Organized!

Mission organization continues... and in fact, I think I may be done with the basement! Or, at least with my stuff  in the basement. (I'm not reorganizing Mike's stuff. It's just a disaster in his areas and I refuse to be aggravated with cleaning that.)

Yesterday I took on the bins in the bathroom closet. Two were filled mostly with wrapping and present materials, so I started there, separating the bags from the tissue from the ribbons. And that led to the thought, "Hmm, I have more bags and tissue and ribbons in other bins under the basement stairs." So I pulled those out and separated everything: bags, tissue, ribbons, boxes, and wrapping paper. (And of course - trash, of which there was a ton.)

So once all the wrapping material was straight, I got to fixing up all the christmas boxes and other bins under the stairs. They were all messed up after I had torn out all the bulk t.p. and paper towels and diapers to put them in the new basement bathroom closet.

After I reorganized and replaced all the boxes and bins under the stairs, I found I had room for more stuff! So I went around the basement, gathered up anything that could be considered "mine" (anything not a tool, a building material, or parts) and incorporated it under the stairs.

Here is the result... And there's still room for more stuff if necessary.

And here's the closet so far - completely organized except for those few tools you see there on the third shelf. There's still more room here too - mostly in the small drawers underneath the shelves. As we demolish and re-do the upstairs bathroom, there will be more moving and re-moving of stuff too, so additional space is a good thing.

And Up...

The chimney crew was back on the job Monday evening - completing another 10 feet.

One more evening and the chimney will be complete! Wow. Then, just connect up the wood stove, get everything inspected, and light a fire... just in time for fall.

Downstairs in the basement bathroom, we've made a little progress here and there. Monday, (before the chimney guys arrived) Mike hooked up all the outlets and the closet light. I continue to pick away at closet organizing whenever I get a free moment. We still need to stain all the doors, install the closet doors, and complete trim on all doors. After that - window trim. And then it's done. Wow again. Strong words. "Done." I don't hear myself saying that very often!

Going Up and Going Down

Amazing what the impending end of summer can accomplish for you. In our case, we had a visit on Sunday from Timmy, our carpenter. He was all set and ready to build those front steps. Wow. Ok. Mike dug out the rest of the decking planks from the basement, some lumber lock screws, and some joist hangers, and we were ready to rock - no additional purchases needed.

A few quick hours later and we had the stairs we'd been waiting for... for four years. (Hard to believe we started this porch four years ago, aint it?)

 

Next up, we'll have to purchase the two railings, two posts, and six 6" post end caps. I think I'm giving up on my dream of having solar lit post end caps. They just don't exist in 6" for a reasonable price. (4" solar lit ones are under $20 at the DeepHo - but we don't have 4" posts.) I just want ye-old regular end caps to finish off this job! Those plus a little bit more trim... a little stain on these front steps... a little bit more lattice work... and this job is done.

While Timmy was over, Mike talked to him about the kitchen roof. As you'll recall, it's been tarped since March when we discovered that it was leaking on the back wall when we were re-re-doing the kitchen in early spring. Well, needless to say it can't be tarped all winter. The tarp is in fact, fading fast as you can imagine. So Timmy took some measurements and he'll see if he can order the roofing through his work. He'll be getting back to us on that - the roof job will need to be completed before weather gets cold. Rubber roof cannot be done under 50 degrees. It's scientifically impossible.

Now that we've gone down (stairs), we move on to up - the chimney. The chimney guys will be back this Friday night and plan to go up another 10 feet. So, in preparation, Mike loaded the scaffolding with blocks and removed the siding from another 10' up the house.

Mikey on the scaffolding

Mike tears off siding up another 10 feet.

 Meanwhile, in the basement, Mike cemented in the top part of the chimney hook up (or whatever you call it.) And as for me... in the bathroom... my closet organizer arrived on Monday, but Mike did not have an opportunity to install it. I must admit, I'm dying to organize. I'm hoping he'll be able to do it tonight, since tomorrow we'll be having friends over and Friday night is chimney night. BUSY!

This Organization brought to you by Rubbermaid

I've written much about ClosetMaid. Specifically, ClosetMaid completions in the now discontinued cherry color. I loved that closet organizer - thought it was awesome, chic, high brow, etc etc.

But I was wrong.

Time travel back a few weeks.... I go down to the basement to put away a jacket in my locker (yes locker, a metal locker) full of coats & winter hats/gloves/scarfs, only to discover that everything has gone moldy/musty over the summer. After meticulously washing and airing out everything, I decided that I just couldn't reload the locker. History would just repeat itself next summer and I'd have to repeat the cleaning process all over again.

Solution - An organizer for the mudroom/laundry closet featuring a section for hanging coats.

Now, back in the day, I had all these lofty closet ideas for this particular closet. But at this very moment, I just wanted all those coats, hats, gloves, and scarfs up and outta my way... especially with the party coming down on us. I decided it would be easy and inexpensive to buy a couple of those white metal shelves. On a whim, I went to Lowes to check 'em out.

What I found there was a set by Rubbermaid that was completely customizable. Brackets could be hung on the wall, and then you could move your shelves up and down at will, place clothes racks on whichever shelves you wanted, and purchase add-on pieces that you could also move at will. I was completely blown away. It's called Rubbermaid Configurations. I purchased the 4 to 8 ft set, since I needed 48" shelves. (The set came with two 48", three 22", a bunch of clothes hanger bars, and all the brackets and hardware.) Note that I've added the image and link from Amazon.com... but also note - I did my do-diligence on this one and calculated that Lowes had the best price. ($93 at Lowes. Amazon is cheaper yes, but not when you add the shipping.)

