So we're gonna sell our house. We should make around $30k over what we got it for 2 years ago. That means we would be debt-free, well stupid debt anyway. No more card payments or car payments, no more student loans for me. Anywho. This means we have to finish all the projects we've started, and then whip that tiny, dark, old kitchen's ass. So we sold a car, went to Home Depo, spent (literally) 3.5 hours, and got:

- new countertops for me to figure out how to install,
- a new stainless sink for me to figure out how to install,
- a small dishwasher (soon) for a plumber to install, dammit,
- a new sink for the kitchen,
- new tub fixtures,
- new light fixtures for the basement, kitchen, and upstairs,
- materials to tile the kitchen sink wall (that should be fun)
- new paint for upstairs and various other parts,
- picture molding for every room downstairs (130 feet),
- some maple planks so I can make some pimpass thresholds for the kitchen,

and I probably forgot some stuff. A plumber will handle the wet stuff. Otherwise, it's all me and the wife. I will be more scarce around here. And as motivation for me, I feel that I should publicly brag about what I intend to do, so that I have added motivation to get it all accomplished.

First thing to check off was the basement molding. The wife got a stack of 100-year-old salvaged house trim from the ReStore a few months back, so I've been trying to figure out how to make all these old, dented, odd-sized bits and pieces fit my house, but last night I got it done finally, thanks to about 6 High Lifes and Paul Simon's Graceland. Haven't done the lights yet, and tools are visible, but this gives you an idea of where it was a year ago, and where it is now:

[img][650:488]http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/7589/basmtbefore14sk.jpg[/img]

...angle 2:
[img][650:488]http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/6124/basmtbefore25po.jpg[/img]

...note the stains on the old carpet. D-sgusting. Floor is now sealed, painted, and poly'd all to hell.


...that's bamboo surrounding the supports down there.

Anywho, that's what I'll be doing. Wish me luck. Sorry for the long post.

Get the plumber to do the sink, as long as he's there doing the dishwasher.

Congrats and good luck!

That basement would house a kick-ass HO set-up, btw.

not the best phrase to include in a thread titled "idle hands"...

Looks good.

I have some wood floors that need refinishing if you have some spare time.

Yep, plumber will be doing the sink and tub fixtures too.

Refinishing floors sucks, and is *super* easy to do a bad-looking job on. Sorry OB.

Our plan was always to have to big L couch down there, then mount a flat-screen on the wall, and have cut-outs for the components (dvd, stereo) below the tv, back in the wall, with the cutout framed in the same trim. Woulda been pimpalicious. Ah well.

Is that Mrs. Cap'n down in the basement, or some kinda spooky "there's a ghost in the photo!!!" deal?

Either way, her body language sez "GET TA' WORK, CAP'N!!!"

I kind of like the open stone wall.

Yeah, I'm diggin' the open stone wall too.

I have no interest whatsoever in home ownership or decorating but I do have a great deal of interest in darts and the Cap has a board so it's all round to his house.

It's especially fun when your really drunk and only have about a 25% chance of actually hitting the target never mind a treble twenty.

Tis the missus, yes. We were about 2 seconds from ripping up that godawful carpet. I insisted on a "before" shot. This was about 15 months ago... progress was slow.

The bare rock walls was her idea. They need to be sealed too, and that's not easy (unless you want tan-colored sealer, as opposed to clear) but it's possible. The floor is the biggy, and it's sealed now, dammit.

We have 2 dart boards... the old crappy one and the newby in the box still from the wedding last year, waiting for the proper placement.

Did I mention that the basement was that bad when we bought the place?? I just wanna make that clear - it had the water / pet stains on it already. Anywho.

Ok, progress report. Kitchen's done, except for piddly stuff like sealing the grout, which will happen after lunch. But it looks the way it's gonna look now, thanks to staying up till 4am friday night to finish it before the open house (and indeed staying up till 2 or 3am most nights last week... wound up being more work than we thought, and in unplanned-for areas to boot).

The before shot:

Note the white/gold fleck countertops, courtesy of March 8, 1966 (according to the stamps in the cabinets) as well as the PLASTIC wall tiles... sigh.

The During shot, where the old top is out: aka "Eggs broken, omelet cooking?" Quoth Busty, "well, there's no turning back now."

Can't get to the bolts underneath? Turns out if you just smack the living hell out of it with a hammer, it eventually comes apart.

And the result, after dropping in the new countertops (had to cut that 45 on my own, since home depo doesn't friggin carry the 45'd pieces anymore, bastids) and tiling the whole damn wall from the fridge to the stove:



The other side, containing the new appliances:

That dishwasher was the biggest surprise. There's never been one here before, and there really wasn't room for one. So I shoe-horned an 18" model into the last spot on that side, but realized once I got it in that there is zero clearance to the sides for the door, meaning that when I tried to open it, it wanted to scrape that wall next to it. Ugh. So I re-cut the cabinet further to the left to make room for it to open, but then it dawns on me that I've removed the thick wooden trim under the window there (visible at right in pic), and if I put it back on, the dishwasher door will smack it on when I open it. D'oh. And the wall below that window was not pretty... 1960's wallpaper, jagged openings, cracks, etc. Says the plumber, "Man, I cain't wait to see what you do about that one!" "Me either, dude. Me either." So what I did was cut out the plaster and lathe, and tile it flush with the remaining wall. Bada bing.

And to make this remotely music-related, my playlist while working:

1. Paul Simon / Graceland
2. The Byrds / Sweetheart Of The Rodeo
3. Yail Bloor / 2004 Mix
4. Albion / XTC Mix
5. DHJerico / Going Underground Mix
6. Elvis Costello / Greatest Hits disc 1
7. Def Leppard / Pyromania
8. Ben Folds / Rockin The Suburbs
9. Jellyfish / Bellybutton

Good work dude!

I'm honored to be credited with my minor contribution.

For real.

Squirrgle: A Man of Many Talents


Color me impressed.

i pay contractors to do all that. lazy bastard here. good work.

couldn't drive a nail in straight to save my life.
and my people are supposed to be good with tools.

extremely impressed cap'n.

...must ...resist... ...obvious lesbian joke... (sweat trickles down forehead)

It's only fair to say that we didn't really get to choose between hiring someone or doing it ourselves. That money ain't there. Hell, the only thing we hired out was that plumber, and damn if OPA isn't in the wrong line of work, cuz I sure-as-hell got my ass bent over. Estimate: $250. Actual: $552. And this was my first foray into tile. Thankfully, it's not too hard, just very very time-consuming.

Thanks all.

That is some very fine work indeed. I have total admiration for people who can do this kind of thing. I'm the only male in my family who's completely useless when it comes to home maintenance, repair etc. I'd say it skipped a gen, but my father, uncles, grandfather are talented so it appears I'm just a loser.

I like that new countertop a lot, as I'm of the opinion that white in a kitchen is just stupid. And those are some fine looking appliances too. I was just checking those out on the weekend. Well done, mate.

this is hardcore. you have my respect.

This is the fruit of giving the wife a chunk of $ and then depositing her in Home Depo. "Can you install that" "Sortof." (it goes on the cart.) I swear, all of the last two weeks was just a series of tearing something up, and then just shrugging, and saying "well, I'll figure something out."

wait...did you cover up that kick ass stone? ugh

my dad's been playing this game for 30 years, and while his kids are shitheads his wife is well out of his league, so you do what you can.

Nope. The fieldstone foundation is visible on 3 of the walls downstairs in the finished half. You lika de stone, eh? The stone is good, no? I get you more stone.

actually i thought the stone was kick ass.....i couldnt figure out why you would want to cover that shit up......