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Working on clearing out the Sprout’s room has proven to be a much more ambitious undertaking than I initially imagined. I foolishly thought I could simply take out the things that don’t belong in there, and, Voilà! turn it into a baby’s room. Oh, how wrong I was! The thing is… we need to clear space in other places of the house for those other objects to go. What was once just “clearing out the nursery” has evolved into a whole-house purge — from the baby’s room to the garage and beyond! At first I considered having a garage sale, but who am I kidding? I don’t have the time or energy for such things! So in two weeks we have taken 5 CARLOADS of unwanted swag to the Goodwill! Think about that for a second… I know I’ve said it before that we have too much stuff, but I didn’t realize how much of it there was. The sick thing is that even with all that stuff gone, it barely looks like we’ve made much progress! There’s still so much more to go. And then there’s the not-so-small matter of finding a place to put a full-size electric piano. Oy!

The current state of the Sprout's room – we're working on it!

The other side of the room

Someone said to me, “It sounds like you’re nesting!” And, while that kind of comment kinda gives me the rage, I’m going to be honest here… maybe a little of it is nesting, but Mike was the one who initiated the purge — starting in the garage. This massive clean out was long overdue, and the baby coming has been a great mobilizer for both of us; No more lazy procrastination.

Here's what the garage USED to look like a few years ago – Hello, HOARDERS!?

I have to say, it is sooo liberating to get rid of your unneeded stuff; it’s definitely habit-forming. I recently read an article that talked about the psychological aspects of getting rid of stuff. It said to ask yourself these three questions: Do I love it? Do I use it? How does it make me feel? You’d be surprised how easy it is to let go when you go through the exercise of self-evaluation. I’m almost embarrassed to admit the amount of stuff I was holding on to just because it was easier to ignore it.

So we’re making slow progress, but we still have a few months. And I think we’ll all benefit from having a more organized life: Me, Mike and the Sprout.

As the days get colder and I become painfully aware of the temperature inside and out, I start thinking how much I would love a working fireplace. Shortly after we moved into our house, the fireplace had a huge leak and it turned out we needed a new chimney cap and new flashings. “Mr Sweep” did our repairs and told us that our fireplace was unsafe and unsuitable for fires, and that we shouldn’t use it. We weren’t really planning on it, owing to the fact that the previous homeowners had caulked the damn thing shut — probably because of the chilling draft it emitted.

Like most homeowners I often daydream about what I would fix or upgrade if I had any money whatsoever. At first, at the top of the fireplace list was a pellet stove. I like that they are environmentally friendly, burning wood/corn pellets cleanly and efficiently. However, I learned that not only are they expensive to buy/install, they can also be costly to maintain. They require annual servicing by a professional and with many moving parts, repair can be expensive too. Not to mention the fact that pellet availability can sometimes be scarce. Realistically speaking, a pellet stove probably wouldn’t be a good solution for us.

The other route is an EPA certified wood-burning stove. Every year they create a list of stoves that are earmarked for efficiency and emissions. They are somewhat less expensive, and don’t require the same kind of care that a pellet stove does. How awesome would it be to have a fire during the day instead of running the furnace?? Then of course there’s the perk of snuggling up on the couch to watch the fire burn.

Alas we have no money, and as I learned, our furnace is probably in the last few years of its life. According to the furnace cleaning guy, average lifespan of a furnace is 15 – 20 years, and ours is 16. While it’s still working well, we should probably sock away some spare money for a new one at some point in the not too distant future. :( Oh well! I’ll still continue to have these pipe dreams of someday being able to enjoy a warm fire on a cold day.

So if you’ve noticed my flicker stream lately, you’ve seen a lot of strange random items I’ve photographed. The truth is, my garage is overrun with junk — trappings of a former existence, apartment living, and various cast-offs that are too nice to simply throw out. The budding environmentalist in me cringes at the thought of good items languishing in a land fill. Mike and I were toying with the idea of throwing an all-out garage sale, but we’re far too lazy for that. Lose a whole weekend sitting in the driveway watching people peruse our crap and try to nickel-and-dime us for that Bombay Company Jewelry Box that’s easily worth $20 bucks; NEVER!

I LOVE this Weird Al song!!!

