two steps ahead.. one step back

Invisible Fence Installation.. check
Remember our debate about what to do with the yard? In the beginning Ben and I just could not agree. Ben wanted a traditional fenced in yard and I wanted the Invisible Fence. You can read about the details and why I won that one here, but in the end all of that back and forth didn't matter anyway. Once I called the Zoning Board I found out that being on a corner lot meant that our fence could only be 30" high- anything else would block visibility at the intersection. While that would be fine for normal dogs, somehow we ended up with a dog who thinks he's a cat and there is no way he wouldn't jump over a 30" fence. Note to any other couples who are having the same argument- do yourself a favor and make sure there's something to argue over before it turns into a bigger deal than it has to.
So in pouring rain Henry was introduced to new limits and he couldn't be responding any better. As soon as he gets too close to the fence his collar starts to beep and you can literally see him jump up and run in the opposite direction. I don't care who is on the other side of the fence- Ben, an elementary school class or a squirrel, he's scared enough of the beeping sound that instead of charging he's retreating. I'd like to say we have a changed dog, but it's only been a day. Who knows how long it will take him to begin "testing" the system.

Kitchen Cabinets Ordered.. check
Ben and I have been struggling with where to order our kitchen cabinets for weeks now. Originally when we first started doing the research we figured Home Depot would be the least expensive option (they advertised a 10x10 kitchen would cost approximately $3,000). Because that seemed incredibly reasonable we scheduled the measure and I started working with the kitchen designer the day after we closed on the house. I've written about the kitchen in many of my previous posts this has been quite the process, as it should be, but you can read about the most recent kitchen dilemma here. To put it simply when they finally priced out what I considered to be the only design that was functional for our 10x10 space it turned out to be triple the price. I had a little bit of sticker shock (as did Ben) and we decided to think about it.

So what made us change our mind? A few things..
1. Promotions. Home Depot offers a variety of promotions including no payments for 12 months with no interest- something that seemed like a great back up plan if necessary. On top of that the Kraftmaid cabinets I picked (which by the way were some of the least expensive they offered) were an extra 10% off. Plus Home Depot now has a "Buy More Save More" promotion going on for the next few months that ended up giving us an additional $1000 off. And because we waited a couple weeks to place the order they threw in a free sink base cabinet which was an additional savings of almost $500.

2. Convenience and Reliability. There's just something nice about knowing that if there are any problems- with the cabinets themselves or the installation of them that we can call the local store and have it taken care of. Also, while there are always delivery delays, I still feel like the installation will take place in a reasonable amount of time. Of course the number one rule is to practice patience, but we were told approximately 4 weeks for delivery so to say they'll be installed before Christmas makes me feel like we're allowing for plenty of delays!

3. Availability. A kitchen is something you don't want to have to redo often. It's incredibly costly and should last a number of years (depending on the quality of the cabinets of course!) But we wanted to be realistic. If we end up staying in the house long term and eventually having kids here, we'll probably have to make the kitchen bigger. While that could be 8 years away it could also be more like 4 years away- there's just no way of knowing. By picking classic Home Depot cabinets I felt like we'd have the option if or when we enlarged the kitchen to just add onto the cabinets instead of starting over entirely.

So when we finally placed the order I signed a waiver saying I had 72 hours to change my mind. The truth is I didn't think I needed it- I generally make my decision and stick to it. And remember it was the cost, not the design that was holding the order up. But either way when I saw this picture on the House Beautiful website I knew we had made the right decision..

House Beautiful, October 2007

I'm a sucker for House Beautiful emails that suggest I check out "classic and modern kitchen designs"- I'm sure I'll still waste hours perusing other designers' kitchens even once ours is installed. But this one really caught my attention because it's exactly what I had in mind when I first schemed our space. Here Kay Douglass used the same style and color cabinets I ordered with a light marble counter top. While I haven't looked at stones yet I know I'm going white on the counters, just not sure if I'll opt for marble or granite (granite is more durable so I'll probably stick with that). As I'm sure many of you know we also went with stainless steel- though I'll be using polished chrome accents to bring everything up a notch. And I've already picked a very special white tile backsplash that may have to wait until our funds are replenished- but I'll wait for anything as long as it's perfect once I get it! The only thing we haven't finalized yet is how we are going to treat the ceilings- at the moment what we have is hideous and has to be replaced before our brand new kitchen is installed..
But I have to admit I do love the reclaimed Cyprus Douglass used above. I might just have to ask Ben how hard installing it would be...

