For Crying Out Loud.

It's been an emotional week. Highs and lows. Lots of the work is done now. We should really be rejoicing completion next week (minus the countertops). In our excitement of having a beautified pad, last night Housemate and I did some cleaning. We will be able to enjoy this semblance of order only for a short while. The last leg of the work will start Monday.


Early last week Contractor finished the flooring, the wall papering, and installed all of the cabinets (minus the doors). He also painted my large 2 story wall. It was not in the original scope of the work But since we will not be doing the ccountertops at this time, it was a "change order". So now I have a feature wall! Yes, it is a bold color. Ill let you try to guess before I post pics.

After some of the contractors debris was cleaned up last week, I came home and found that there were small oval specimens on the carpet where the plastic had been down. I took a closer look and feared that there were rodent terds. Ew. I started to freak out. I called my sister in a panic. I tried to descibe to her what I saw but I couldnt help it... I started to cry out of frustration. She begged me to compose myself.. but I was worried that an animal was in the house.

Take a look for yourself. What would you think if you saw clusters like these?

While I was on the phone Housemate was inspecting the evidence. Upon dissection she determined that they were small encephalopods probaby in the potato bug family. (She also begged me to stop crying.)

Seriously, I dont know what I would have done if I were to find proof of a mouse! I started to feel sad. Granddaddy would have known what to do. Dinky would have caught the mouse. Even Sparkle could have done something... even though she'd not want to break a nail :)

I just felt helpless and I didnt want to deal with the inconvenience. I need to toughen up. Start dealing with issues head on! Right?

Well, while my contractor had his big ladder here to paint the large wall I had him also take down the blinds in the high window that I couldnt reach. It looks loads better. The morning light is delightful!

But while cleaning the window I noticed out on my deck that theres a birds nest up overhead. On the underside of the deck above me. It came to my attention due to the mound of bird poop on the deck and the railing. (whats up with all of the droppings this week?)

Gross.

I was afraid that I would have to remove the nest in order to maintain a clean deck - and to get any human use out of it.

So today Housemate and I took on the challenge. We did get it down! (can you see it on the newspaper?)




... But let me tell you that the Mama Bird was not happy about us invading. Luckily the nest was empty... Or else one of us would have had our eyes pecked out. I have to admit I was intimidated. I think they were sparrows. I had to keep repeating "Look, this is our house. We have to take control". So we armed ourselves properly and advanced against the enemy...






:D

So now the deck is all clean. I am going to finally look for a hammock! It will be a nice night for Coronas on the deck after a hard days work.

Wall flower

So, here it is. This is a close up of the pattern on the wall paper in the kitchen. [Its a white background with grayish silverish polka dots and larger black stenciled flowers. they look like dogwood flowers to me. What do you think?]


Unfortunately, the wallpaper is not all up. My contractor informed me that he needed more to cover the walls. I was a bit perplexed since I installed wallpaper in two bedrooms and didnt run out of material. But I guess he didnt save any scraps like I did. (I had to patch in the pattern in some areas.. like a wall quilt).


Cha-ching! I had to order more wallpaper. Shipment would take at least a week -- that is if it was in stock. Of course - just my luck - its not in stock anymore. Wont be in for 2 more weeks at least. So when I told this to my contractor he said that he might try to use the scraps to join the seams as best as possible.


"Find a way or make one!" Thats what Im talking about! I may not have to order the extra wall paper after all.


Thatll save a few dollars. By the way, the expenses are piling up. I sat down last night to make a spreadsheet of what Ive paid out and what costs I can anticipate. That was a neat little exercise! I needed the perspective. Let me just say that I am so glad to have financial assistance with this project. It will feel nice to have everything done the way I envisioned it.


Thats a real treat!


Below is a zoom out of the completed portion of the wall. And I got an edge of the ceiling in there... for those of you curious about the ceiling color!

... I just got a call from my contractor. He says hes completed most of the floor tile today. Eeek! I cant wait to get home to check it out. I wish I could leave now!


Ill be sure to post more pics after the weekend.

Staying in S(tile)

Pardon my pun... But I couldnt resist.

I just got back from my tile guy's show room. He's an old friend of my Mom so we have to keep things in the family. Know what I mean!?

He gave me a great deal on this porcelain tile. I snapped a shot while I was there.

This is an Italian tile called Ascot - color: Almond. It has more of a grayish/ beige-ish color. And the texture is creamy and smooth to the touch. It feels rich. Classy. Definitely better than ceramic. And especially since I got 25% off (smile). I got a beige/ taupe grout color to coordinate (its called Mushroom 135).

And one more thing: the cherry on top is that they will go to the warehouse TODAY to pick up my 11 boxes. I could conceivably go back this evening for the tile. But I will have my contractor retrieve them for me tomorrow. Life is wonderful when you have connections!

In other news, the work is coming along well. The crown molding is up and painted in the dining room and kitchen. My contractor also started priming and painting. Can you guess what color I've chosen for my ceiling?

Enlighten Me

I also got a new lamp this weekend to place in my upper hallway. It replaces one that I claimed out of my Mom's garage - with a mismatched lampshade that was 2 sizes too big. This one is much better and much more grown up looking don't you think?

I got it on sale at Bloomie's as well. Original price? $190. Guess how much I paid...

Fifty bucks! $49 to be exact.

I was admiring it the other night and then I started to wonder: What do the symbols mean that adorn the front and back of the vessel base? I hope there's no bad reason why this beautiful lamp was being sold for such a discount.

Reading is Fundamental

So, here will be your first taste of the before and after transformations in the house. At the top of this page you will see (tiny) "before" shots of the office/ library, and below you will see an "after" shot showing the new shelving. I spent the day Saturday pulling my boxes of books out of the storage closet and arranging tchotchkes on the shelf (photo not shown). I organized my books into categories... Fiction, non-fiction, biographies, poetry, etc. And I was a bit overwrought at the voluminous size of my Self-Help section (no laughing). Oh. Well. I can say that if I'm a freak then at least I'm neat :)

We are really enjoying the use of this new room. But I am having trouble sticking to one name for it. It has lots of nick names: Den, Office, Study, Library, Reading Room, Meditation Room, Chill-out Room...

I will take more pics tonight so you can get a 3D feel for the space (and see the porcelain vessel I've added to the shelf. I picked it up from Bloomies - off of the clearance table!!)

Orion Says...

Check out part of my horoscope for today

It would probably be better not to work on any home improvement project, since it is not a positive day for it for you.

I'm not sure how to take this... Possibly this means that I shouldn't take lunch to go to my flooring guy's showroom today.

Nevertheless, things are going well at the house. I will post pictures of the work completed yesterday in the kitchen and library. Since we have nice bookshelves now, roommate and I were eager to have reading time last night. We decided that it will be our new chill-out room. (pics to be posted soon)

Snag #1

I was going to entitle this post simply "Snag" but I figure that there will be more than one unexpected issue to come up during this project. (Yes, I know, that is not optimistic. But let me just be realistic for once!)

I have this banging wall paper for my kitchen. Its really fresh looking. The old wall covering had to be removed before re-papering; and when my contractor stripped the wall paper he found... [dungeon music] ... MOLD. Gross.

So now we have to demo the drywall since a moldy, damp wall is basically garbage. As shown above, he started the demo work, but then there was another snag. The CMU behind the wall (which is an exterior wall) is also damp and moldy. We will have to replace the insulation and treat the mold at the outside wall now before moving ahead.

I was afraid of what I would see when I got home last night. But its not that bad. I was expecting bulbous, pusing creatures behind the drywall. I think my contractor took care of most of the icky stuff and trashed it. I took a picture for my scrap book! (thats the exterior wall - its acually below grade which explains the seeping and dampness.)

Now that Im looking at it... How cool would it be to leave the CMU exposed!? Not gonna happen... and I dont think it goes with my scheme anyway.