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Post by Liz n Dick on Nov 2, 2016 13:19:51 GMT -5
I tried fixing my original paint job in our bathroom on Friday. It does not look dramatically better, and in the process I made the ceiling look weird and dumped 1/4 a pint of paint down the sink, so really, it's better for everyone if I don't do anything more complicated than change lightbulbs. I had a new shower surround installed when we first moved into our house, and the guy who did it did a piss-poor job. At one point I slapped a very uneven, totally slip-shod layer of paint onto the walls, hoping it would help with the cosmetic issues from the crappy shower installation. It kind of did, kind of didn't, but it's a tiny bathroom and I'm the only one who uses it, so I didn't care. Finally, after a few years, enough other problems had piled up with the bathroom that I called in a contractor to do repairs and remodeling. He looked around the room with disapproval, and I was like, "Oh, yeah, the guy who put in the shower did a terrible job..." And the contractor was like, "Yeah, this is awful," and indicated the shitty painting. I nodded and said, "He was a terrible painter."
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Post by Liz n Dick on Nov 2, 2016 13:22:25 GMT -5
moimoi, your kitchen looks great!! It really is amazing what something as relatively minor as changing the finish on the cabinets can do. And seriously, nice job taking out that desk. Desks in kitchens make me stabby.
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moimoi
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Post by moimoi on Nov 2, 2016 13:34:20 GMT -5
moimoi , your kitchen looks great!! It really is amazing what something as relatively minor as changing the finish on the cabinets can do. And seriously, nice job taking out that desk. Desks in kitchens make me stabby. Thank you! And yes, the kitchen 'mail station' is such a dumb idea. Kitchens are for cooking food, not document storage. Who on earth wants to sit at a desk in the kitchen? The kitchen needed more pantry storage, and next to the fridge seems like the ideal place to put it, so I had a guy come and rip that sucker out and bought a very affordable 'butler's pantry' from ikea. With some cheap hardware and beadboard, a lot of people can't tell it's not a built-in.
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Baron von Costume
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Post by Baron von Costume on Nov 2, 2016 13:39:42 GMT -5
I really want to redo my cabinets completely (they're kind of stupidly configured and I really want to put a new fridge in, also I have no vent hood) but ugh effort. I may do the self painting thing as a stopgap.
That said I should take some kitchen photos so you can all laugh at how lazily the previous owner did their kitchen stuffs.
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Nov 2, 2016 13:44:04 GMT -5
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Baron von Costume
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Post by Baron von Costume on Nov 2, 2016 13:49:28 GMT -5
this is from before I bought the house: Those tiles over the sink? 4 dark green tiles, no mortar between them... the white that you can see is because they painted everything orange but not between the tiles... they also didn't pull out the stove to paint behind it beside it at all... laziest bastards heh.
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moimoi
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Post by moimoi on Nov 2, 2016 14:32:10 GMT -5
Pedantic Editor Type - I think the cabinets might be more tolerable with different hardware - that's a really easy and affordable change. And if the counter top is white, that at least looks nice against the bright paint job. If you just wanted to change the floor - maybe to something like white square tile? - I think that would be a reasonable improvement. However, if you're going to change the floor, might as well pull up the cabinets and change the configuration too. How do you feel about your 'work triangle'? I don't see why the sink needs to be in front of that opening...not sure what would work better though. Baron Von Costume - My previous owners also had tiles inexplicably stuck to the wall, but luckily in someplace inconspicuous where it was easy to patch up. It's easy to get paint matched, so if the tiles aren't affixed well, you might just pry them off, spackle/sand the surface smooth again, and repaint. Do you have a wooden counter top that matches the cabinet trim? And do the cabinets have a glossy laminate finish? If so, you might be a bit stuck having to rip everything out. Or maybe you can find some glass-fronted cabinet faces to use on the top cabinets and make the room feel less boxed in?