Flooding of the Basement.. yuck
Henry and I were welcomed to the Saratoga area with heavy rainfall and a down right messy day Wednesday. The perfect day to unpack and do the months of laundry we've been saving for our very own washer and dryer- don't you think? The answer would probably be yes if our washer and dryer weren't located in our very wet basement. I started the day with a load or two but by noon there was one very large puddle in the middle of the floor that was spreading to all four walls.. very quickly.
Should I be embarrassed that I have THAT much laundry to do? The back of the basement (where the bikes and air conditioners are) is higher ground, but I guess if there's enough water coming the "higher" ground doesn't seem to matter much.
We weren't really sure why the previous homeowners had left a pump in the basement and Wednesday's wet discovery cleared that question up. Ben set up the pump to empty into the sump pump..
By the end of the night most of the puddle was gone but the concrete was obviously still soaking wet and muddy. We're hoping that the next couple of dry days will help us out a bit.

And believe it or not that was all just day 1. Imagine what the next day will bring..

packing and moving

Work on the actual house was put on hold over the weekend and into this week as we packed our lives up in a Uhaul and drove everything upstate for our official move!

In an effort to save a little money we opted to move ourselves. We knew we had to stop at my mother's in Connecticut on the way (over the years anything we couldn't fit in our apartment went straight to her basement) and with the drive up to Saratoga we thought it would be more cost affective to rent a Uhaul and drive up ourselves. But with the fourth floor walk up we figured moving out ourselves would be somewhat impossible (I'm strong but not THAT strong). So in addition to the Uhaul we hired two guys to pack it in New York City- thinking actually unloading it into the house wouldn't be a problem at all.

So over the weekend as we continued to pack but it started to feel like we weren't getting anywhere. I must admit we did take some time to say our goodbyes- Martha stopped by to give us very thoughtful and useful going away gifts..
We were scheduled to pick up the truck on Monday morning and by Sunday night it still looked like we had a ways to go...
On Monday morning we ran into a few obstacles but ended up getting the truck to the apartment in just enough time to meet the movers..
It was decided very early on that I was not to drive the truck..
Ben didn't really appreciate the crazy photographer in the passenger seat.

Due to the street sweeper we were able to park right in front of the building which made it all a little easier!

When we hired the movers we scheduled two guys for three hours. Each additional hour was to be paid in cash and while they did a decent job- as of now I haven't found anything that was damaged too badly (though the boxes with dishes and breakables have yet to be unpacked), they definitely took their time.
In the end it took them six hours to move us out of a small one bedroom apartment. I tried to practice patience but by the fifth hour I was ready to get on the road!

We had expected to get to Connecticut around four but by then we were walking through the empty apartment for the very last time..
Unfortunately after that I didn't take anymore pictures. The process was getting a little painful at that point and I just wanted to get it over with! We ended up getting to Connecticut too late and decided not to drive up to Saratoga that night. We opted to stay at my mother's instead (picked a good meal and real bed over drive thru and an air mattress) and drove up to the house to unpack the following day.

On Tuesday morning we got a bit of a late start (a little accident along the way) and finally made it to the house just before noon. Luckily my father had offered to help us unload and we spent the entire day emptying the truck- we really wouldn't have been able to do it without his help! While we started putting the house together we still have quite a lot of work ahead of us (I'll update on the unpacking process later this week). But I don't mind- I'm happy everyone (and everything) is finally all in one place!

sheetrock update

Time for another sheetrock update!

Ben's been hard at work to finish laminating the existing messy walls with new sheets of 1/4" sheetrock. While I haven't been there to actually see the progress myself he's been trying to keep me updated with lots of phone calls and emails of pictures of the completed work. You can read about the process in the living room and bedroom here and here.

The Bedroom
While he's pretty much gotten the hang of the installation process, the bedroom required a few extra steps before he could just laminate the walls.

Remember this?
Originally when Ben and I purchased the house there was an extra door between the kitchen and bedroom. We opted to close it up in an effort to provide us with more wall space in the kitchen and the bedroom- you can read about the decision to close it off here. Ben removed the door frame and installed stud. He easily closed it off on the kitchen side- not being too concerned with the finished product because cabinets will be covering the unevenness of the wall. You can read about that here.

On the bedroom side he needed to insulate the wall..
cover up the door frame and then laminate the entire wall with 1/4" sheetrock..
You'd never know there was ever a door there!

The rest of the walls were covered like the rest of the house transforming the space from this..
to this..




And onto the next.. taping, sanding and then I'm ready to paint!!!

update on ben's progress

Because Ben has been spending all of his weekends in the New York City area with me his hours spent on the house have been limited to after work. Though he doesn't seem to complain- if he didn't have sheetrock to install he says he'd be bored to tears. There's only so much TV a guy can watch (even with the Phillies in the playoffs).

Anyway, I gave you a little preview of the work he's been doing in last weeks post (you can read it here), but much more has been accomplished so I wanted to update you all.

Ben was determined to get the living room and office walls done before the end of the week.. and he did!

