Sorta-Kinda Productive Weekend

So I did something. Which is more than nothing. But not nearly as much as I should have. And the things that I did were things I should have done a long time ago!

• I finally put the sealant on my butcherblock countertops. This will prevent water stains and it makes the wood look a bit richer. All in all, I put 4 coats on, with an average of 3 hours dry time between each coat.
  

I couldn't find a decent before picture...tsk tsk

• I finally attached the metal "toe-kick" thing on my dishwasher. The guy who installed it said I should get this plastic thing to separate the wires (??? I really don't know) and after many failed attempts of trying to find what he was talking about and also almost losing a blueberry under the exposed part, I figured I'd finally just attach the darn thing.
• I finally took my Christmas lights down from the house exterior. I couldn't quite reach all the gutter clips though so it still looks a bit ghetto.

I think the biggest reason I'm avoiding priming the kitchen walls is because it will be such an ordeal! I won't be able to just start painting. I'll have to wipe down the walls first, cover everything in drop cloths, tape off certain areas, and move the refrigerator and THEN I can start painting. Excuses, I know, but valid excuses! Maybe this Sunday? Hopefully this Sunday!

-Megan

Long Weekend Ahead!

Can you see it?

Eh?

Can you see the frost on my terribly un-mowed lawn? There was some on the roof too. I'm excited for the day when an inch or two blankets the house...it will look so cozy! Is there anything I need to know about snow and houses?

Anyways, I have Monday off for MLK JR day and I'm taking votes on what I should do:

• Organize the garage
• Prime the kitchen walls
• Sleep in and watch TV

Annnnd go!

-Megan

Checking In

Hello all! Well, it's been a week and a half since my last post and nothing, nada, zilch has happened with the house in that time. Well, besides me making my first lasagna ever! Here's a picture, since the blog has been severely lacking in the image department lately:

Yummm!

This past weekend I helped my super best friends Wendy and Adam move into their very own house (rental) here in Portland, which makes me very excited! Now that they'll be living in town, maybe I can trick them into coming over and helping more often? :) Actually, I think it would behoove me to make another renovation schedule because I definitely think it helped kick my butt into gear last time. Plus, recent weekends have been unusually nice and not rainy out, so it's hard to force myself to do non-fun stuff when I could be doing fun stuff :) I definitely think that because the rest of the things I need to do are almost purely aesthetic, I'm not getting that sense of urgency I had with getting the kitchen functional. So any motivation ideas are greatly appreciated!

-Megan

Happy Holidays!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas! I went home to California for a few days and my awesome friend Sarah watched over the house (and my kitty) while I was gone. I got quite a few house related gifts and Home Depot gift cards, yay! I received some really cool storage shelves for the garage, so I'm excited to get started on organizing! I do have to tackle the decoration take-down though, which I'm not really looking forward to. Maybe I can convince Stan to help again ;) Or I could be one of those awesome people who leaves their Christmas lights up all year long because they're too lazy to take them down!

Oh yes, yesterday marked my 6 month anniversary of home ownership! It doesn't really feel that long ago that I got the keys and started this crazy project. I feel like I've done a lot, but then again not much at all. And honestly, I couldn't have done any of it without the help of my friends, so THANK YOU to all!! I heart you mucho.

Well, most likely I won't do anything until after the New Year, but I'll try to take some updated bedroom/living room pictures to show off my new layouts and furniture pieces to tide you all over :) Besides the garage organizing, I *really* need to prime the walls and ceiling of the kitchen so I can move forward with finishing it off!

-Megan

*breathe*

Well, it has been just over 2 weeks since my kitchen and bathroom has been fully functional! It is great, let me tell you :) So far, I've cooked a few big meals, had some friends over for a "soft opening" of sorts, and I've enjoyed brushing my teeth in the bathroom for a change! And can I just say how much I love my dishwasher?! Who knew that a dishwasher was the one great thing that was missing from my life? :P While I definitely still have a ton to do, I feel like I have just been catching my breath for the last couple of weeks. It felt like for a while, every day was a stressful push toward functionality, and now I'm just relaxing and leaving the aesthetic stuff for later! :) Also, not to mention, all of that work in such a short time definitely cost a TON and I'm trying to lay off on the spending for a while so I can catch up.