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Nov 2, 2016 14:38:21 GMT -5
moimoi the sink looks into the living room, which is fine - I can see TV while I'm washing the dishes! I actually don't want to change the layout at all, the work triangle is not bad and there's no way to make it any better without major construction. I just want new floors, cabinets and countertops.
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Post by Return of the Thin Olive Duke on Nov 3, 2016 0:54:42 GMT -5
ganews I have water-sealed a deck, repeatedly in fact! It's dirty work and it takes for fucking ever.
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Baron von Costume
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Like an iron maiden made of pillows... the punishment is decadence!
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Post by Baron von Costume on Nov 3, 2016 9:55:59 GMT -5
Baron Von Costume - My previous owners also had tiles inexplicably stuck to the wall, but luckily in someplace inconspicuous where it was easy to patch up. It's easy to get paint matched, so if the tiles aren't affixed well, you might just pry them off, spackle/sand the surface smooth again, and repaint. Do you have a wooden counter top that matches the cabinet trim? And do the cabinets have a glossy laminate finish? If so, you might be a bit stuck having to rip everything out. Or maybe you can find some glass-fronted cabinet faces to use on the top cabinets and make the room feel less boxed in? my countertop is just terrible wood so it's one of the priorities to get rid of, I think the sink stupid tiles are going to be ripped out soonish and I might just sand it down/patch it then throw some adhesive tile stuff up as a stopgap
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Post by Liz n Dick on Nov 4, 2016 8:10:51 GMT -5
We went carpet shopping this week for our gym. Hugs and I were hoping to be able to find industrial-grade carpet tiles in fun colors, to make a Rainbow Road surface for our workouts. Flor makes these, but Flor is stupid crazy expensive. Unfortunately it seems that if you're not going with Flor... your options are all in the "so, how much do you want your home gym to feel like a gate at an airport?" range. We had a lot of grays and beiges to choose from, in all manner of dull marls and even duller stripes. Honestly, if I was in charge of the kinds of places that use industrial carpeting, we would have a much more colorful world. (This is like the complaints we saw in some other thread about car colors. Why does everyone settle for boring, boringer, and boringest??)
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Post by pairesta on Nov 4, 2016 13:00:49 GMT -5
More and more it's looking like I'll be the one moving into my girlfriend's house and selling my place. Therefore, I need to determine what on the list I don't have to do to get the most return of investment. I know this is a few days late, but: 1. Landscaping to replace all the grass and plants Olive (my former pet pig) ate, and even out the back yard. --Do the bare minumum2. Remove tree - $3000-- Unless it's dead or visibly diseased, no3. New roof - $20,000-- No4. Re-pave driveway - $1,500-- No5. Replace wallpaper Olive ate in library and kitchen hallway-- Yes, along with repainting interior6. Fix the parts of the screened in porch olive broke (replace screens, and replace wood she ripped off)-- Yes7. Replace rotted fence - $ -- Probably not.
When we sold our place, we had similar ideas about doing that to our house and our realtor talked us down. Our fence was in bad shape, but she was pretty adamant that fences were almost never a concern. Spring for an inspection yourself and focus on what comes up as the top two or three concerns from the report, and then that's it.
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moimoi
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Post by moimoi on Nov 4, 2016 13:21:02 GMT -5
We went carpet shopping this week for our gym. Hugs and I were hoping to be able to find industrial-grade carpet tiles in fun colors, to make a Rainbow Road surface for our workouts. Flor makes these, but Flor is stupid crazy expensive. Unfortunately it seems that if you're not going with Flor... your options are all in the "so, how much do you want your home gym to feel like a gate at an airport?" range. We had a lot of grays and beiges to choose from, in all manner of dull marls and even duller stripes. Honestly, if I was in charge of the kinds of places that use industrial carpeting, we would have a much more colorful world. (This is like the complaints we saw in some other thread about car colors. Why does everyone settle for boring, boringer, and boringest??) Try the Flor outlet. I got decent-looking 18" squares for $5 each, which is a little more than the $2 per sq. ft for ugly industrial tiles, but totally worth it to cover 800 sq. ft of basement.
