I'm painting our son's room today and, like any good do-it-yourself-er, I started with the ceiling. I don't think ceilings are generally thought of much when people set out to paint the rooms in their homes, but what a difference a coat of paint makes! It brightens the room incredibly and it just feels good to have a fresh, clean layer of paint overhead. In our first house I was meticulous about the ceilings and painted each one two shades lighter than my chosen wall color. This was a fine idea and looked great, but must have been a pain for the woman who bought our house when we sold it just one year later: all of the ceilings had the popcorn-type of finish and were incredibly hard to cover the first time, perhaps worse when she tried to recoat them. I am not making that mistake again; all of my ceilings will be flat white this time around.
It should be stated that I do not like painting ceilings much at all. Cutting in is a pain because I am on the short side and cannot reach the ceiling well with a paint brush, and rolling the paint on involves much guesswork until the paint is dry and I can see all of the spots I missed. And today, to top it all off, a spider that I didn't notice jumped onto my nose as I was cutting in and caused me to emit a horror-film-worthy girly scream that was, ahem, a little embarrassing. Thank goodness I was the only one in the house at the time and was able to catch myself before I fell off the ladder. All in a day's work!
Friday, October 2, 2009
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Moving Along
The hardwood floors on the second floor have been refinished and we can start moving things up this weekend! I cannot even describe how good it will be to have accessible living space somewhere other than the first floor. The first floor is spacious, but realistically we are tripping over each other down here and trying to get kids to sleep while we're still awake ten feet away has been a challenge.
Next items up on the Big Things To Do list are windows and furnace. The existing forced hot air furnace works seemingly fine, but is powered with oil and is older than 60 years; we're nervous that in the midst of a deep freeze this winter we'll be left without heat, so we're taking advantage of the rebates and tax credits to install a new, high efficiency furnace that will be powered by gas. No more having to call up the oil company for delivery, no more chance of sooty walls. Anything we can install that increases the energy efficiency of our Old Lady is a good idea.
Windows...can I just say that there are 29 windows that we wish to replace, and that is leaving off all 3rd floor and basement windows, plus most of the kitchen windows? All of that lovely natural light comes at a price! We had an estimate for all 29 windows which came in at over $15,000 so we decided to start with the second floor where the bedrooms are. The new windows will be installed in mid-November, just before the really cold weather hits. The house might look a little funny until we can get all of the windows done, but we will gladly trade funny-looking for being warm. I like to be warm.
As the various workers and estimators have been in and around the house I find myself wanting to over-explain, to tell them that we do not normally sleep in our dining room, that our kitchen is not always overloaded with boxes and packing paper and the constant sea of papers and projects that trickle home from preschool. For a long time now I have had this feeling of slight panic at not knowing where things are...having no idea where to find a pen, no less a sweater now that the mornings are chilly. Slowly we are unpacking this second PODS container, slowly we are regaining both our belongings and our sense of belonging. The pieces in this giant puzzle that we began last spring are finally starting to fit together, one funny shaped bit at a time. And I refrain, for the most part, from explaining to the workers that we do not sleep in the dining room all of the time. I just tell them we've only lived here for a couple of weeks and then their faces light up with a sympathetic, knowing gleam: we have all moved at one point or another, and I guess we all know how crazy it can be.
Next items up on the Big Things To Do list are windows and furnace. The existing forced hot air furnace works seemingly fine, but is powered with oil and is older than 60 years; we're nervous that in the midst of a deep freeze this winter we'll be left without heat, so we're taking advantage of the rebates and tax credits to install a new, high efficiency furnace that will be powered by gas. No more having to call up the oil company for delivery, no more chance of sooty walls. Anything we can install that increases the energy efficiency of our Old Lady is a good idea.
Windows...can I just say that there are 29 windows that we wish to replace, and that is leaving off all 3rd floor and basement windows, plus most of the kitchen windows? All of that lovely natural light comes at a price! We had an estimate for all 29 windows which came in at over $15,000 so we decided to start with the second floor where the bedrooms are. The new windows will be installed in mid-November, just before the really cold weather hits. The house might look a little funny until we can get all of the windows done, but we will gladly trade funny-looking for being warm. I like to be warm.
