Front Bedroom Coming Together

Today, we brought over the box spring and mattress for the bed!  We loaded them into the house with a few other items, then brought the van back home.  We returned to begin cleaning and stuff.  

While I sorted out the items in the garage to separate the two halves (mines vs. my sister's), Sandra steam cleaned the bed frame, box spring, and mattress.  I stopped by and thought it looked really cool when she was steaming the mattress.  The steam came out the other side!

I washed the sheets that we picked up for the bed the night before, so they were ready to put on.

The $1.99 curtain rod from Ikea is now up as well.  The blanket covering the window still looks a bit funky.  we must revisit that soon.  

We picked this steam cleaner up.  If you've ever seen the infomercial, don't believe it.  This is a steam cleaner.  Not a vacuum, not a mop, just a steam cleaner.  It will super heat water to create steam and that steam will kill anything you put it to.  It will also cook your hand or face if you point it there, so be CAREFUL!  It's well worth the $50 to avoid using chemicals on everything!

Another Sunday Fun Day!

Another Sunday Fun Day!

Geez, how I long for my lazy Sundays!  Not.  Sandra does miss them though.  We spent the day at the house today staring at the cabinets in the wall and trying to figure out how to place the microwave on there.  I was impressed by the fact that the cabinets were still up.  Now, they're supposed to hold this microwave?!  Acks.

Just to be completely sure these cabinets were secure, I did a few pullups on them.  :-)  They're good.

I added the 3/4 inch plywood underneath the cabinet to reinforce the opening.  Since I had drilled the holes in yesterday, all I had to do to line up the holes was match the opening for the electrical cord, clamp it down, then drill through the cabinet bottom.

As you can see, the clamp wasn't really holding the wood too well.

Here's the center line of the cabinets.  The instructions keep referring to the center line.  I wish they'd have marked the damned center line on the back or top of the microwave!

Here's the plywood on top of the microwave.  I figured that if I used the plywood to line up the holes, I could also use it as a template for the bottom of the microwave.  It didn't turn out to be that simple.  Although the holes in the cabinet were really, really close to where they needed to be, I still had to use a drill to expand them so the bolts could fit straight down to the microwave.

All in all, we lifted the microwave about 10 times.  The was a bracket that mounted to the wall that had to be installed first.  (Looks like I didn't take any pictures of it.)  It had to be a certain distance away from the bottom of the cabinet, but with the bracket there, the microwave was too far from the cabinet (roughly 1/2 inch).  So, we lifted the bracket to get the vent to line up to the existing vent, and have the top of the microwave flush with the bottom of the cabinet.  Because the microwave hooked into the bracket then rotated back to the wall, this 1/2 inch vertical movement closed the amount of room for the rotation.  A little encouragement got the microwave past this, and Sandra quickly bolted the microwave in while I held it.

If you look at the time stamps, it's easy to think that this took us about 5 hours.  I'd say it took us about 3 weeks.  I kept staring at it all, very afraid to install any of it.  It's up now.  Let's hope it stays that way!

East Bay Trip

After a fun day at the house, Sandra decided she wanted to see Felicia out in Hayward.  We took this trip out to the East Bay to also stop by Ikea and check out the light fixtures.

I want to get rid of the hanging orb in the hallway since it does such a horrible job of lighting the hallway.  It lights the stair case, but that's about it!  I think track lighting in the shape of an L would be sufficient.  The Ikea Sanda system would work well for what we need.  It will, however, cost about $300 for everything we need.

We passed on buying the lights now and picked up two curtain rods for $1.99 each and a sheer curtain for the dining room.

Cabinet Time!

Enough bitching around, yeah?  Just put up the damned cabinets already!

I know I've been reticent about installing the cabinets on my own.  So much could go wrong, that I just wanted to make sure they were done right!  With the help of millions of people (more like 2) on the internet, I garnished the bravado to attempt this on my own (with Sandra's help and input).

We had everything we needed to put them up: a level, 3 inch self drilling wood screws, liquid nails, the cabinets, and an entire day!  Naturally, we started the day by picking up some burritos and having lunch at the beach.

Our hunger satiated, we went back to the house to begin the task at hand.

Here's the wall:

It's a little hard to see in this picture, but we drew lines on the wall to mark where the cabinet will go.  It was a very un-scientific method.  We did it by holding up the cabinet to where it should be on the wall and marking where the studs will be on the cabinet.  This was so I could pre-drill the holes for the screws.