I did clear out the spare room and sort of "staged" it for when I had people over, but now the garage is a mess of boxes! I think my next big project will be organizing the garage...fun!

I'm off to California for a few days so obviously I won't make any house progress this week, but I'll post some pictures when I get back! I hope everyone has some happy holidays and a great new year!! :)

-Megan

Running Water!!

Yesterday I had a plumber come in (recommended by my friend John from the gym!) and he pretty much wrapped up all the loose ends and now I feel like I have a fully functioning house! He installed the kitchen sink, faucet, and dishwasher, and also installed the bathroom sink and faucet, and switched out the shower knob...which opened up a whole new can of worms *sigh* But! The important thing is I can COOK! And wash those dishes after I cook! And I don't have to go into the garage to wash my hands after I do my business! :)

Sink, faucet, & dishwasher

Other side of the kitchen with the fridge in its rightful place

Spice drawer!!

And now for the bathroom sink:

Yippeee!

I didn't really have any groceries at home so I haven't had a chance to break the kitchen in yet, but tonight I will make my very first home-cooked meal! I also haven't tried running the dishwasher yet...I need to read the manual! I've only ever lived with a dishwasher once for less than a year so I'm not entirely sure how they work :P I just know that it will make my life easier!

Okay, up ahead: prime, paint, backsplash and open shelving for the kitchen. I also think I'm going to re-paint my bedroom soon...lately it just seems too dark and heavy.

-Megan

P.S. Thanks to Wendy for taking the photos!

Cabinets and Holiday Decorating!

Yay finally! The cabinets are installed! The bad news: I need to get a plumber in to actually adhere the sink to the cabinets as well as hook up the pipes and such, grrrr. So I have a range, refrigerator, cabinets and countertops, but still no running water and no dishwasher (yet). Someday I'll be able to use the kitchen! Well, a girl can hope :P They only sent one guy to do the assembly and installation, and he was at my place for 10 hours yesterday and got this far:

Lookin' alright so far!

I wasn't told it would take almost 2 entire days to do this, so I had to scramble and take all but 2 hours off work today, which I didn't want to do but oh well! Today he finished up, and it looks super nice! The cabinets are actually a white-washed birch, but they look plain white in the pictures...

The finished product with countertops and door handles

You can also see the toe-kick grate peeking out under the left side cabinet...that's where the re-routed heating duct comes out now. I have heat in the kitchen, woohoo!

This weekend Stan helped decorate for the holidays! You can see the tree in the background of the above picture, but here's a close up:

Sparkly!

This is my first "real" tree since I've lived on my own! I got my fake mini tree I think 9 years ago? And before that I pretty much lived in the dorms, so no trees there. Anyways, I'm really excited about it :) And I had accumulated so many ornaments over the years that it's not sparsely decorated at all!

The other big thing: I have lights on my house!!! I started putting them up but after a while I couldn't really reach the gutter because of my short t-rex arms, so I recruited Stan to help :)

My hero!

Pretty!

So far, I'm the only one on my block with lights...apparently I'm the only awesome person that lives there! Well, I'm not sure when I'll be able to get someone in to hook up the sink and dishwasher, but hopefully within the next couple of weeks...I'm dying over here! I need to cook!!

I still need to do quite a bit with the kitchen unfortunately...I still need to patch some of the cracked areas on the walls and ceiling, put in the baseboards, deal with the whole wall behind the sink, and much more :-/ While it feels good to have the cabinets in, it just kind of highlights how much *more* needs to be done! Oh well...it will all get done...eventually!

-Megan