I'm sitting here right now while the packers are boxing up our stuff. The movers come tomorrow, so in 30 hours or so we'll be official Lathropians. Everything seems to be falling into place now... The workers got our closets built, the floors refinished, and the water line ran to our fridge. Today they put the last coat of finish on the floors and install our new cooktop. By some miracle, we actually found someone to clean the house for us tomorrow morning and the movers should arrive at the house with our stuff in the afternoon. The schedule is tight, but I think it's all going to work out.
We've got some pictures of the new closets and floors, but unfortunately they are on the desktop computer, which is already packed. Once we get the computer up and running (and internet up and running) at the country estate, we'll have tons of pics to share.
1.29.2008
1.21.2008
All About the Details
Joe's right--the reality of moving (and moving on) is hitting us now. In just 10 days, we'll be moved out of the urban high rise and into the country estate. And that's when things will really get interesting. So far, working on the country estate has felt like more of a hobby than anything else. We drive up on the weekends, get some work done, laugh about the quirks of the old house, and then drive back to our new loft in the city where we don't have to worry about knob and tube wiring and rooms without heat. Very soon, we'll be living with the little things every single day.
In that spirit, Joe and I had a lot of little things on our list to get accomplished over the weekend. First, I wanted to get some closets painted. Doing this before the floor refinishing begins this week allowed me to sling a little paint without worry. Unfortunately--like every other project we undertake--it took longer than anticipated. For some reason, the 3 closets I painted had all been previously painted with a super-glossy beige paint, which you can see in the "before" picture of the guest bedroom:
Bedroom closet "before"
In hindsight, I probably should have primed the bedroom closets first, but I didn't. Fortunately, they turned out okay, but the new paint didn't really want to stick to the old, so it took a couple of heavy coats.
Bedroom closet "after"
In the bathroom, I painted the linen closet. I learned my lesson with the bedroom closets, so I primed this one first. The paint went on pretty smoothly and it looks a LOT better.
Linen closet, downstairs bathroom
While I was painting, Joe was working on some electrical issues. He installed a light--from scratch--in our newly painted kitchen. Notice it right over the sink. Even though the light isn't on in the pic, rest assured that it works.
Kitchen "after"
(You'll also notice that we finished touching up the kitchen cabinets and installed new knobs on almost all of the doors and drawers--the other 5 knobs are on order at Lowe's. We are happy with the finished kitchen for now but will both be even happier when the budget allows for a complete kitchen renovation in a couple of years.)
Joe continued honing his electrical skills by installing new outlets in the guest bedroom and installing a new dimmer switch in the parlor.
Finally, Joe painted the cabinets in the downstairs bathroom and installed new hardware and hinges. I don't know if you can appreciate it in the pic below, but we painted the cabinets a pale sea green and installed chrome hardware. That bathroom is also in 5-year complete renovation plan, but we think it will look pretty good once the floors get refinished this week.
Downstairs bathroom cabinets "after"
I know it may not seem that exciting to you, dear readers, but checking all of these little things off our lists gave us a nice boost this weekend. This week, construction begins on an upstairs closet, and the floors will be refinished by early next week. The packers come the 29th and the movers will be here on the 30th. Things are moving fast now, so we should have some great "after" pictures and at least one or two stories about our moving adventures over the next couple of weeks. Wish us luck!
In that spirit, Joe and I had a lot of little things on our list to get accomplished over the weekend. First, I wanted to get some closets painted. Doing this before the floor refinishing begins this week allowed me to sling a little paint without worry. Unfortunately--like every other project we undertake--it took longer than anticipated. For some reason, the 3 closets I painted had all been previously painted with a super-glossy beige paint, which you can see in the "before" picture of the guest bedroom:
Bedroom closet "before"
Bedroom closet "after"In the bathroom, I painted the linen closet. I learned my lesson with the bedroom closets, so I primed this one first. The paint went on pretty smoothly and it looks a LOT better.
