Decisions, decisions
Chris' dad has been helping out with the house for almost a full week now and he's gotten a lot done. All the electrical wiring to outlets have been changed, outlets included. Some light switches have also been changed. As for the light fixtures, we sorta came to a stand still.
1st decision... We want to change out all the lighting but aren't sure what we want. We were thinking recessed lighting so we went to Home Depot on Sunday to look at what the had to offer. Average price isn't too expensive but then it came to wattage. Energy saver bulbs in recessed lighting is a little tacky. Full wattage bulbs at 4 or so per room adds up on the PGE bill. Do we want 4", 5" or 6"? Open, baffle, directional? black, white? So many decisions. The rooms are fairly small so 4" might work. How much are we willing to pay in electricity? We'll probably be like my friend who recently bought a house and never turns on the lights or heater. (And you know who you are!)
2nd decision... Ceiling fan. My dad's got one that he's not using and is willing to give to us. But its antique brass. Everything in the house will be brushed chrome. Anyone know of a polish or something to change it to brushed chrome looking? So do we put it in the kitchen or living room? I say living room cuz its bigger. But someone told us that ceiling fans don't look good in a living room... "It'll look like an apartment." Uh... And if we do put it in the living room cuz its the bigger room, do we still put the recessed lighting in addition? Can we put it on two different switches? Dimmer lighting? You could see the gears spinning in Chris' head and need for a Tylenol. We decided not to decide and to sleep on it. That's not even touching the subject of style of lights for the bedrooms.
3rd decision... Laundry room. Right now there is a washer and obsolete dryer in the back enclosed porch area. The room is only 4' 3" wide. We want new appliances. How big will fit and fit in which way? A washer & dryer these days are more than 2' wide so it won't fit side by side on the short way. Stackables would be good but it would cover a window, do we care? Side by side on the long wall would fit but the door would hit the opposite wall, do we care? We'll have to put in a new gas line, so we can put it wherever we want. They're being donated to us as a gift but still don't want to spend a fortune. Ah the joys of being a homeowner.
Our progress... Besides the electrical work, Chris has taken down all the no supporting beams in the basement. There's a lot more room now. I have finished the 2nd coat of joint compound on the hall doorway and the 3rd and final coat on the kitchen doorway. Its even textured. Not like I know what I was doing, but I've seen my dad do it and it looks okay. I didn't use a hopper or other automatic splatter maker so its not all uniform or anything. But its good enough. I think I was volunteered to texture the rest of the house as well. Saturday my parents were visiting my nephew and my mom decided to help us out. We chipped of about 70% of the paint off the remaining 2 walls in the kitchen. They painted over a horrible spackling job behind the stove so it's taking a bit longer to remove all of that.
Any input or personal experience on our dilemmas would be helpful. Thanks.
1st decision... We want to change out all the lighting but aren't sure what we want. We were thinking recessed lighting so we went to Home Depot on Sunday to look at what the had to offer. Average price isn't too expensive but then it came to wattage. Energy saver bulbs in recessed lighting is a little tacky. Full wattage bulbs at 4 or so per room adds up on the PGE bill. Do we want 4", 5" or 6"? Open, baffle, directional? black, white? So many decisions. The rooms are fairly small so 4" might work. How much are we willing to pay in electricity? We'll probably be like my friend who recently bought a house and never turns on the lights or heater. (And you know who you are!)
2nd decision... Ceiling fan. My dad's got one that he's not using and is willing to give to us. But its antique brass. Everything in the house will be brushed chrome. Anyone know of a polish or something to change it to brushed chrome looking? So do we put it in the kitchen or living room? I say living room cuz its bigger. But someone told us that ceiling fans don't look good in a living room... "It'll look like an apartment." Uh... And if we do put it in the living room cuz its the bigger room, do we still put the recessed lighting in addition? Can we put it on two different switches? Dimmer lighting? You could see the gears spinning in Chris' head and need for a Tylenol. We decided not to decide and to sleep on it. That's not even touching the subject of style of lights for the bedrooms.
3rd decision... Laundry room. Right now there is a washer and obsolete dryer in the back enclosed porch area. The room is only 4' 3" wide. We want new appliances. How big will fit and fit in which way? A washer & dryer these days are more than 2' wide so it won't fit side by side on the short way. Stackables would be good but it would cover a window, do we care? Side by side on the long wall would fit but the door would hit the opposite wall, do we care? We'll have to put in a new gas line, so we can put it wherever we want. They're being donated to us as a gift but still don't want to spend a fortune. Ah the joys of being a homeowner.
Our progress... Besides the electrical work, Chris has taken down all the no supporting beams in the basement. There's a lot more room now. I have finished the 2nd coat of joint compound on the hall doorway and the 3rd and final coat on the kitchen doorway. Its even textured. Not like I know what I was doing, but I've seen my dad do it and it looks okay. I didn't use a hopper or other automatic splatter maker so its not all uniform or anything. But its good enough. I think I was volunteered to texture the rest of the house as well. Saturday my parents were visiting my nephew and my mom decided to help us out. We chipped of about 70% of the paint off the remaining 2 walls in the kitchen. They painted over a horrible spackling job behind the stove so it's taking a bit longer to remove all of that.
Any input or personal experience on our dilemmas would be helpful. Thanks.
posted by Melissa & Chris at 9:18 AM
3 Comments:
Can you put in 220V for your dryer instead of gas?
Joycie and I have a ceiling fan we're not sure we want to keep - my hand hits the fan blade everytime I stretch.
I know that cheap friend of yours. He use to not let me turn on the gas-heater in the house.
Finally, I volunteer you to come texture my house too.
What a cheap bastard that friend of yours. I think he wanted to turn on the heater one time and YOU wouldn't let him!
Dude, electric dryers are expensive to run. You wouldn't wanna turn on your lights either!
alternative solution:
we haven't purchased a washer/dryer yet. we'll continue to bring dirty laundry back to the folks' house until they start getting suspicious about why we suddenly care about them so much.
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