughty ;-) Feel free to comment and ask questions. I do my best to answer all comments.

Enjoy the blog!

Electrical Update

Once upon a time, Andrea mentioned that the electrical work was moving to the top of the Litter Box to-do list. Today was finally the day that we got an electrician in. I'm quite grateful considering the fact that our attic is insulation-free and thus it is starting to get a bit cold for us on the second floor. Here's a list of the work that we are getting an estimate for:

1. Install 3 ceiling fans upstairs, a ceiling fan in living room, and a light/ceiling fan in the dining room.
2. Install a wall sconce in each of the 3 upstairs rooms (to replace the overhead light).
3. Install closet lights with light switches in the 3 upstairs rooms.
4. Install electrical outlet near bathroom mirror (thus I would no longer need an extension cord to use my hair drier).
5. Install new ceiling vent/light in upstairs bathroom (with a switch for each action)
6. Install electrical outlet in basement for a washer & dryer.

I really don't want the electrical work to break the bank for us. As it stands now we've already owned and paid off all of the objects (fans/sconces) for over 6 months, so the major cost is the electricians fees and purchasing a washer or dryer. I really don't want all of this to be too expensive since I really want us to start work on fixing all the windows and trim next spring.

Do you realize I said "purchase a washer OR a dryer"? A huge and exciting piece of news is that my parents have offered to purchase a washer or dryer as an Xmas gift to us this year! Woo hoo! THANKS Mom & Dad!!!!! Not having the ability to do laundry in my own house truly sucks. In fact, I haven't ever owned a washer and dryer. Ever since I left my parents' home in 1993, I've lived in apartments and used laundry mats or even dragged my laundry home when visiting my family. Yeah, and I'm in my 30's!

When we bought the house there was a nasty, greasy washing machine in the corner of the basement. No dryer and no hookups or vents for a dryer. We had the POs remove that piece of junk before we moved in. Now, over 2 years after moving into the Litter Box, we will finally get our own laundry facility. My only concern is how long it will take for us to get gas/water hookups and a vent. I don't want this project to drag on (unlike the stairs, the baseboards, the picture rail, the hallway painting, the mudroom...). Jason won't be much help because he's making a big push on finishing his thesis so he can get his grad degree in December. I may just jump into it all by my lonesome to force the project through to the big finish. After all, when Jason got his new job in the summer, I promised myself that I would not take my clothes to the laundromat after the first snow.

Finally, remember that stair project? I checked my dates and realized I said I was taking a break as of October 7. Um.. err.. well, it's now the beginning of November and I finally picked up my tools again this weekend. It was so nice not to have a mess in the stairwell for a month, but it will be even nicer when the stairs don't mock me with their half finished railings every time I use them. I really need to push on this project since I gave myself a deadline of finishing by the end of fall (December 23). That's only 7 weekends away! Now where's that ventilator? Time's a-wastin'!

Review - "Blue Vinyl"

I was very lucky yesterday to attend a free showing of "Blue Vinyl" at Sundance 608 in Madison, WI. Not only was it free, but the filmmaker, Judith Helfand, was there to talk about it.

The documentary starts with Judy learning that her parents intend to strip their family home of it's original wood and replace it with blue colored vinyl. She was shocked and tried to block the decision, but of course it wasn't her house. Despite the fact that her parents install the vinyl, she made it her quest to learn everything she could about Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) - from its creation to use to its destruction. This lesson lasts 5 years and takes her from her family home in Long Island, NY to a major PVC factory in Louisiana, to a manslaughter hearing for the executives of a PVC plant in Venice, Italy, to learning about siding alternatives in Marin County, California. She interviews widows, men who used to work in PVC plants, a scientist who determined that PVC production causes cancer, and a lawyer who created the largest PVC document library in the world.

I absolutely love this documentary. It makes an environmental subject extremely personal. Every time I hear that someone is thinking about vinyl siding, I ask that person to take 90 minutes of their time to watch this documentary. You can make a difference too by watching this film and recommending it to friends. I'm still proud of House on the Corner changing their minds about a new vinyl exterior after watching this film due to my recommendation. Wow, that sounds incredibly arrogant...

