Moving Onwards and Cleaning Up

June and July seem to be dead months for Dave and I.  Of course, it could be the fact that Dave changed his job and we have been extremely busy adjusting to the new found freedom of having a more logically overlapping schedule.

In the saga of MIA contractor, we have spoken with a lawyer pro bono and finally come to the conclusion that we will take either $7000 in money OR put the contractor in jail. Our case is strong.  Is it what we would like? No, but it is sometimes what you have to do. Eitherway, but tax time next year I will be able to right off what we can not reclaim as bad debt. 

Today, our wonderful inspector and contractor Jack - who was unfortunately unavailable prior to this - sent out two masonry specialists.  In fact, the guys specialize in brick repointing and cleaning and come highly recommended on Angie's List to boot.  Based on the Angie's List pricing, they are still extremely affordable.  As a favor to Jack, and the fact that we already went through one winter with the damage, they are willing to move around some customers who are ok with waiting till spring. . .so we can get our exterior brickwork finished in October. And when I say in October, that is everything in 7-10 days.

Lacking funds, and with the general losts hitting my 401k from my former company, I will be pulling it out hardship early - taking the 30% hit - not like that matters in the end.  It sucks, but at the same time, sometimes this is what a person needs to do to move forward.  In return, I am going to set up my IRA with my current employer plan - as in October I will have been at the company two years, I could have begun contributing after 6 months.  I may not be able to contribute much to start, but at least I will be contributing something - and the home equity can be dealt with again after the house is fixed.

I am also looking at organizing and cleaning up after some of our construction messes. We are just a simple door planing and touch up painting away from the upstairs bathroom being done - a task that will be done this week.  The bathroom functions fine without a door, but as we will have guests staying over we figured it was time.

Because Dave's family and friends who have not seen the house are coming over to celebrate his birthday, I figured I should probably look into cleaning out or at least organizing the den and back room. The first floor is actually decent enough for company in my opinion, save a good steaming of the floors and furniture. 

As we move into the next season, I am able to reflect positively on our first year here at the house.  I know it had it's ups and downs - but overall, Dave and I are still very much infatuated with the place. :)  We have a long list of chores and improvements that we simply need to find the funds and time to approach. So in conclusion, looking to the next year we hope to complete the following:

Replace the front door(s) (contractors)
Scrap, paint, repair the shingles and trim on the exterior of the house (us)
Add corbels (contractors)
Add in a wrought iron fence  and retaining wall around the front yard, additional gardening/landscaping (contractors)
Level the driveway (contractors)
Add the pocket door wall back into the living room (us)
Replace the living room carpet (us)
Replace the upstairs floors (us)

Needless to say - we probably won;t get this all done before the wedding.  I think our main focus is to make the outside look tiptop and then move inwards.

But - there is an update for any of you wondering!

Alexis

The demolition man...

Goodbye

.....stupid first floor bath tub. Your days are numbered. Today you leave us, making room for our sexy new washer and dryer.

Hello clean clothes whenever I want you....you've been missed.

Oh the luxury of soak in a claw foot tub. . .

Or so I hear. 

Dave and I are semi-covered in paint speckles from the painting of the second floor bathroom. The tile floor is withstanding dave jumping around like a oversized five year old and me falling off the ladder as I dismount from trimming near the ceiling.  In the last month, Dave has made quick work of completing the bathroom, almost single handedly (our friend gave him some guidance and initial labor) laying the floor and taping and sanding the seams on the new drywall.  I stepped in at the beginning of this week - quickly discovering I do not like sanding drywall. On the otherhand, I am perfectly happy to prime and paint.  Thus, it has taken us less then two hours per coat of paint. Dave painted the ceiling and wall down to the bulkhead level in the soft greyish white color, while I painted from the bulkhead down to where beadboard will be placed.  Today dave will measure the beadboard - which - depending on our joint approval of the second coat of paint - pending no need for a third coat - Dave will hang this evening.  Then I get to paint the trim and beadboard.  Essentially - by Friday - we should have a fully functional bathroom!

In other news, Dave's deligent daily attention to craigslist has resulted in a $2400 savings on a claw foot tub.  A woman who owns multiple properties in the Mt Washington area, posted a 100 year old claw foot for a mere $100.  The catch - it had to be moved, and promptly, from the second floor back bathroom through narrow hallways down even narrower stairways with turns, through a back door, down a narrow alleyway, and then down the grass hill (two flights of stairs worth) and into Steve's trunk.

Dave and Steve did great work getting that out- neither getting injured or strained. I, on the other hand, put my foot in the wrong place and got the extremely heavy claw foot tub on my foot - so now my right foot is turning blue and purple and green.  No bones broken - though Dave's fussing about me getting all the battle wounds whenever he does all the labor. What can I say - I am fraggiiillleee.....and clumsy....and I don't hold still or do as I am told.

We moved the tub into our next door neighbor's garage for safe keeping - as we do not have the room cleared in the back space which will become the master bath.  Also, it does not make sense to move the bathtub before we get it reglazed (which will cost us less then $400).  The feet are gorgeoulsy ornate, and now we have just to decide the color we want to glaze it and begin seriously planning the second bathroom.

The next project however, is to tear out the bathtub on the first floor and build in a new laundry room area.  Dave has put down money for a gorgeous front load set of washer and dryer - which will eventually save us the time and money of going to the laundry mat.

Dave has dibs on the first shower - I have dibs on the first soak.  looking forward to it!

The sound of...

...construction once again rings through the halls of 3707 C- avenue, though this time minus those pesky contractors and laborers. Between the legal battle with J-, who abandoned the original contract he assuemed but abandoned it with money in hand, and R- who didn't finish the job we were using him for.....it seems time to take matters into our own hands.

With a little help from my friend (Beatles reference again, I know), the bathroom is approaching completion. Stephen and I completed demolition of the unsatisfactory floor in half a day, and promptly lay the proper and much more sturdy materials needed to support our heavy slate tile floor.

Oddly, it took two small contractor set backs to remind me that the excitement of us purchasing a home was for me to be doing much of the labor. There is a huge sense of satisfaction in watching it all come together. Today I'm hoping to sort and prep the tile, so that in a few days time I can lay it, then paint and prime and install moulding....voila, bathroom completed.

I find that Alexis and I are rather uncommon for people in our age. While so many of my similarly aged contemporaries have chosen the apartment life, or even townhomes or small "starter houses," we've taken on a minor mansion requiring love to nurse it back to health...and we're succeeding.

Stay tuned for picture updates as the bathroom saga comes to a close.