Note to those renovating...

Today might just be the day that we move back into our bedroom.  The heat is in, and I think it will be operational by tonight, which means...I don't want to jinx it.  Either way, the carpet is not in yet so we won't be putting everything back in the room just yet.

   The plumbers are also finishing up the bathroom.  Will we be able to use it tonight?  That's anyone's guess. There was almost a huge hiccup in the process earlier this week when we realized that the tub we bought didn't come with a drain.  Note to other diy-ers, you must order a drain when you order a tub.  Eeeks!  I was one drain piece away from using my new tub and shower!  Once I found this out I ordered one from Plumber's Depot, and had it shipped overnight.  Everything would have been great if UPS hadn't delivered it to our neighbor.  Another note, when you're really frustrated at UPS don't bother calling to start a claim on your lost package because the level of your frustration is directly proportional to the stupidity of their questions.  Them: "Did you look on the front stair area of your home for the package?"  Me: "Ummm...I hadn't thought of that."  Them: "Did you ask your family members if they might have seen the package?"  Me: "Well, it's just me and my various cats here, so yes, yes I did ask them."  And so on.  It ended with me saying something like "Well, that sucks."  Luckily, our neighbor doesn't suck, and they brought it over the next day.  Take that, UPS!!

This is the drain that almost single-handedly took down our whole bath renovation. 

   While we're waiting for things to be done in the master and the bathroom, I have begun to think about bedroom #2.  To be honest, bed 2 will probably end up being our office for now.  We don't even have a second bed to put in there, but in my dreams it looks something like this:

I put weird door in the middle of the room to show how our stained doors might look once they are up.  We're still working on the staining of said doors.  Oh yeah, we should probably put those up before we start using the bathroom and whatnot. 
  
Here are some general thoughts on the process so far:

1. Everything takes much longer than you thought it would.  From picking out carpet to getting your shower drain delivered, plan on longer than you need.
2. Have the right tools for your job.  In our last house we tried to get around buying a tile saw by bringing the tiles we needed cut to Lowes, or by making cuts on a regular saw, but in the end we broke a lot of tiles, wasted time, and just should have bought the saw.  We bought one for this house, and it really made the process much easier.  The Dremmel helped a lot too.
3. Take time away.  It's hard, but you've got to leave the renovations.  We took an awesome trip to Newport during February vacation, and despite the fact that I keep threatening Dave that I am going to spend every weekend there until the renovations are done, it was a nice respite from the chaos of renovations.
4. Invite people over to see the progress.  You might be reluctant to have your friends and family visit, but it's nice to see their reactions to the progress.  When you're living it everyday, it's hard to see how much you have accomplished.  Bringing in outsiders can help you see how far you have come!
5. Be flexible.  That amazing asher grey marble tile is beautiful, but is it really in the budget?  On the other side of the coin, don't settle for something that you don't love.  We spent a lot more than we thought we would on the bathroom tub surround tile, but now that it's up we love it more than the day we bought it!
6. Be patient.  I know you're thinking, you?  patient?  I guess I should have said, be your version of patient.  It's hard not to get caught up in the self-imposed deadlines, but you also have to have a life.  For us, that meant taking a day off from renovations here are there, and not beating ourselves up about it.  You are working for yourself after all!
7. Do things that will make the job easier.  That could mean getting take out, soliciting the help from friends or family, or just planning ahead.  We planned ahead when we left the window openings larger than they are now to accommodate the larger windows that will eventually go in those spots.  
8. Think "Big Picture."  this might seem obvious, but it's difficult to do.  As I told our architect yesterday, when the minute details of the renovations get me down, I think about having a "wrap party" a la "This Old House" when we're done with the renovations.  Maybe this is just the runner in me doing my visualization techniques, but it really helps to think about how things will look and how you will feel when the renovations are done.  It also helps you figure out potential pitfalls before you have to live them.