I used a 3/16's inch drill bit to pre-drill the holes in the cabinet. After I drilled the holes (two on top, outside the cabinet, two on top inside, two on bottom inside, and two on bottom outside), Sandra applied liquid nails to the edges of the cabinet.  This thing needed to be SECURE.

It went up like a charm!

I marked the wall next to it for the other cabinet, pre-drilled the holes again, and Sandra applied liquid nails again.

After securing it to the wall with the 3 inch nails, I wiped off any excess liquid nails that came out of the sides.

The cabinet ended up being a little too tall to be flush with the center cabinet.  The bottom, though, should line up to the metal edge of the microwave.

We left, so this could all settle.  Hopefully it'll all still be up tomorrow!

Painting the Heater Vents

The base boards and walls were pretty much painted in the living room, dining room, and front bedroom.  One thing that always kind of bothered me was how ugly the heater vents were.  We couldn't find any place that sold newer replacements for these vents, so Sandra removed the existing ones, and I cleaned them off in the backyard a few days ago.  Keep in mind that by cleaned them off, I mean I hosed them down.  That was a much needed hose down, too.  All of them had grayish water streaming from them.  I also sprayed them down with TSP to further reduce the gunk.  We left them sitting inside to dry.

Today, I painted them with the semi-gloss.

Birthday Fun!

Woke up to the street being hacked to pieces today.

We went to the house to say, "Hi!"

We picked up a desk for Sandra.

Then we went to the Giants game!

We were baking in the sun, so we moved to the shade.

Official!

We went to Baskin Robbins, because everybody knows I love me some ice cream!

Then Sandra got me n Den a birthday cake that we brought into the Hapkido Institute!

We wrapped up the day with some Little Tokyo to go!  Everyone knows I love to go food.  It's like being able to eat restaurant food at home!  ...  Well it is.

Painting the Dining Room

I fought long and hard to have at least one red wall.  After looking at a ton of different shades of red from all over, we decided that the paint MUST be from Sherwin Williams.  They haven't let us down yet, you know?

They had a huge selection of colors, and even more that weren't even on the shelf!  I asked about something once, and the guy busted out a book of swatches!  A BOOK!  There's no way I need that many choices, though.  I was intent on Theater Red as soon as I got a good look at all the colors.  It took Sandra a few minutes to look through all the color combinations before finally agreeing with me, in her non-agreeing sort of way.  She grabbed the Theater Red and proceeded to tell me that this one was better than the one I had chosen.  Uh... it's the same one I chose...  Sweet!

Here's the first red on the wall!

This is after one coat all the way through.  It was the first SW paint to end up streaky.

I really like the color though!

Here's Sandra getting down with the paint.

We got another shade of tan for the rest of the walls in the dining room.  The ceiling will once again be Panda White to go with the Living Room ceiling.

Paint, Paint, Paint...

Two of the Neos from SF (Matt and JT) came through to help paint today.  They primered the dining room.  Geez, they were fast.  I was working on the edges in the living room, and they pretty much finished the dining room when I finished the living room!  Pretty awesome!

Here's Sandra supervising...

My messy table...

Trip to Home Depot

Another rainy day in SF means we cannot paint!  We're skipping the house altogether, and heading straight to Home Depot.  The President's in SF, and traffic is miserable.  It took us way too long to get anywhere.

Items on the list from Home Depot were light switches (rockers) for all the rooms, a light switch for the bathroom vanity, a GFI for the vanity, light bulbs for the vanity, and faceplates for all of these.

The electricians changed the box to a dual gang box, so I needed a dual outlet GFI and a stand alone switch.  There were switches with night lights in them which would've looked cool, but it could also be really annoying down the line.  In looking at the light switches here, we noticed just how many there were!  I mean, crap, different colors, different uses, different configurations, timers, button timers, light sensitive, dimmers, rockers with dimmers, switches with dimmers, knobs, etc!  Nothing these days is simple!  All I wanted were white rocker switches.  A single one was $2.49.  We needed one for the front bedroom, the kitchen, the laundry room, the back bedroom needed two, and two for the bathroom - 7 total.  At $2.49, that would've costed a little over $17!  For light switches!  I noticed the "Contractor Pack" of switches for $12 for ten of the same switches.  We got ten instead of just seven.  Maybe we can even swap out the living room switch, too!  The faceplates were the same deal.  Ten was cheaper than 7 individually, even with the separate dual gang one.

