Like father, like daughter; the only difference is that I'm not going anywhere on my vacation, unless you consider my redecorated apartment to be a wholly separate entity than my current apartment. I don't.
So the Spring Break bonanza begins, and I shall give you a day by day break down, because, hey, I have time. This should make up for all of those missed weekends, and maybe then some.
Today was a later start than I had anticipated. Alex and I had gone to a friend's house for games and merry-making last night and got to bed later than I would have liked given how packed this week will be. We got ourselves out of the door, finally, at 12:30 or so to head to a magical place called Hippo Hardware. The Hippo houses three floors of salvaged hardware from renovated or demolished homes. Doors, knobs, toilets, wrought iron decorative porch pillars much like was present at my home as a child, are all stacked in a semi-orderly manner just waiting to be discovered (or important enough to drop several hundred dollars on in the case of the porch pillars, which they weren't). Despite all of the possible distractions, we had come into Hippo with a purpose; a chandelier purpose.
We headed to the lighting department which boasts the use of every hook in the ceiling while also having several rows of shelves lined from top to bottom with antique treasures. We were in need of advice, however, and maybe a few supplies. We came away with several feet of black and white coated wiring, a grounding wire, two wire nuts, a string of pull cord chain, 12 sockets, and a piece of wiring to run from base to ceiling. Two more stops unrelated to the light fixture and we were home making lunch.
Then to true value for bulbs: six 7-watt bulbs and six 4-watt bulbs all the size of the large christmas lights that used to be the norm on homes for the holidays. We also picked up some polish, because no one wants a dull ass chandelier hanging from their coved ceiling.
The polishing process is finally finished and we have started the wiring process even though Sam hasn't gotten home with the soldering iron yet. Granted, it doesn't make much difference since we can't get the wires through the arms, despite the trick that the hardware shop gave us: wrap the exposed ends of wire around the pull cord to feed through the arms. Not working. The whole reason I am writing this now as opposed to later was to give myself a break before I threw the chandelier through the window. I might be up to heading back and trying a new approach now that I've had some dinner and a chance to settle down. I might also call my dad.
I'll let you know how the rest of the evening goes tomorrow!
Day Two:
Well, Monday night before bed I had added onto my original first day, only to be a complete bone head and close my internet browser without saving it as a draft to be posted at the end of the week. So I'm going to have to recompose this as best I can.
It was a late start again today, but not because we had slept in so thoroughly. I have to come into work for a few hours in the morning to check phone messages and receive mail (and some irate phone calls from parents, let me just roll my eyes and jump for joy in appreciation). All in all, it was a decent morning to be in and I got some things accomplished that needed to be done.
Back at home, Sam had stayed home from work and so we set ourselves to getting the painting started in the living room. The only problem with this was that we had somehow assumed that we didn't need primer, even though the original paint on the walls was made of God knows what and we had no idea how well our purpl-y gray paint would cover it, let alone stick to it. So, after washing the wall and leaving it to dry we headed out for primer and diet cola. Just trust me on the necessity of both.
When we returned, it wasn't long before Alex was home and the priming began with three rollers, two ladders, and a wide angled brush for the edges. While the primer dried, Alex went out for an "after-work beer" with a friend, and Sam and I took a break (and by break, I mean nap, at least in my case).
Next was the purple. One coat was certainly not enough, and Sam seemed to be concerned about this, but after a second coat and night of drying, I must say it looks fabulous, even with the blue tape edging it off. But that's Day Three's story.
We sent Alex out for frozen crinkle cut french fries while we applied the second coat of paint and he returned with french fries and a six pack of coronas (because I love coronas) and a lime of course. The oven was set to warm up while we finished the second coat with his help and the coronas were popped open. It was a great way to end the evening, standing around the oven eating french fries and enjoying our second beer. It was roommate bonding time, much like this week will seem to be by the end of it.
On the plus side, I have come to find joy in painting, whereas I always used to hate it was a firey passion of a thousand burning suns. Okay, maybe I'm exagerrating a bit, but I really didn't care for it. The purple is also a really pretty color. We've talked about extending the paint job to another wall since we have so much paint left, but I'm not sure if I love painting that much now.
We'll see how we all feel after I get the design up on the wall. I'll take a picture when I'm done so as not to ruin the surprise for you.
Day Three:
Off to work once more and some number crunching to see if I wanted to come in anymore this week. I'm not sure I do. And the numbers said I don't have to. I like it when the numbers are in my favor.
