Perfect Day....

And I spent it inside.

I've had it in my head that I was going to paint the master bedroom on Saturday since LAST Saturday, so despite the fact that it's about 72 and sunny and I have innumerable outside tasks that could have been completed comfortably, I painted the bedroom. It looks awesome, actually. Before now, I never really believed the claims that Sherwin Williams and other more expensive paint was REALLY better than the stuff you get at the Depot. I'm a believer now, for sure. I put two coats up and there is not a single streak or flaw in it. Except where there's a flaw in the plaster, and there are many, but that is what you get with ancient plaster walls.

Start:

Yogi helping.

Pixie helping

Finished product. I'll put up another picture once I get the tape pulled, furniture replaced, curtains up, etc. etc. etc.

So, Eric is at the Reds game with his cousin and will be gone all night. I'm debating whether to get stuff done around here, or to go grocery shopping. Neither are terribly attractive options to me right now, as the stuff I need to get done around here deals with trim (and after last weekend, I am not cool with trim) and I hate the grocery store. But perhaps I will go to the Super Target to get the groceries. I like Target. Oooooh, that's a good idea!

The Contractor is GONE

Whoopeeee!!!!

Seriously, never thought we were going to get rid of this guy. This being our first real venture into home improvement and all the joys/pains/frustrations that come with it, we were thrilled to be hooked up with a friend of our realtor (who is a super cool, VERY professional guy). We figured, if the realtor liked him, we'd like him. And initially, we did. He came in way under bid, was semi-attentive, really liked Eric (didn't listen to a word I said, but recognized that I held the checkbook, and thus, deserved respect and corresponding lack of face-to-face time that would make me realize he's an idiot), and we felt okay leaving the house with him while we were still making our transition from Boston.

The trouble started when we walked in the door in mid-July, after driving for 10 hours straight. This was when we found the drywall and plaster all over the floor, saw the ceiling had been sponged exactly the opposite of what we had requested, that the window was a piece of plywood, and innumerable other things. We only asked him for two things: that he provide us with the programmable thermostats he made a big deal about getting for us cheap, and that he replace the window that one of the doofus workers broke.

Yesterday, i get a call about 1:30. He's on his way over to get the window (which he'd replaced with the original broken glass). Was I home? Of course not. Because I have a JOB. He acts all disappointed that I wasn't there and that he'd have to waste a couple hours. I'm thinking, "you've wasted 7 weeks on this job... a couple hours won't matter." Anyway, I say, because you have to get the glass to the shop by 5:00, I'll come home by 4:15. So I left work an hour early (didn't matter because I went in before 7:30 anyway... But that's not the point). So, when does he show up? 5:30. By this point, I'm livid. But because I'm not into getting into fights with people, and instead prefer to be chilly and aloof with them, I give him short answers, lock the door behind him, etc. etc.

The thermostats are also incredibly obviously non-programmable, and in fact, say "non-programmable" on the package. I told him this, and he argued with me, until I showed him the box.

He shows up today, and it takes about 5 minutes for him to finish the job, at which point we settle up. We've been holding on to a rather large check for him for quite a while, until he finished the job.

So, my plan was to cut the money we'd already given him for the thermostats (which he did not itemize on the invoice) and to deduct an hour of my pay for the hour he made me miss yesterday. The first was totally fine, the second, ummmm, not so much. He got really pissy about it and I demurred. Of course I did. I'm such a wimp. But I'm feeling all feisty and thinking of cool snappy remarks that I could have made... Dammit. I'm so Costanza right now.

In other news, it's my birthday. I turn the big 3-0. It's strange. I'm only 18, right?

Rust Removal??

So, one of the best features of our living room is the original fireplace inset, which has raised fleur-de-lis on it. I think it's iron.

It's also covered with rust. Part of me doesn't mind, as it looks old and isn't hurting anybody. But the other part of me likes shiny things. I'm wondering if there's something anybody could suggest for removing the rust, but maintaining the awesomeness of the pattern. I've read about sanders and wire brushes, but I'm worried that might damage it.

Please don't mind the insulation grossness hanging down from the flue. We're sort of afraid to pull it out.

Labor Day, Indeed

Wow. I'm actually looking forward to going back to work tomorrow so I can rest. We put in a good 8 hours of hard labor today, and I'm feeling it right now. The good news is that I'm now totally ambidextrous with the nippers, which is nice. The bad news is that I have developed blisters on both hands. Seriously, I blister when someone looks at me the wrong way. I wore a pair of unfortunate shoes to the ribfest yesterday, and I've now got blisters on both heels, and both little toes. NOT cool. This is why I prefer flipflops. But then again, flipflops are why my real shoes don't fit me very well anymore...

But I digress.

We are 99% finished with the nail/trim project. I got all the stained trim de-nailed and re-lustered, with the exception of the 16 foot piece

that goes along the north wall of the dining room (which is too big to move out of the room). The white trim is just de-nailed. I have to sand it, prime it, and then hit it with the glossy enamel (which I may just do after it's on the walls, because I'll have to touch up the nail holes anyway).

Anyway, it was a crazy long day. Headed up to Home Depot in Noblesville this morning, and was home with the tile by 11:00. See right: Eric's

feet and Pixie's head for scale. I am very very excited about getting it put in, not only because it will give us a working toilet within 50 feet of our bedroom, but because I think it will look very good.

Eric finished up the paint in the living room, washed the baseboards, and dusted. He also finished the front gate this morning, which I will paint tomorrow night. We're about 10 minutes away from having screens... I picked up some screen-making kits the other day, but forgot the actual screen itself. Yeah, that's what happens when you go to Home Depot tired.