Music for today-
1.  Lake Street Dive- "Bad Self-Portraits."  Despite having a 2 minute commute, WERS always saves their best songs for me when I'm going to school, and this is another example of that.  Gotta love Emerson Radio 88.9!!!  These guys are local and formed when they met at the New England Conservatory.  They also do a mean cover of "I Want you Back," and "Rich Girl."  (That might be a contradiction of terms.  Is it possible to have a good version of "Rich Girl?"  You be the judge.)

 2.  Nina Persson- "Silver."  Nina Persson is/was the lead singer for The Cardigans ("Lovefool," My Favorite Game," etc....).  They are a Swedish pop rock band with an extreme love for Black Sabbath.  Nina is as talented as she is beautiful.  She has gone on to have an extensive solo career.  Check out "Silver," and everything else she has ever done...

3.  Brandi Carlile- "The Story."  I looooove this song.  It's so heartfelt.  I hope you like it too.

4.  The Shins- "Simple Song."  Dave is listening to this on repeat because it reminds him of Maui, and we all need a little Maui in our lives right now.  We actually saw The Shins in Maui a few years ago.  I'd like to "feel like an ocean being warmed by the sun" right about now...

Oscar Painting Party!

   Today we are wrapping up our painting projects.  As I foreshadowed in a previous post, it took many samples to get the right colors for our 3 rooms and 1 hall.  Let's start with the bathroom...

   Bathroom: I thought we would use China White by Benjamin Moore, but it turned out to be too cream-colored for our gray wall tile, and white-ish floor tile.  In the end we wound up with "Calm" by Benjamin Moore.  Oddly enough, we had originally planned to use that color in the master bedroom.
Here's the original design:

 And here it is with Calm instead of China White:

Not much of a difference on the design board, but it looks much better in person!

   I also found a better geode print at Z Gallerie.

Master Bedroom:  We went through quite a few paint samples for the bedroom.  I thought we would do something white, or off white, with a darker greige carpet, but we decided to go with a lighter carpet and darker walls.  So yeah, the opposite of what we started with.
   Here are the paint colors we tried, along with the carpet we bought yesterday!

 

   Bedroom #2:  I knew that I wanted to test the bold-color waters in this room, and despite the fact that it's not a huge room, the color that we chose, Sophisticated Teal, looks great!  Obviously, it took us a few samples to get this one right too.  Here they are:

I don't really like a glossy look on the walls, so for the bedrooms we chose matte or flat finish.  We did choose an eggshell for the bathroom.  I have a feeling that eggshell is easier to clean, but that could be false.

   There's still plenty of work to be done in the bath, and bedrooms, but here are some progress pictures:

Bathroom with almost done tile walls/floors.  Benjamin Moore "Calm" on walls.

Master bedroom with Benjamin Moore "Ozark Shadows" on walls.  Ceiling is regular ceiling paint from BM.

Bedroom #2 with Behr Sophisicated Teal

   I would be remiss if I didn't mention the big show, the Oscars.  This house has slowed down our movie consumption, but that doesn't mean Dave and I won't be celebrating.  This is my Superbowl after all.  We have put together a menu of tasty delights, drawing inspiration from the nominated films.

Oscar Party Menu:
12 Years a Slave to Guacamole
Philomena Cheese Steaks
Wolfgang Puck's Wall Meat
American Hustle Sprouts
Dallas Buyer's Club Sandwich
Blue Jasmine Rice Pudding
Baked Nebraska

So many taste sensations!  As my mother mentioned, we will probably need some Captain Philips Milk of Magnesia after all of these treats!

Blog Playlist:
1.  Pete Yorn- pretty much his entire catalog.  Here's "Crystal Village:"

Here's "Closet:"

There's a great version of "Closet" on Juliana Hatfield's cover album, which you can get here.

