A Quick Fix.

I've been trying to work on my art, but things come up. We've had a non-stop stream of friends coming to stay with us, including tonight someone will be with us for the remainder of this month. That put my neurotic furniture arranging on hold (which Rob is really happy about) and made me instead turn to things that are quicker or easier to manage. Ok, so this wasn't quick or easy, really, but it was something that will tide me over until we get a full on remodel of the kitchen.


Ok, so the kitchen isn't horrendous.. it's showing it's age, it's not the best layout, and it's just kind of blah. I really didn't like the cabinet fronts, but really, that will get worked out as soon as we remodel. It wasn't worth a temporary cost to make it better until we take the sledgehammer to it.

Insert 1 ambitious friend, screwdrivers, and a husband out on an errand so that he couldn't stop us. Add some paint and some shelves and you have this:


Forgive the mess, we were just starting to arrange our kitchen wares and clean them after having been removed from the boxes. That's my excuse anyway.

It was a very fast makeover and it made a bit of difference. I can live with it... for now. But if said ambitious friend comes over one day when we have nothing better to do, maybe we'll take something else apart....

Ok, I don't have the best photos. But here is the general idea.

WC Before:

Black toilet of horror. Black tiles of horror. Just generally ugly water closet.

WC After:

note tampons. Normally hidden, but not today! Out in the open for EVERYONE TO SEE. Just in case you were questioning my being a woman.
We added the white wainscoting and painted the walls the palest purple. A new light was put in, not that you can see it, and the tiles are 1" hex tiles with light gray grout.

Bathroom Before:

This photo of Jen pretty much shows you what we were dealing with.
1. white ugly tiles all the way up the walls
2. nasty stall shower
3. black sink... that was REALLY HIGH. Seriously, the counter was boob height.
4. weird ugly light sconce things. Looks like elementary school project gone wrong.
5. Also had the nasty black tiles on the floor like the WC.

Bathroom After:



obviously pre-installation and paint

It's already a mess, we just moved in. But yay! Same pale purple walls, white wainscoting throughout, vintage corner sink with new faucet, cute clawfoot, and new tiles. I don't have a good photo of the tub... I'll deal with that later. It's a small space, so getting photos of it is very difficult. The new window is on order and should be installed some time next week.

Was it worth it? Yes. The bathroom is not a horrible monstrosity that I'm embarrassed to have in my house. I can only imagines guests panicking with the old weird black toilet that filled to the top before flushing. I definitely think the bathroom remodel and the secret window added more value than we spent, so overall a good decision. I'm sure a lot of people walked away from the property after seeing what they would have to deal with.

Next - the kitchen.

Finished Illustrations!

I put aside the paint brush and hammer for a night and completed two illustrations that had been waiting for me to just buckle down and finish!




Thanks to Kelly and Bethany to putting up with my crazy time schedule!

Flooring is nearly complete!

One of the things we decided to do right away was to do away with the floors in the bedrooms. At some point they put in really yucky carpet and it was so filthy if you walked on it, your feet turned black. So nasty.



floors with carpet of hidden grossness

So after ripping up the carpet, we discovered two things. One, the floors under the carpet were the original 1890's subfloor/floor and were large planks of soft wood. They were obviously set lower than the floors in the rest of the house, as those are hardwood from the 1920s or 1930s. We opted to just bite the bullet and have historically accurate, matching floors put in. That included nailing the boards, mitering the edges to follow the trim of the room, and all that wonderful business.



laid floors, no stain!

They already are worlds better than what was in there before. Not that I don't absolutely love nasty carpet, but we all have sacrifices to make!

One thing that does bother me about the floors that are being put in is that the wood has a lot more dark, deep grain than the rest of the house. And although the floor guy is constantly praising how perfect the stain is, I'm not sold. I can tell it's not exactly the same color, and in fact, not really that close. I admit I'm picky and being an artist, I can really tell the difference between colors and I notice the little things... like the grain. To me, it's a huge thing. To Rob, it's nothing.

Anyway, I dislike feeling like they are constantly trying to sell me on the job they are doing when I know it's not perfect or anywhere near perfect. I'd prefer them to be honest and say "this is as close as we can get it, and the wood does have a lot more grain, but it would be impossible to get the same kind of wood that was used on the original floors."

Honesty matters, I don't think I can handle one more "I AM SO AWESOME" from the floor guys.

Remodeling Update

Congratulations, we have a floor!
Well, at least in the toilet room. Like a lot of older San Francisco flats, we have a split bath. I'm totally ok with this as it's fairly common in Japan and I've been living in San Francisco for quite some time. We asked that the toilet room be completed ASAP as we still need to go in there and deal with our kitchen and continue to paint the rest of the house. Without a toilet, we can't do that, obviously. We're told we will have a toilet tomorrow morning, even though they don't work on Saturdays, they are taking pity on us.


This is the hole that all things will pass through.

It's much better than the black toilet of death we had earlier. The void that nearly filled to the top with water before flushing very slowly away. So black you couldn't see anything in it when you looked into the water. Was there pee? Who knows? Spiders ready to crawl up your butt? A mystery!

As much as I love surprises and mysteries, I don't want that anywhere near my bare bottom.

Illustrations!

phew! I managed to get some done in the past couple days! Thanks to Miss Joey and Miss French Bulldog for being so patient. I know Joey had been hoping for me to get it done in July before my random illness, and probably was sweating bullets that it wouldn't get done in time... but I busted my ass and churned these puppies out.


First is an image for Miss Joey, a coloring book image for the kids attending to fill in. I definitely want to see some completed ones!!


And this one is for Miss French Bulldog, an invitation to her rehearsal dinner which happens to be at a Chinese restaurant! Who would have guessed, huh? You know, with the takeout box and all!

I feel relieved to have finished these two in time for them to be put to use. I have three in the works and I will be working like crazy to get them done in time!

I feel like I've been riding a horse

We spent the entire weekend painting the house. We've still got a lot to do, but it's coming along really nicely. The kitchen is being taken apart slowly, we'll get around to finishing it over the next couple weeks. Somehow, even though we were just painting, my inner and back thighs are killing me. Don't ask me how, it just feels like I've been riding a horse all week.

The bathroom of horror was gutted today... and revealed this:

A window!! Who knew! It was a false wall with the shower tiles on it, which when broken down revealed the true wall with a window! Why would anyone cover a window with an ugly shower unit? Oh well.

Interesting finds during our bathroom remodel. I haven't heard anything about rotted wood or horrible other things, so I'm hoping that other than the window, there are no unexpected surprises!