More Ups and Downs of Stairs

It's going to be a hard winter. Without elaborating too much - I got some really depressing news last week and money is going to be tight. I'm afraid our projects around the house will be even more delayed. First a very unproductive summer and now this.... *sigh*

But we did get some good news too - our basement has been a-oked by the town inspector. What a relief. A project three years in the making - finally and officially done. Hard to believe. And yesterday in celebration, we put the icing on the basement cake so to speak.

Stairs. We built stairs from our living room to the basement. We now have interior access to the basement. Again, what a relief.

Here's Mike destroying our former hall closet under our stairs to the 2nd floor.

And cutting the hole...

You can see where the little tiny harry-potter like closet was under the stairs - now we have to figure out what to do with the hole where the door used to be.

Almost done. We figured out the stair-math using the stair calculator from blocklayer.com - very quick and easy.
Mike figures out the laaast step.

All I Want for Chrismas Vol 2

You know, I had such fun in my last post, that I think it's high time I create this year's xmas list. After all, Santa needs plenty of time to check this thing twice!

Ok here we go:


1. New Bathroom: stand up shower American Standard Champion toilet, small vanity, stand up shower, mosaic tile, river stone floor tile

2. Kitchen: Fix drywall and repaint, new cabinets, new windows plus trim, new (Kenmore or LG) refridgerator - the new double door freezer bottom model

3. MudRoom: Flooring, new french doors, get rid of the old door, move exterior light, doorbell, and switches to new doors, new windows, fix drywall, paint, and reinstall wainscot, laundry cabinets, laundry closet doors, pendant lamp, recessed light trim, better dining set

4. Living Room: Fix drywall & repaint, flooring, trim all round, reinstall that one crooked window, new IKEA media center, Sony 32" HDTV, carpet pad, stairway going into the basement, closet light

5. Hallway/Stairway: new front entrance door, a little door for the under-stair closet, banister, stairway trim, top stair step, stairway track light with dimmer, flooring,

6. Guest Room: Closet organizer from Closetmaid, closet light, Closet doors, window trim, flooring, new wood door, fix drywall & repaint, get all the junk outta there

7. Office: Closet organizer, door to the attic crawl space, new office chair, better couches, railing for stairway overlook, ceiling fan, bigger area rug

8. Bedroom: new bed and mattress, new HDTV, more drawers for my Closetmaid set, new dresser for Mike, door for attic loft space,

9. Upstairs Bath: BUILD IT - frame it, electrify, insulate, drywall, paint, design, , pretty tile, skylight, Corner Jacuzzi tub for two, new vanity, stand up shower, American Standard Champion toilet

10. Garage: Drywall and paint, paint outside, Two garage doors, storage system with shelves, new wood stove and chimney, addition on back of garage - built, and whatever else Mike is dreaming of out there

11. House exterior: shingles for three sides, clapboards for the front, window boxes, green shutters, a new mailbox, lampposts, less gross plants and trees, flowering trees and other nice plantings, a shed, wrap around farmer's porch, chimney overlay, chimney cap, a bigger chimney with all accessories to vent wood stove, hammock, new driveway (ie, repour it)

12. Basement: finish it off with a bathroom (toilet, vanity, stand up shower), bedroom (twin bed, dresser, small closet), work room (shelving and storage), and rec room (comfy dark colored furniture and rug, pool table, air hockey, HDTV and storage unit). And I want my wood stove hooked up down therez.

This'll Be Fun!

Now this is cool. Last year on 12/13/06, I published a post called "All I Want for Christmas" featuring all the stuff I wanted to do on the house.

At this point, it's nearly a year later - so I'm going to go through and mark all the stuff we've accomplished! So we'll really be able to see the progress.

Ok - here goes. Here's the original post with everything we've done marked in RED:

The Ultimate Wish List, Never to be Obtained, But Here Goes
(House only, personal X-mas gifts not included.)