2.  Comedy Bang Bang podcast: This is a ridiculous comedy podcast starring Scott Aukerman (of Mr. Show fame) and many other guests.  Dave has listened to about 5 years of this podcast in the past 6 months.  Obsessed much?  There's also a tv show version of this on IFC.  Here's the link to the podcast:
http://www.earwolf.com/show/comedy-bang-bang/

Adding On

   By now you know that we will be adding a second floor to part of the house.  So many people keep asking us why we would want to add on.  Well, in case you couldn't tell, we like a project (idle hands and whatnot).  Here are some other reasons:

   When we bought the house a new septic system was being installed and it was rated for 4 bedrooms.  The house only had 3 bedrooms and a weird room in the basement that could have been considered a bedroom.  Since we were given the luxury of having another bedroom's worth of septic, we decided that we wanted to increase the bedroom count to 4.

   Also, as our realtor told us, if we decide to sell this house down the line, having 4 bedrooms instead of 3 will make it a more desirable purchase.  We don't intend to sell this house in the near future, but it seems like a smart investment now to add on an additional bedroom.

   Another reason is by removing one of the current bedrooms and turning it into more living space, the rest of the house will seem more roomy.  We are eager to have 2 living spaces in the house- 1 traditional living room with a tv and couch, and another space for reading, and playing and listening to music (the musictorium, if you will).

   I know it seems excessive to have 4 bedrooms for 2 people, and if you're like my grandmother you're angrily wondering when we will have some god-damned children to occupy these bedrooms!  That's in the plans too.  Eventually, sooner than later, we will hopefully have a/some kid(s) to put into all of these bedrooms we're making.  This is not a pregnancy announcement, nor is it an invitation to ever talk about this again.

   Moving on... When we met with our architect to discuss the changes to the existing floor plan and the possibility of an addition, we showed him different homes that we like.  The reason that we bought this house was because it wasn't like anything else we had seen; not a typical colonial, or a cape like our last house.  We bought this place because it seemed modern and that is something that we don't want to change.  Luckily, our architect listened to our concerns about not wanting to change the modern feel of the house.

  Here's what we were going for with our second floor addition:
  

We'll take one please, and could you throw in the pool?  Oh, hello window corner.  We will be incorporating that into the design.

And here is what he recommended:

 This place is called the Zipper House and we love the mix of wood and paint and thought it would look good with the stone that we have already.

   So, once again, here's what we have:

   And here is the plan for the second floor:

   Picture the coloring from the Zipper House with the current exterior stone front.  This is what the front of the house will look like.  So exciting!

   Meanwhile, in other parts of the house, the bathroom is mostly tiled, the carpet is ordered, and the interior doors are on their way.  Today we will be finishing up painting, completing some electrical work, and maybe looking into trim for the doors, windows and baseboard trim.  The most glamorous job for today will be sanding the old baseboard heating.  Goodbye 50+ years of old paint!

   We are *this* close to moving back into a regular bedroom.  It's the carrot being dangled in front of me.  I can almost see it now...

I updated this by removing the world map and adding some other art

Music for today-
1.  Haim "The Wire."  I keep hearing this on WERS, and I can't tell if I really like it, but this live performance is one heck of a comedy routine as well.  Watch and you'll see what I mean...

Oh no, the bass player has stage 5 Bass Face!  Did these girls endure too many face-melting guitar solos, or is that a type of Bell's Palsy specific to sister musical acts?  Whatevs.  I'm glad to see 3 ladiez playing their own instruments and singing their own music.  (They did write that song, right?)

2.  Dave is endorsing "The Ghost of Tom Joad."  It's the new version with Bruce Springsteen and Tom Morello. 

3.  Speaking of older gentlemen with social consciousness, here's Steve Earle with "Low Highway."

Here he is on Radio Boston discussing the fine art of songwriting, the homelessness epidemic in the U.S. and the real cost of war.  All in a day's work for this troubador.

4.   A little less political (depending on the cause), but just as older and gentlemanly is Paul McCartney, and this little number with Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic, and Pat Smear.  It's from an awesome documentary called "Sound City."  If this guy Paul could just quit it with the "Woos" he could just be the next lead singer for Nirvana.  Here's "Cut Me Some Slack"

  If you have the slightest interest in the music recording process, the Foo Fighters, or any number of other awesome bands (Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty, Nine Inch Nails, GnR, Cheap Trick, and on and on), you should check out the "Sound City" movie. Here's the trailer: