Things are looking up

This is my best friend's mother's apartment, which is the mirror-image and right next door to mine. She has been living without a hallway light fixture for months now, all because we got a little too excited when renovating her kitchen (the Tiffany-blue walls you can catch a glimpse of and you can see in all it's glory right here: http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/february-jumpstart-2009-entries/how-to-make-over-moms-kitchen-in-one-weekend-february-jumpstart-project-2009-077319

Well, I finally decided to take matters in my own hands this morning while the painters were finishing up at my place. I used the old light fixture from my bedroom (which now has a ceiling fan!) and jerry-rigged the chandelier together using a ceiling bracket and sheer willpower....





In other news, the painters finished.

















I have new brushed satin nickel knobs and handles for the kitchen and they look divine w/the wood and new countertops. I'm still tweaking the layout of the bathroom tile, but it's coming together.

It's amazing what a fresh coat of paint can do for the mind and the soul.... I'm ready to sell this place for a profit and move on to bigger and better things (that purr and woof).

Picture updates

If it's not one thing....

....it's another! Now that the holes in the walls are patched and primed - which was news to me, they never primed after patching before - they decided to slop the gray primer on my brand-new light switches/outlets :( UGH! So frustrating when I could have removed them, but since they have never bothered to paint after patching before.... just frustrating.

Then, of all things, the kitchen P-trap drain elbow split in half on me. I was simply investigating to see what the hold-up was as I'm guessing the workers dumped drywall dust and debris in the sink.... then the P-trap split - water everywhere. This is not the first water damage to sully the under-sink cabinet, but damn. Just not what I was trying to focus on as the real painters are coming tomorrow!!!!

At least with all of these headaches, I am finally looking forward to getting it done and over with.

Updates:

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 (bought 7/25) 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
-Faux glaze paint over patches CHANGE TO HIRE PAINTERS TO PAINT ENTIRE APARTMENT 7/25 - hired for Aug. 19th
- Workers need to patch up the gigantic holes in my living room before I can sign the contract
-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
10. Add trim or shim up the cabinet to meet the new cabinet height
11. Install toe-kick under kitchen cabinets
12. Install ceiling fan in bedroom
13. Fix kitchen sink/drain

Cool Breeze

On the rocks

We are halfway home, folks. I didn't have candelabra lightbulbs, so just the fan is installed. It's making a ticking noise, so I'll have to investigate further before the final reveal....

All in all? Pretty damn proud of myself.

Ooh La La

We have half a ceiling fan in the bedroom of the DC Coop, people! Mind you, I was working alone, so it was difficult for me to remember to take pics each step of the way. For instance, I forgot a "before" shot? And most of the "during" ones too...

To make up for it, I stole another shot of a different light fixture to give you an idea of what I'm working with:



Fabric-covered wires! Not just fabric, but ancient, decrepit fabric that crumbles to the touch and this makes it tres difficult to work with....

Closer:


Quite literally, a hot mess!

Anyway, I needed to figure out a way to rig up a safe, secure ceiling fan mounting bracket up to, well basically a hole in the ceiling. There was a lot of hemming, hawing and trips to the hardware store involved in order to find just the right crossbars and screws and brackets and safety pans and all that jazz:



You can't really tell, but there are 3 layers of stainless steel security action going on up in there....



Eventually, I figured out a way to make it work. And my goodness, I can't believe how secure it is!



Then I just attached the ceiling fan's mounting bracket and motor (with the handy hook thingy that they have in case, like me, you are doin' it dolo) and covered it all with the spiffy coverer thingy:



I'm making it sound really easy. Well, it was and it wasn't. Like with the toilet in this same apartment, I can imagine that it is extremely easy when the basic fixtures of the building are oh, I don't know, from this half of the century? But given the parameters of a pre-war building, it is pretty difficult to come up with work-arounds for these types of things. BUT SOMEHOW I MANAGE. And some days I feel like a genius.

I had to stop working because the next step is to attach the 6 or so blades to the fan motor and I was very dehydrated since I had to cut the power to the whole apartment (all wired to the same breaker... ah yes, yet another charming feature), that meant no lights, no air conditioning. But I feel very happy with what was accomplished so far.

Still working on getting the cement patch level, spread another thin layer on today. The light color looks so much better than the old dirty charcoal gray. IF ONLY I HAD KNOWN. Why I can't take a picture of it is beyond me.

I wiped all of the cabinet doors in the kitchen down with ammonia to get rid of the stickiness, it seems to be working. Someone came and took the old 4 foot long laminate countertop (posted on craigslist)! And someone else took the humongous, immobile chifforobe! I love craigslist so much. Helping people, helping me. Win-win, I say.

Well, if I were reading this, I would stop due to the lack of pictures. I'm sorry, I know I need to work on that. Here is one from over 2 years ago, my darling kitty who I miss so much, it hurts. I'm working very hard on honoring her by adopting soon:

Lettered Cottage Love

Layla at The Lettered Cottage has just opened up a new shop: Lettered Cottage Home and it is AMAZING. She always finds the coolest things with her great eye for detail.

Go and check it out to find unique gifts, decor items and beautiful useful things that you never even thought of!

Stuff is Happening

I guess I should update my to-do list so that I have a record (rather than going back and editing the one I posted a couple of weeks ago....

So the big news is, I walk into the coop this morning to find two huge holes in the walls. One on the Left:

(Why these won't turn the right way, I do not know)

One on the Right:

(SO AGGRAVATING!!)

Say what? Close up on the Left:


Close up on the Right:


.... These 2 holes changed the game completely. Suddenly, my gorgeous faux-finish is gone for good and I don't feel like re-doing it YET AGAIN when I am not sure that many people would be able to appreciate it anyway. So I called up some painters and got an estimate and was VERY HAPPY with the price along with the assurance that they PREP THEIR SURFACES PRIOR TO PAINTING! Yeah!! That's all I need to know, since it was obvious the previous painters never did. So with painting, seemingly the most daunting of tasks left to do, out of the way - I am FREE to complete all of the little itty bitty projects that have been eluding me with my eyes full of dust (from the sanding, scraping and peeling of course).

Things done today:
Patched hole in bathroom floor. Why didn't I take a picture? You can kind of see it here:


Bought vinyl peel n' stick tile for the bathroom floor (it looks so cute on the diagonal, I can't wait to apply it!):


Sprayed the range top and range hood of the stove:


Sprayed the fridge:


My poor trigger-finger is dead :(

Here is the semi final product of the bathroom with the old tile, for posterity:


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 (bought 7/25) 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
-Faux glaze paint over patches CHANGE TO HIRE PAINTERS TO PAINT ENTIRE APARTMENT 7/25
- Workers need to patch up the gigantic holes in my living room before I can sign the contract
-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
10. Add trim or shim up the cabinet to meet the new cabinet height
11. Install toe-kick under kitchen cabinets
12. Install ceiling fan in bedroom


I also bought weather-stripping for the condo, for temporarily deterring drafts and bugs from entering the gaping holes in the patio door and window frames, but I didn't feel like copying the whole list just for that. Oh, ok:

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 CHANGE TO add weather stripping to patio door and windows to prevent bugs from getting in and air from getting out

Not much is happening in the other 2 homes since I am really motivated to get this one off my hands first so I can get settled into a home home.