Before & After: Lighting, Painting & Crown Moulding Project...

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE


AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

Three Words: I'm So Excited.

Three More: We Love It.

Three More: Hope You Do! :)

Three More: Reuben does too...

Update on Lighting Project!

I signed a contract for our new house project! I'm still working on the date, but I have a remodeling company coming in to do the following:

• remove 3 lights from our kitchen/seating area/pool table area (i.e. large rectangular room)
• install 13 recessed lights and 3 pendant lights
• patch/prime/paint the ceiling (currently tan- I want it WHITE)
• paint our walk-in hall closet/mud room (currently white - I want it TAN)
• Remove crown molding and install thicker crown in entire room.

That pool table light (and the track lighting in the kitchen and chandelier over the seating area are OUT!)

3 of these will be installed over the sink! (sink below!)

The curtain will be replaced with a bamboo roman shade and the three lights will hang above it. Note that dark ceiling and lack of crown - not for long!

I SO hope they can come and do it next week! I can't wait and think it's going to make a big impact!

Late Breaking News: Dining Room Before and After

Disclaimer(s):

a. I have not put the furniture back into the room or hung the new mirrors on the wall!
b. This photo was taken at night with a camera whose lens was slightly dirty.
c. The table is not set right (those are the mirrors on the table!)

BEFORE

AFTER

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AFTER

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AFTER

So what do you think?!

Painting's Pricetag is Painful

So... painting isn't cheap. At all.

Culprit



Pros

• We trust this guy. We don't have to be in the house when he's in it (we trust his wife to be here and clean when we're not here - so why shouldn't we trust him to be here without us?) He's good people.


• He does good work. I've seen his final products and it's so perfectly professional. There's NO WAY we could make it look even kind of that good.


• We don't have to do it. No buying supplies, no making messes, no spending time, no crap results after spending time and money. And it's not just painting - it's mudding (previous owners painted over wallpaper border...) and they're fixing several cracks in the ceiling.


• He can do it this week. It's a 3-day job for the half bathroom, dining room and 8' hallway between dining room and kitchen (including priming, painting, mudding, trimwork, ceilings, etc.)

Cons

It's $1,000. I know. It's kind of a lot. But we got other quotes (2) and they were $1,200 and $1,150 NOT including the halfbath. But really, in all honesty, it's $500 each to have it look EXACTLY how we want it completed by Thursday by a professional whom we trust. So i'm going to rest easy knowing that while i'd prefer for it to be $500 TOTAL it's all good. I can't WAIT for it to be done!!

P.S. It should be said that these rooms were painted by the previous owner's wife and her son... total crap job. And have I mentinoed the ceilings in both the half bath and hallway are also red with gold stars. They sponge painted stars and celestial patterns on the ceiling in gold textured paint. Oy.

Painter is Scheduled...and a Plus!!

Woo! He's coming on Tuesday - yay!! Go Austin!

And... he's also bringing his wife - the cleaning service Mel/Jon and the Tuerks use - YAY!! this is HUGE news and it kills 2 birds with 1 stone.

He quoted us $600 last time, but we're adding on the half bath (hopefully for not a lot)...

And I have no idea how much her cleaning is. We want her to clean once every two weeks in the following areas: the entire main floor and the two bathrooms upstairs! (i've decided i'm A-okay with dusting and vacuuming upstairs - it's too easy! And I have these dust wipes I'm loving - I wish they'd had them when I was a kid!

Um, Seriously?

So here is some news...

• the dumpster is STILL here. Yes. Supposed to be gone Saturday "early Saturday, Mrs. Martin."
• Austin noticed that our grass is SO effed up. He figured it out - the roofer's left that crap (black roofing material) in piles in the grass BAKING all day. There are at least 12 3'x4' areas of charred grass... he's pissed.
• There's SO MANY nails in the yard. We haven't been able to mow yet.
• We haven't even broached the AC subject with them - trying to get the dumpster gone and the grass fixed first.
• We heard back from their painter. He quoted us $1,000. Yes, $1,000 for the dining room and hallway. Fuck OFF.

