Progress...

We have our first family company this weekend. It is still a lot like camping out here but I pulled the guest room together so it is cute and comfy. I am going to do this place in black/white/taupe with a touch of that 50s blue to make the small spaces seem bigger and the blue to pick up the color of the lake/sky. But I put all the left over lime things in the guest room and it looks quite cute. Nice to have one room actually done. The main floor still has Scott mudding my office space which will be followed by sanding. After that we have to paint which we hadn't really planned on but is now necessary. The walls are gray, a cool gray. The brick wall is cream, gray and peachy brownish. The floor went from old, dirty looking, medium brown parquet to a light birch. So the floor and brick are warm and the gray walls are cool. So we are going to repaint the gray a taupe. So now to choose the color. I have 46 color chips on the wall which I am studying. Soon I will take down the ones that are too dark, too light, too yellow, too white. The remaining chips then will move to another wall and the process will continue until there is one chip left. Yes this is a long process with much contemplation. But when I pick a paint color I have never had to repaint a wall yet.

Some progress....

Well finally at the end of today I will have the kitchen under control. Whew... so many boxes of little stuff... so many decisions... what to keep, where to put it... unfortunately as you can see my monitor is still in the kitchen and I am still working at the left at the pass thru. My camera is in the cupboard...

And here is the rest of the story...

and this... Scott is here some days working on my office to the right. So everything from there had to move into the living area.

Other things are that happened yesterday was I got my 42" round table and it was damaged. I am keeping it though because they can't get another and I don't have the energy to keep looking. And last night after we had fallen asleep our bed broke. That was a surprise. So we had to get up and tear it apart. Luckily we think we fixed it. Time will tell. Now I am on to the guest room as my stepson Matt and future DIL Jen may be staying here tomorrow night.

A rainy day....

Well yesterday we got the apartment clean and all our stuff out! As we went to our cars John shook his head and muttered that we have become the Beverly Hillbillies. Sad but true.

Today I will have a round white table delivered and Scott comes back to finish up mudding and sanding my office area. He will add an electrical strip above my desk. I will still be working in the kitchen. But finally everything is here and when I get everything put away this time I will be done in there.

I am so involved in my tiny corner of the world getting everything just so. This morning I had 2 requests to be added to my Free Font of the Month Club newsletter. One from Israel and one from Argentina. I continuly marvel at how I can be part of a bigger world while wandering around in my pjs.

Happy Memorial Day!

Interesting dishes at a tag sale. This sale was awful. It looked like it is ongoing every day and that the stuff sits out in whatever weather. But I like these random 3 plates stacked together.

We will spend our Memorial Day back at the apartment getting that cleaned. We did manage to start and get some cleaning done while the movers were loading up. Also will make a flyer to sell the dining room table and chairs.

This will will be another week of work men finishing up, carpet cleaning, new furniture delivery and we need to pick a paint color (taupe) and paint the living/office/foyer area. Also need to buy new trim and paint that white so we can get that put back on... and the basement is full of all the boxes of stuff that was in storage and out of sight for a year.

But we have accomplished a huge amount. We moved in here one month to the day after closing so there is a good reason for being tired. It is lovely to sleep in our own bed again.

We are in!

This is how big things get to the second floor. The guest room balcony is over the front door. 2 Men and a Truck hoisted things up and over... with John's much needed help.

This is our really heavy, long, narrow dresser. I think all 4 guys will be feeling it today. This one scared me. 2 guys and John on the balcony. One guy on the ladder below and the ladder started to slip. There was some panic.

And we next need to go back to the apartment. Will put up a flyer to try and sell the table and chairs to someone in the building... Clean and get out!

But we got to sleep in our own bed in the condo. That was just lovely.

Another big week upcoming... workmen again, us painting, unpacking, cleaning here after the apartment is done. Need to find a plumber etc.

And when it was all in the movers left we looked at each other astounded that we have so little stuff. (Probably because we have moved all the boxes already into the basement and clothes and dishes are mostly put away) I said I am fearful that we have a warehouse full of stuff somewhere that we have forgotten about and we will be getting a call from someone shortly.

It is perfect. It is home. I am so blessed and amazed to be here.

A new floor today...

This was my work area...

And this is the space now! The wall is gone as well as what we thought was a support beam. It wasn't so it is no more. Much more open.

And all this stuff is now in the kitchen...

Along with all of this stuff.

Today I work here at the counter getting my new Font of the Month Club newsletter/website ready. And then I will take all of next week off . 2 Men and a Truck bring furniture tomorrow. Next week I need to finish up the apartment, cleaning it and being officially out. Then put the condo in order...

Still in the kitchen...

Still feeling like I am making no progress but I know I really am. It just doesn't look better. Boxes from the basement or apartment are emptied, things get washed and stowed in a cupboard. This is a good sized kitchen but with 30 year old cabinets. So they are inefficient unlike a newer kitchen where you get better usage from your space.

But this orange towel hanger surfaced. I bought it in a antique store once when I was with my friend Ann and never used it. It says Handoek, Bordendoek, Theedoek, Glazendoek. I think I once looked that up and it maybe says hand towel, dish towel, bath towel etc.

Back to it... this is my last shot at the kitchen. Later today or tonight all the random furniture on this floor goes in the kitchen so the new floor can go in.

Tomorrow's construction...

All 6 new windows are in and they look great, clean, new, big, lovely. No construction today. Today I am going to try and get the kitchen set up. I have way too much kitchen stuff and these are inefficient 30 year old cabinets. Too high, some are open, wrong sized spaces. We are hoping for a kitchen remodel next year so my goal is just to wedge it all in and get rid of all that does not fit.

This is where I work. I am amazed that a place that was built in the 70s actually had a small home office. This is on one end of the living/dining area. Cute old chandelier with mismatched prisms is begging for some embellishment. Nice that I don't have to work out of the second bedroom. That means we can have a guest room again.

John borrowed the window guy's sawzall and took out the desk. So I can accommodate my 2 nice white Techline desks after the remodel.

To the left is that odd terrarium space. It is a little over 4'x6' which is way too much wasted space. So one wall will be coming out to enlarge my office space.

John emptied out all the rock and...

this is what we have found. We need to replace the floor in this area too. Leaky windows, rotten sills, water stains seem to be where ever we pull something out. But so far it is no worse that we had expected. And this is the year to get the tax deduction on energy efficient things like windows, doors etc.

After this we get a new floor and our furniture...