Home Improvement Updates

So, since the bed fiasco, I have expended very little in the blood/sweat/tears department of home decor.  For the few problems I’ve had (knock on drywall) it’s been appropriate for my home-repair-illerate self to hire a plumber or carpenter (sink leak and effed-up sliding glass doors).

When I decided I wanted to mount some shelves on the wall of my bedroom, I turned sheepishly back to Ikea.  I bought “floating shelves” before finding that there are no studs in at least one of my bedroom walls.  Home Depot tells me this is impossible, so my place was clearly built with witchcraft.  Regardless, the shelves were by no means staying in the wall on their own.

I went to Home Depot and picked up some attractive brackets, and 4 boxes of a very foreign object — the deadly Hollow Wall Mount.  These are screws, surrounded by metal, that you hammer into the wall, then remove the screw, then screw the screw back in — at least so I think.  I’m not sure if I used them right at all, but the shelves seem to be in now.

It took me forever to do the first shelf, and I realize the shelf is not flush with the bracket, so fuck you in advance if you’re about to critizcize me.  I AM DOING.  THE BEST.  I CAN. 

Having gotten one shelf up (2 hours labor, between figuring out how to use the hollow wall mounts, figuring out how to change the drill bit, and figuring out how to balance the shelf on my head while I measured for the screw placement and aligned the brackets, I was feeling cocky and moved on to the second shelf.

Now, there was already a crack in the wall, but of course it busted wide open, paint chips falling right off, as I hammered in the wall mount.  In an almost funny (but really not) display, the wall mount actually popped back out at me every time I pushed it into the wall.  It was like there was a little gremlin in there, popping it back out forcefully. 

Turns out there is some kind of plastic inside the wall.  Feels like a raft, or an inflatable mattress.  I guess it’s some sort of insulation, or a dead body, but either way, it’s less than 3 inches into the wall, and it’s bouyant, so it made my screw pop out.

Also, note that hole in the right of the picture above?  It’s way bigger than my finger.  As I hammered into the wall, it just basically exploded, creating this hole.  That was when I took the opportunity to finger it, and found the raft.  Fucker.  All, poppin’ out my wall mounts and shit.

Fangerin’ holes:

Fortunately, I was able to conceal the hole with the bracket, and also fortunately, the inflatable raft in the wall did not exist down where the bottom screw of the bracket goes, so the bracket is held by the bottom of those brackets and the ones screwed into the shelf itself.

Voila!

Just kidding; they’re not that crooked. 

I also brought in another little bookshelf my mom found for me (the black).  It provides much-needed storage and I think it actually makes the room look bigger by elongating the horizontal line.

Anyway, here’s what the update looks like.  I’m happy, and can honestly think of fewer times that I’ve felt more proud as when I stepped back, after about 4 hours of effort, and saw my mounted shelves.  Pathetic to some, perhaps, but an achievement for me!

 

Dreamlover, until then, I’ll go to sleep and dream again.

On Sunday, I bought a bed from Ikea.  In packaged form, it consisted of two large, very heavy boxes, a bunch of metal hardware, and these completely retarded directions:

Please note that the upper left hand illustration in these directions “clearly” indicates that assembly of this bed is not a one man job.  But, after helping me heave the boxes into her van and into my house, dearest mother mine had to leave, and I was not deterred by “Sad Lone Builder” in Fig. 1.

I unpacked the boxes:

And arranged everything just so:

And things were moving along quite nicely, though my talking to myself was gratuitous:

Then, when attaching the metal rods pictured below, the directions indicated 4 different positions for rod to go in.  Because I like high beds, I chose the top hole and screwed the rod in manually.  The last screw didn’t want to go in all the way, however, and even though I know you shouldn’t force these things, Laurie left a power drill at my house and I was too tempted not to use it.

This was a mistake.