Small Updates

The first small update is the living room. As per an earlier post, I am totally sick of the painting that hung over the couch. I purchased the painting on Etsy and it looked beautiful via the web. But up close the painting didn't have enough depth. It was lacking something.





Last weekend Jason and I were heading to the co-op and we noticed a new store in the neighborhood. It's so new that the store doesn't even have a name yet. Let's call it The Old Curiosity Shop. It's full of fascinating curiosities from multiple countries - Nepal and Mexico are only two of them. One item caught my eye and I pushed for us to buy it. It's a hand wrought iron railing made in the late 1800's in Mexico. It looks great above the couch. A big improvement from the painting.


The other update involves the bathroom. Yesterday Jason and I took a little road trip to Lake Geneva. On the way we stopped at an antique store and found this great little item. It goes with our old postcard travel theme on the other wall. The three postcards were picked up at a little shop in Madison.



I'm hoping to collect more cards for the bathroom. I definitely plan to travel to each country on those cards. Of course I won't be able to get there using the Imperial Airlines! FYI: The walls aren't avocado green, it's just the camera. The walls are still the same color as the living room.



And here's a last photo of the stair railing. Clearly I still have work to do. But after a week of working on the stairs every single night (including work days!) I'm going to take some time off from this project. And I'm not gonna feel one bit guilty about it!

How to Strip Like a Professional

Has anybody else read Old House Journal's "Old House Living: Confessions of a Stripper" yet? The Sept/Oct issue. I was loitering at Border's a few weekends ago and was completely excited to find this article in the new Old House Journal. Since I'm cheap, I plopped down and read the article in the store. Apparently Christina Kozma has her own site and links to a PDF of the article (which may take a long time to download).

One sentence within the third paragraph made me feel like I hit the goldmine. She mentions the tons of testing she did on stripping products until she hit upon the perfect product to strip the wainscoting in her Colonial Revival home. I swear I was bouncing in my seat like a 2 year old. Then %!!*CRASH DOWN TO EARTH*#&!$ ... nothing! She doesn't mention the name of "the perfect product"! I went absolutely insane and my cursing embarrased my friends who were with me at the bookstore. How dare she tease me and leave me with nothing? What kind of stripper is she? I know I'm not supposed to touch, but at the very least she can tell me how she does her job, right? I was absolutely and completely disappointed. I should add that one of the photos mentions using a waxy paper to rip away the product, so I'm guessing that she used Peel Away. Anybody else have a clue? I should also give Christina a break - maybe the magazine wouldn't let her name the product...

What was most horrible about this tease was the fact that I had just spent many hours stripping with a heat gun, resulting in a blister on my thumb, and I come to the conclusion that until I found some curved scrapers, I could move no further on my project. But I was especially frustrated because Jason had already scoured the Home Depot, Menards and Dorn Hardwares and he couldn't find anything to help me. I was really hoping that her confessions would lead to more than just learning that she used some old dental tools that she got off eBay. But by mentioning dental tools she did make me realize that I had to think "out of the box" when it comes to finding the right tools to strip the tiny details.

Ultimately, reading that article led me to two things. First, I'm going to document everything that I'm using on my stripping project. Right down the the greatest detail! But you'll have to wait until I'm done with my stair project to get all the extreme details. So far what I'm doing is this:

1. Heat Gun using Red Devil flexible putty tool (flat areas) and pottery sticks from Michaels for the curves and sharp corners.
2. Citristrip with 3M Heavy Duty stripping pads (like dish scrubbies)

And second, I'll even share what's going on in my mind as I painstakingly strip my wood... One of my "When I Grow Up" dream jobs was to restore paintings or murals (which my cousin does in Russia on Russian Orthodox murals). So to pass the time, I envision myself in this really cool movie (a la Indiana Jones) as a dedicated restorer of old buildings. For some reason this dorky vision of myself, combined with an iPod blasting a random mix of music helps me get through hours of BORING, tedious stripping.

