I don't like remodeling. I like having remodeled. Painting, staining, rearranging everything in and out of rooms, tripping over stuff, and giving up my time normally spent outdoors in my garden to work inside on a ladder despite my fear of heights. What the heck have I gotten myself into I wonder out loud. But look at the bright side Jim says in that matter of fact tone, "think about the sweat equity we're accumulating by doing 95% of the work ourselves".
Meanwhile I'm roasting in 90-degree heat, forced to close up the house I turn on the air conditioner. And always, the smell of paint choking me as it settles in my throat along with the noxious toxins from the new vinyl and carpet flooring.
One thing I know for sure, there is no way to speed up our projects without sacrificing quality. So I have no choice but to accept the mess and stress of being trapped in a constant state of remodeling this year.
Funny thing is Jim doesn’t' mind tackling one project after another. His 'honey-do' list continues to grow yet he whistles while he works. Part of me resents him for it, and the other part is relieved that one of us enjoys the chaos and manual labor. The one with all the construction knowledge that is!
My mind never stops planning, even in my sleep I'm dreaming about completing our next project. Taming the concrete dungeon (a.k.a. basement) to build a new family room and bathroom. Which means more noisy evenings and weekends. Our neighbors must love us!
Showing posts with label home improvement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label home improvement. Show all posts
Monday, August 27, 2007
Saturday, August 25, 2007
New Floors Installed
When we started tearing out the old linoleum we thought it would peel right up. Boy were we wrong.
It took 2 hours to remove the old linoleum in our kitchen with a heat gun and putty knife.
Vinyl Mannington kitchen floor is done!
Carpets are in too!
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Painting Project
My living room walls are near done and I'm pleased to say I like it, I really like it!
Can we go out and play now?
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Renovations Are Us
Jim removes the ceramic tile in the front entrance of our home to prepare for installing new beige tile.
Living room prepped for painting in the same shade as the hallway "tawny tan".
More pictures to come soon!
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Color My World
My life is consumed with home improvement projects lately. It all started last month when I picked out several delicious palettes of paint samples in French Roast, Java, Mocha, Biscuit, Macadamia, and Soft Apricot to name just a few.
After wrangling over the many options I decided on complimentary earth-tone colors to match my new flooring (yet to be installed) in the foyer, hallway, and living-room.
I check with hubby to see if he can live with the colors for the next several years. He gives a robotic nod without any verbal expression. Which increases my doubt as I know he's only doing what he thinks he must do in order to keep the peace. So I ask again to make sure that he's with me and he confirms that the colors will work well.
I get the first coat of Soft Apricot on the kitchen walls and I'm horrified to find what looks more like over-ripe cantaloupe. Jim comes home from work and tells me that it looks like a country kitchen. Great, my style has always been traditional and now it's turning eclectic.
Still, I'm determined to use the paint. So after a second coat to cover the paint streaks and bald spots the color begins to grow on both of us and we decide to live with it. Jim then put wood molding along the base of the ceiling and walls for a little extra touch and I place a rooster plate on the wall as a reminder of the free roaming birds of Key West.
Truthfully the hardest thing about redecorating is selecting colors and items I won't grow tired of in a few years. The way I see it, the painstaking process of redesigning a house shouldn't be done more than every 15-20 years.
I admire those ambitious types who redecorate and paint their walls every couple years just for the fun of it. I'll never be that type of person. As a matter of fact, my Eggshell colored living room walls remained the same for 15 years - walls I never painted. But all that changed today and I feel inspired by the Tawny Tan I've started to flow on my walls. I might even add a darker shade of brown in either Coffee Bean or Java to the largest wall behind my new sofa.
Meanwhile hubby looks at me like I've got two heads when I explain that it's a new style concept to paint one wall in a darker shade to accent the room. Then again what does he care as long as he doesn't have to do the painting, now that he's got me trained on how to cut, edge, roll, and feather out brush strokes.
Oh and I must mention that we're also remodeling the basement. Yes, we'll be busy for several months.
My appreciation for my husband's jack-of-all-trades skill level never ceases to amaze me. Jim's got a wealth of knowledge and motivation. He grew up surrounded by hard-workers who built their own homes from the ground up, so he finds it natural to tear down walls in the basement then rebuild new walls to create a family room and bathroom. While I, the city girl who grew up in an apartment where the landlord did all the work, feel stressed over every project we're tackling.
Last week we hung tongue and groove boards on the ceiling of our basement. Anyone who could see us in action would have laughed their ass off! I'm up on a small step-ladder attempting to hold pieces of wood in place while he's firing the air-pressured nail gun. The wood keeps slipping out of the groove, and he thinks it's because I can't judge how to hold the wood right.
Of course, the wood we purchased from our local home improvement store must have been seconds because it wasn't lining up properly no matter how hard I pushed it into place.
I'm still picking out the near invisible slivers of pine from my calloused hands, and even though my body hurts in places I didn't know could ache, I am learning and growing.
