New Year, New New, WITH PICS!!

Remember way way back in the day when I would post my never-ending to-do list?? Check this out:

COOP:

1. Plumber to fix kitchen sink and bathtub CHANGE to Bathfitter October 13th (done)

2. Electrician to fix outlet in living room (done)

-Move kitchen cabinets to Left Side CHANGE to add base and upper cabinet in left corner October 13th b/t 3:30-6 and flip refrigerator (done)

-Remove tile from bathroom walls CHANGE to Bathfitter October 14th (done)

Plasterer to fix walls in all rooms (done)

4. Sheet vinyl for bathroom and kitchen floor CHANGE to vinyl tile in bathroom (OCTOBER 9th, ebay)and kitchen (need propane or dry ice)//CHANGED TO REMOVE VINYL TILES FROM KITCHEN FLOOR (DONE) AND REFINISH SUBFLOOR W/PAINT OR STAIN AND POLY...

5. Countertop for kitchen - 6 foot and 8 foot installed CHANGE TO PAINT CABINETS & ADD BUTCHER BLOCK COUNTERS -Strip window and door in bathroom(done)

-cut counter for sink and for stove island & install (done)

6. Paint trim (satin) and halls (linen) and Kitchen (Linen) (done)

-Faux glaze paint over patches (done)

ADD to get painters to paint entire apartment (done)

-Paint Bathroom window and touch up radiator with rustoleum satin white (done)

7. Replace toilet to 12 inch. model (done)

8. Spray range, hood and fridge (done) Change to Replace Fridge (Done)9. Install hardware in kitchen (done)
10. Replace Bathroom Vanity Light (purchased)//finished 12/30 (done!!)

11. Replace Bathroom Vanity Mirror
12. Hang Desk area shelf from CB2 (purchased 12/11), framed collage walls
13. Hang Windows in dining area (flanking)
14. Hang circular ceiling pendant over dining area

Lakehouse - SOLD! (September 2011)

Condo - MOVED OUT! (March 2010)


I just added 10 - 14 yesterday! Because I can actually cross things off and add things now that I am dealing with one single home.

I have the luxury of taking my sweet time, or rushing straight through, any project I desire. I ripped out the old vanity lights (Miss Piggy Bulb Strip) in such a hurry that I started to second guess myself and panic about being able to use the existing lightbox (the fixture holder thing inside the walls of my 1920's apartment building, or at least that's what I'm calling it) with the newer fixture. In fact, I mentally resigned when I couldn't find the relevant anatomy that the light fixture's instructions were referring to.

I actually put the light (beautiful, beautiful schoolhouse era repro light) back in the box and thought to myself, "Welp! Guess I'll just have to hire an electrician! It will cost maybe $50, this whole experiment will then total to $200, I got $100 in Christmas gifts, so that makes it a total of $100 well spent for a professional-install... hmm..."

Then. I thought about it. Hard. Thought some more. I took a flashlight to the joint. I angled it around. There just had to be a way. I literally noodled it through my brain. There may or may not have been a lightbulb crackling over my noggin toward the end of my meditation.

Hey there, that thing, isn't that a screw? Ancient, rusted and decrepit, yes. But screwed into the old light fixture box just like in the installation illustration just the same. (btw this light is supposed to take 10 minutes to install according to the instruction pamphlet. Yes, if you are working with a normal light box, which of course we are not. This took me no less than 1 hour to install and involved numerous head scratches and steps up and down the step ladder.)

So if I just use these screw holes like they suggest in the pamphlet, rig and wrangle (and electrical tape the crap out of) these old fabric-covered copper wires and pray they don't touch each other when I shove them back into the wall (not an easy task, let me just remind myself), add some washers to the light fixture because there was a gap somewhere there shouldn't have been, patch these old fixture holes in the wall and... voila!

PS I didn't take any pictures of the process b/c I was so hyper-focused. This is where training the cat to play a photog for the papparazz would come in handy for the future, amiright?

