Electra’s Progress: What We Can’t See
I can’t believe I haven’t posted for almost a month! Terrible. A lot has been happening here at the house, and unfortunately it’s all stuff no one can see. I hate spending money on things we can’t see. Even though my logical brain says, “these are important things for the integrity of the house!” my creative heart says, “that money could have gotten me new countertops.” Alas, we move forward.
HVAC: 4 of the 9 ducts have been replaced with insulation-wrapped steel. Some day, when we want to spend more money on things we can’t see, we’ll replace the other 5. The whole reason this even came up was because we had some ducts reconnected based on the home inspection. After we got that done, we finally had heat in the West Wing! It was amazing! AAAAANNNNDDD smelly. Something died or pooped or something in the duct back there, it was torn up and useless, except of course to blow stinky warm air into the bedroom. So, we blocked the vent register again until we could remedy the situation. Last week, the ducts were replaced and yay for us, there’s unstinky heat in the West Wing! It still smells weird but at least it’s not the duct.
Smoke abatement project: another one we can’t see but we can sure smell. The previous owner smoked in the house but mostly upstairs in one bedroom and one bathroom. Those are The Stinky Bedroom and The Stinky Bathroom. In the first month, we had a smoke abatement company come out after we had done a few rounds of washing with TSP and half gutting that bathroom (removed vanity & toilet.) They scrubbed the bathroom, cleaned the bedroom and then ran the ozone machine for 4 straight days. It still stinks. Better, but still stinky. I shellacked the bathroom, stinky project in and of itself, it that helped a lot. We have now talked to a painting contractor to help us with another 2-3 coats of primer in the bathroom, 2 coats of primer in the bedroom and paint. Granted this is also a project we will see and love, but the main guts of the project is all the things you can’t see - PRIMER. So much primer.
Roof: Ok, we can see it. But I hate spending money on a roof. I just did this at the Napa house and though it’s the main thing that will save our home from sooooooo many problems in the future, it’s such a huge expense. We’re debating on whether to do this now…but we know we should. Have quote, should book.
Some things we can see:
Wallpaper removal! I got some new toys - spray and a piercer thingie. It’s working better on the kitchen wallpaper than the Downy method and the steamer method, so I’ll just keep that going and maybe the kitchen will be not as horrendous soon enough.
Potential bathroom remodel. We haven’t shown pics of the West Wing bathroom…it’s pretty outdated. From some property records I found today, I think it may have been redone in 1992 and it looks like it. All I want is a big ol’ shower, a new toilet and a double vanity…we’ll see if I can pull the trigger on a project this big! It would be incredible!
Decor! Fun little touches all over the house are my jam. I’m keeping that going even though most of our furniture is broken and we can’t set a lot up until all of that gets figured out.
