After calls to the bank and the lawyer that handled our closing, it appears that the bank made a major miscalculation and we DON’T owe an extra $200 every month. They haven’t officially retracted the higher payment notice, but supposedly the issue is fixed. Hurrah!
In other news, we got plenty done this weekend. Teague and Don finished the gutters and jacked up the sidewalk near the driveway – the concreate slabs were pitched in toward the house, directing water toward the foundation. Teague put wet or dry sealant on the back roof seams to keep water out. I primed the office walls and puttied/painted the face of the kitchen cabinets. Two out of three kitchen curtains are finished and hanging. The Christmas tree is up (and looks great). And the dogs played to the point of exhaustion yesterday. It was a productive weekend!
If you’re thinking about painting, Behr’s “Inspiration” section has some great historic color palettes, as well as some helpful design tips.
The page for Victorians is here
Here’s what the interior palette looks like:
Sherwin Williams has some great period palettes too, and they’re very well designed, but they don’t put theirs online.
Yesterday, we got a letter in the mail stating that our mortgage payments were going to be over $200.00 higher than originally stated. This is a large increase considering what our monthly payments are and what the house looks like. My mother calmly talked me through a small nervous breakdown (Thanks, Mom!) After that, I called the bank to get the story. They weren’t very clear on things, but apparently the tax numbers provided by our lawyer were way, way off. How, we’re not sure. I have a call in to her, and hope to hear something along the lines of “Oh no, it’s the bank that has it wrong. Your payments aren’t going to skyrocket. No need to worry.” If we don’t hear that, there’s a distinct possibility we’ll be turning the house back into a two-family for a few years. Yeehaw. I’m trying not to think bad thoughts until I hear official word, but in the back of my head I’m remembering ramen noodle college days and calculating how many nights of waitressing I could take without going crazy. What fun!
But life will go on, whatever the outcome, right? Right.
Another weekend is almost here, which means large chunks of time to get things accomplished. Our to-do list grows exponentially each week – this weekend, we could:
- Put a Christmas tree up!
- Putty the holes (from ugly hardware) in the kitchen cabinet doors and paint them white
- Pick out cheap cabinet knobs, pull and hinges we can live with for a while
- Finish up the gutter installation on the back of the house
- Jack the basement some more
- Paint the stairs
- Finish the kitchen curtains
- Install the dining room chandelier (a housewarming gift from my thoughtful Grandparents!!)
- Play with the poor, neglected dogs
- Check out Significant Elements, a non-profit salvage shop in Ithaca
I’ll let you know how far we actually get…. ;)
For the first month, we had momentum. We were an unstoppable force. We ran from room to room ,taking care of the mini-crisises and cleaning emergencies that kept popping up. But now, amidst the already stressful (not to mention dark, gloomy, and rainy) Christmas season, I can feel myself losing steam.
Last night, I painted the kitchen cupboards with the speed of a slug. Sure, I *did* the job, which is important. But I did it without any enthusiasm or excitement. I didn’t enjoy seeing the trim go from gloppy dark green to glossy white. Usually this stuff gets me really jazzed (pathetic, but true). All I wanted to do was curl up on the couch with my book and a blanket.
I think I have hit a wall.
So my question is – how do you guys keep yourselves motivated?
Right now, the kitchen isn’t exactly working for us. It’s small, but I can handle that. The thing that’s killing me is our total lack of cupboard space. Here’s what we’ve got:
(click for larger)
That’s it – every pot, pan and canned good we own is shoved into one of those cupboards. Miraculously, it all fits – but we can’t find a thing. In fact, we’ve been eating sandwiches and popcorn for three weeks straight, and I think it’s because I have NO CLUE what other choices I’ve got.
So we’ve been working on a plan, a “phase one” approach that would make our kitchen a little more functional and a little less odd. We can’t do the dream kitchen remodel just yet, but we’ve has come up with some small changes that I think will make a big difference.
Keep reading for details on our plans…
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Our first enemy was the dreaded draft……which we beat into submission by stuffing every crack and crevice we could find with insulation and expandafoam. But now, a new enemy has emerged….
We had some water in the basement on Tuesday. It has been rainy, windy, and miserable most of the week, so I’m just glad our chimney hasn’t blown over yet. But the water was dripping down the foundation wall near the basement steps, which is why they currently look like this:
(click for larger)
Teague is talking about installing gutters this weekend. Cause we were thinking, what else can we add to our to-do list? It’s just not long enough yet!
Some good links for those with wet basements, courtesy of Don:
Yesterday I took a vacation day to run errands – most importantly, to get snow tires on my car before a blizzard hits. I ran to JoAnn Fabrics to look for cheap fabric for the kitchen curtains, and got lost in the endless stock of 1/2 off ribbon and fake pine. The holiday spirit hit me hard, and I literally raced home to get our place looking festive.
It doesn’t hurt that I have 3 large totes FULL of Christmas paraphenalia….
I did do some actual work on the house as well; primed about half of the foyer walls with two coats of Kilz. We swear by this stuff – and it’s got stain blockers to keep the disgusting smoke stains from seeping up.
About a week ago, in an energetic burst of fixer-upperness, I decided I would strip the bathroom door. The paint was peeling and cracking, and I was itching to try some Peel-Away to see what the fuss was about.
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While painting the kitchen, I noticed a cold draft coming from the space where the back wall meets the floor. Since drafts are our enemy, I got down on my hands and knees to check it out. What I found was a sizeable gap between the floor and the bottom of the wall; I could easily push the bottom of the wall back and forth. Obviously, not a good thing.
So on Saturday, Don and Teague ditched their jacking plans and instead focused on reuniting the wall with the floor. To see the problem clearly they had to open up the scary room on the back of the house that we’ve been calling the annex. It has been neglected for quite some time, and is by far the creepiest part of our house.
(keep reading for details on the project and tons of photos)
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Mindy began to paint the kitchen tonight to freshen up the walls and attempt to disguise the door that has been poorly sheetrocked over. As Mindy and I began to move the fridge away from the wall she suddenly paused and put her hands over her mouth saying, “Honey… I found a dead mouse and you’re going to have to get it because that stuff makes me nauseous!” At closer inspection I found the dead mouse to be merely an old cat toy. It was an opportune time for a photo if I do say so myself.
The mouse sighting:
(click for larger and get all the great cobwebby details)
Lunchtime! (click for larger)
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