Menage à Trois Bingo

I got a call this morning from the flooring contractor. "Did you choose a stain color yet?" Turns out they had done five color samples on the living room floor, which is the one room I didn't go into last night (there's no light fixtures in there, and it was dark). So I had to just describe what I wanted and hope they do something good. I'm sure it will be fine. ::crosses fingers::

Everything's done. Everything's done. It was one hell of a long day: I went over at 10:30am, left at 10:30pm. My friend Christine, her husband Kirk (yeah, a different one, same name), and her ex Jim all came and helped me in the evening, but the daytime I worked alone, scraping up tarpaper from the kitchen floor.

My back is aching from bending over, and my hands are covered in blisters from pushing the chisel. Yes, I know, maybe I should have used gloves. But I thought they would make it chafe worse.

We got the carpet from the stairs and hallway torn out, the ugly plastic tread covers that were under it removed, all the quarter-round moldings off, and the fridge moved out of the way.

I think the house is going to look absolutely gorgeous when they're done, you can see a hint of it now. And it should be much brighter, too, without dark floors and dark carpets.

As is my current habit on Wednesdays, I've been working at the house tonight. The hardwood flooring contractor came to give me an estimate ($490 for the one room most in need of work, about $2200 to do the whole house, varying combinations of rooms costing different things). Anyway, he pointed out that there was almost certainly hardwood floor under the ugly linoleum, and I've spent the subsequent five hours with crowbar and chisel prying up the plywood layer. There was another layer of equally hideous linoleum underneath that, very worn and patched with a similarly colored but different pattern. I tore out about two-thirds of it, I suppose, so far. It's hard work, but actually easier than prying the lino tiles off the plywood, and far more gratifying. Pulling out great big pieces of splintered wood and broken tiles...The only real downside is that it left me covered in splinters, and of course the place looks far worse now than it did when I started. But sometimes you have to break things to fix them, and there is much fun to be had in the breaking. See the mess!

I can't quite decide, though, whether to have the hardwood floor underneath buffed and refinished (there are some places where it will definitely have to be patched) or to continue with my original plan and have ceramic or stone tile laid. I kind of like the idea of hardwood throughout the house, but I've wanted the ceramic tile for so long...

Either way the plywood had to be replaced (ceramic tile needs a different sort of underlayment), so I shall continue with my gleeful destruction on Friday night.

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Some friends (hi neeuqdrazil) have been asking for pictures of my (in)famous red-yellow-blue basement paint job. Here are some.
The stairs from the bottom
The stairs from above
The hallway moldings and doors

Here's a couple pictures of the kitchen cabinets
one
two

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And just because I'm proud of her, a picture of Rosa

I'm sitting on the floor with my computer...it's not a very comfortable way to type but I have no choice. Ray came over this morning and took away the desk I had been using: it belongs to his parents, and they apparently decided they needed it back right now, couldn't wait until I move and can use the desk that is in the house. I considered putting the computer on the table in the dining room, but the phone cord for the computer line doesn't reach that far. So I'm in for some back- and neckaches for the next few weeks. (Yes, I know I'm an addict, if I'd rather have a backache than stay offline.)

I've got one already from painting the stairs yesterday. It took some contortions to get at the bottom edges of the treads. But although I'm going to have to do a second coat, I'm really pleased with the outcome. I painted the ceiling and plaster portions of the walls white (pure white, not offwhite), the wooden portions of the walls and the handrail bright yellow, the treads bright blue and the risers red. From the door at the top of the stairs you can only see the blue and the yellow, while from the basement floor you see mostly red. It's very cheerful.

Another evening of cleaning and working at my house lies ahead. I thought I'd be clever and save myself a stop at the apartment, but I've realized I forgot some of the things I'm going to need. This is really a good thing, as it also means I can eat some dinner before I go work. But I'll have to discipline myself to keep from just staying at the apt and going online.

He left it a pigsty. I don't think the place had been cleaned in months, and while moving his stuff out they just left their trash (soda cans and such) wherever they stood when they tired of it. There are myriads of small things broken that should have been fixed: the pipe going out of the kitchen sink has a hole in it, the flush handle on the upstairs toilet has broken off, several light bulbs were burnt out, the back door deadbolt does not work, the hardwood floor in one room is almost destroyed from cat urine...I've already replaced the ceiling fixture globe that he broke five months ago and wouldn't even spend five bucks to replace.

I spent two hours this morning just surveying the damage and making a list of things to buy at the hardware/home center. Then I went and bought it all, came back, put new light bulbs in, etc.

After that I spent an hour at Cost Plus World Market, and came back and made a creative space in the house. I had originally intended to use the smallest bedroom, but when I saw the state of the floor (see note above: it's horrible) I decided to use the back porch instead. It's fully enclosed, but has no heat, so I put a small space heater in there. I bought a big fluffy flokati rug, some floor cushions, a chenille throw, a vase and some cool fake flowers, and set it all up. I took pictures, I'll post them soon, but I don't want to take the time right now. I'm wiped from working all day.

When I finished the room, I went out to dinner, then came back and cleaned the rest of the upstairs. I just got back to my apartment at midnight: I've been working and rushing around since noon. So pictures of the house and the cool new room will have to wait until tomorrow night.

Maybe now that Lord of the Rings has reached the non-fannish populace, more people will understand why there is a plaque reading "Rivendell" attached to my house. We were constantly having guests ask things like "Why did you leave the previous owners' name on your house?" It's not my name, it's the name of the house!

A pretty nothing day, here at work. No bosses around, and I've spent a good portion of the day just chatting with people, though there was something I had to do the moment I arrived, so that I didn't get to finish my morning pages as I had hoped to do. I had started them first thing when I got up, but Rosa woke up less than ten minutes later, so I had to quit to comfort and cuddle her.
When I went back to bed to do that, I dreamed about singing "Amazing Grace" while driving my new car down a very narrow road. I was worried about scraping my mirrors on a high brick wall beside me.
Went to lunch with Jill and talked Amber again, as usual, getting a few ideas for quinnclub's request. And now I'm just hanging out waiting for five o'clock so I can go home.
And oh yes, I made plans to go see Lord of the Rings again tomorrow afternoon with Jen, after my mortgage closing. Yes, I will own my house all by myself as of tomorrow, though Ray will still be living there for another three weeks until he closes on his new house. Then over the ensuing six weeks I'll fix some things up and move my stuff back in, so that I'm out of my apartment by 2/28.