Living Room
Remember before?
This is what it looks like after hours of Ben's hard work..
I'm sure you've noticed that the small areas above the doors and windows were left uncovered. Ben is leaving those areas for "scraps." He didn't want to cut up a full sheet until he saw what what left over.

The Office
These walls weren't as bad as the living room but it's still a big improvement.
Before..
and now..
You can see it's actually still being used as the bedroom. Of course that would mean there's a bed in it and it's looking like Ben will now be sleeping on the floor for the next week- there's nothing like a slow leaking air mattress to help you wake up on a Monday morning!

The Finishing Process
Now the walls still aren't done. Of course Ben still needs to get the bedroom walls done..
but after he finishes installing all of the sheetrock a professional was supposed to come in and tape up the seams and then sand them down to make sure they're smooth enough to paint over. Originally when we decided to install the sheetrock we had discussed hiring a someone to tape them since it really has to be done perfectly. If it's not done well we'd be stuck with messy walls even after investing all of the time and money to laminate them. To tell you the truth, this wasn't even really a discussion- I think we ultimately just both said that would be the best thing to do and that was the end of it.

On Friday night Ben and I grabbed a quick dinner when he finally got into the city and like most of our conversations these days, we started in with the house again. I asked Ben if he had spoken to anyone about taping the walls and he then informed me that HE was taping the walls.

I argued that it would be a waste of money and time if he did it and did it badly, he counter argued by saying it's expensive to hire someone to do it and it makes a mess so he wants it done in the next week before everything is moved into the house.

So to be honest, I'm not sure who is taping the walls and when it will be done, but chances are it won't get done before moving day so we'll figure it out once I get up there.
But the walls look great now, don't they?

busy ben

Lucky me, Ben's been busy, busy while I've been in Manhattan. He's trying desperately to laminate all of the walls with sheetrock before Henry and I pack our bags and join him upstate for good. I've been getting nightly updates- I try not to bother him until the sun goes down so he can take full advantage of the light. As he updates me I try to imagine what a difference covering up all of the layers of wallpaper will make, but last night I was lucky enough to get pictures to go along with the detailed descriptions..

Remember this?

Well now it looks like this..
These are only pictures of the first nights work. He promised to send more along in the next few days, so look out for more major improvements!

bad news ben

Because Ben and I are currently living separately- he's in Saratoga starting our lives up there while I'm in New York City trying to clean up and pack up the lives we're leaving behind- our communication has turned to regular phone calls. Often times he starts the call with an update on his job, sometimes he talks about the weather and how unbelievably cold it got very quickly, then I start complaining about packing and suddenly he hits me with bombshell. Something has gone wrong on the house.. again! But there are times when he doesn't sugar coat the situation- he skips the weather and lays it on me.

The process goes something like this..
1. Ben updates me on the "crisis"
2. I make sure he's not kidding and then I have a minor panic attack because whatever the solution it's going to cost MORE money that we don't have
3. Ben says he has a solution
4. I veto the solution and give him a **better solution
5. We argue
6. I'm right

** I must point out that I added the asterisk because if he were writing this post his opinion would differ drastically. The reality is (and I'm not going to sugarcoat it for the readers) Ben and I are two very strong personalities- though, I think I give in a lot (whether my family believes it or not)! But when it comes down to it, Ben makes decisions to get things done where as I think them through, thoroughly. And while one is not necessarily better than the other, in our situation (due to our tight budget and wreck of a house), thinking these things through is so necessary.. hence me being right all the time.

A little peak inside our "renovating relationship" It's important to mention that our communication during this process is VERY different than how we normally behave- but that's to be expected due to the added stress.
On Monday night I announced to Ben that from now on every time one of us is right about something we get a notch on our belts. Ben made it a point to say the notches are not retroactive (which is unfortunate for me and very lucky for him). But even with that little clause in the agreement, I currently have four notches.. Ben has zero.

Back to the bad news..
Remember the original wallpaper issues I posted about here? Well they just don't seem to end.
On one particular afternoon a couple weeks ago Ben started plastering and sanding the walls in one of the bedrooms and I got a call. The plaster was pulling what appeared to be a wallpaper liner off the wall, revealing another layer of wallpaper underneath.
We had seen a hint of the paper pictured above when we were stripping the walls, but neither of us ever thought that this was something that had to be removed as well.

But not to worry, Ben decided there was no getting around the issue, so he acted quickly and bought a steamer at Home Depot. He called to let me know he was going to strip the liner and the layer of wallpaper and then all of our problems would be solved (in that room, of course). After a couple hours of him trying to steam and strip, he said the moisture from the steamer was collecting on the ceiling and drops of dirt were falling from overhead. Everything was wet and the wallpaper and the liner just weren't coming off as quickly as they were supposed to. When he got lucky he'd get a hold of a strip and pull, though often times he'd not only pull the liner and the wallpaper, but he'd get a chunk of plaster too.
Leaving us with far from perfect walls (remember we are no professional painters so our patching skills can't be trusted) and a steamer. Just perfect.