So up on Craigslist it goes. And why not?! I’m home all day now, often without much to do. Plus, as sick as it sounds, I enjoy the human interaction; even if they are strangers. Some of the things I’ve sold so far: That jewelry box, a big wad of turquoise tule, vinyl gaming chairs that Mike HAD to have (I got his permission first), old bathroom light fixture, shower curtain and other old bathroom stuff, office chair, new curved shower curtain rod (lost my receipt), among other things. And someone is supposedly coming today to purchase my old kitchen baker’s rack. All in all, we’ve made a pretty good chunk of change. And with that money, I’ve been able to do a little Goodwill shopping. I’m hoping to have the garage cleaned out by the end of the summer. It’s been far too long since I was able to see the floor in there!

I’m embarrassed to say that this is pretty much what our garage looks like right now. This picture was taken last year, but not much has changed. The mess is slightly more organized, and just imagine four big rolls of bamboo fencing since this pic was taken before the fence project, as well as two boxes for a new toilet (for the powder room) and various bathroom project items! Trust me, it all fits in there!

When we were house-hunting in ’03, and our realtor took us to what would eventually become our home, the first thing that greeted us was the previous homeowner’s decor. They were the original owners, so everything was very… mid-century… I guess… but not necessarily in a good way. In fact, I had seen pictures of the house online, and completely wrote it off because of the wall-to-wall blue carpet. But the floorplan charmed us and it was in our price range. The only reason we put in an offer was because we learned there were hardwoods under the heinous carpet. We eventually accepted their counter-offer, and the house would soon be ours.

The living room as it was before we bought the house.

Since they were downsizing, they intended to sell a few pieces of furniture. Among those items were a pair of fantastically beautiful teak chairs — the likes of which I had never seen before — for a paltry 60 bucks! They are on the left in the above picture. I informed the seller’s agent that we wanted to purchase them. Some time later, I asked how I should pay for the chairs, since I hadn’t heard from the sellers. I was informed that the sellers’ real estate agent purchased them! I’m pretty sure they knew I wanted them… How rude!!

So here’s where I’m going with this: I was browsing the magazine aisle at Wegman’s and I found this magazine: Atomic Ranch. My heart leaped when I saw it, so I snatched it up without even hesitating. Never mind the fact that it was $7 dollars!

The inside cover reads, “A Jerry Johnson chair with a U.S. patent date of 1964 was thought to never have been put into production, yet here it—or a very similar cousin— is in a San Jose Eichler.” *SIGH* I guess I shouldn’t feel bad. I have a house full of furniture now, but it still kills me that I could have had them!

Maybe I’m feeling like I need to fill the gaps between freelance projects, but I’ve been making a mental list of the things I’d like to do around the house this summer and beyond. That’s not to say I’m not busy with freelance, but since I’m at home all day, every day, I get ample time to ponder the “imperfections” around here. Then I start thinking about what I can do for cheap, if not free. I’m going to have to be VERY resourceful since we have NO money; but that’s part of the thrill.

The list includes the following:
1. Tile the downstairs bathroom (I already have the tiles, I just need to tear up the old floor and do it). Then put in a new toilet (already purchased and sitting in the garage).
2. Find a cool use for my leftover upstairs bathroom tiles… perhaps the countertop to the bar??
3. Clean up the laundry room. The walls are still bare studs, and the floor is horrendous. We saved linoleum from the old kitchen, so the biggest problem is removing the washer & dryer to get it in there. Of course, I’ve wanted a new water heater… and I wouldn’t want to go putting the vinyl down before that happens… but alas!
4. Paint and repair the upstairs hallway… It’s seen better days! Plus, I still have to finish repairing the hole from the yellow jacket incident.
5. Sell all the old crap in the garage. I’ve wanted to either have a garage sale, or put everything up on craigslist. It’s LONG overdue: I can barely walk in there.
6. Revamp the closet doors in my bedroom. I saw this idea on DesignSponge. Basically, they wallpapered the faces of the doors. I don’t like the pattern they used, but I think I could do something cool with them. I can’t afford new doors, and while there’s nothing physically wrong with mine, I hate them. They’re old, scratched up, and the color is sooo dark!
7. Clean up and organize the spare room upstairs. Remember the Marsha Brady wallpaper?? I never repainted that room, and since we moved the office downstairs, it’s been both a dumping ground and cat refuge.
8.One of these days I’m going to get out in the garden to actually clean up and get all those pesky weeds out — and there are MANY. Also, I have a few things in in pots from last year that I still haven’t planted!
9. I’m sure I could go on and on with more, but that’s all for now.

