So many plants, so little time June 4, 2007

We decided that this year we would hold back on the planting. We wanted to see what would pop up around the house and in the yard. So far we’ve only purchased a few things:

1. Pepper plants to grow in pots on the porch (from left to right: habenero, super chili, and cayenne)
2. Two geraniums, snapdragons, and some sort of purple flower that I forget the name of to plant in a long planter to put in front of the house (pictured on kitchen windowsill, still not planted)
3. Impatiens to plant in a bare spot in the front of the house
4. Spearmint to plant near the base of the deck
5. Cucumber plants to plant in the only sunny corner of the backyard.

We were really tempted to buy more plants, but we held back. Next year though, hoooo boy! The gardening will begin.

Popcorn ceiling vs. Humans May 24, 2007

Oh, the popcorn ceiling. Popular treatment in the 1950s-70s. Builders liked it because they could spray it on and not worry about finishing the ceilings, homeowners… well, I sort of wonder if anyone ever really liked popcorn ceilings. After a while they become dirty and dingy since you can’t wash them. Some people try to solve the problem by painting over the popcorn, in turn creating another interesting mess since wet popcorn tends to fall off. We decided enough was enough and embarked on a journey to de-popcorn our basement ceilings.

Step one: Buy a pressurised sprayer at Home Depot/Walmart/any gardening center. Usually they are used to spray fertilizer and/or weed killer, but we used it to spray plain, old water. Fill sprayer with warm water and spray onto the ceiling. Wait five minutes. DO NOT OVERSPRAY!  You can damage the drywall behind the popcorn, and peel off the backing paper.

Step two: Take a scraper, anything flat surfaced that you can scrape smoothly across the ceiling (we used 6″ wide spackle knives [at least I think that's what they are called]), and run it along the ceiling. The popcorn, at this point the consistency of spit balls, will fall right off. I should say at this point that it is a good idea to lay down plastic all over your floor. This is so messy that the spit balls fly everywhere when you scrape.

Step 3: Take ridiculous pictures of your H wielding the sprayer and the impressive popcorn stalactite hanging from the ceiling. Please people, do not paint over your popcorn. We lucked out. I’ve heard horror stories of painted popcorn being hellish to remove, but we didn’t have any problems other than it wanted to peel off in sheets.

Step four: (At this point I should mention that it would probably be wise to texture your ceilings after the popcorn has been removed. We chose not to do this step since we didn’t have the time/money/inclination to do so.) What you are left with is unfinished dry wall. There is a reason the builders sprayed the popcorn, they didn’t have to finish/fix dents in the drywall as they would have if it had been a wall. Take some spackle and fill in the various dents, holes, weird pockmarks in the ceiling. Then take a broom and sweep the now dry ceiling (the ceiling will be wet immediately after scraping, be careful at this stage as you can tear the drywall paper). There are going to be imperfections, try to fix them as best you can.

Step five: Say good-bye to your sanity. Unpainted drywall needs to be primed. It soaks up the primer paint like a dying man in the dessert sucks up water. We probably should have used two coats of primer, but left it at one. Its about this time that despair creeps upon you. Your arms ache, your neck hurts, and you realize that there are two more coats of paint left. Suck it up, the results are worth it, and really, you can’t quit now. Two coats of ceiling paint and you’re DONE!

Smooth as a baby’s bottom. (Don’t worry, that fan is being replaced.) We de-popcorned our whole basement (2 bedrooms, 1 hallway, 1 long family room). A whole trashcan was filled with the used spitball substance that was once “popcorn.” All the hard work is worth it, I promise, if you decide to do smooth out your ceiling.

The story of closing day… May 17, 2007

or, have we lost our freaking minds?

Time-line of closing day, May 15:

11:00 a.m. picked up truck and hauled ass getting some of our heavier things out of the apt.

12:00 p.m. went to friend’s apt. and hauled ass getting things she’s giving us out her apt.

1:00 p.m. closing – it went smoothly, no snags. After a while I forgot what my name was signing everything. The lady seller was nice, the male seller was very grumpy and wouldn’t tell us anything, even when we were asking legitimate questions (is the valve breaker for the sprinkler system we found in the kitchen cabinets ok to install?) I can see why he’s grumpy though, they lost money on the house.

3:00 p.m. get to the house and unload everything from the truck

3:30 p.m. tile guy comes to give us an estimate. We like him and his estimate. He tells us that he has an opening for this Thursday.

4:00 p.m. take truck back, and start looking for tile (we’re providing own materials)

6:00 p.m. find tile we like, but even though the computer says they have it in stock, they can’t find it.

7:00 p.m. have to give up tile search, everyone is closed and Home Depot tiles are ugly.

8:00 p.m. arrive at concert and stay until 2:30 a.m. I’m beat.

The next day

6:30 a.m. wake up

7:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. work

4:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. demolish shower. We’re saving $$ demoing ourselves. The H started the work and I (and my grandpa) finished it up.  The H found tiles and bought them (after a little finagling since he was buying them from a wholesaler he had to find someone with an account at the store to buy them for us.)

I really do think we’ve lost our minds.

Front window treatment April 26, 2007

The downside to buying an older house is that you have to work around structural trends that aren’t necessarily in style anymore.  In our case, it’s a huge window right by the front door.  I think I have found a solution that will work, window film!  In particular this pattern, found at Lowe’s.

This should give us a good amount of privacy.  I.e. I can run upstairs in my pj’s and there’s not a chance anyone will see!

I love you honey, but… April 16, 2007

No more free furniture!  Well, ok, maybe a couple of more pieces, but certainly no more laminate entertainment centers.

I stood on the sidewalk Sunday, and pondered what, exactly, had led me to this point.  Dismantling a nicked and worn entertainment center wasn’t on my agenda that day.  It all stems from my husband’s love of Craigslist.  Ostensibly, this free furniture is to fill up our soon-to-be house.  I admit, the house will be pretty bare when we move in, but do we really need another desk, a cabinet that used to hold a TV, a broken down entertainment center, and an out of date desk chair?  I’m thinking we could have lived without these items.

eeeeeeeeeeeeee! April 12, 2007

We got the house!  After some post-inspection negotiation the house is OURS!  I can finally start ordering things and planning for real!  Before, I was trying to curb myself because the deal might have fallen through.  I’m so glad this isn’t the case.  whew!

The house April 3, 2007

I’m fairly sure our agent thinks we’re crazy. We offered on a house the first day we looked. The H (husband) said he saw “potential” in the house. It was a run down house that was being rented by three guys. Personally, it wasn’t my cup of tea, but I could live with it. (Un)fortunately we were outbid.

The next time we looked at houses we immediately put in an offer on another house. This one I like. Built in 1974 this house is a bi-level. 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, and in fairly good condition. We’ve had the inspection and the house came back with a few problems, but nothing that isn’t fixable. The major problems: aluminum wiring that needs converted at all outlets, a breaker box that has to be replaced, and a bathroom tile job that is going to fall off the wall soon.

As of today, we’re in the process of getting bids to see what it would cost to fix those problems. We’ll be going back to the sellers soon (I hope) to see what they will fix or if they’ll give us an allowance to fix the house.