1. New Bathroom: Corner Jacuzzi tub for two, new vanity, stand up shower, American Standard Champion toilet, mosaic tile, river stone floor tile

2. Kitchen: New windows plus trim, under cabinet TV/Radio, Kenmore refridgerator - the new double door freezer bottom $2200 model

3. MudRoom: Flooring, new door, new windows with bay window box built, laundry cabinets, laundry closet doors, closet light wainscotting, cushy big blue IKEA chair, tiffany pendant lamp

4. Living Room: Flooring, trim all round, new IKEA media center, Sony 32" HDTV, carpet pad, switch and outlet plates, stairway going into the basement, closet light

5. Hallway/Stairway: finished drywall and paint, new front entrance door, ceiling fixtures, a little door for the under-stair closet, banister, stairway trim, top stair step, stairway track light with dimmer, flooring, runner rug

6. Guest Room: Closet organizer from Closetmaid, closet light, Closet doors, window trim, flooring, new wood door

7. Office: recessed lights dimmer, new desk and file cabinets from IKEA, built in library shelves, closet organizer from Closetmaid, closet light, closet doors, door to the attic crawl space, new office chair, flooring plus an area rug, more throw pillows, better couches, window trim, railing for stairway overlook

8. Bedroom: plywood - foam - and batting so I can make my headboard, bed risers, new HDTV, closet light, closet doors, more drawers for my Closetmaid set, curtain pulls installed, flooring, area rug, new dresser for Mike, red mattes for my picture frames, trim and moulding, finish work on above closet storage, new storage boxes, door for attic loft space, stain for the bedroom door, a door knob for the bedroom door

9. Upstairs Bath: BUILD IT - frame it, electrify, insulate, drywall, paint, design, stand up shower American Standard Champion toilet, small vanity, stand up shower, pretty tile, skylight

10. Garage: Drywall and paint, Two garage doors, storage system with shelves, new wood stove and chimney, addition on back of garage - built, and whatever else Mike is dreaming of out there

11. House exterior: shingles for three sides, clapboards for the front, window boxes, green shutters, a new mailbox, lampposts, more grass, less gross plants and trees, flowering trees and other nice plantings, a shed, wrap around farmer's porch, chimney overlay, chimney cap, a bigger chimney with all accessories to vent wood stove, hammock, new driveway (ie, repour it)

12. Basement: finish it off with a bathroom (toilet, vanity, stand up shower), bedroom (twin bed, dresser, small closet), work room (shelving and storage), and rec room (comfy dark colored furniture and rug, pool table, air hockey, HDTV and storage unit). And I want my wood stove hooked up down therez.

Where's My Stamp of Approval?

Supposedly, as I reported last time, the town inspector was out at our house looking at the basement on Monday. Now, I'm not sure how all of it works, but we haven't heard from the town, and we didn't see any APPROVED stamps on the basement anywhere. Maybe they mail us something? I have no clue.

Meanwhile, I started filling out the stoopid form for the farmer's porch permit this morning. Mike and I agreed that he needs to continue to handle it single handedly. Because I just can't take another conservation commission meeting with the Andersons. I don't have the constitution.

Of course, I have no clue when I'll be able to afford to put on the porch. So much to do... so little cash.

Good News and Spaz News

The good news is - Mike made it to the town hall today and talked to someone who was apparently quite nice and now the dude is coming out to the house on Monday to take a look at the basement and, hopefully, sign off on the permit that all is well and good and we can get on with our lives.

The spaz news is in regards to the farmer's porch. And again, there's good news and spaz news. The good news is that the nice person said she didn't think it would be a problem, and we could just draw out our plan on the house map. The spaz news is we need to fill out application forms again.

And Mike started arguing with me, "They're just going to tack it on to our current permit - we just fill out the form and it's $25 and it'll be all set."

But I know better. That means it's a whole new permit. And for it to be approved, it has to pass hands through all the departments - including conservation, who will say, "oh look at this, they're across the street from the river... DENIED."

And then we'll have to go through 500lbs of paperwork, again. Notify all the neighbors, again. Pay a buncha fees, again. Wait three weeks and then appear before the conservation commission, again. Have the Andersons stand up and speak against us, again. Cry, again.

This is what I was afraid of. Not that I even care about the paperwork or the notifications or even the fees or the three weeks or the conservation commission meeting. It's the Andersons. Them, I'm afraid of. They hate us for no reason and want to viciously shut down our projects just to spite us.

And that's why I call it good news and spaz news.