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Post by Return of the Thin Olive Duke on Nov 5, 2016 23:52:29 GMT -5
My bedroom is larger than I strictly have use for (it has a space for a desk, which I don't have, and I sleep ryokan-style on the floor because I have no money for a bed). Also, it's a laminate floor, and I have a large window but no sunlight. And since it's November, it's so cold I can barely bring myself to get out of bed in the morning. Are there any simple solutions to this?
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Nov 6, 2016 8:40:41 GMT -5
My bedroom is larger than I strictly have use for (it has a space for a desk, which I don't have, and I sleep ryokan-style on the floor because I have no money for a bed). Also, it's a laminate floor, and I have a large window but no sunlight. And since it's November, it's so cold I can barely bring myself to get out of bed in the morning. Are there any simple solutions to this? Large rug, space heater. Curtain? The size isn't so much the problem as likely poor insulation. Or the heat isn't on?
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Post by nowimnothing on Nov 6, 2016 10:15:54 GMT -5
My bedroom is larger than I strictly have use for (it has a space for a desk, which I don't have, and I sleep ryokan-style on the floor because I have no money for a bed). Also, it's a laminate floor, and I have a large window but no sunlight. And since it's November, it's so cold I can barely bring myself to get out of bed in the morning. Are there any simple solutions to this? Can you divide the room with a sheet or blanket? You would be surprised how much heat that can keep in. I had an apartment one time with an undersized window air conditioner. We put a sheet up over the entrance to the kitchen and there was 20 degree difference between the rooms.
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Post by Return of the Thin Olive Duke on Nov 6, 2016 10:19:41 GMT -5
My bedroom is larger than I strictly have use for (it has a space for a desk, which I don't have, and I sleep ryokan-style on the floor because I have no money for a bed). Also, it's a laminate floor, and I have a large window but no sunlight. And since it's November, it's so cold I can barely bring myself to get out of bed in the morning. Are there any simple solutions to this? Can you divide the room with a sheet or blanket? You would be surprised how much heat that can keep in. I had an apartment one time with an undersized window air conditioner. We put a sheet up over the entrance to the kitchen and there was 20 degree difference between the rooms. Most of my roommates seem to cover their windows as well; I just need to find an appropriate blanket design. Also, how do I hold it up?
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Post by Floyd D Barber on Nov 6, 2016 20:11:11 GMT -5
My bedroom is larger than I strictly have use for (it has a space for a desk, which I don't have, and I sleep ryokan-style on the floor because I have no money for a bed). Also, it's a laminate floor, and I have a large window but no sunlight. And since it's November, it's so cold I can barely bring myself to get out of bed in the morning. Are there any simple solutions to this? If the window itself isn't an insulating window, like a thermo-pane, if the glass feels really cold to the touch, then you can get some plastic and tack or tape it over the window, usually to the frame, and it can cut the heat loss dramatically. It used to be a fall ritual at my old place to get rolls of clear or translucent plastic and tack them up over these huge windows the living room had. It still let the light in, and it was much easier to heat the place If you are sleeping directly on the floor, or your mattress is thin, you should look for a couple of quilts or comforters to insulate you from the floor. Another thing that can help a lot in a cold room is an electric blanket. I lived in a trailer in tech school, through some of the worst winters in the last 40 years, and I remember waking up warm when the pilot on the furnace had blown out and the place was freezing. *Edit: For the plastic over the window to be effective insulation, there needs to be air space between the window pane and the plastic, and the plastic needs to be fastened as airtight as possible.