I can't say the middle of the day was all that too terribly productive. Alex had a job interview in downtown and we both left for home about the same time, he on his bike and me in my car. We made ourselves some quick lunch and he realized that he had left his laptop at the firm he had interviewed with. So we ate up and then went out to pick up a craigslist purchase of his (job related), a powell's purchase of mine, and his laptop.
Afterwards, though we hadn't accomplished anything, we were both pretty wiped out, so a nap was had. Then some actual progress was made on the apartment at around 6:30 or 7. I started working on the design we are putting up on our living room wall. As soon as I am finished with it (which will hopefully be tomorrow due to timing) I will have a picture posted in here. Just don't scroll ahead and ruin the surprise :)
At a little after 10 I finally put my paint brushes down and the three of us once again joined together for the chandelier. We're actually going to have to put in on hold until after this week, unfortunately, because there are just too many other projects left to figure out.
Tomorrow is Wednesday and I am a little concerned about how much is left to accomplish on our list. So I am waking early to get the living room painting completed and then when Alex gets home we are going to start in on taking down the kitchen cabinet doors to strip then repaint them. We also need to clean and reseal the linoleum, but that's not a job for tomorrow. Luckily I will have a lot of spare time in the summer, so what doesn't get done this week will certainly be accomplished then.
Alright, that's enough for tonight, I have a long day tomorrow
Day Four:
Up early with everyone and ready to tackle the wall design. I worked on it from 10-2:30 straight and finished it about that time. I also then peeled the tape off the walls that was marking our edges and found that it had not worked as well as we might have hoped.
Part of me feels a little depressed about the fact that not even one project has been completed yet, but there are still a few days left (I am writing this day 5). After I finished the wall, Alex got home from work and we started in on the kitchen cabinets, though we only tested out one of them to see how difficult the process would be. we shall see still. Alex was convinced that it would look beter with the whole cabinet painted rather than just the inside panel. Sam and I prevailed in our opinion of the matter, but it did mean a little wasted time in proving Alex "wrong" or at least that his opinion wasn't a very good one.
While we were waiting for one coat to dry we went for ice cream. It was a good adventure, but another that set us back time wise.
There just didn't seem to be enough time in the day to get much done.
Day Five:
A bit of a lost day again since there aren't many tasks that I can do alone. Right now it is 2:30 and I just heard from Alex who went out snowboarding today. He is heading home now. Sam is at work. I slept until noon. Alex has Sam's car and Sam has mine so I couldn't run errands either. Right now, though I think I will finally get to picking up so that maybe we can get to these projects a little more quickly. Maybe.
Day Two:
Well, Monday night before bed I had added onto my original first day, only to be a complete bone head and close my internet browser without saving it as a draft to be posted at the end of the week. So I'm going to have to recompose this as best I can.
It was a late start again today, but not because we had slept in so thoroughly. I have to come into work for a few hours in the morning to check phone messages and receive mail (and some irate phone calls from parents, let me just roll my eyes and jump for joy in appreciation). All in all, it was a decent morning to be in and I got some things accomplished that needed to be done.
Back at home, Sam had stayed home from work and so we set ourselves to getting the painting started in the living room. The only problem with this was that we had somehow assumed that we didn't need primer, even though the original paint on the walls was made of God knows what and we had no idea how well our purpl-y gray paint would cover it, let alone stick to it. So, after washing the wall and leaving it to dry we headed out for primer and diet cola. Just trust me on the necessity of both.
When we returned, it wasn't long before Alex was home and the priming began with three rollers, two ladders, and a wide angled brush for the edges. While the primer dried, Alex went out for an "after-work beer" with a friend, and Sam and I took a break (and by break, I mean nap, at least in my case).
Next was the purple. One coat was certainly not enough, and Sam seemed to be concerned about this, but after a second coat and night of drying, I must say it looks fabulous, even with the blue tape edging it off. But that's Day Three's story.
We sent Alex out for frozen crinkle cut french fries while we applied the second coat of paint and he returned with french fries and a six pack of coronas (because I love coronas) and a lime of course. The oven was set to warm up while we finished the second coat with his help and the coronas were popped open. It was a great way to end the evening, standing around the oven eating french fries and enjoying our second beer. It was roommate bonding time, much like this week will seem to be by the end of it.