Linen closet, downstairs bathroom
Kitchen "after"Joe continued honing his electrical skills by installing new outlets in the guest bedroom and installing a new dimmer switch in the parlor.
Finally, Joe painted the cabinets in the downstairs bathroom and installed new hardware and hinges. I don't know if you can appreciate it in the pic below, but we painted the cabinets a pale sea green and installed chrome hardware. That bathroom is also in 5-year complete renovation plan, but we think it will look pretty good once the floors get refinished this week.
Downstairs bathroom cabinets "after"I know it may not seem that exciting to you, dear readers, but checking all of these little things off our lists gave us a nice boost this weekend. This week, construction begins on an upstairs closet, and the floors will be refinished by early next week. The packers come the 29th and the movers will be here on the 30th. Things are moving fast now, so we should have some great "after" pictures and at least one or two stories about our moving adventures over the next couple of weeks. Wish us luck!
1.17.2008
Don't Know What You Got, 'Till Its Gone...
No, I'm not much of a Cinderella fan, but it is definitely a day of mourning. Today, we found out that we have a signed contract to sell the urban highrise. Good news, right? Well yeah, it is good news. I mean, we don't particularly like to pay two mortgages, and we are very excited about moving into the country estate and all. We are really glad to be able to give Max the kind of childhood that we think will be perfect for him. And we definitely like the idea of living a slower-paced lifestyle. But...
We love it in the city.
This wasn't our first home. In fact, Kendra and I had lived in three other places since getting married. We even liked one or two of them. The first was a crappy, 600-square foot apartment in Columbia, MO. It was fine, but given the construction of the place I'd be surprised if it's still standing. Then, we moved to North Carolina, in a decent little townhouse. It was quiet, out of the way, but it never meshed. After that, we lived in a cool little loft in downtown Durham, NC. It was an old tobacco warehouse converted into apartments. It was convenient, trendy, and fun.
But this home in KC was ours. We bought it. We picked out the tile and countertops. It is located in one of the hippest parts of KC, in one of the city's iconic buildings. Above all, this is where we brought Max home for the first time:
He spent the first year of his life here. He learned to crawl here, smiled his first smile here, and laughed for the first time here. And he will remember none of it.
The reality of what we are doing is really hitting us now. There is much that we will miss about the urban highrise, probably too much to name. I'll give it a try anyway.
We will miss the intimacy of living somewhere that truly requires you to interact, almost 24/7, with those you love the most. Even if we wanted to, we cannot get away from each other. Having 3 people (and a dog) live in 1085 square foot will do that. And that creates something special, I think. With over 2400 square feet at the country estate, we will lose this intimacy, to an extent.
We will miss our neighborhood. For those of you not familiar with the Crossroads in KC, it is the center of the city's art scene (and increasingly its dining and nightlife scene). Our waistlines--but not our palettes--will thank us for moving on. But man, it was never hard to figure out what to do for fun on a Friday or Saturday (or Tuesday!) evening.
We will miss our door person, Dei Dei. She is friendly, enthusiastic, and warm.
We will miss our condo. As I said before, this was ours. We customized it. We forged a lot of memories here. We held three holiday parties here, each one going later than the last (thanks, usually, to my brother Chris, or Mike C., hanging around too long after everyone went home).
This is the only place that we have raised our family, and that is changing now.
We are excited about moving, but the sadness of moving on is real, too.
We love it in the city.
This wasn't our first home. In fact, Kendra and I had lived in three other places since getting married. We even liked one or two of them. The first was a crappy, 600-square foot apartment in Columbia, MO. It was fine, but given the construction of the place I'd be surprised if it's still standing. Then, we moved to North Carolina, in a decent little townhouse. It was quiet, out of the way, but it never meshed. After that, we lived in a cool little loft in downtown Durham, NC. It was an old tobacco warehouse converted into apartments. It was convenient, trendy, and fun.
But this home in KC was ours. We bought it. We picked out the tile and countertops. It is located in one of the hippest parts of KC, in one of the city's iconic buildings. Above all, this is where we brought Max home for the first time:
He spent the first year of his life here. He learned to crawl here, smiled his first smile here, and laughed for the first time here. And he will remember none of it.
