The Project - Week Two: Hard Work Has Its Own Rewards

Peter Ustinov was reported to have said,  "The only reason I made a commercial for American Express was to pay for my American Express bill." I'm wondering if our credit card company would like to use our family for a commercial? We certainly have used it enough this week. The swipe stripe is red hot! But, what the heck, we get points, right?!



This week was more about getting things lined up so that we can move forward in the coming weeks. But, we did do a bit of work, here and there.

This week we:

• Ordered the dumpster and began filling it with material from the kitchen and bathroom demo.
• Narrowed our choices of wood floor to three, well, maybe not....
• Brazilian Teak   American Hickory
• Golden Teak   Gunstock Oak   Tigerwood
• Tobacco Road Acacia   Hand scraped Tobacco Road Acacia
• We had an estimate for installing the hardwood floor and received a list of materials we would need should we decide to do the work ourselves.
• Had the OEM blower replaced (it blows fumes away that may have gathered in the furnace before it fires up) - the furnace is MUCH quieter now. We had budgeted for a new furnace, so this is great news!
• Removed nails and staples in the walls and from the floor and marked nail holes and dings in the walls.
• Brought a ton of paint chips back to the house. I'm having a hard time deciding on what colors to use.
• Invited the Culligan man for a visit. It will be too expensive to repair or replace the system.
• Invited the Invisible Fence man for a stroll in the yard. It will cost almost as much to repair it as to replace it. We may do it ourselves.
• Plumbing - we received two estimates on plumbing so we can move the kitchen sink, repair pipes that were cut to make certain water wouldn't enter the house and to put two valves in existing lines so we can install a laundry room sink if we decide we'd like one in the future.
• We have water! At least outside and... thrill of thrills... in two automatic waterers. The well pump was inspected and fixed and the well was chlorinated, since it has been so long since it has been used. Water can enter a tank in the house and the tank is currently holding pressure.
• Finalized our list for kitchen and master bath cabinets. The order will be placed following measurement by the installer next week. Currently there are some great deals to be had in kitchen cabinetry. We came in under budget :-)  Oops, we visited the store again and found a different cabinet style we like better and a few 'gadgets' to add to the cabinets. We'll be back with the designer next week. Maybe I was a bit premature in saying we were below budget!!
• Removed bath sinks, counter and vanities. I began to tear out the tile, of which we have a ton: back splash by sinks, tub surround and back splash, shower and floor. It all has to go. Ugh!

I'm looking forward to getting back up to the house this week. I just love chipping away at the tile (she says with just a hint of sarcasm). At any rate,  it will be very interesting to see how much snow we get here vs how much we get there. 

The Dumpster - Week Two