When I get the chance to catch my breath I tune into the DIY network or HGTV, and I read books and magazines on interior design. I am gaining the confidence to follow my heart's lead and the ability to cope creatively with the renovations.
After wrangling over the many options I decided on complimentary earth-tone colors to match my new flooring (yet to be installed) in the foyer, hallway, and living-room.
I check with hubby to see if he can live with the colors for the next several years. He gives a robotic nod without any verbal expression. Which increases my doubt as I know he's only doing what he thinks he must do in order to keep the peace. So I ask again to make sure that he's with me and he confirms that the colors will work well.
I get the first coat of Soft Apricot on the kitchen walls and I'm horrified to find what looks more like over-ripe cantaloupe. Jim comes home from work and tells me that it looks like a country kitchen. Great, my style has always been traditional and now it's turning eclectic.
Still, I'm determined to use the paint. So after a second coat to cover the paint streaks and bald spots the color begins to grow on both of us and we decide to live with it. Jim then put wood molding along the base of the ceiling and walls for a little extra touch and I place a rooster plate on the wall as a reminder of the free roaming birds of Key West.
Truthfully the hardest thing about redecorating is selecting colors and items I won't grow tired of in a few years. The way I see it, the painstaking process of redesigning a house shouldn't be done more than every 15-20 years.
I admire those ambitious types who redecorate and paint their walls every couple years just for the fun of it. I'll never be that type of person. As a matter of fact, my Eggshell colored living room walls remained the same for 15 years - walls I never painted. But all that changed today and I feel inspired by the Tawny Tan I've started to flow on my walls. I might even add a darker shade of brown in either Coffee Bean or Java to the largest wall behind my new sofa.
Meanwhile hubby looks at me like I've got two heads when I explain that it's a new style concept to paint one wall in a darker shade to accent the room. Then again what does he care as long as he doesn't have to do the painting, now that he's got me trained on how to cut, edge, roll, and feather out brush strokes.
Oh and I must mention that we're also remodeling the basement. Yes, we'll be busy for several months.
My appreciation for my husband's jack-of-all-trades skill level never ceases to amaze me. Jim's got a wealth of knowledge and motivation. He grew up surrounded by hard-workers who built their own homes from the ground up, so he finds it natural to tear down walls in the basement then rebuild new walls to create a family room and bathroom. While I, the city girl who grew up in an apartment where the landlord did all the work, feel stressed over every project we're tackling.
Last week we hung tongue and groove boards on the ceiling of our basement. Anyone who could see us in action would have laughed their ass off! I'm up on a small step-ladder attempting to hold pieces of wood in place while he's firing the air-pressured nail gun. The wood keeps slipping out of the groove, and he thinks it's because I can't judge how to hold the wood right.
Of course, the wood we purchased from our local home improvement store must have been seconds because it wasn't lining up properly no matter how hard I pushed it into place.
I'm still picking out the near invisible slivers of pine from my calloused hands, and even though my body hurts in places I didn't know could ache, I am learning and growing.
When I get the chance to catch my breath I tune into the DIY network or HGTV, and I read books and magazines on interior design. I am gaining the confidence to follow my heart's lead and the ability to cope creatively with the renovations.
Monday, July 09, 2007
Extreme Makeover
Home improvement projects are causing me anxiety and illness. Painting walls and staining woodwork is clearly not my forte, but since my husband Jim is a jack-of-all trades he refuses to hire anyone. So he took over the job for me this past weekend. Whew - talk about toxic overload I couldn't even see straight from the chemical smells.
While I'm all for saving money by doing the work ourselves, I've decided to hire a pro to wallpaper the dining room. Jim bought into my plan - yeah!
Of course, we don't always agree on everything. We visited the local hardware/home improvement store and created quite a scene as we stood there arguing over lights. Now I know we're not the first couple to do this, but when we left empty handed I knew that we hit a wall and it was time to take a step back. On the drive home we agreed how silly the whole argument was, especially since we share a similar sense of taste and design style.
It's been 15 years since we first built our home, and we forgot the pain involved in the process of selecting everything from light fixtures to door knobs. One thing we are now remembering is that time and patience is what it will take to remodel. We'll probably be at it for several months at this rate, but when the rooms are complete it will be well worth the blood, sweat, and fears.
While I'm all for saving money by doing the work ourselves, I've decided to hire a pro to wallpaper the dining room. Jim bought into my plan - yeah!
Of course, we don't always agree on everything. We visited the local hardware/home improvement store and created quite a scene as we stood there arguing over lights. Now I know we're not the first couple to do this, but when we left empty handed I knew that we hit a wall and it was time to take a step back. On the drive home we agreed how silly the whole argument was, especially since we share a similar sense of taste and design style.
It's been 15 years since we first built our home, and we forgot the pain involved in the process of selecting everything from light fixtures to door knobs. One thing we are now remembering is that time and patience is what it will take to remodel. We'll probably be at it for several months at this rate, but when the rooms are complete it will be well worth the blood, sweat, and fears.
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