Starting the Kitchen

Now to start on the kitchen.  The cabinets’ are not all that bad.  A little banged up and dirty maybe, but not horrible.  Will call it a rustic country kitchen when it’s all clean.  It’s really the walls that have me worried more than anything.  All of the walls have a multicolored plaid wallpaper that has a translucent flower overlay.  It’s really hard to capture in photos, but either way, it has to go.

Started with the cleaning everything first.  There is spaghetti sauce splatters everywhere.  No kidding.  It’s even under the cabinets at the kick plate.  Looks like the former owners had a spaghetti fight in there before they left.

Pulled out the stove and there was a ton of icky gunk underneath it, behind it, and running down all four sides of it.  No sign of mice, thank goodness, because if they found this spot, the little fur balls would be there forever and live fat dumb and happy without anyone ever knowing they where there.

All of the old shelf paper was removed from the cabinets and everything got a good cleaning inside and out with lots of soap, water, and elbow grease.

There is a water filter under the sink that was turned off because apparently one of the valves leaked.  It was a five dollar fix and it’s good as new.  Replaced the water filter and it’s ready to go.

The dishwasher seems to be working ok.  The stove is very old.  Have had bad luck with an old gas stove blowing up in the past, so before doing anything with it, the gas company was called out to look at it.  They ran gas through all the lines and tested the stove.  It seems to be working just fine.  So since it’s working, cleaned that up inside and out as well.

The ceiling fan was just as dirty as the rest.  When it was dirty, it looked really old and nasty to the point it was about to be thrown out.  But all cleaned up, it looks great and is ready to go.

The windows had some badly placed tinting on them so all the glass had to be taken out, the tint film removed, and then cleaned with Goo Gone to remove the sticky stuff.  Then a good cleaning with soap and water to remove the Goo Gone and then a final cleaning with window cleaner and it's good to go.

Now to peel off that nasty wall paper.

The Master Bedroom

The Master bedroom is done.  All of that Red Paint.  What were they thinking?  And the silver sponge effect.  I know, I know, it must have looked great with their furniture right???  Nobody taped any of the trim so there are paint brush swipe marks all over the trim.  At least they didn’t hurt the doors, windows, lights, or most of the hardware.

Before

The blinds in the window had splashes of red on the top rail where they where mounted.  So the blinds had to come out.  I was able to save the blinds by cleaning them up with soap and water then cleaning/scraping off paint from the top mounting rod.  However, the mounting brackets where completely caked in the red paint.  Pulled them all off and repaired the drywall holes.  Then took one of the brackets to the hardware store to match the size.  Unfortunately this is a custom size and all of us (literally, there were 3 store associates helping me look) could not find the exact match.  However, we did find one that was slightly larger.  And with a little wood modification to fill in the gap, it worked like a charm.  After the room was painted and dried, the blinds where hung back up and they look as good as new.

Washed/scrubbed all of the walls with TSP.  Then started the paint.  It took about 5 coats of the one-coat-paint, but finally got it so the red can’t be seen anymore.  Everything is a nice and creamy white semi-gloss so it will be easy to clean later on down the line.

After

The closet looks great and with a little soap, water, and elbow grease, it cleaned up nicely.  There was no cover for the hole in the wall that leads to the plumbing in the master bath, so a plastic utility cover was picked up.  And with a little cutting on the drywall to make it look nice and level and square and it’s all covered up.

The ceiling fan is beautiful and quite functional.  However, it looks like nobody has ever cleaned it.  And I mean ever.  The blades were covered in dust and the glass on the lights was filthy.  None of the bulbs worked anyways, so all of the light bulbs got removed.  Then the glass was taken down and thoroughly washed with hot soapy water.  They were so caked with dirt that when cleaned, they look like new glass.  The blades and housing where dusted and pledged.  The housing was cleaned and vacuumed.  Then it all got put back together and looks terrific (and new).

Insurance Inspection.

Oh dear.  Have been so busy cleaning and painting, and painting and cleaning that the posts have been neglected.  Please forgive me.  Will try to post more often.

Got a letter from the insurance company.  Apparently they came by during one of the few times I left the house to run to the hardware store or grab a bite to eat.  They saw that the lock box was on the front door still (the sellers never came to take it off the door so it’s still there) and thought the property was abandoned.  The letter stated that we had fifteen days to occupy the property or they would cancel our insurance.  ACK! 

Called the insurance company right away talked to a wonderful young lady.  We figured that the inspector must have never left the car because if they did, they would see through the window all of the stuff in the front living room that I am using to fix the house up.  I promised to get the lock box off the house by the end of the week and she promised to have the inspector come out to look at the house and take their photos next week or so.

On the back of the lock box is an 800 number to the sellers contracting company that does lock boxes.  So I called the number.  Got a nice guy on the phone.  Told him about the lock box.  He asked for the ID number on the box.  He then stated that they didn’t want it anymore and I could do what I wanted with it.  That’s great, but, how to get it off the door.  He laughed and put me on hold.  Apparently he hadn’t thought about that.  When he came back, he had gotten permission from his supervisor to give me the code to get it off the door.  Thank goodness.  Now I have a bonus lock box, but not sure if it would be ok to use it again.  Will have to think about it.

Since the insurance company only wants to look at the outside and take photos for their files, I wonder if they will even knock on the door?  So just waiting for that insurance inspection.

Finshed the Master Bath

We had a surprise expense. The toilet in both the bathrooms was cracked and leaking. Apparently when I cleaned them the scrubbing cleaned away the goo on the hidden crack and there was nothing left to hold back the water. My father-in-law is very particular about toilets and has very strong opinions about them. And even though he is far far away, we decided to honor his wishes and put in his preferred toilets. So the handyman came in and replaced them both. They are super tall and little kids are going to have to use a step stool to use them, but adults won’t hurt their knees when sitting and standing. 
 
It would be great if we could replace the knobs in the bathroom, but the dang things are almost impossible to get off without destroying the cabinets. Since we are keeping the original cabinets, the knobs are being left in place. The sink is scratched, but clean. And since our budget is running low and the base cabinet is a non standard size, we are just going to have to address this on the next go around. 

The cabinets where so extremely dirty. It took a lot of elbow grease to get them cleaned up. The former owner apparently had medical problems so there were spots of blood all over the bottom toe-kick of the cabinets. Cleaned the entire bathroom with a bleach solution and then again with soap and water to cover all the bases. 

Halfway through the final coat of paint in the bathroom, I ran out. So ran to the store to get another couple of 5 gallon buckets. Took my paint card with the color on it. Took a lid from a paint can that had the color label on it. Brought them both to the counter and said give me more of the same. Got it home. Went to go paint the next wall. It’s a different color. I was so mad. So the back wall of the bathroom is going to be a lighter shade of Dove White than the rest of the bathroom. Hopefully no one but me will notice and if they do, hopefully they like it. (There goes that hopefully again.) 

With that, the master bathroom is done. Everything is painted, repaired, and cleaned up. The only things that are going to go on the “Want to do Next Time” List for the bathroom is to install a exhaust fan through the closet to the outside, and replace the sink, cabinets, and knobs.