So the light fixture is IN! And it's GORGEOUS!! And it took a lot of determination, focus, and stick-to-it-ed-ness that only I could provide for myself. I pictured the end result and kept moving toward that goal. I wanted to show off my finished product to the peeps who helped finance it (Thanks, Bob and Mickey!!) and I wanted to begin the process of making this house, my one and only, HOME.

Lessons learned: It's okay to dive into a project as long as you are motivated to get through it by any means necessary. It helps to have a ton of extra supplies lying around such as electrical tape, scissors, a hammer, tape measure, level, spackle, spackle knife, random screws, washers and bolts - just in case the things provided w/the fixture are not sufficient (although I was pleasantly surprised by everything provided with this Shades of Light fixture).


And now - for the less-than-stellar iPhone pics that I did take:

Before (um, where is that random picture I have of the hole in the wall behind the previous light fixture?! still to come...):


After (sort of, I have since spackled the area and it looks much better, still needs touch up paint though):




PPS - After reading about my long-time internet mentor/guru/girl crush's life, I've realized that I need to document all of the many thousands of things I've been doing to improve my life quality over the past 2 years - from painting (for fun!) to cooking (for fun!) to getting a cat (the love of my life) to getting WORMS (the thousand loves of my life) to getting online and dating and falling in love... all of these things AND MORE. Soon come. And also... (hopefully) ... MORE PICTURES.

love and heartbeats,
GG

Get up to get down

Wow. Long time, no action. I've been a busy girl lately what with work, work and evermore work.

But I also have been busier than I thought on the home front. I just stumbled upon my old "To-Do" List and was surprised by how much I've been able to check off without even paying attention:

COOP:
1. Plumber to fix kitchen sink and bathtub CHANGE to Bathfitter October 13th
2. Electrician to fix outlet in living room
-Move kitchen cabinets to Left Side CHANGE to add base and upper cabinet in left corner October 13th b/t 3:30-6 and flip refrigerator
-Remove tile from bathroom walls CHANGE to Bathfitter October 14th
3. Plasterer (Mom) to fix walls in all rooms (unpainted walls & ceilings)
4. Sheet vinyl for bathroom and kitchen floor CHANGE to mend tile in bathroom (OCTOBER 9th, ebay) and kitchen (need propane or dry ice) CHANGE to mend hole in floor and put down a thin vinyl or laminate floor that won't go too far above the surface
5. Countertop for kitchen - 6 foot and 8 foot -Strip window and door in bathroom
-cut counter for sink and for stove island & install
6. Paint trim (satin) and hall(s) (linen) and Kitchen (Linen)
-Faux glaze paint over patches
-Paint Bathroom window and touch up radiator with rustoleum satin white
7. Replace toilet to 12 inch. model
8. Spray range, hood and fridge
9. Install hardware in kitchen

CONDO:
- rearrange bedroom furniture for better flow
-change kitchen faucet
- fix front strip to countertop
- change toilet seat
1. get a/c duct in bedroom fixed (sort-of)
2. install ceiling fan in bedroom
- paint bathroom
- rearrange living room for better flow
-paint living room
- get laundry sorting station for hallway
-replace windows/screens/patio door

LAKEHOUSE:
-replace toilet seats
-fix kitchen faucets, upstairs cold handle CHANGE to hire plumber to fix upstairs bath drain/wall, install shut-off valves in shower, replace shower faucet/head and fix shower drain. Also look into leaks in basement.
-strip wallpaper (started)
-GET RID OF FLEAS!!!! Contract with Orkin 6x year for 1 year.
-add towel bars and hooks to master bath (satin nickel)
-stain behind picture frame marks on wall CHANGE to let them all be for 8 months CHANGE to paint all paneling white or other light beachy color
-paint kitchen counter while waiting for permanent replacement
-paint kitchen cabinetry while waiting for replacements
- replace kitchen hardware
-take down overhead cabinets and put up shelves with iron brackets (iron brackets added to range hood)
-paint wood paneling in dining area, add trim, remove from around fire place
-add brick/slate to wall behind wood-burning stove so that it continues up the stairs to the top? oR Remove all brick and move stove down to basement?
-remove carpet and vinyl flooring in dining room and kitchen in order to prime and paint subfloor while waiting for new hardwood