On the plus side, I have come to find joy in painting, whereas I always used to hate it was a firey passion of a thousand burning suns. Okay, maybe I'm exagerrating a bit, but I really didn't care for it. The purple is also a really pretty color. We've talked about extending the paint job to another wall since we have so much paint left, but I'm not sure if I love painting that much now.
We'll see how we all feel after I get the design up on the wall. I'll take a picture when I'm done so as not to ruin the surprise for you.
Day Three:
Off to work once more and some number crunching to see if I wanted to come in anymore this week. I'm not sure I do. And the numbers said I don't have to. I like it when the numbers are in my favor.
I can't say the middle of the day was all that too terribly productive. Alex had a job interview in downtown and we both left for home about the same time, he on his bike and me in my car. We made ourselves some quick lunch and he realized that he had left his laptop at the firm he had interviewed with. So we ate up and then went out to pick up a craigslist purchase of his (job related), a powell's purchase of mine, and his laptop.
Afterwards, though we hadn't accomplished anything, we were both pretty wiped out, so a nap was had. Then some actual progress was made on the apartment at around 6:30 or 7. I started working on the design we are putting up on our living room wall. As soon as I am finished with it (which will hopefully be tomorrow due to timing) I will have a picture posted in here. Just don't scroll ahead and ruin the surprise :)
At a little after 10 I finally put my paint brushes down and the three of us once again joined together for the chandelier. We're actually going to have to put in on hold until after this week, unfortunately, because there are just too many other projects left to figure out.
Tomorrow is Wednesday and I am a little concerned about how much is left to accomplish on our list. So I am waking early to get the living room painting completed and then when Alex gets home we are going to start in on taking down the kitchen cabinet doors to strip then repaint them. We also need to clean and reseal the linoleum, but that's not a job for tomorrow. Luckily I will have a lot of spare time in the summer, so what doesn't get done this week will certainly be accomplished then.
Alright, that's enough for tonight, I have a long day tomorrow
Day Four:
Up early with everyone and ready to tackle the wall design. I worked on it from 10-2:30 straight and finished it about that time. I also then peeled the tape off the walls that was marking our edges and found that it had not worked as well as we might have hoped.
Part of me feels a little depressed about the fact that not even one project has been completed yet, but there are still a few days left (I am writing this day 5). After I finished the wall, Alex got home from work and we started in on the kitchen cabinets, though we only tested out one of them to see how difficult the process would be. we shall see still. Alex was convinced that it would look beter with the whole cabinet painted rather than just the inside panel. Sam and I prevailed in our opinion of the matter, but it did mean a little wasted time in proving Alex "wrong" or at least that his opinion wasn't a very good one.
While we were waiting for one coat to dry we went for ice cream. It was a good adventure, but another that set us back time wise.
There just didn't seem to be enough time in the day to get much done.
Day Five:
A bit of a lost day again since there aren't many tasks that I can do alone. Right now it is 2:30 and I just heard from Alex who went out snowboarding today. He is heading home now. Sam is at work. I slept until noon. Alex has Sam's car and Sam has mine so I couldn't run errands either. Right now, though I think I will finally get to picking up so that maybe we can get to these projects a little more quickly. Maybe.
The apartment can now be considered picked up, or at least it was until I decided to spend my time reorganizing the bookshelf in the living room. Now the vast majority of the books that were on it and the dvds are piled up across the floor where I had spread the drop clothes. I had prepped the living room to work on the kitchen cabinets, but alas. No one really felt up to the task, and I can't say I blame them when Sam worked and Alex snowboarded all day. Not to mention the fact that we splurged and gorged ourselves on pizza too.
So not a whole lot this day. I made them both commit to the cabinets for tomorrow evening, then Saturday (day seven) will be the couch. We'll probably also touch up the edges of the living room wall tomorrow.
Well, that's enough for one day :)
Day Six:
Except, then Sam bought a car.
I'm sorry, let me start from the beginning.
Alex had to go into work this morning and had heard from his mother shortly before hand that she and some family friends would be dropping by for a visit. I didn't actually realize that I missed her until he mentioned the possibility of seeing her and so, at 9:40 I jumped in the shower and did a quick turn around get ready in 10 minutes and offered to drive Alex to work and pick him up at 3:00.
So it was across the bridge and through the woods to Alex's work we go, then a coffee and doughnuts from the bookstore and some craigslist searches for mirrors for our foyer. We had a nice chat with Alex's mother when they arrived and Alex did a tour for everyone, which is always nice.