The reality of what we are doing is really hitting us now. There is much that we will miss about the urban highrise, probably too much to name. I'll give it a try anyway.
We will miss the intimacy of living somewhere that truly requires you to interact, almost 24/7, with those you love the most. Even if we wanted to, we cannot get away from each other. Having 3 people (and a dog) live in 1085 square foot will do that. And that creates something special, I think. With over 2400 square feet at the country estate, we will lose this intimacy, to an extent.
We will miss our neighborhood. For those of you not familiar with the Crossroads in KC, it is the center of the city's art scene (and increasingly its dining and nightlife scene). Our waistlines--but not our palettes--will thank us for moving on. But man, it was never hard to figure out what to do for fun on a Friday or Saturday (or Tuesday!) evening.
We will miss our door person, Dei Dei. She is friendly, enthusiastic, and warm.
We will miss our condo. As I said before, this was ours. We customized it. We forged a lot of memories here. We held three holiday parties here, each one going later than the last (thanks, usually, to my brother Chris, or Mike C., hanging around too long after everyone went home).
This is the only place that we have raised our family, and that is changing now.
We are excited about moving, but the sadness of moving on is real, too.
1.10.2008
Sometimes, You Just Can't Do It Yourself
If there is anything Kendra and I know, it is that our home-improvement skills have limits. With the bulk of the painting done at the country estate, we are just about ready to enter phase 2 - the contractor phase. So Kendra met with our contractor at the house today to discuss the scope of our work. We will be starting the construction of our new master suite by borrowing some of the adjoining bedroom to create a new walk-in closet. In the long-term plans (but not necessarily to be done right away) is to turn the existing closet + some unfinished space into a master bath, and to add a laundry room off the upstairs hall.
We also have about 800 square feet of wood floors to refinish (remember all that carpet we pulled up?). This is going to make a huge difference and give us a very "finished" feel, as we will be refinishing the floors in the office, downstairs bath, stairs, upstairs hall, playroom f/k/a jayhawk room, and Max's room. Some of the trouble spots on the downstairs trim will also be touched up.
We are on a tight time frame, and I think Kendra may have freaked out our contractor a bit when she told him that we wanted it done by the end of the month. The good news is that we should be able to post some sweet before-and-after shots relatively soon.
We also have about 800 square feet of wood floors to refinish (remember all that carpet we pulled up?). This is going to make a huge difference and give us a very "finished" feel, as we will be refinishing the floors in the office, downstairs bath, stairs, upstairs hall, playroom f/k/a jayhawk room, and Max's room. Some of the trouble spots on the downstairs trim will also be touched up.
We are on a tight time frame, and I think Kendra may have freaked out our contractor a bit when she told him that we wanted it done by the end of the month. The good news is that we should be able to post some sweet before-and-after shots relatively soon.
1.07.2008
Belated New Year's Resolutions
Happy 2008!
Like most slacker bloggers, we let ourselves get all caught up in the holidays and holiday aftermath, and we've neglected the blog for almost two weeks now. I could rattle off a list of excuses a mile long, but that's not the spirit of this post. Nope, the purpose of this post is to look ahead to a 2008 full of home improvement possibilities.
I'm not one for New Year's resolutions. I don't really see the point of waiting until the New Year if you need to make a change. And I think that trying to force change just because you think you're supposed to is really just setting yourself up for failure. Despite that, I've been reflecting a bit on 2007. Particularly the last 2 1/2 months of 2007 as we dipped our toes in the do-it-yourself ocean. I have a feeling that by the end of 2008 we'll be in at least chest deep and hopefully completely over our heads at one time or another--that's part of the fun. So, as I look to the year ahead, I give you my home-improvement New Year's resolutions. I'm afraid the fact that I haven't even gotten around to making these resolutions until now--a week into 2008--isn't a good sign...