I got the screw in, but I totally stripped it:

Only to find that the “optional” positioning hole is just a farce.  The rest of the directions, and the rest of the hardware this bed comes with ONLY WORKS if you have the rod on the lowest hole.  So I had to take the rods off both sides, BUT I’d stripped the screw.

This was frustrating.  Things had been going so well!  I tried and tried to get the screw out.  I even tried my teeth.  Tears ensued.

Fortunately (cue the triumphant horn section) my new neighbors Larry and Jessie Kwong came to my rescue the following night.  Larry got the screw out in no time with a pair of vice grips Michael let us borrow.  I gave them dinner in return, which was another favor of theirs to me because I’d been hoping for some dinner guests.  

King and Queen Kwong: 

And just an hour ago, my incredibly amazing Sears-o-Pedic (firm with organic cotton pillowtop) hath been delivered unto me.  Just TELL me I don’t know what’s up when it comes to the comforts of sleep.

Oh you know how I do:

BAM!

I cannot wait to get in bed tonight!  FINALLY!!!!!

 

Designing interiors

So, I had a great time at my housewarming/bday party, but sadly I wasn’t in a photo mood (I couldn’t even keep track of my drink, nevermind my camera) so I can’t post pics of that fun.  I do have some pics from those who stopped by during the day, and have photograpphed some furnished rooms.  Here goes.

Mom and Kathy:

 

Jay, Laurie, Cath, and Sue:

Leah, Sandra, and Tim:

Jay Jay in my beloved office:

The walls of my office are definitely green, but choose to look pretty much white in these pictures.  Anyway, these are a few of my favorite things:

This paint in the kitchen rocks my face off:

Love love love:

 I’m looking for a taller/bigger table to go under this mirror… preferably semi-circular, or with a side I can drop by the wall:

I’m also looking to stop sleeping in the livingroom by this weekend if possible:

And constantly looking forward to sleep as of late:

 

The painting process!

So, things are coming together quite nicely.  I’ve finished painting, the carpets were cleaned this morning, a new terrace fence was put up and painted, so I figured I should provide some new pics.

“Swimming” on the big blue tarp, painting day one:

Leah thought I could be serious when photographed, but this is untrue.  Getting started with the first wall in the living room:

More livingroom.  My posture clearly says, “I’m tired mang”:

Livingroom painted with clean carpets:

Dining room all painted and clean:

Pretty green bedroom, and the window where I’m going to make a window seat.. always wanted one of those:

My green bedroom:

Office:

I love how this color looks in the kitchen.  The kitchen became the major brain of the operation, here it is overrun with stuff.  Note the heineken bottle acting as a vase for the flowers Nicole brought me:

Bathroom:

Bathroom, not too shabby on the trim, eh?  I’m good:

New painted fence says “welcome”:

I was going for “chillax” — do you see “chillax”?:

Hey, take a load off, recline:

But keep your sense of humor about it.  This guy deserves a close-up:

 

The Purchase Process!

So, I have neglected to post about the house hunt lately for the very best of reasons… I finally found it!!!  After family friend Evie the real estate agent showed me the itsy-bitsy townhouse below, she told me there may be a unit in my price range in the desireable Arbor Hill condo community, also in Weymouth. 

I saw unit T5, a 1300 sq ft 2bdrm 2ba +den, open living and dining room, laundry room in unit, and lovely private terrace, last Saturday, August 30th, and I put in an offer this past Monday, August 1st around noontime.  At 8pm that night, I heard that my offer had been accepted.  The seller even agreed to refund $5,000 of the purchase price to me at the closing, to pay for closing costs, per my request.

