My Name Is Steve. This Is My Website. » House

Kitchen Updates, Bathroom Surprises and Some Paint

Steve — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 05:46:58 +0000

Sorry for the delay in updates, its been a busy day, with working on the house, watching half of the Penn State drubbing, and running errands. Today we updated the old-fashioned white cabinet/drawer knobs in the kitchen with brushed nickel styled ones. It makes a huge difference.

Also gone is the gold chandelier in the dining room that didn’t have any globes on the lights anyway. We got a brushed nickel chandelier from Lowes and installed it. This was my first real experience with wiring lights, nothing has caught on fire- yet. I’m pretty confident in it, since we had to wire it a total of three times since I kept forgetting to include various parts of the chandelier ON the chain itself. Had I read the entire set of directions instead of looking just at pictures, I could’ve saved an hour of work…

We also got a new vanity light for the bathroom, and when we took the old one down we discovered the junction box is offset to the left by about 3 inches. The previous light was a “box” styled solid back, and the new light is a simple circle mount that needs centered. I assume the offset box is due to a stud in the wall, but at any rate, I’m not moving the box. We decided to use this new vanity light for the master bathroom instead, and instead we found a similarly styled light but with a solid back for the hall bathroom.

We also did a lot of paint prep, including taping the master bedroom and bath, as well as painting the ceilings in the hall bath as well as beginning trim work. As always, check out the photos here:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.722076376427.2153059.43603067&type=1&l=b9bf889f49

Happy New Year! (12/31/11 House Update)

Steve — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 06:14:17 +0000

Happy New Year! Here’s a quick update on the house progress since I have church at 8AM tomorrow.

Today we worked on the living room of the house, cleaning up a little, taping, rolling and trimming the walls. We used a shade of green that is darker than the kitchen/dining room but still related. We wanted a natural transition from room to room but also to have the living room feel a little more comfortable, or “cozy” if you will.

The thin wall between the foyer and living room provided an interesting painting experience, but other than that everything went pretty smoothly. I need to do some research on a fast and easy way to get clean lines between walls and ceilings, because I don’t have the time or patience to do it the old fashioned way.

I’m not sure how much is on the agenda for tomorrow, between church and Christmas with my parents (yes, it was only 7 days ago- seems much longer) our time in the house will be a little more limited. We’re also planning a Lowe’s run to get new cabinet knobs and possibly chandelier for the kitchen. All we’ll need then is our stainless steel appliances…

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.720647155597.2152776.43603067&type=1&l=7b12e5640f

Kitchen Progress

Steve — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 04:29:48 +0000

We’ve finally reached the end of day 2. We got to the house around 9AM this morning and I didn’t leave until 10:30PM (let the record show that Jesica worked tonight so she did a little sleeping and couldn’t stay as long… I kid.). I spent most of the day taping the kitchen to prep for paint, and then doing the actual painting in the kitchen. I painted the ceilings and walls, Jesica pitched in with the 2nd coat on the walls and helped with trim. The kitchen went from a boring off-white color to “Harbour Town,” which is a greenish color.

Jesica also took the dog borders off the master bedroom walls in prep for painting that room. We gave two house tours today, her mom and grandparents stopped by. I might make a recording and let guests do a self-guided tour… I’m joking, I love showing people around the new digs and explaining all the nuances we’ve found so far. As will be standard (hopefully) here are the pictures from today’s progress. You don’t need a Facebook account to view them.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.720104208667.2152683.43603067&type=1&l=cb399b02d0

Big Announcement: New House!

Steve — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 06:22:42 +0000

Ready for some breaking news? Jesica and I are homeowners. We bought our first home earlier today after what seemed like months (it actually did take multiple months, but I mean it felt like 6-7, not 2-3, you know? Right…) of waiting and signing paperwork.

We’re moving to a relatively new house (built in 1999) in a nice development just outside of Mifflinburg. It’s in the Mifflinburg School District, which is what we were aiming for. The house is 4 Bedroom, 2 Bathroom, just under 1700 sq ft. We’re very excited to get to work on it and start moving in. We’re aiming for February but it might come sooner if we get all the work done we want…

There’s not a ton of hard labor involved, just cosmetic work and a lot of cleaning. We’re repainting every room of the house including all the ceilings. I’m sure I’ll be tired of rollers and brushes by room 2 or 3, but when it comes to painting you’ve got to stay persistent.

I figured I’d have more details to share but it’s 1:15AM and I’m exhausted. We’re planning on spending all day at the house tomorrow doing work too… In lieu of extra detail: have some pictures courtesy of Facebook. You don’t need an account to view them.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.719647014887.2152618.43603067&type=1&l=be6fb30b43

I’ll probably be posting more photos and updates as we get more work done and the sun comes back up (hopefully) so I can take more outside shots. Before I end this, an interesting anecdote- all month I’ve been commenting on the amount of rain we’ve been having and how we’re fortunate it wasn’t snow. Then I would follow the comment with “I’m sure as soon as we get the keys to the house we’ll start getting snow instead.” On the way to the bank today to sign the final paperwork, it started snowing. We’ve got a dusting of snow, but nothing too significant. I fear my prediction is coming true already…