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Post by nowimnothing on Nov 7, 2016 10:31:58 GMT -5
Can you divide the room with a sheet or blanket? You would be surprised how much heat that can keep in. I had an apartment one time with an undersized window air conditioner. We put a sheet up over the entrance to the kitchen and there was 20 degree difference between the rooms. Most of my roommates seem to cover their windows as well; I just need to find an appropriate blanket design. Also, how do I hold it up? For windows, I have always just draped the blanket over the curtain rod. For dividing the room it depends on the distance. For a short run you could get a tension shower curtain rod. For longer runs you will need to hang clothesline from some sturdy hooks or eyebolts. If you are feeling a lot of cold seeping up from the floor, you could also get one of those cheap survival 'space' blankets and lay that down first, then your regular blankets on top of that.
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Post by Return of the Thin Olive Duke on Nov 7, 2016 10:40:07 GMT -5
Most of my roommates seem to cover their windows as well; I just need to find an appropriate blanket design. Also, how do I hold it up? For windows, I have always just draped the blanket over the curtain rod. For dividing the room it depends on the distance. For a short run you could get a tension shower curtain rod. For longer runs you will need to hang clothesline from some sturdy hooks or eyebolts. If you are feeling a lot of cold seeping up from the floor, you could also get one of those cheap survival 'space' blankets and lay that down first, then your regular blankets on top of that. There is no curtain rod.
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Post by Dr. Rumak on Nov 8, 2016 6:23:53 GMT -5
Based on the estimates we have received, it's going to be around $10,000 for a new roof (could be more if a lot of plywood underneath needs to be replaced, but there's no reason to think too much of it will need to be). That's really not as bad as I feared. And since it will up to current building codes, I am hoping it will dramatically reduce our homeowner's rate.
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Post by Liz n Dick on Nov 10, 2016 14:39:14 GMT -5
This week they put the new roof on our gymgarage, and Boomer wanted the roof dude to take a look at the one on the house proper. After all this talk of roof replacement around here, I was very relieved to hear that the guy's report was the type of roof we've got is considered good for 25 years, since ours is likely not older than 15.
Isn't that an exciting story?
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Post by Not a real doctor on Nov 10, 2016 17:13:23 GMT -5
This week they put the new roof on our gymgarage, and Boomer wanted the roof dude to take a look at the one on the house proper. After all this talk of roof replacement around here, I was very relieved to hear that the guy's report was the type of roof we've got is considered good for 25 years, since ours is likely not older than 15. Isn't that an exciting story? Ma just got a new roof put on her place and the more exciting thing *drumroll* Gutter guards! I'm glad she went for them rather than insistingon dragging th most rickety ladder in christendom out every couple of weeks to clean them. (When I lived in the area there were so many "hey, it's Saturday, I'm gonna come by Tuesday after work to clean the gutters" only to find out on Tuesday "Oh, I did them Sunday afternoon." Mom is 68 and not in *bad* shape but also not in what I'd call "cleaning gutters" shape.
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Post by Liz n Dick on Nov 11, 2016 11:19:01 GMT -5
Ma just got a new roof put on her place and the more exciting thing *drumroll* Gutter guards! I'm glad she went for them rather than insistingon dragging th most rickety ladder in christendom out every couple of weeks to clean them. (When I lived in the area there were so many "hey, it's Saturday, I'm gonna come by Tuesday after work to clean the gutters" only to find out on Tuesday "Oh, I did them Sunday afternoon." Mom is 68 and not in *bad* shape but also not in what I'd call "cleaning gutters" shape. Gutter guards ARE exciting! Our house has them, but they're in kind of sporadic shape. So Boomer employed a gutter-cleaning service that comes once a year, toward the end of fall when most of the leaves are down. These service guys never fail to shock me; they appear with no warning, normally pretty early in the morning, and there is invariably always a guy standing on the roof outcropping just outside my bathroom window when I get out of the shower. They're never working on the other side of the house when I'm naked. No, it's always right outside my bathroom window. I have no idea how they manage that.