GFI's were just as complicated.  There were 15 amp ones, 20 amp ones, red and black switches, all white switches, safety GFI's, etc.  We got the 15 amp all white safety GFI.

Next was the light bulb.  The fixture needs 40 watt candelabra's.  Simple, right?  Wrong.  What size bottom did I need for the bulb?!  Aren't they all the same?

Nope!  There are the small bases and the big bases, frosted and unfrosted, too!  Great.  Time to get what I can and head out.  I have to remember to look at the fixture to see what size I need.

We also looked at ceiling fans for the front bedroom.  Nothing really impressed us.  I want to ask Chris which one he got.  I remember him doing quite a bit of research before purchasing his.

Cleaning the Hardwood Floors

It seems that the cleaning products we're using aren't ineffective; the floors are just THAT dirty!  We've been cleaning with the Bona mop and the Pledge spray.  The areas that we've cleaned today, are shiny now!  I have to find out how we can get the best cleaning/polishing product, though.  We have to find out what kind of wood this is, and the type of finish on it (urethane, polyurethane, etc.).

The microfiber mop in this kit seems to work really well.  It's machine washable, so once we have a washing machine, we will be able to clean it.











This cleaner smells really good.  It looks great when it's still wet, but once it dries, it has a dull sheen to it.  I wonder if it's because we should be using something else, or if it's due to the floor being really, really dirty.

Sandra was using the H20 bottle and a rag to rub off all the dried paint on the floor.  It took a whole lot of elbow grease, but she was pretty happy with the results.

This website (http://www.cinhome.com/shop/shop.cgi?&page=gapfiller.html) had some pretty detailed information on how to fill gaps between the floor boards.  There are quite a few of them, and I can even feel air coming in from them!  I just need a rug that's large enough to cover the bedroom floor!

Painting the Front Bedroom

We are really close to being completely done with the paint in the front bedroom!  Today, Sandra painted the window frames, and I painted the doors and touched up the base boards.

I just noticed how much bigger the hallway door is than the closet door.  The paint wasn't sticking very well last night, so I'll have to repaint a few areas again today.  It looks good from far (in a small picture)!  Once the tape is removed, I'll keep the white areas if they look clean.  If not, I'll edge the brown all the way to the trim.

State of the House Update

Soooooooooooooooooo close to being done! I finished painting the closet door today. It looks something kinda awesome!

I started on the other door, but I knew I wouldn't be able to finish in time for dinner.  The things that needed to be completed in the front bedroom are just the door and the windows!  We're THIS close to being done with it!

I finished what needed to be done on the mantle.

It looks really clean, sitting on top of the mantle like that!

The living room is almost done, too.  The ceiling is about 1/4 painted and the walls are about 90% done.  Once the bookshelf has had a coat of semi gloss, it'll be good to go!  I'll be drilling in some PVC pipe ends that I cut with the miter saw to hold a rod that we'll be using as a curtain rod for the lower half of the shelf.  We're hoping that separating it from the wall by painting it a different color will make it stand out a little more, and cause less of an eye sore.

Chris Samayoa came through to help paint.  He finished the primer on the ceiling and started primering the stairway walls.

Sandra and Yvette cleaned out the apartment and moved all their stuff in to the house and garage.  They were laughing quite a bit, so I wonder if I should be worried.

The bathroom looks REALLY nice with everything painted.  Well, almost everything.  I didn't have a steady enough hand to paint the inside of the window frame without taping it, and it was getting late the night that I had painted, so I didn't want to tape it and just leave it.  The bathroom needs to have the 3/4 inch part of 3/4 pieces of the inside of the window frame painted, and possibly inside the built in cabinet.  Grout, the vanity, and the mirror should be going in this weekend.  The new light looks great in there.  It's REALLY bright.  I still have to get some wood for the door frame.  I should get it sooner than later, so I can paint it before mounting it.  Everything's just so much easier to paint when you can move it around (and nothing's next to or behind it!).  About four more rows of tiles need to get laid down, then it's a wrap!  We're getting pretty close to finishing.  I'm pretty excited about it all.

I still need to figure out what I'm going to do about the kitchen sink.  I got an outlet installed for the garbage disposal, but I forgot to get a switch put on it!  I might have one just installed under the sink, so it's easier to deal with for now - no new holes in the walls or tiles.  I also have to either get a new faucet fixture (something that has a pull down spout), or cut a hole in the sink to vent the dishwasher and garbage disposal.  Like this one to the left.