Rehabber’s Rehab

Thor and I made our final cabinetry decision tonight. After getting quotes in the cheap and the super custom, we decided to go with midrange KraftMaid. The brand is pretty highly rated, and seemed to give us a lot of choices. We knew for sure from looking around that we wanted cherry. We figured that out after every cabinet we picked out that we liked was in this wood. Our final choice was:

The runner up in the color we chose

Thor had already spent 4 hours at the Home Depot agonizingly watching the sales associate slowly click on the computer and figure out which cabinets we would put in the space. Then I got to waltz in tonight and make the final decisions. The moment of truth and final decision occurred when we were deciding what cabinet to put in the last corner. The corner is shortened since the edge of the short wall is there, and so a typical corner cabinet does not fit. Unfortunately Kraftmaid doesn’t have any cabinets that would fit (something I learned after much discussion). I really wanted that extra 12″ of space. It drove me crazy to think about the space being wasted, and I wanted it.

I “suggested” switching to a different cabinet company that might have a solution for our corner problem. Thor told me that if I wanted to sit and watch that woman dawdle on the computer for another 3 hours while she redesigned the kitchen in another cabinet brand, I was welcome to, but he was done. I decided that perhaps a compromise and keeping Thor happy was more important that those 12 inches and caved. Besides, the idea of watching her mess around on the computer any longer than necessary made me wanted to knock myself over the head with one of the granite samples.

We picked out the bathroom too, a plan light brown maple cabinet that should go nicely with the tile.

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The Goal:  Tear off the roof on the backroom, finish enough framing to get the plumber and electrician working, and maybe just maybe install new windows.

Well, that kind of got scrapped before the weekend even started.  We planned on finally having our permit after 10 nauseating weeks.  Alas, we achieved plan approval on Friday at 4pm after a lot of red ink and copying by Matt in the Village Hall Building department making final revisions.  However, we did not have all the necessary updated licenses and insurance for our contractors to get the big yellow card for our front window.  Thus, we scrapped the brazen idea of ripping off the back roof in broad day light without a permit.  Also our current electrical service run through where we want the gable to end, so we realized we have to wait for the electrician, who is going to put in a new service.  We’re still on fuses, and are changing the one to the garage every other week with Liz’s projects out there. But it sure would have been fun.  Stay tuned for my Wizard of Oz themed parable on the permit review process in the Emerald Oak Park.

Then our windows plan was in ruin.  Our Jeld-wen windows from Home Depot arrived on Friday morning with a possibility of next day delivery on Saturday.  The only problem was all the back room windows were missing our cottage style grills.  So two hours at Home Depot and much wrangling over the phone, half the windows were going back and the replacement windows for the bedrooms and dining room were be delivered early Saturday morning (I got a call at 6:30 AM when I’ve been working nights for the past month, argghh!).  But this window saga was happening at the same time as the rush to get our permit, so Matt had to leave me to fend through the westside CTA.  I love and hate (late buses) the CTA, but never have I smelled anything so foul as somebody who was s*itting behind me on the Cicero bus. (more…)

Liz is off downstate pretending that a massive earthquake has hit southern Illinois.

This gives me the great opportunity to get dirty and make a mess!

First I finished up the master bedroom closet.  I finished the steaming of the wallpaper.  The top half, thankfully went a lot quicker.  I then spackled some of the plaster that was raw and sanded for two days.  Then I primed and painted, It isn’t immaculate, but its clean and plain white.  Now if I can just get Liz to actually put her clothes in the closet rather than on the floor.  But to her credit, we are in need of a large dresser, all for her of course.  I’m relegated to an old dresser in the back bedroom.

Ink was a great help painting the closet.  But like any painter he got a little on him.  He didn’t appreciate the cleaning I gave him.  I’m afraid his whisker may be white from now on.

But back to the messy part.  (more…)

After half-heartedly finishing the painting in the office Tuesday before, and whole heartedly taking Wednesday night off, our plan was to go appliance shopping and paint the front bedroom. It quickly became apparent that only the appliance shopping was going to happen when once we arrived at the store we became paralyzed by indecision.  It felt like buying a car sans test drive. Laying down that large sum of money on something that you are then basically stuck with for the next (hopefully) 10 years and hoping it works out was a little bit stressful.

We knew we wanted stainless – these days it seems like you pretty much have to if you ever want to re-sell your house.  But the idea of just laying down thousands of dollars just like that was kind of nerve wracking.  After some sniping we decided to go with our original choice of a standard sized side by side fridge stainless.  Although the bottom freezers are more energy efficient, they are just so much more expensive.  The main reason I liked the one we chose is the ice bin is in the door and takes up less room, leaving more shelf space.

Picking a dishwasher was pretty easy.  Right price, and right look.  We liked having the controls on top and out of the way.  It makes for a cleaner look.

The biggest debate was slide-in range vs. cooktop and oven.  The two turned out to be about the same price, so cook top and oven won.  I think it looks a little bit nicer.

After all the trials of appliance shopping, we were done.  No painting, just resting and looking forward to moving.  My condition for Thor was that even though we don’t have a kitchen, we at least had to have a refridgerator.  It’s being delivered on Monday, so next week we’re finally going to start sleeping at the house.

Last night was spent slaving over a bucket to clean up this:

Drywall dust from patching the plaster covers every surface

And hours later, I ended up with floors that look like this:

Living room after one mopping

I felt like I was completing a sisyphean task, with every moping merely spreading the dust about in slightly thinner and more even layers, and the living/dining room and back bedroom looking no better after each effort.

After that, tonight I was done.  I mopped again, only be faced with the same slightly lighter thin film, add this onto my already bad mood, and I had had it.  I retreated to the garage and my trim stripping and left the cleaning to the men.  Like it should be.

An hour later, they had done a brilliant job cleaning, and i was in a calmer and more zen like state after methodically peeling paint.  We took a dinner break to build an impromptu fire pit (not sure how legal that is…) and burned at least 6 inches off the wood lathe pile.  Thor and Matt returned to clean up the supreme dirtiness of the kitchen and I got another board done.  In the end, my mood was lifted and it turned out to be a good night.

Rehabbing as therapy.