The second photo is a big source of inspiration for me. The lower left shows the railing after heat gunning. The upper right shows the railing after heat gunning, followed by using Citristrip and stripping pads. Doesn't it look good? I'm so excited for this project now that I have the details figured out. I'm actually working on the stairs every night after work this week - I'm hosting a baby shower and have to get the stairs at least a little decent! And yeah, that's me in the first photo demonstrating "Stripping in Action." I'm a real dirty, sweaty girl in that photo ;-)

Living Room Update

There has always been two things about my living room that has dissatisfied me. The first photo shows my living room at the end of last summer. FYI: The picture over the couch in the first photo has been moved to the dining room.

The first area that I've been bothered by is the TV area (not pictured because it is so hideous). The TV stand is too tiny and doesn't fit it's area properly. Plus I hate my old TV. I've wanted a nice new TV stand and a flat screen TV for quite some time. A nice BIG TV because I love to watch movies at home during winter while I'm snuggled on my gigantic cushy brown couch. Unfortunately those two items cost a lot of money and I will have to wait to purchase them, but the second area is something that I can afford to work on.

To maximize the space in our awkwardly shaped room, last summer we purchased a sectional couch and designed it in an L-shape. The truly awkward aspect of this couch occurred when sitting in the corner of that couch. Which is really the favorite location for many members of this family. But the only place to put a drink was on the coffee table, which was way too far to reach when you're really all snuggled in. And the other problem was the lack of a light for reading.

My big idea was to place a narrow sofa table between the sofa and the wall. As anyone who has read this site can guess, Jason was really against the idea. So I took the usual route and bought a sofa table to see what it would be like. A cheap sofa table. One day we can afford to spend over a thousand dollars on a solid oak Mission table. But for now, a $100 table from Target would work until that day comes. And JC Penny was having a half-price lighting sale 2 weeks ago, which led to the discovery of a great plain art glass lamp for $110 dollars. The orange pillows are curtusy of a big sale Pier One had last year. I think I got them for only $6 each.

And thus the end of one awkward area in my living room. But after looking at these pictures, I'm not so sure that I like the painting over the couch. I purchased it from Etsy last fall.

Eventually, the living room will get some wall art over the sofa table, a new coffee table (the current one was made by Jason), new shades and a floor rug. But now we are back to focusing on the bones of the house. I'm doing tons of stripping.

FYI: We're still working on the mudroom, but it is slow going...

Building a Backyard Fire Pit

Usually I'm the person who gets her monthly magazine and blows through it within hours. This past month I've been slowly dying waiting for my new This Old House magazine to come in the mail (the last one was a July/August issue). When it finally came this month, I've been taking my time with it.

Last night I was extremely excited to come across an article on how to build a backyard fire pit. Seeing this article makes me drool at the thought of building our own fire pit. As it stands now, Jason and I use a portable metal fire pit we found last summer after someone had abandoned it on the street. It works well, but every time we use it, it leaves a dead grass spot for a few weeks. I've even tried soaking the grass before starting the fire, but it didn't do one bit of good.

I must admit that I've been very hesitant about any permanent structures in our backyard. Occassionally Jason will mention the idea of creating a stone or brick patio, but I always sidestep him. Who knows if one day we'd like to set up a badminton net or have a slip-n-slide? Why not use our porch (to be built in the future - we're currently using an ugly front deck) if we want solid footing for outdoor dining? So we probably won't build the fire pit since I like the flexibility with our current backyard.

And what is funny is that it looks like Hi-Fi Bungalow is also thinking about their backyard. Their post led me to the Sunset web site which has a photo of exactly how I want our flagstone paths to look like. The photo is buried within instructions on how to lay a path. I can't wait until I get to set up our paths.

I've also wanted to build stone pillar planters on our property. The idea came from the April 2007 This Old House magazine (no links available on their site). I've even sketched the layout of our property...