Once Ben started seeing the plaster pieces come loose my phone rang again. This time he said his solution wasn't working. So what's Plan B you may ask? Plan B in our renovation diaries seems to always be the same.. laminating the walls in 1/4" sheetrock... Remember when Ben called me lazy for throwing in the towel during my living room wallpaper removal adventures? You can read about that lovely argument here. And by the way, he still denys he ever said that.

1/4" sheetrock seems like a good solution- Ben swears he knows how to install it, it's going to cost more but once again the fact that our house is small is looking more and more beneficial everyday. While we're adding two new rooms to the "re-sheetrocking" list, (both the bedroom and office have the awful liner) the extra expense is almost worth it to know in the end we'll have clean walls and will hopefully have spared the headache or two that could have been caused by the patching and sanding.

Here's the catch..
While all of the professionals say when a situation like this arises to install 1/4" sheetrock as a lining. It's easy to use, not heavy and can be installed right over the imperfect walls. It masks all minor wall damage, just keep in mind it does not hide slopes in the walls unless you level them off beforehand. We have this slope on one of the bedroom walls that Ben would like to correct-
though it doesn't bother me for two reasons.. 1) it's an old house, therefore to be expected and 2) I pick my battles. I'm desperate for clean, painted walls.. clean, painted, sloped walls still sounds pretty good to me.

While the 1/4" sheetrock sounds like a wonderful solution here are some of the issues that we had to take into consideration:

- Delivery. Sheetrock comes in large sheets and cannot just be put into any vehicle. While delivery is always an option we have been trying to cut costs by forgoing any delivery fees and picking up items ourselves.

- Time. We're moving in two weeks, Ben's working full time and I'm not available to help which means there's no chance any of the installation will get done before our furniture arrives.

- Availability. 1/4" sheetrock is that it's considered a "specialty" item. Home Depot doesn't carry it, nor does Lowes. And because it's specialty means it's more expensive.

But with every issue we have come across in the last two months, we have come up with solutions for these as well..

- Delivery. I've never been so happy to have a very big, very real pick up truck (even if I still have a terrible time getting into it.. I pulled a muscle on my first try).

-Time. There was no avoiding the issue of time. The truth is, everything is taking longer than we first expected and nothing will be done before the move in date. Again, in order to practice patience I'm trying to let the time thing go. Ben did say he'd try to get the living room done first so we could live out of there while the other rooms are getting done- not to mention our bedroom is now serving as a closet..
and because I want to organize before we start just putting things away, I asked him to work on that room after I get in there and figure out where we should put everything (clothing storage is a little bit of an issue).

- Availability. We looked into ordering 1/4" at our local hardware store Allerdice, but it was about $2.00 more a sheet than the in stock options. Because we're trying to save our pennies Ben and I went from room to room with a piece that is 3/8" thick and stocked at all major stores (aka Home Depot).
As you can see above since our moldings are so thick, the 3/8" worked, but in considering all of the details of the room we came into another problem- the ugly crown molding that we desperately want to replace is only 1/4" thick.
You may not think that's an issue because we do want to replace it- you may even think we can use the money we saved on the sheetrock to buy new crown molding, but in reality molding is expensive, hard to install and very time consuming. New crown molding goes on the list with new ceilings and overhead lighting- all things we won't be able to begin discussing for a couple of years. So with that said I made an executive decision. In order to spare ourselves from living in a home (for an unspecified amount of time) with unfinished crown, I decided we should spring for the more expensive sheetrock- not to mention the 1/4" will be a little easier for Ben to install himself.

And we took a trip to the lumber yard..
Having a husband who works for a contractor has its benefits (and I'm not just talking about the truck). Yes the truck helped- how else would we have traveled to the lumber yard and actually fit in??.. but having a sales rep he deals with regularly and receiving pricing based on a contractors account is also very helpful. I must point out that a lot of what we have been able to do was made possible through our various vendor relations- we can't overlook that. So on Thursday night we hopped into the truck (again I had some difficulty) and drove down to Curtis Lumber in Ballston Spa. And that is exactly where I whipped out my camera to document our picking up close to 40 sheets of 1/4" sheetrock.

I must also point out that these pictures were not easy to get. Ben was complaining as I clicked away.. he even said he'd never be able to show his face there again. After that comment I felt compelled to inform the guy that helped us that this was for a blog.. not that he cared.

looking back at the sheetrock through the truck

Just fyi for all of you who were concerned.. Ben was able to show his face there again. In fact, the following morning he made another trip there for something work related.. and the same lucky guy helped him.