As the various workers and estimators have been in and around the house I find myself wanting to over-explain, to tell them that we do not normally sleep in our dining room, that our kitchen is not always overloaded with boxes and packing paper and the constant sea of papers and projects that trickle home from preschool. For a long time now I have had this feeling of slight panic at not knowing where things are...having no idea where to find a pen, no less a sweater now that the mornings are chilly. Slowly we are unpacking this second PODS container, slowly we are regaining both our belongings and our sense of belonging. The pieces in this giant puzzle that we began last spring are finally starting to fit together, one funny shaped bit at a time. And I refrain, for the most part, from explaining to the workers that we do not sleep in the dining room all of the time. I just tell them we've only lived here for a couple of weeks and then their faces light up with a sympathetic, knowing gleam: we have all moved at one point or another, and I guess we all know how crazy it can be.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Ten
I forgot to mention that we also celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary! Our anniversary was the same day as our closing for the new house, so it was a bit busy to say the least. We did our final walk thru in the morning, drove to Latham for the closing, and then arrived "home" to start cleaning. PErhaps it wasn't the most romantic of celebrations, but I do think it's pretty cool that we bought each other a new house for the ten year mark!
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
We're Here
We are in the new (old) house. We are here, living with odd sleeping arrangements while upstairs floors are being refinished, piecing together a new life with various odds and ends of stuff from our old one, making due with what we have this day, while we wait for the rest of our belongings to arrive and be unpacked sometime in the (hopefully) near future. We are all, relatively, unscathed by the move. Except for Charlotte, who has taken to defecating in the house and generally being a big pain in the bum.
Let it be known that moving is not easy.
In the space of time that occurred between my last post and this one, we have:
1. Celebrated Emma's THIRD birthday
2. Said goodbye to our home of over five years
3. Had a lovely end of summer vacation at Lapland Lake
4. Celebrated Emma's very first day of preschool
5. Celebrated Harry's first day of Pre-K
6. Walked to the balloon festival from our new-old house
7. Shuffled back and forth to different beds no fewer than six times while waiting for closings and for our floors to be refinished (stinky oil poly)
8. Welcomed the new West baby to the world. Congrats, Jeremy and Michele, and big siblings Isaac and Isabelle. We can't wait to meet the new little guy!
It's been a busy few weeks and we are, understandably, kind of exhausted. We're hoping to get back on track now that we are finally living in our house. We have a million things to do but most importantly we are trying to maintain some sort of schedule, some sort of sanity and security for our kids whose lives have been so disrupted these past few weeks. Soon, I tell myself, soon.
Let it be known that moving is not easy.
In the space of time that occurred between my last post and this one, we have:
1. Celebrated Emma's THIRD birthday
2. Said goodbye to our home of over five years
3. Had a lovely end of summer vacation at Lapland Lake
4. Celebrated Emma's very first day of preschool
5. Celebrated Harry's first day of Pre-K
6. Walked to the balloon festival from our new-old house
7. Shuffled back and forth to different beds no fewer than six times while waiting for closings and for our floors to be refinished (stinky oil poly)
8. Welcomed the new West baby to the world. Congrats, Jeremy and Michele, and big siblings Isaac and Isabelle. We can't wait to meet the new little guy!
It's been a busy few weeks and we are, understandably, kind of exhausted. We're hoping to get back on track now that we are finally living in our house. We have a million things to do but most importantly we are trying to maintain some sort of schedule, some sort of sanity and security for our kids whose lives have been so disrupted these past few weeks. Soon, I tell myself, soon.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Home(ish)
After a brief vacation and a fairly painless real estate closing, we are once again "with home". I can't quite say that we are at home because it just doesn't quite feel like it yet. But we are here, all of us together: parents and kids and dogs and rabbit, under one roof that has our names on the title. Home...I keep trying the word out and I know that one of these days the word and the house will become entwined enough with our lives so that it finally does fit the definition.
So, the house is dirty. And not just"Oops! We forgot to mop these last couple of weeks" dirty, but more of a "Mop? What's that?" kind of dirty. Dirty to the point that I could scrape my fingernail along the powder room floor and the grime would flake off in chunks (before I scrubbed it, Cinderella-style, that is). Dirty to the point that even after mopping, twice, I still don't feel comfortable letting the children walk barefoot indoors anywhere. So, there is dirt and grime to be dealt with and every day we tackle another section, another wall, another floor and eventually we know it will be clean.
The outdoors, where the dirt is supposed to gather, is also messy. Pieces of plastic, hundreds of cigarette butts, wadded up school papers, empty tuna fish cans, etc. are all clogging the soil, making me wonder what sort of people once resided within these walls. We certainly have our work cut out for us. Fortunately, Brendan and I both enjoy work that produces tangible, visual results, so there is a great deal of personal satisfaction built into the clean-up for us.
