However, I ran into a small snag. The pre-cut oak panels I used before are 5.5″ high, which was fine on the other stairs because I covered up the open space with 3/4″ shoe molding. Those risers are only 6.5″ high — you do the math. You’d think the builder of our house would have used the same freaking sized rizer, but NO. Silly me; I assumed they were the same. The risers going down were at least 7″!! What the hell?? 5.5 + .75 + .75 = 7 So the boards weren’t going to work the same way as the 6.5″ steps.

Long story short, I created some skinny shims that I could lay the molding on and filled the small gaps with wood putty. It’s certainly not my proudest home improvement moment. I used to complain to high heaven about the weird things the previous homeowner use to do (um 3″ nails??), and now I’m turning into that homeowner. Hey, whatever works, just do it. :) I’m just glad I don’t have to listen to Mike nag me to do it already… and it looks pretty good too!

I’ve sat down to write this post maybe three times, and each time I became waylaid by a screaming baby or a hungry husband…or was it the other way around? I can’t be sure. :)

Anyhoo, Mike and I have been increasingly dismayed by the lack of use the den gets. The only time it ever sees any action is the Halloween party, and that hardly seems an efficient use of space. The other thing we bemoan is the fact that the dining room only holds a small table — for an absolute maximum of 6 place settings (which includes 2 leaves). It’s not that we have many guests for dinner, but it’s nice to know that we could have them if we wanted.

We briefly discussed the thought of moving, but that was quickly tossed out the window. We bought our house at a time when interest rates were the lowest in over 30 years, and we’d be fools to give up our insanely low mortgage. Plus, we really do love our house and there’s nothing I hate more than packing.

I was mulling over our problems and I think I came up with the perfect solution… but it will take some major planning, money saving, DIY construction and most of all time. What is this plan you ask? Move the dining room into the current living room and make the den our full time living room. Which leaves the current dining room as a small sitting area. Mike likes to call it “House 2.o”. We could just willy-nilly move our stuff all at once and call it done, but we want to do this right. The biggest obstacle (and this is no small feat) is to reinsulate and dry-wall the den. Currently, there’s some terrible wood paneling down there. I painted the paneling several years ago, but it doesn’t make up for the fact that it doesn’t meet evenly at the seams, and generally looks terrible. Also, since it’s below foundation level the walls are pretty drafty. There’s not much we can do for the exposed foundation, but I’m pretty sure the upper walls have almost no insulation. Not like you care, but here’s the list of things that we think need to happen.

• Sell old TV stand done
• Sell TV
• Tear out paneling and replace with dry wall – $$
• Insulate den walls – $$
• Re carpet or floor the den – $$
• Get a new fireplace insert – $$$
• Repair old living room wall
• Finish trim in old living room – $
• Find a better whole-house solution for music/sound (maybe wireless??)
• Wire and hang a chandelier for new dining room – $
• Track lighting in den – $
• Break open wall to kitchen from new dining room to create a pass through window

Switching the rooms around will pave the way for us to eventually (read: a long time from now) get new dining room and living room furniture — which is something I’ve been dying to do. Now to start working on one of those design mood boards all the cool kids are doing. :)

They just look like poops... really.

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.

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.

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!

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!

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.

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.

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.