Where There's A Hole...

...there's an aluminum foil/saran wrap/paper towel holder to cover it up! Yes, there is yet another hole in the kitchen wall to cover, this time from a hideous fluorescent light that was under the cabinet at the sink. We're so tired of conduit wires--they're everywhere we don't want them and nowhere we do.

Anyway, I thought this was a great solution which will really save us drawer space (since we only have two):
The trick was finding one that was front loading. It should be arriving soon.

Oh, and a special thanks goes out to Cheryl at the Boston House for letting me know that I left my pink laundry bag in the laundry room last night. I appreciate its return! We will greatly miss the Boston House and all the wonderful people who run it.

Time Is Short

To all of our dedicated readers out there, I apologize for neglecting the blog. However, time is running short and there is still much to be done.

The closet organizer is completely installed, and it looks amazing! The picture below shows one half of it, where we will hang our clothes. The middle part is for long clothes. I love it because it is custom designed for our stuff and it just makes so much more sense than what was previously installed.


The spiral track lights are up, but this picture doesn't quite do it justice. It is really cool. Since the electrical box is far to the left in the room (as you walk in), this configuration is awesome because it brings light into the center.


Matt has finished installing the outlet for our microwave. It was a challenging project to get the conduit wire to bend back up through the wall, but he didn't let that stop him! You can also see the breadbox that I bought at Target, although please ignore the fingerprints!


Matt also installed the stove, dishwasher, and medicine cabinet. We are working on getting the electrical outlets replaced. While we wanted to put all GFI outlets in the kitchen (all separate circuits), we are in a dilemma because the fridge is connected to one of the outlets. Thus, if it trips off and we don't know about it, we could lose all of our food. Thus, we find the better option is to not put the GFI on this particular outlet.

All this progress and yet there is still so much to be done. I have not finished painting the doors (how are there 6 in this small studio?). We still have to install the towel bar, toilet paper holder, shower curtain rod, the bathroom crystal doorknob (from our ring pillow at our wedding), TV mount, etc. I still have to pack up the Boston House. I have some things left to sell, although I am doing pretty good in this arena. 4 days left...

Weekend No. 3

It may or may not look like much has been accomplished since our last post. I've lost track of everything done and what needs to be done. It's a whirlwind. A hazy, hot, paint-scented whirlwind. Who would have thought such a small place would require so much labor? I've seen trucks bigger than our apartment! Anyway, I'll start with the most dramatic:


This is what our kitchen looked like Saturday morning. Notice the lack of pretty much everything not nailed down. Apparently our kitchen used to look like an old Pizza Hut. Luckily someone recently put down the nice wood floors seen in the middle. So some very nice fellows came by in the afternoon and made everything look like this:


Oooh, shiny! Believe me, it looks good with all the plastic crap taken off. Of course it will all stay on because otherwise, I'll get my grubby hands on it. Note the new lights up top. We took those from the living room and stuck them in the kitchen. Perfecto!


We tried to put a microwave over the oven to save space. There was not nearly enough room, so we now have to return a giant microwave to Lowes before tomorrow. Fortunately, this tragedy made it possible for the following picture to be snapped. I don't know how she got back there. Careful, those are live!


We are currently utilizing our lavaplatos box for trash. Apparently the city will not pick up even this small amount of trash from people living in apartment buildings which is, well, just about everybody. So we have to drive it to the dump in a car that is not ours.


Out with the old and in with the new. In the foreground the new (hopefully working) toilet versus the old on the background. Cheers to indoor plumbing...jeers to substandard and non-interchangable materials well over a century into the industrial revolution. Jeers indeed.


This is our closet. Who knew someone could so badly damage a closet. I mean, you hang clothes there and put boxes there. Why would you glue and nail 11 feet of wood to the wall rather than take a notch out of the bottom of the already-custom-made shelves? I don't know. I guess you just like screwing with the future owners, that's all.


Another bright spot and I'll shut up. We were able to successfully remove and reinstall the closet doors on the utility closet. It seems small, I know, but I had to actually widen the hole on the pivots because the door would not fit on the right side but had room to spare on the left. Who says houses are square?

We're getting lit

Upon returning from our shopping spree, we found that our new lights for the bathroom again would not fit. So, at Amanda’s suggestion, we simply moved the hole (and plastic grommet) a few inches to the right.

This allowed us to mount the light in the center of the vanity. Since we have lights now, we can tell how awful the bathroom walls look. We’ll fix those this week and slap another coat of paint on. Thanks, Mr. Edison!

Update 9.6: Buy, Buy, Buy

On Labor Day, we put down our paint brushes and rented a Zipcar --Evita, a Honda Element--to go on yet another shopping spree. After much research on Consumer Reports, epinions, customer reviews, etc., we found Whirlpool appliances to be the best value. Lowes will deliver our brand new, stainless steel kitchen appliances on Saturday (9.8.07). They were not only 10% off for Labor Day sales, but we used an additional 10% off coupon!

Fridge: (only pictured in White)
Range:
Dishwasher:
Over-the-Range Microwave:
Here's Matt in the checkout line, we have TWO cart-fulls!

Update 9.5: Mail / Packages

We have just changed our move-in date to Friday, September 28th to ensure we have enough time to finish our home improvements. Effective October 1st, we will no longer be receiving mail at our old address.

First Paint Stroke!

On Saturday morning, we finished cleaning, taped down the tarp, and took down the living room and kitchen light fixtures. After spending the WHOLE weekend painting, the bulk is done as of Sunday night. We only have the edges, baseboards, and doors left. Only.

Matt almost had a heart attack when I started second guessing the wall color starting on the second coat. I guess you could just call it cold feet. I'm 80% sure we will keep the color.

Oh, and let me tell you, whoever painted this blue was SKILLED--there is blue where you wouldn't imagine! I had to LAY on top of the refrigerator to paint above the cabinet doors. At least now I know that if my career in legal marketing doesn't work out, I can always fall back on contortionism.

Here's a picture of the very first, long awaited ceiling paint stroke.

Let the wall paint roll! Bye-Bye Blue...

Views

I really love the views of the alley from our apartment. Although we are on the first floor, we are well above street level, giving us lovely European style views of the neighboring buildings. I'll update this post once I have nicer "after" pictures.

This is my favorite view of what appears to be a converted car barn. Apparently a well-known, extravagant fashion/interior designer lives there. I love the flower boxes!! We've discovered that this window offers incredible light in the mornings.


This is the view from the kitchen. Not my favorite because of the vehicles, but it is interesting.


I love the porches. Although we don't have one of our own, at least we can see others enjoying theirs.


This is another view of someone's garage.