Pictures to come soon. I really am in awe of the amount I've done thus far without much pressure on myself to check things off the list (obviously, since I haven't even checked the list in months and haven't been working consistently). Getting the toilet done all by myself in the Coop was a huge feat both physically and mentally. I was so worried that I wouldn't be able to do it - but it's done! And it's fantastic! Now if I can just mend that marble tile or figure something out with that.... While there have been a few additions due to the nature of DIY spawning more and more DIY projects, it's starting to seem almost manageable now. Especially with the Coop nearing sale.... Once that is gone, I can fully concentrate on where to live in the City, getting some pets and fixing up the Country house!

Is this thing finally on again????

It figures that I would be interrupted when I was most motivated to start this thing. I feel like I have to start all over again, but let me push on through.... where was I?

Oh yes, the DC Coop Apartment. I'm sorry that I never took any before before pictures, when I moved in it was basically a blank slate. A few white boxes for rooms and that was it. The kitchen and bath were in livable, but sorry states. It always seemed so hard for me to get any work done there since it is in such an old building and the rest of the place is in just as bad, if not worse, shape. So I settled.

I painted. I moved things around. I got comfortable. That's why all of the before pictures are not that accurate, because before before bareley exists for me anymore. Now it's like, before I had two homes, or even before I had three....

So. Pictures?



I have changed the faucet in my bathroom twice, once when I took out the vanity (from a single door to a double door - more storage in a 1 br apt. is priceless!) and then again to upgrade it to a single handle. That was my first foray into plumbing. I also changed the light fixture and medicine cabinet. Before was the original cabinet - you know the single mirror, mounted in the wall. Well, inside the wall the cabinet was leveled with razor blades. Like, a thousand of them. This was all pre-digital camera, but I wish I had thought to take a picture! It was kind of scary at the time, I just wanted to dispose of them without thinking about why. Why razor blades???? Then, I helped my best friend/neighbor change her mother's medicine cabinet and it had the exact same deal inside the wall. Leveled with a thousand razor blades. So creepy, but at least it wasn't just me! I guess that's just how they did things back in the day? Changing the cabinet meant that the overhead single bulb light fixture was not going to cut it, so I had to go in there and play with cloth wiring. I was definitely freaked out about the whole experience, because I seem to have blocked most of it from my memory.



Then there was the kitchen.... Oh, again I don't know where to start. There was the time I pulled up a tile (one of those laminate sticky ones) because a corner of it was bunched up. Then I gave up. I moved the refrigerator from its ridiculous location at the back of the kitchen wedged between the counter, the sink, and a window. Only after I did several tests for the gross-out factor. I wasn't sure what I was going to find back there, the parts of the kitchen I could see were pretty gruesome, who knew what I would find lurking behind, nay, under the fridge???? Not more razorblades?! Actually, nothing. It was just one big dustbunny and that was about it. I was so shocked, it helped propel me into plumbing.



The kitchen sink. I have changed that faucet two times. Well I attempted to change the sprayer and the faucet a thousand times each.... When I think about all those years of "Chinese water torture*" of the dripping faucet (*to quote best friend). Yikes. That old sprayer was about to be the death of me too. Makes me shake my head and sigh.



Unfortunately, again, I can't say that I have any before pictures. Just the one of the old faucet on the floor. So let me tell you a little story (adapted/edited from an old blog entry circa 2006, before I even knew what a House Blog was):

++++

The clock was ticking, the kitchen faucet has been dripping steadily since 2003. Actually, it picked up the pace rather recently and there was a Coop Board notice about how the water bill was skyrocketing.

It couldn't be lil' ol' me and this faucet that's been dripping for THREE YEARS that I've been fully prepared to change if it weren't for the fact that my CORRODED PIPES have made it impossible to shut off the water flow coming into my apartment with the shut-off valves.....

Or could it?

Well, I had all my tools, I had the new faucet and sprayer hose, I had everything ready to go...