I then went to the hardware store and bough the necessary pieces to complete some wall art projects that, low and behold, were also looming over me. Back home with my booty and by 2:30 when Sam arrived back home I had hung the large project up. I should really take pictures of all of this...
When Sam arrived I then heard about her car purchasing endeavor. She got a more than great deal on a 2004 Prius with a 3 year warranty. I then had to leave shortly thereafter to pick up Alex.
Except, then Sam bought a car.
I'm sorry, let me start from the beginning.
Alex had to go into work this morning and had heard from his mother shortly before hand that she and some family friends would be dropping by for a visit. I didn't actually realize that I missed her until he mentioned the possibility of seeing her and so, at 9:40 I jumped in the shower and did a quick turn around get ready in 10 minutes and offered to drive Alex to work and pick him up at 3:00.
So it was across the bridge and through the woods to Alex's work we go, then a coffee and doughnuts from the bookstore and some craigslist searches for mirrors for our foyer. We had a nice chat with Alex's mother when they arrived and Alex did a tour for everyone, which is always nice.
I then went to the hardware store and bough the necessary pieces to complete some wall art projects that, low and behold, were also looming over me. Back home with my booty and by 2:30 when Sam arrived back home I had hung the large project up. I should really take pictures of all of this...
When Sam arrived I then heard about her car purchasing endeavor. She got a more than great deal on a 2004 Prius with a 3 year warranty. I then had to leave shortly thereafter to pick up Alex.
Because of the excitement of the car, we didn't actually get to work until after 6, when we had planned to at 3:30 when I came home with Alex. So, a minute amount of progress was made on the cabinets, tomorrow morning Sam is driving down to Eugene to get her car, and we'll see where the day goes from there.
Day Seven:
Sam didn't get home until 4. Alex and I had an appointment for massages at 12:30 and then went to get sushi afterwards. It was a really nice afternoon, really.
We got back to cabinetting in the evening and got a little bit further. Alex went out to a party at 9 (I was invited as well but stuck around to paint). We did make some progress, but I feel that little else of consequence happened that day. I've come to terms with this whole project fiasco by now, so my steam in writing about it has significantly diminished.
Day Eight:
Last day of Spring Break. This would be Sunday the 29th. We all had some errands to run to get through the day and the weeks to come so we started out with a 4 hours adventure to Safeway, Anzen, Hippo Hardware, Ikea, and Costco. Sam carted us around in the new car, I really do like Prius-es.
Ikea was probably one of the better destinations as we got some more pieces to help certain areas seem more finished off.
We got back to the cabinets when we got home and by the end of the evening we had put six doors back up to see how we liked them. They really do look pretty great.
Maybe someday this will be finished. Sam came down with a cold on Monday and everything has been at a stand still since then end of my week off. I'm far more concerned with adjusting back to real life than I am with the kitchen cabinets at the moment, but give it a couple more days and I won't be able to take the mess anymore. The couch never really got started, and the livingroom wall got a little bit of touch up but isn't quite finished either.
I keep telling myself its okay, but like I said, one of these days I'll snap a little and get back to work on it all.
Day Seven:
Sam didn't get home until 4. Alex and I had an appointment for massages at 12:30 and then went to get sushi afterwards. It was a really nice afternoon, really.
We got back to cabinetting in the evening and got a little bit further. Alex went out to a party at 9 (I was invited as well but stuck around to paint). We did make some progress, but I feel that little else of consequence happened that day. I've come to terms with this whole project fiasco by now, so my steam in writing about it has significantly diminished.
Day Eight:
Last day of Spring Break. This would be Sunday the 29th. We all had some errands to run to get through the day and the weeks to come so we started out with a 4 hours adventure to Safeway, Anzen, Hippo Hardware, Ikea, and Costco. Sam carted us around in the new car, I really do like Prius-es.
Ikea was probably one of the better destinations as we got some more pieces to help certain areas seem more finished off.
We got back to the cabinets when we got home and by the end of the evening we had put six doors back up to see how we liked them. They really do look pretty great.
Maybe someday this will be finished. Sam came down with a cold on Monday and everything has been at a stand still since then end of my week off. I'm far more concerned with adjusting back to real life than I am with the kitchen cabinets at the moment, but give it a couple more days and I won't be able to take the mess anymore. The couch never really got started, and the livingroom wall got a little bit of touch up but isn't quite finished either.
I keep telling myself its okay, but like I said, one of these days I'll snap a little and get back to work on it all.