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Post by Not a real doctor on Nov 11, 2016 11:30:39 GMT -5
Gutter guards ARE exciting! Our house has them, but they're in kind of sporadic shape. So Boomer employed a gutter-cleaning service that comes once a year, toward the end of fall when most of the leaves are down. These service guys never fail to shock me; they appear with no warning, normally pretty early in the morning, and there is invariably always a guy standing on the roof outcropping just outside my bathroom window when I get out of the shower. They're never working on the other side of the house when I'm naked. No, it's always right outside my bathroom window. I have no idea how they manage that. I used to do some handyman/maintenance work for someone I knew that owned a dozen or so rentals in the city I worked in. A buddy and I would usually do the fall gutter-cleaning/ trimming of branches away from the house and it was always a matter of "how bad are we going to spook the tenants."
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Nov 11, 2016 11:35:52 GMT -5
Well, I guess I'm not getting a remodeled kitchen anytime soon, sad trombone. I did talk to a designer last week - and was hopeful we could move forward. But husband is now feeling his job is not secure enough, he'd like to have more in savings (we're going to have to agree to disagree on how much is enough) and he doesn't want to live through the turmoil of a total cosmetic reno... At least our kitchen is functional, and the appliances are new(er). We have a new faucet in need of installation and I'd like to replace a couple light fixtures, but those are pretty low-key. I guess my lesson here is next house we buy we better do any renovations before we move in
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Post by Liz n Dick on Nov 11, 2016 11:50:40 GMT -5
Well, I guess I'm not getting a remodeled kitchen anytime soon, sad trombone. I did talk to a designer last week - and was hopeful we could move forward. But husband is now feeling his job is not secure enough, he'd like to have more in savings (we're going to have to agree to disagree on how much is enough) and he doesn't want to live through the turmoil of a total cosmetic reno... At least our kitchen is functional, and the appliances are new(er). We have a new faucet in need of installation and I'd like to replace a couple light fixtures, but those are pretty low-key. I guess my lesson here is next house we buy we better do any renovations before we move in BOOOOO! I'm so sorry! If it cheers you up at all, it is nearly impossible to describe how much it sucks living through a kitchen remodel, so while you're stuck with a kitchen you don't love looking at, at least you're sparing yourselves the misery of the process.
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Post by ganews on Nov 11, 2016 18:20:29 GMT -5
We water-sealed our new raised deck today. What an unhappy task. I was very right to wait for this weekend so that Wifemate would be here to work with me. We managed to do the whole thing (minus a few touch-ups saved for tomorrow) in just over three hours. 75% of that time was absolutely devoted to the railing. She didn't want me on the ladder because of the knee, so she sprayed the railing from the outside while I held up a dropcloth to keep it from going all over the deck. Then we painted/back-brushed everything down.
How does anyone use those pressure applicators without getting at least some spots? Those little spots dry almost instantaneously too, even if you're careful to smooth them out. When we finally were sealing the deck itself, like an idiot I tried to do too many things at once and sent a sprinkle all over the finished part of the deck where it was difficult to reach with the back-brush. It looks pretty good on the whole, though, and it got a solid three hours out before sunset.
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Post by Dr. Rumak on Nov 11, 2016 19:41:17 GMT -5
Well, it appears it will be a little over $10K to get a new roof, plus the cost of any plywood boards that need to be replaced. If it turns out that it drops our homeowner's insurance by anymore than $1K a year, I'll be mad at myself for not doing it sooner.
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Post by Dr. Rumak on Nov 14, 2016 11:06:03 GMT -5
Well, it appears it will be a little over $10K to get a new roof, plus the cost of any plywood boards that need to be replaced. If it turns out that it drops our homeowner's insurance by anymore than $1K a year, I'll be mad at myself for not doing it sooner. The people we chose have a good sales guy. He called me yesterday and said if I signed up this week and provided a deposit, there will be a 6% discount, plus he told me about a coupon in a weekly magazine that we already have. So it will probably be a little less than I originally thought. He came by this morning, and I filled out the paperwork and provided the deposit. He is starting the permit process, so I don't really know when the roofing will be done yet.
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