If only they would TURN OFF THE WATER to the whole building: on a day that I was home, or at least give enough notice so that I could actually BE home when they turned it off (they like to pull a sneak attack sometimes).

SO when I came home Sunday to see a notice that the water would be off in the entire building between the hours of 9 and 3 today (Monday) - FINALLY is all I could think.

8:48 AM. My alarm rings. I press snooze until 9:15.

There I was wondering if 6 hours is going to be enough time for me to change the kitchen faucet. I was seriously wondering if I could do it in that amount of time. Because my previous experience with that particular faucet and its useless, malfunctioning sprayer had been nothing but heartache.

So. I got up, instinctively brushed my teeth and... oh, wait. The water was still on.

Let's see if it just needs to run out of the line. Nope. Full-fledged. On.

Let me cut this short by saying that the water in the building was all the way on until exactly 1:45 p.m. While I was on the phone with my mother to be exact. (It's an old building, so I could actually hear it turn off). So much for 6 hours....

"Mom, the water was just turned off and it will only be off until 3... do you think it's feasible that I will be able to change th kitchen faucet in time before they turn the water back on??"

"Do you have a faucet?"

"YES. Mom, I've had this new faucet sitting here for 3 years now!"

"Oh, well by all means go ahead and try. just make sure to call the plumber in case it doesn't work".

Oh, yeah.... you mean that Coop Board-approved plumber that's been so nice to help me or even return a phone call at all in the last THREE YEARS?????????????????????

Whatever. I just went for it. No back-up plan. No emergency plumber. I didn't even think to keep a bucket nearby, just in case.

Nope. Went for it. 100%.

Much sweat, blood, skin, hair, and especially tears were shed.

I had all-out meltdowns, broke down crying, full-body heaves, was using saws and hammers and kitchen knives, everything you could think of just to remove those nasty old fixtures.

My arms were numb from all the blood draining out of my hands while holding them up under the sink. A wrench in one hand, pliers in the other.

Much debris fell into my tearful eyes.

I almost gave up. Several times.

But I didn't.

Little by little, corroded nuts and bolts began to move, with all of my chicken wing arm strength I pushed and pulled and gripped and hacked.

Miracle of all miracles (or was it just plain adrenaline?) when the water turned back on at 3pm (and, again, I could actually hear it as it turned on, my ear was practically on the pipe while I was struggling with the mummified sprayer contraption from days of yore), all of my waterlines were connected and holding water, no leaks.



The only thing left to remove/connect was that damn sprayer. Damned if I did, damned if I didn't. I was going to have to have the sprayer hooked up UNDER the sink, like a secret sprayer. And a hole in the sink where it should have been????

We can't have THAT.

So for 45 more minutes, I scraped, scrapped, hacked, pinched, gripped, slipped, skinned my fingers, bruised and battered my knuckles, took chunks out of precious hands (but didn't break a nail) inhaled what had to be toxic lead pipe dust, blinked away what had to be splinters from the fiberboard countertop that was eroding as a result of the damaged sprayer nozzle......... All of this, right? And the final frontier became me vs. the sprayer holder that Would. Not. Budge. This thing was sitting in the sprayer nozzle hole of the sink and refusing to move from either end. Looking like an ugly mushroom (and I hate mushrooms),



Cut to me, armed with a hack saw and taking no prisoners. I hacked that !%&%@ in 2. And when it finally dropped - OH, SWEET LIBERTY!!!!!!



I was SHAKING. My hands were literally shaking. I couldn't believe I was finally putting in a BRAND NEW SPRAYER NOZZLE that I'd been trying to replace since the first year that I moved in.......

Drop, flip, and SNAP. The new connector simply SNAPS into place. No more nuts and bolts and locking nuts that never budge and corroded pvc and and lead pipes and effing bullshit. It. Just. SNAPS.

++++

In my experience (now having changed a total of 6 faucets successfully on my own), there is always one piece that makes removing the old fixture seemingly impossible....

In this case, it was the sprayer nozzle receptacle.



But look at how pretty.....





And the best part? No more dripping faucet haunting my dreams.