Kyoo 179 - Carpeting Charles

Electricity was still off today until 6 so Carpeting Charles rescheduled til tomorrow. Which also means that I won't get to do any more work til next week...because I'm taking off to the beach this weekend....

So, until my projects start up again, here's a few more pics from the work at the condo.


Part of the finished hallway. The washer and dryer came with the condo...lucky me!


My demo work on a wall...funny story. I was pulling the baseboards off and there was what I thought to be a strip of caulking that was holding me back. So I pulled out my razor and started cutting away at it...only to see wires just a few seconds later. Oops! Apparently someone took some shortcuts when they were running cable throughout the house. A trip to Wal-Mart later and I wrapped it back up in electrical tape and properly ran it through the wall. No more exposed wires!


A peak at the finished master bedroom. I'm loving the new carpet smell!


But not as much as I love the green accent walls! And the "Shur-Line" paintbrush. It earned it's name. Very sure lines.


There is a lot more work to baseboards than meets the eye. They have to be cut just so. They have to be level. You have to find the studs for the upper nails. And then you have to cover all your nail holes and make them look pretty! I only had 130 feet to do...but it sure kept me busy.

I also hit up Wal-Mart for the first official "stock my home" trip. The focus today was on the kitchen. I'm going to take it room by room so I don't pass out at the register. So I bought a broom and a mop and dish soap and a scrubber and towels and a garbage can and all that fun stuff. Exciting, I know.

And I discovered a running trail just across the street from my condo...super excited about that.

It's sad but I think I already need a good break from my condo. I'm starting to sound old and boring talking about my house all the time!

Bring on camping at the beach.

Have a great day :)

Kyoo 178 - Proud Homeowner

As of Friday, after putting my right hand to a name-signing marathon, I'm a homeowner.

:)

I had been planning on buying a house since before I moved to San Antonio in 2008 but I changed my mind a lot. I'd look at houses and be pro-buying and then I'd do calculations and decide against it. And then the allure of owning something that I could make mine would creep up again and I'd start looking. It was a game of catch between the two opinions.

Finally, a little over a month ago, I saw the listing for my condo. I fell in love with it right away. The location (close to work), the size (2 beds, 1.5 bath), the floor plan, the cool sink in the bathroom (pictures to come), the fact that I wouldn't have to worry about exterior maintenance, the price that I could afford by myself. I picked a realtor and started working with him that day. Unfortunately, it was already under contract. But, luck would have it, that contract fell through and I picked up where they left off. End of sale, beginning of story.

Within an hour of signing the papers, I was already taking the place apart. There were a few things I didn't like and I figured I should fix them now or else I'd just put them off indefinitely. So, for the past 5 days, I've done nothing but work on my condo (and sleep a couple hours every night). It's been exhausting. Everything on me hurts. Especially my fingers. They're puffy and swollen from grasping tools all day! But now that I'm starting to see the fruits of my labor, it's really satisfying.


My new fridge! It's small...but the space (or lack thereof) kind of requires that. It'll keep my food cold. I've got some plans for the kitchen. Starting with replacing those hideous counter tops.


Semi-final product picture of the second bedroom closet.

I hated the baseboards upstairs (see picture below). And the carpet really needed some help. So I ripped out all the baseboards, put in shiny new ones (fancier too!), and got new carpet. They're almost done installing it. Had a big storm come up that killed power so that kind of stopped them today but it should get finished tomorrow. And Carpeting Charles is a pretty cool guy. Does good work.


The second bedroom before. Hated the yellow color. Looked like pee.


Master bedroom before. Yes, those are all my tools and I did make that mess by myself. Cleaned it up too! The room used to be the pee yellow color with one really deep red wall. I painted it green :)


See the baseboards? Kind of hard cause they're so small and improperly installed! This was the before picture from the hallway.

I'll keep uploading more pics as I take on new projects. I have a few finishing touches to put on the baseboards but that one should be crossed off the list this week. Then I'm moving on to a few things in the main bathroom and also turning my closet into a lean, mean storing machine.

Have a great day :)