From Fire Hazard… to Fabulous

Thanksgiving… a time for saying “Thank goodness we’re done!”

The weekend before Thanksgiving, I went nuts on the upstairs (henceforth labeled Apt #2). The aforementioned “half wall” was torn out completely and the preparations for a banister were made. I made all the connections for the washer and dryer and finalized much of the wiring. I also hung the cabinets in the kitchen, basically completely that room. But I was just getting started!

Thanksgiving week/weekend has been the long haul to the end. With Liz’s help, we plowed through a few late nights and finished it all! The banister is up and looking very nice! I completed the closet where the washer and dryer could be, though I’m not going to put one in yet. Liz completed lots of painting. I put up new light fixtures, including a new vent in one of the bathrooms. Then it was on to all the small things… the endless small things that finish a large project like this: outlet covers, cleaning, goo-gone on sticky-post-tile-flooring, cleaning, touch-up painting, cleaning, wiring the CAT-5e, cleaning, weather-sealing, cleaning, caulking… did I mention cleaning? Cleaning and picking up all the tools/extra construction supplies took the better part of a day!

Along the way I learned a lot… like never put a toilet in and walk way! Even it doesn’t look like it is leaking right away, give it 5 mins. After putting one in, I came back after a few hours to find a veritable lake in the bathroom. The tank had a small crack in it… so to the trash heap it went. I also learned how to texture joint compound to somewhat closely match the surrounding wall texture. By using a roller with a high nap, vary the amount of water in the roller to change how much it “grabs” the joint compound. I also learned how all this work will have a limited impact except in my own mind. The new electrical was the main goal of the project, yet no one will ever notice or care that it was done. I still think it was more than needed, but I’m not sure it will even raise the resale value in the end. This realization is more than slightly disappointing… but I still feel good having done it.

Enough, check out the pics (click on ’em for the big picture)!

To show my appreciation, I bought Liz her first toolbox and a small collection of tools. Thanks Liz!