That is all. Contractors make me want to slit my wrists. I do have a little mini funny though... this morning Austin was leaving for work and heard someone yelling, "hey - hey man." He didn't see a person/didn't think it was for him. He started to get in his car, and heard "no - you sorry you sir - hey!" haha This guy comes running up from behind the poolhouse in painter's clothes asking Austin for a "huge favor." Can he put his mattress/box springs in our dumpster? Uh... Austin pokes his head over - it's not full at all. Sure, dude. The guy thanks him profusely and when Austin comes by for lunch it's full. I'm like HELLO Austin, it's a sign! Get his name- HE can paint our dining room/hallway! haha

Painting Setback

So… we got a quote today for $600 for painting the dining room and hallway. It includes materials/supplies. Also, he said if it was in good shape it would be $300, but because they have to mud/sand/etc. several areas that’s where the other $300 comes in. Also, because the color is red, they have to prime it and then put two coats over it. Basically, because of the ‘prep’ work it’s a 2-day job. While I know they would do a good job and I really liked him, that is way more than I want to spend. That dining room is SMALL and there’s very little walls in there with the big entryway, other doorway, wainscoting, two large almost-floor-to-ceiling windows, etc. It’s just not seeming worth it. I’m going to talk to Austin tonight but it seems like we may need to either:

A: Do the prep work ourselves
B: Have other people come out Thursday to quote it
C: See if we can get him to throw in the half-bathroom (which doesn’t require any ‘prepping’ –nor did the hallway.

Even so, I don’t know if I would want to pay $600 for a dining room, small hallway, and half bath (assuming he would even go for that).

SIGH.

Painting Visit

So first of all I thought Luis was SUCH a nice guy! He really knew what he was talking about and seemed like such 'good people.' He pointed out something me and Austin had noticed - that for some bonehead reason the painters used SATIN on main floor, foyer and upstairs hallway. So you can see EVERY brush stroke, roller stroke, etc. in sunlight - even on the CEILING. He suggested we one day consider having that fixed (totally up to us; again - super nice).

He also:

• Pointed out lots of interesting errors... one being that the red is painted over a border in the dining room. O.M.G.
• Suggested we do a different color. He said he's used to foyers/hallways being one color, but he thought the dining room/living room/kitchen should be a different color (not like all different colors but a different color). He said it's TOTALLY up to us, but to consider going in the same family but using a lighter or darker shade.
• Noted that they will need to repaint the ceiling... it has lots of errors- that room was painted SO poorly (which is why we're wanting to hire them - we know if we did it ourselves it would be sloppy city).

Anywho - good meeting! I'm definitely interested in the PRICE which he said he should have over today. I so hope it's reasonable so we can get this taken care of pronto!

Painting & Roofing Update

Not the most exciting post in the world - but I do have a few updates!

1. Luis is coming tomorrow to quote the dining room/hallway paint job - WOO! Will probably have him quote the bathroom as a separate line item - don't want it done until I choose a light; get a new pedestal sink.

2. The roofers cancelled tomorrow (for bringing samples) but are bringing them Monday instead. I LOVE the architectual shingles on the house two doors down and can't WAIT to have ours put in!

3. The water bills situation is resolved! It will NOT be $240 - more like $70 - YAY!!

4. The power bill situation (we haven't gotten a bill) is somewhat resolved. They said both bills they sent were sent back to them and "to talk to my postmaster." Who the H is that? Anywho, the TOTAL of BOTH bills is $98 and I can pay online - SWEET! She had to email me my account # though - HELLO - can't pay when I still don't know my # because i've yet to receive any documentation from your business. I was super worried this house would be MUCH more than the loft but our gas was $44 and power at $98 - MUCH better (the loft was A LOT to heat and cool because of all of the windows + poor insulation).

5. Depending on how it goes with Luis, we hope to bring on his wife to start cleaning (she cleans Mel's house and i've only heard good things!) I hope it's sooner rather than later - we need help!!

That's all folks!! Off to watch SYTYCD!!!

Calling in the Pros

We're calling a painter tonight - woo!! We've decided that dining room MUST be painted and while we COULD do it ourselves, we worry it will be a waste of $ + time and end up looking like crap. BLAH! Hopefully he can come over and check it out, let us know how much it will be and, in a perfect world, paint on THURSDAY! Wish me luck... and YES we're having the little hallway by the pantry quoted, too! (including the dreadful ceiling, remember? Oh my... i've GOT to take a picture of that ceiling! hahaha