As I write this, the bathroom is 99% done. All that remains are the accessories: towel rods, toilet paper holder, etc. Unfortunately, they’re on backorder from the supply company and won’t be in until next week. Had I known they were backordered, I would have picked something else. Oh well!

Yesterday, the mirror guy came in the morning (before the contractor, who showed up at 1). I can’t emphasize enough how much of a difference the mirror makes! The room feels so much bigger. Today’s work included installing the shower fixture and putting on the the vanity knobs.

I put in the new shower curtain, rug, and old trash bin.

Note the matching faceplate that I installed!

Shower fixture is finally in! No more raw pipes.

Cabinet hardware. Once he put the door back, I was kinda bummed because our doors are so shabby.

With a mirror that big, it’s hard to take a picture and not be in it. I had to squat on the floor for this one.

I’ve been a major slacker on the bathroom updates for the past few days. SORRY! Tiling began sometime late last week. The huge 12 x 24 tiles needed to be installed a few days at a time because the sheer weight of them just kept them from being done all at once — plus they’re a 1/2″ thick! What the hell was I thinking?! Lesson learned there! Also, the girl at the tile shop didn’t order enough grout for the wall, so I was lucky enough to borrow from someone else’s order (they didn’t need it right away)!

So since my last post, the guy put in the baseboard tiles, finished installing the ceiling fan, and tiled the backsplash and wall. Enjoy a few pics!

The backsplash tiles went in first to set the height for everything else.

Ginormous 12×24 wall tiles. The idea was to have less grout to clean… now I’m not entirely sure it was a good idea.

Day 14 and the first round of wall tiles.

Day 15: the wall tiles are in… mostly. Alcove still needs to be done in this pic.

The fan opening.

Day 16 and grouting has begun. Check out the nifty piece of molding I suggested he make for the backsplash. I think it looks nice.

The grout makes the brick pattern disappear, but that doesn’t really bother me.

I love these tiles so much.

So what happened on days 9 and 10?? Hell if I know, but there was nothing truly photo worthy. All he really did was start working on the new ceiling fan—which he promptly abandoned because the exhaust pipe was the wrong size. He also moved the light fixture about a foot to the right.

Yesterday (day 11) he primed the wall for painting and took raw materials to his shop to fabricate the custom skirt and leg on the vanity. I volunteered to paint after he left since I really didn’t want to sit around for another day waiting for paint to dry with nothing happening in there! Some time around 4:30 I decided to start, but found the walls to be kinda rough and uneven… since he already primed, I broke out the spackle and started all over. I had to stop for 2 hours for choir practice, and between waiting for the spackle and then primer to dry, I wasn’t done until 1:30am. UGH! Even now, there are places I’m still not happy with, so I will have to go back for touch-ups at a later date.

Today, I saw more progress than I’ve seen in a week. At this rate, I suspect we could be just about finished by Friday (not holding my breath). He brought his son to help out, which really got the ball rolling, but we still have no shower tiles. No worries though, we now have a working toilet and sink! My faith has been restored.

Check out some of Days 11 & 12:

Wall prep and the relocated light fixture.

My awesome paint job. Grr!

Look! We have a toilet.

He starts installing the vanity.

Lighting fixture that I bought at Lowes doesn’t look too shabby.

Glamour shot of water coming out of the faucet. Check out the new toothbrush holder that’s holding the tiles in place (for effect).

End of Day 12.

End of Day 12. Check out the fancy outlet on the side of the cabinet! I’m definitely going to change the plate cover. Other than that, I love it!

More end of Day 12.

George comes in to inspect the work.

So, in two days all the guy got done was the floor. He worked half days because the floor needed time to dry, etc… not to mention the fact that he was involved in some kind of volunteer project that took precedence. Hmm, can you say irritating? I have to say tho, the floor is purty.

Here are the photos!

Day 7 was grout day.

More grouting.

Probably the only pic you’ll ever see with the contractor in it. I try to avoid being in his way when I’m taking pictures. Day 8 was sealing.

The sealer.

Gorgeous!