This house will be beautiful; we know this in the same taken-for-granted way that we know our names and the faces of our friends. Once clean, the woodwork is rich and shiny. The tall ceilings, hardwood floors, and old carved pocket doors make the house feel grand, and the layout and flow of the space is really, really good. The kids can watch tv in the living room while we listen to music in the kitchen without the sounds competing, yet we can still keeo a good eye on them. The Rainbow Systems playground in the back yard has been our saving grace this week, with swings and a fort that all of us can play on. The kitchen, although somewhat cobbed together, is huge and airy and feels good to be in. The fireplace, with years of grime removed, has sparkling tiles and gives the room a graceful elegance. The front porch is perfection, and I know I will spend many hours there this fall, knitting and watching the world go by.
There is much work to be done, but we are here. We are home. This house has a new family, a new life to fill its walls and halls, and I hope that it has, in a house sort of way, breathed a sigh of relief at our arrival. I like to think so, anyway.
So, the house is dirty. And not just"Oops! We forgot to mop these last couple of weeks" dirty, but more of a "Mop? What's that?" kind of dirty. Dirty to the point that I could scrape my fingernail along the powder room floor and the grime would flake off in chunks (before I scrubbed it, Cinderella-style, that is). Dirty to the point that even after mopping, twice, I still don't feel comfortable letting the children walk barefoot indoors anywhere. So, there is dirt and grime to be dealt with and every day we tackle another section, another wall, another floor and eventually we know it will be clean.
The outdoors, where the dirt is supposed to gather, is also messy. Pieces of plastic, hundreds of cigarette butts, wadded up school papers, empty tuna fish cans, etc. are all clogging the soil, making me wonder what sort of people once resided within these walls. We certainly have our work cut out for us. Fortunately, Brendan and I both enjoy work that produces tangible, visual results, so there is a great deal of personal satisfaction built into the clean-up for us.
This house will be beautiful; we know this in the same taken-for-granted way that we know our names and the faces of our friends. Once clean, the woodwork is rich and shiny. The tall ceilings, hardwood floors, and old carved pocket doors make the house feel grand, and the layout and flow of the space is really, really good. The kids can watch tv in the living room while we listen to music in the kitchen without the sounds competing, yet we can still keeo a good eye on them. The Rainbow Systems playground in the back yard has been our saving grace this week, with swings and a fort that all of us can play on. The kitchen, although somewhat cobbed together, is huge and airy and feels good to be in. The fireplace, with years of grime removed, has sparkling tiles and gives the room a graceful elegance. The front porch is perfection, and I know I will spend many hours there this fall, knitting and watching the world go by.
There is much work to be done, but we are here. We are home. This house has a new family, a new life to fill its walls and halls, and I hope that it has, in a house sort of way, breathed a sigh of relief at our arrival. I like to think so, anyway.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Homeless
Well, we've accomplished one very large milestone to getting into our new home. We've officially sold the old one. This past Thursday afternoon we signed all the necessary papers to turn over our home of the last five and a half years to another family.
As we scrambled to get everything out of the house just in time for the closing we took a moment just before shutting all the doors to take a last look around. It was kind of hard to walk around and say goodbye to the rooms that my kids were growing up in, the basement room that took me years to complete, the deck that my father designed and helped me build, and the marks on the inside of the bathroom closet where we checked the kids height.
We'll miss a lot of things from this house, particularly the proximity to some good friends and neighbors. It was a good home to us, but I try to remember the reasons we're moving to the next one. I know we'll build new memories in the new house and I'll always have the old memories from this past home. I'm proud of the work we did and very happy that we were able to leave this home better than when we found it.
For now though, we are officially homeless.
As we scrambled to get everything out of the house just in time for the closing we took a moment just before shutting all the doors to take a last look around. It was kind of hard to walk around and say goodbye to the rooms that my kids were growing up in, the basement room that took me years to complete, the deck that my father designed and helped me build, and the marks on the inside of the bathroom closet where we checked the kids height.
We'll miss a lot of things from this house, particularly the proximity to some good friends and neighbors. It was a good home to us, but I try to remember the reasons we're moving to the next one. I know we'll build new memories in the new house and I'll always have the old memories from this past home. I'm proud of the work we did and very happy that we were able to leave this home better than when we found it.
For now though, we are officially homeless.
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