It's All About Logistics

I've been in a quest to get the basement under way. Kevin's been pulling back wanting to take a break from the house. One of my bigger projects has been the bookshelves in the library. We wanted those done, so we could put the books on them and actually empty out the boxes that are cluttering the floor. If the boxes get emptied and recycled then we can paint the ceiling. If we can paint the ceiling, then we can paint the walls. If we can paint the walls, then the library is really coming along.

I did most of the painting and with some help from my Mom they're all done. Now we just have to wait the requisite amount of time for them to dry. Yeah, I don't know how long that is either. I really don't want my books sticking to the shelves.

The photos are a little hard to see, but the back of the bookcase is a dark green and the shelves and sides are white.

Refrigerator - Part Deux

I received a comment from an anonymous person the other day asking what ever happened to the refrigerator. Never one to make a situation less stressful, we waited through the first day of floor installation to see if sawing off the countertop would fix the refrigerator not fitting problem. As you can see from the photo, my Dad prepped, measured twice and cut off more of our countertop. And yes, the refrigerator fit.

But then there was the problem of the height. The refrigerator was 1/8" too high with the bamboo flooring under it for the fridge to fit under the cabinet. Honestly, I didn't ask how they did it, but through some miracle of my Dad (he IS amazing), they laid the bamboo and pushed the refrigerator under the cabinet. All is good and the best thing of all is that I can see the room temperature in the kitchen, because the refrigerator tells you this nifty information.

I think my family has tired of hearing the room temperature every two minutes, I think they're now wishing it wouldn't have fit!

Floor Installation - Part II

I have been absent and not telling stories as usual and I apologize. We've been installing floor. Well actually, my Dad, brother and Kevin were installing floors the first two days, apparently you only need 3 people. So I was off in the basement painting and painting until the third day when I got to get splinters in my hands too.

The floor installation wasn't too bad, but it wasn't too easy either and its not over yet. There are corners and splinters, I think everybody was picking a splinter out of their hand by the end of the weekend. My summary of installing a hardwood floor is this.

You'll save a lot of money. My Dad estimates that we saved over $2000 in labor costs. You'll also exhaust yourself and in our case quite possibly burn yourself out on your home repair as installing hardwood floors is extremely intensive and physical. No need to do squats after working on a floor all day.

I have to give my brother kudos for giving up his whole weekend, my Mom praise for putting up the new bookshelves downstairs and my Dad, well, he is amazing. The man is technically a senior citizen, but he went non-stop for 3 days. Unfortunately for everyone reading this, I do not hire out my Dad's handyman skills, he's all mine and that's the way I like it. Yes, I'm extremely lucky.

If you're really interested in the floor installation, I posted over two dozen photos in our flickr photo album.