Disgusting and Wonderful

This deviates a bit from the home-improvement theme, but if you count not having dog fur everywhere as home improvement, it fits the bill.

THE FURMINATOR

BEST pet-related money we've ever spent. I've never seen anything like it. I very very gently raked it across Yogi's back, which is the least hairy part of him, and came away with handfuls HANDFULS of fur.

I spent maybe 20 minutes in the backyard Furminating the Yog-man, and I came up with

this (see right). In effort to not make our neighbors hate us, I stuffed all the hair I could gather into this plastic bag. And I would wager that at least 20% of the fur got away.

Amazing. Gross, but amazing.

Another Day, Another House Color

We've decided that the Dormer Brown lacks "depth." It really does--it's the color of cardboard. So we went back to the drawing board, aka the book Bungalow Colors, and found a color scheme that we both like, is historically accurate, and does not look like we're copying our neighbor.

Here are all the colors we've been through today:

The cream stripes are the trim color, and the dark green stripes are the accent. The big decision was between, from left, Dormer Brown, Golden Inflection, Mark Twain House, and Dry Earth. As of today, at 8:48 pm, we're going with the Mark Twain House--the dark olive color second from the right. I'm actually very very excited about this. One, I haven't seen a house this color on our block. Two, it's nice to have some idea of what we're looking forward to. And three, we agree, which is unusual on this subject.

I painted these stripes directly on the house. It was the most fun I've had in a week.

We headed up to Home Depot this morning, after a stop at Lowes (to pick up stuff with a rebate card), Menards (which I liked, and will visit again, but they had a totally crappy tile selection), to Pottery Barn (not open. Thanks for the gift card, Abs!), Bed Bath and Beyond (to order some more panels for the living room), Arbys (because I was starving and getting grumpy) and to Home Depot. Where we met Shawn and Billy, and they were delightful. Knowledgeable, helpful, just wonderful. We didn't actually get TILE because they only had 2 sheets of the stuff we wanted. But we found it at the store up in Noblesville, so we'll head up there tomorrow and pick it up. Sweet.

We went to the RibFest down in Military Park this afternoon, which was a gastrointestinal and cultural adventure, for sure.

Eric just took down the painters tape from the living room trim. I anticipate we'll put the furniture back in place in, ohhh, a week.

Lowes is Stupid

Our big plan this weekend was to at least get started on the tile floor for the guest bath, with the ultimate goal of getting a working toilet on the second floor. We figured that we would get some stuff done early today, and then head to Lowes to pick up all the fixins for the floor, tile included.

1) The tile that we'd picked out, a relatively simple (but chic) hexagonal black and white mosaic, was on display, and priced, but was not available for purchase. According to the salesman, Doug, the display case was for "inspiration" not purchase. Why it had a price tag on it if it wasn't for sale is a mystery.

2) We told Doug, "Okay, but we're still going to put in a tile floor, even if we get the tile somewhere else." He tells us that if we're going to be putting up tile for the first time, we should have somebody do it for us and we should watch. And then proceeded to offer his services at a rate of both $10/sq. foot and $5.50/sq. foot. How about $0/sq. foot???

3) I told Doug that we were going to do it ourselves, that we're in this for a learning experience, etc. and that we would just like him to tell us what we need, including thin set, sponges, grout, trowel, etc. He balks and says we'd be better off having someone do it for us (again) because we're just going to spend a couple hundred dollars on tools. I saw a trowel right there for $8. What costs $192???

4) Finally, I told Doug that I just wanted to leave. He got the message and left us alone. And we left. We left our cart in the middle of the aisle and walked out.

And then we went to Fazolis. And it was delicious.

But the disappointment and pissed-off-ness lingers. I do truly respect the abilities of craftsmen, and realize that there are indeed tile jobs that beginners could not and should not do. However, installing 60 square feet of pre-cut tile on a flat floor without any cut-outs seems to me to be a very good place for a beginner to start. And while I'm positive I have an inflated opinion of my own intelligence, I'm pretty darn sure I could figure out how to tile! And I'm married to a damn architect. If he can design a house that doesn't fall down, I'm 100% confident in his abilities to stick a piece of ceramic to the floor. Ugh.

In other news, we were indeed busy today. Got up and went to the dogpark. When I got back, I raked the yard (2 lawn bags full of leaves!!!! Good lord, what are we going to do in October?? But it looks SO much better), de-nailed and polished another 25 pieces of trim, and then we did something very exciting. We went over to Sherwin Williams and got some exterior paint samples! Whoot! And in a very strange turn of events, I think we're going back to the green and brown. Here's the scheme:

These colors are "Bronze Green" and "Dormer Brown." We also picked a couple other shades, including the gray-blue, a light gray, and the famed Bunglehouse. The gray-blue is very nice, the light gray, too. The Bunglehouse is perfect but, alas, is also the same exact color of our neighbor's house. So that's out.

Here's the plan. We're going to use the green as the main color on the first two floors, the brown as the trim color, and a nice cream as the accent (window sashes). Then on the third floor dormer, we'll reverse the scheme and use the brown as the main and the green as trim.

Red door, of course. We picked up that paint today, along with a very pretty light blue for our bedroom.

This is all very surprising, because I thought truly that I was wed to the blue. We are having a bit of discord around the accent color. I really REALLY want something light, particularly as that color will be used on the sashes and the front porch. The traditionalist in me wants a bright white porch. But I'm flexible. I just don't want a red porch or something like that. Eric is a bit more adventurous than me around this stuff. I just already feel like we'd be doing something dramatic if we do the green for the field color. We don't need red window sashes.