1. I will stop bugging Joe about the electrical work that needs to be done in the house. He knows my position on it (I want it fixed immediately) and I know his (it's not a priority). Guess who's winning on this? Not me.
2. I will learn how to strip and stain woodwork, specifically in the front entry.
3. I will learn how to mow a lawn. Yep--that's right--I've never mowed a lawn in my life.
4. I will relax about the heating and cooling work that needs to be done. I will realize that people survived for centuries without air conditioning and that many children have grown up in homes with baseboard heat and lived to tell about it.
5. I will make a point to learn something about all of our new neighbors besides their names and what their house looks like from the outside. This sort of assumes, of course, that we will sell the highrise and actually move to the country estate in 2008, but I digress...
6. I will hire a landscape architect to draw up plans for the outside of the house. As someone who's never even mowed a lawn nor has ever been able to even keep a houseplant alive, I should probably leave flowers, grass, trees, and shrubbery to the experts.
7. I will let Joe continue his quest to fix and restore all the windows in the house himself without questioning his sanity.
8. I will throw away the home-made body builder display and energy drink can collection that were left by the previous owners.
And finally...
9. I will know that Rome wasn't built in a day, and that it may take 5 years (or more) for our vision of this house to be fully realized. I will stop suggesting that we take out a huge loan to do everything in the spring and recognize the value of putting our own elbow grease--and hearts and souls--into this project. And I will remember to stop every once in a while and enjoy the house--and our DIY lifestyle--for what it is rather than what I want it to become.
We'll check back in December and see how I did.
Like most slacker bloggers, we let ourselves get all caught up in the holidays and holiday aftermath, and we've neglected the blog for almost two weeks now. I could rattle off a list of excuses a mile long, but that's not the spirit of this post. Nope, the purpose of this post is to look ahead to a 2008 full of home improvement possibilities.
I'm not one for New Year's resolutions. I don't really see the point of waiting until the New Year if you need to make a change. And I think that trying to force change just because you think you're supposed to is really just setting yourself up for failure. Despite that, I've been reflecting a bit on 2007. Particularly the last 2 1/2 months of 2007 as we dipped our toes in the do-it-yourself ocean. I have a feeling that by the end of 2008 we'll be in at least chest deep and hopefully completely over our heads at one time or another--that's part of the fun. So, as I look to the year ahead, I give you my home-improvement New Year's resolutions. I'm afraid the fact that I haven't even gotten around to making these resolutions until now--a week into 2008--isn't a good sign...
1. I will stop bugging Joe about the electrical work that needs to be done in the house. He knows my position on it (I want it fixed immediately) and I know his (it's not a priority). Guess who's winning on this? Not me.
2. I will learn how to strip and stain woodwork, specifically in the front entry.
3. I will learn how to mow a lawn. Yep--that's right--I've never mowed a lawn in my life.
4. I will relax about the heating and cooling work that needs to be done. I will realize that people survived for centuries without air conditioning and that many children have grown up in homes with baseboard heat and lived to tell about it.
5. I will make a point to learn something about all of our new neighbors besides their names and what their house looks like from the outside. This sort of assumes, of course, that we will sell the highrise and actually move to the country estate in 2008, but I digress...
6. I will hire a landscape architect to draw up plans for the outside of the house. As someone who's never even mowed a lawn nor has ever been able to even keep a houseplant alive, I should probably leave flowers, grass, trees, and shrubbery to the experts.
7. I will let Joe continue his quest to fix and restore all the windows in the house himself without questioning his sanity.
8. I will throw away the home-made body builder display and energy drink can collection that were left by the previous owners.
And finally...
9. I will know that Rome wasn't built in a day, and that it may take 5 years (or more) for our vision of this house to be fully realized. I will stop suggesting that we take out a huge loan to do everything in the spring and recognize the value of putting our own elbow grease--and hearts and souls--into this project. And I will remember to stop every once in a while and enjoy the house--and our DIY lifestyle--for what it is rather than what I want it to become.
We'll check back in December and see how I did.
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