With the offer accepted, and the home inspection having gone smoothly today, here’s what’s left in the process:

• Review of the condo docs (rules and regulations set by the condo association that all unit owners must comply with).  I have these in hand and will review this weekend.
• Review of the condo association’s financial statements.  I will receive these early next week and send them directly to the lawyer I’ve hired, Ms. Nicole Cox.
• Nicole will complete review of the purchase and sale agreement, add any potential contingencies or corrections, and the purchase and sale agreement will be signed by myself and the seller.
• I’ll give a 3% deposit to the seller at the signing of the purchase and sale to be held in escrow (which means held but not cashed –given back to either me or the bank at closing, depending on the loan I go for)
• The bank sends out the full loan application for underwriting (approval and drawing up of exact loan terms) based on all my financial records (which they already have in hand).
• Once the bank gets back to us (and they’re aiming for Sept 30) we’ll have the closing, which is when I’ll officially sign my life away and get the keys!  Both brokers (real estate agents) and my lawyer (since the seller doesn’t have a lawyer, heh heh heh) will be present at the closing.

Pictures!  I have new found appreciation for people who have to photograph properties.  It’s incredibly hard to find a decent angle to photograph a room with a regular camera.  I should have used the landscape feature on my digital, but I didn’t think of it until it was too late.

Click for larger views.

Living room, sliding doors to terrace

A sub-par picture of the dining area/front hall closet/door to master

 

Master bedroomMaster bedroom

 

Master bedroom

 

Master bath

Master bath

 

Laundry room!

 

Kitchen

 

Kitchen

 

My office

 

My bedroom

  That funky silver stuff in the closet is insulation — I’ll need to put in some cedar paneling, not too hard.

Guest bathroom

 

Guest bathroom

And last but certainly not least…

Private terraceTotally fenced in

 

Yay!

I’m a very happy girl.  The master suite will be rented for $800-$900+utils.  Please let me know if you’re interested.  Will continue to post about the rest of the process… and furniture and design!  I’m becoming a feng-shui master, with all the reading I’ve been doing.

 

Up to speed

Sometimes the reality of getting up at 5:30 in the morning doesn’t really hit until 7:45, at which point the entire body gellifies into a warm, rubbery sleepiness… the head heavy, the eyes stinging to be rubbed and begging to close.

I drove to work from Mike’s house in Quincy this morning, left at 5:50 in the morning, because if there’s anything I hate, it’s traffic on 93.  As a result of leaving so early, and taking advantage of my ability to speed on the open road, I got into work at 6:25.  This is very nice because I’ll get to leave at 2:30.

By 11:07, having been here so unnaturally long already,  I’ve already gotten a sensible half day’s worth of work done, so I figured I would bring the blog up to speed on the recent house hunt status.

I was right (and simultaneously wrong) about getting my hopes up for the Natick house.  It was in need of demolition (a gut job) had no appliances, severe water damage, needed new ceilings, floors, probably a new roof, etc.  Again, who knows about the basement because some houses are too scary to want to check out the scene “down there”.

Today will hopefully be more promising.  I’m doing a circuit of Hyde Park and Roslindale — seeing 7 properties in total.  I think only one of them is a single family (Hyde Park foreclosure) and the rest are condos.  Regardless of whether any of this pans out, it will at least be nice to check out the Roslindale area, which I’m pretty unfamiliar with.  Three properties are near the Arnold Arboretum, and I know the JP side of this to some extent (and I like it).  One other is right on the ege of Mt Hope cemetary (hey, at least it’s quiet with trees) and the three others surreound the Stony Brook reservation and George Wright golf course.  I used to think there were only golf courses in really ritzy places…

In other news, there’s been some email exchange about starting a band with some people.  I would be interested in singing again, even though this isn’t the most available time in my life.  I figure a good outlet for unproductive fun could be just what the doctor ordered.  In the words of Debbie Vallante (about me), “you don’t have an irresponsible bone in your body”.  I think she meant it as a compliment, but my inner rock star cringed with rebel-wannabe-ism.

Random thoughts:

• Elephunk is a great game, worth $5 on PS3
• Bob Drake talks a lot, and every time I type his name, I typo “Bob Drank”, then laugh
• I usually spend time with my mom on Thursdays.  I hope she will come see a place/some places with me soon.
• It would be nice if I found the one today.  It would always be nice if I found the one.