Whose House is THIS?

Mom emailed me more photos today. I was floored. Shocked. Stunned. My jaw literally dropped. Did she break into someone else's place and snap some photos? I wasn't prepared for the sight of completed projects. One word: KITCHEN!!! I'm going to do before and afters of the pictures so those of you joining in late (or who need a refresher) can see the extent of the changes. I'm still blown away.

The Realtor wasn't able to come today because she had to show 20 houses to someone from out of town. Yes, in one day. I gave her my sympathies. Mom didn't want to start painting in case she came, as there would be a big mess, so she and my sisters spent much of the day cleaning. I'm still not sure how she got the wood floors to look that good. They looked like garbage while I was there, but that most likely has more to do with my cleaning deficiencies. I think Mom said the Realtor will be coming tomorrow, so hopefully I'll be hearing back soon.

Mom mentioned in the end of her email, "It is going to be hard to see the house get sold...... I have become attached to it!" I didn't even need to read that because as soon as I saw that there were curtains hanging in the kitchen I knew. The house is similar in style and layout to Dad and Mom's first house after they got married. Their house was much cooler though with oak built-ins and it was in much better condition. I know, just get to the pictures, right?

The upstairs bathroom really just needed to have a good cleaning and accessories to get it market ready. I don't know where she found it, but that's the perfect shower curtain. Almost makes the stupid blue tiles look like they should be there!

Before:
After:Upstairs Hall: New paint, new wall on the West side with replacement doors and trim.

Before:
After:
Saved the best for last for you guys. The kitchen. Who wouldn't want this kitchen now? New appliances, new paint, new hardware, new faucet, new flooring. New curtains!?! (Mom's officially attached now!)

Before:
After:
It's so amazing. I wish I could just get the house picked up and dropped in Manhattan! I'm very excited for my next talk with my Realtor just to hear what she says. I think a listing isn't too far off! Again, hopefully up a few k's from her earlier estimate... still dreaming right?

Gather 'Round Everybody, Pics from NoDak!

So, while I've been playing around in New York, my parents have been putting the house back together. They sent pictures!!! I was so excited to open that email. Ready? Here we go!

The living room and the stairwell got their coat of khaki and are looking pretty good. Do you remember the hole in the wall at the top of the stairs? How about the paneling? Nope, me neither.The dining room has the new crown moulding and trim painted white. So crisp, clean.
The cabinets are now updated with a clean coat of white paint. Maybe the new buyers won't notice how small the kitchen is when everything's bright and clean? But where are the doors?Oh, there they are. They're upstairs waiting for some new hardware.
Even though I told Mom not to waste money on little details that won't up the selling price, she couldn't leave the front of the house without some color. I guess there's a flowerbed out there now. I bet it looks more like a home now. Thanks Mom!Well, that's all for now. The family's out of town for a bit so I'll have to wait until they get back before I can call the realtor. I'm going to have her go over to the house when Mom or Dad is there so she can see how things are going and what needs to still be addressed. I wish so much I was there until it went on the market. I mean, this was my project and I just left it for everyone else to finish. I hate not finishing what I started!

NYC in 10: Trim, Trim, Trim.

First, before the trim talk, last night I started working on the kitchen tile. Ugh.

It was a pretty straightforward job: peel off old tiles, lay down new tiles. Not too hard, right? No, not utill Nate decides to start doing things the right way. I already had a good part of the kitchen re-tiled but then, behind the fridge, I realized that the sheet vinyl underneath was coming up from the floor. "I should really peel that up first" I thought. Big mistake. I spent the next two hours redoing the work I had already done. Peel off the new tile, chip away at old sheet vinyl, replace tile. After about a third of the kitchen the sheet vinyl stopped coming off, so I had to use my scraper to kind of taper the edge off to the wood floor. Then I could transition from vinyl tile over wood to vinyl tile over sheet vinyl. Here's a photo of that transition.

By the way, check out how amazing that sheet vinyl was. I want to meet the person who decided that was the best option for their kitchen. Seriously.
Here's a photo of the part of the floor that is done. The rest has to wait until the subfloor dries out from the leaky shower. Yeah, that's on my to-do list too. Just imagine white cabinets and window trim. The hardware we picked up today was the wrong size, so we'll have to exchange that. Yeah, I forgot to measure it and just took a guess. Of course I was wrong.But, back to the main topic of the post: TRIM!!!

Yesterday Mom and Dad came up and helped me get started with the trim replacement. After a trip to the Depot to get lumber, Dad and I started cutting trim while Mom primed the boards. We replaced all of the missing baseboards and quarter-round trim on the first floor. Photos:

Today they came up again with my brother and sisters. After another trip to the Depot, we started with the crown moulding. After about a hundred bad cuts, we finally got it up. We've got some filling to do at the corners and seams, but it's good enough. Yeah, I don't think we have a future as a father & son crown moulding company. Next came the cap moulding over the window and door trim. Check it out!

After we finished, we moved upstairs and Mom primed all of the wood. We need a little paint yet, but we're on the home stretch.

Upstairs, Dad and I hung the trim around the North West bedroom door (inside and outside trim) Next we hung up the door to the linen closet. It went up really easily, much to our surprise. It only took, like, 20 minuets to hang an 80 year old door in a new frame in an 80 year old house. Everything just lined up level on the first try. After we put the trim up around that door, the family took off for home. It feels so good to have this much progress happen in two days. I'm feeling a little less stressed out. Next step? Finishing the baseboards and quarter round trim on the second floor, priming, then a couple coats of paint. Then big old before and after pictures. I love nothing more than some good before and afters!

NYC in 22 Days! Panic Mode!

Wow, so I'm in a mad dash to the finish. Finish in relative terms... I could spend five years working on this house! So far I've mostly been running in circles trying to figure out the best place to start. A few days ago I painted the trim in the kitchen white
and this morning, on a whim, I decided to paint the walls in the kitchen. What is wrong with me and picking out paint colors? I can't seem to do it. I picked up this paint about five months ago. What is it that takes the paint from the nice light sage green on the paint swatch and turns it into a dark SEAFOAM green mess on the walls?


Ok, so it's a little bluer and darker than I would have wanted, but I think it's ok. It does make the white trim 'pop'. If the realtor says it will hurt the sale, I guess it did only take me about three hours to do the job. I still need to paint the ceiling and cabinets a nice pure white. Not a job for today. No way!

Usually I'm not one to be extremely boastful about things, but I captured this bit of sheer magic on film for you. It's me cutting in with a paintbrush. I haven't used painters tape in years and I think it's my best quality in the scheme of home renovating. Steady hand... check it out!



Oh yeah!


More to come soon. Nothing like an impossible deadline to keep you moving!

Fridge Fun

I had a couple spare minutes the other day and I felt in the mood to mess with my roommates. The refrigerator and freezer doors were swinging the wrong way for the fridge's placement in the kitchen... so I switched 'em! Imagine if you just came downstairs for a glass of juice and... wait... now the handle's over there!?! Ha!