As of this past Monday (Jan. 4), I'm living in my new house! Frank and Kenny helped move my bed and elliptical trainer from my parents' house, and I spent my first night here. It was a great feeling, but also a very very strange one. Essentially, the house has been a job site for me during the last two years. So imagine the weirdness of taking off your clothes and taking a shower at work! It just felt wrong somehow. :)
I'm still adjusting to everything, but it's coming along fine. I've slept great every night. The kitchen is still in a hybrid condition: some of the countertop contains food and stuff I'm putting away, and other parts still have tools and toolboxes laying around. That conversion is going to be a slow process. I had a lot more stuff to move over than I first thought. Not big stuff, but boxes and boxes of little everyday things... stamps, staplers, old folders and binders full of papers, financial records, CDs, and a lot of other things. Trying to put it all away and develop an organized, logical system for where I put it is tough to do. It's like information overload!
I've spent a lot of time (and money) at stores this week stocking up on food and buying items I discovered I needed right away. I've also been bringing over more boxes from my parents' house a little at a time. I still need to move the printer over here.
I've enjoyed sitting and watching TV and just enjoying the house as a place to live (and not work). I'm also setting up the new computer with software that I need for doing all my geeky things. It's also a weird feeling to walk around the house without shoes on. I've learned that the tile floor is cold when you're just wearing socks. Time to shop for those area rugs!
I've been doing some cleaning. All the surfaces in the house needed a good dusting. I'm getting to them mostly as I need to use them. I also replaced the air filter in the return air duct and cleaned the electric filter system in the attic. Actually, I discovered that the electric system wasn't even turned on until now, so I should start getting air that's filtered much more thoroughly.
One thing in the house that I haven't used yet is the air tub. I'm looking forward to that. Another thing I haven't done yet is bring Luci (the dog) from my parent's house to live here with me. That's the plan eventually. There are still a couple of things I want to complete before I try to move her here. Tomorrow I plan to bring her over for a few hours to start getting more acclimated. She's been here several times now, but just for a few minutes each.
Well, it's late! I'd better go get some sleep!
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Carpet and Office Furniture Installed
The carpet was installed just before Christmas, and the office furniture was installed on December 30! It really feels like home now. I'm finishing up the closet shelves that I'll need in order to move my stuff in. I'm also setting up my new computer in the office and bringing stuff over here little by little. I moved most of my books and DVDs in the last couple of days. I've got my receiver hooked up and the DVD player mounted where I want it. The infrared remote repeater is installed and working, too.
I had an unpleasant confrontation with my trim carpenter last week. He and his helper were here to finish up one piece of crown above the stove and the fridge. I also had 2-3 cleanup items for them to correct, and I asked if he had any ideas on how to handle a tricky problem with the crown on top of my cabinets. (The cabinet guys have no clever ideas for it.) They finished the work, and he said he would come back to do the cabinet crown if I wanted him to. Then we talked about the final balance...
He had already taken back a $500 discount he extended for not having to install my cabinets. He took it back after he installed attic stairs and some cove moulding in my back garage, claiming that he hadn't counted on doing work back there. I thought it strange because I know we talked about it on the original walk-through, and I couldn't imagine it being $500 worth of extra work. I was already miffed about that.
I also remember him saying his price included closet shelves and fixtures like towel holders, etc. I'm doing the closets and the fixtures myself. His attitude really turned when I asked how much he would take off for not having to do that stuff. He said that he wasn't really charging me for that work. It was just included in his price... Huh? When I pressed him on it, he said that closets just don't take long to do so they wouldn't amount to much money. He rambled on about how my job was taking so long and he couldn't make any money on all these return trips. How I was holding up thousands of his money by taking so long. Are you kidding? Sure, there were long periods between phases of his work, but I paid him for the work as he did it.
I was the one who had to wait on him for the most part. He'd drop off his helper who did maybe 6 hrs of work that day, and then I'd be waiting days for them to come back and do some more. Meanwhile, he'd be out of town on a hunting trip where his phone didn't work. And in the end I've had to come behind them and fix their work: re-doing doorstops that weren't attached properly, caulking oversized gaps in window casing, and other details.
He did relent and take $150 off for the closets and fixtures. At least it's something. And it's a lesson learned for me to always have an agreement in writing. But you live and learn. This guy was married to a cousin of mine when I hired him (they later divorced) and my cousin recommended him highly.
I had an unpleasant confrontation with my trim carpenter last week. He and his helper were here to finish up one piece of crown above the stove and the fridge. I also had 2-3 cleanup items for them to correct, and I asked if he had any ideas on how to handle a tricky problem with the crown on top of my cabinets. (The cabinet guys have no clever ideas for it.) They finished the work, and he said he would come back to do the cabinet crown if I wanted him to. Then we talked about the final balance...
He had already taken back a $500 discount he extended for not having to install my cabinets. He took it back after he installed attic stairs and some cove moulding in my back garage, claiming that he hadn't counted on doing work back there. I thought it strange because I know we talked about it on the original walk-through, and I couldn't imagine it being $500 worth of extra work. I was already miffed about that.
I also remember him saying his price included closet shelves and fixtures like towel holders, etc. I'm doing the closets and the fixtures myself. His attitude really turned when I asked how much he would take off for not having to do that stuff. He said that he wasn't really charging me for that work. It was just included in his price... Huh? When I pressed him on it, he said that closets just don't take long to do so they wouldn't amount to much money. He rambled on about how my job was taking so long and he couldn't make any money on all these return trips. How I was holding up thousands of his money by taking so long. Are you kidding? Sure, there were long periods between phases of his work, but I paid him for the work as he did it.
I was the one who had to wait on him for the most part. He'd drop off his helper who did maybe 6 hrs of work that day, and then I'd be waiting days for them to come back and do some more. Meanwhile, he'd be out of town on a hunting trip where his phone didn't work. And in the end I've had to come behind them and fix their work: re-doing doorstops that weren't attached properly, caulking oversized gaps in window casing, and other details.
He did relent and take $150 off for the closets and fixtures. At least it's something. And it's a lesson learned for me to always have an agreement in writing. But you live and learn. This guy was married to a cousin of mine when I hired him (they later divorced) and my cousin recommended him highly.
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