We installed the organizer easily in just about an hour one evening and I couldn't be happier with how it looks. PLUS, if I ever want to change my configuration, add shelves, add hangers, add a sliding bin or basket.... I CAN! Seriously, I'm still freaking out over it.

Those stoopid ClosetMaid completions sets suddenly pale in comparison. They're expensive #1. They don't come with as many shelves and hangers #2. They take forever to put together and install #3. Add on pieces are even more expensive #4. You can't change your design once it's installed #5. And the cherry color I loved originally has now been discontinued and I can't get any more add-ons #6. (Yes, many bloggers have come forward and offered to sell me their pieces, but the shipping is just too outrageous.)

I'm now toying with the idea of ripping out my completions sets and replacing them with Rubbermaid Configurations sets. That's how much I love how the Rubbermaid turned out in the mudroom.

Check it out! The clothes bar hangs right on the shelf, so you can move it if need be. Plus I still have room for my dresser, which houses our sheets, and my cleaning cart, vacuum, and trash. If I ever want to add more shelves and move the dresser - I CAN!

Just Another Manic Sunday

It was a cold and unloving Saturday. And after Friday night's festivities, I could do nothing but sit on the couch all day wishing I could fall asleep and wake up motivated. But alas, I couldn't.

Easter Sunday... that's another story. We got up early in hopes of going to the dump.... then realized it was Easter and they'd be closed for sure. So we moved on to the rest of our list - starting with the baby's room closet light.

Just a little light right? No problem. Mike had it up in mere minutes. But it didn't work. He checked the wiring on the switch - everything seemed in order, but still the light didn't work. I should actually stop at the HD after work and pick up another one. If it's the light bulb, I'll just switch out the old for the new and return the kit with the bad bulb in it tomorrow. If it's not the light bulb... hey, we'll have a whole other apparatus.

After that failure, we started assembling and installing the closet organizer. Mike worked on the tower while I assembled the drawers. We finished most of it by the time we had to leave for my parents' house for Easter dinner around 12:30.

We got home around 5 and started working again. I finished the drawers and Mike brought in our latest handmedowns from my parents - a rocking chair that was originally my grandmother's mother's and a small dresser that used to be my dresser as a kid.

After that, there was little else we could do. We didn't have the brackets to put up the closet shelf and the closet rods would all need to be cut before they could be installed. (I should pickup those shelf brackets on the way home too now that I think of it.)

Plus, with our carpenter TJ coming over today to help us finish the trim and install the closet doors, the room needed to be in some sort of accessible order. (ie - he'd need easy access to the baseboard, windows, and closet without having to trip over or move baby stuff.) So I neatened up before Mike kicked me out to stain the closet trim boards.

Today I had such a long to-do list for Mike and the guys. In the baby's room there were two remaining peices of baseboard trim - one wouldn't fit because of a gap in the flooring. The other had been measured incorectly. All three windows needed window bottoms cut and the closet doors needed to be installed (not an easy task with an uneven closet.)

Then, Mike had a dr's appointment and a prescription to pickup. Plus he wanted to clean out his truck and do an oil change.

This evening, our plumber will be in to install a mixing valve and check out our boiler.

I can't wait to see how much of it all is finished by the time I get home. There's a possibility they decided to screw it all and ride 4wheelers all day... a small possibility, but I'm not putting these guys past it.

Away from It All

Weekdays have been ridiculously chaotic. My normal routine has just been thrown up into the air and scattered into a million pieces. You'll have to excuse the resulting blog posts.

Weekends have been similarly strange. I still can't get used to this whole mike-works-saturday thing. It just throws off my biological clock.

In this state of disarray, I had more than a little freak out last weekend. All of a sudden I realized that we only had three weekends left (or three Sundays with the working situation) - approximately - and the to-do list seemed just as long as it did a month ago.

So Sunday turned into the day of a million tasks. Mike moved all the hardwood out of the baby's room and into the hallway.

He installed the remainder of the baseboard trim except for two pieces which need to be re-cut. I cleaned up and arranged the furniture into what may be its final configuration. (Still undecided.)

That Side of the Room Where Wood Used to Be

Closet Door Trim

Then a couple of Mike's friends helped him move his toolbox. (Not on my list - but still good to be accomplished.) After they left, Mike stained the closet doors and we went to Home Depot to pickup more stain and the closet organizer. (Would you believe we ended up going with the stupid Home Depot cherry finish despite the fact that it's totally different?! Mike just didn't like the white, and I didn't feel like arguing.)

When we got home, Mike sprayed another coat of stain on the doors and then painted the mailbox post.

And as you can imagine, the day was over at that point.

This upcoming Sunday is Easter and I know there won't be time for much of anything since we're visiting my folks for dinner. (Although we are picking up a rocking chair from them.) But Monday we've got all sorts of fun progress scheduled!

During the day, our carpenter TJ will be over to help Mike complete the window bottom trim and install the closet doors and whatever else needs final final completion. That evening, our plumber Brian will be in to install a mixing valve on our heating system - sad day for me, no more scalding hot showers - and he'll check out the efficiency of our boiler too. (We think it has not been running at its full potential.)

After that, all other to-do's will have to be weeknight projects. We're so busy for the next couple weekends! Dinner with friends, Easter egg coloring, Easter dinner, guy friends over, bday party, friend's baby shower, trip to Boston, eye appointment.... And oh yeah, somewhere either between, before, or after all that we're having a baby.

Down with Mailboxes!

It finally happened on Monday. Our ancient rusty iron mailbox died. Seriously - it just keeled over and died. I'm shocked the poor thing made it as long as it did.

To tide us over, Mike duct taped it to some pieces of wood and stood it back up again. So it's out there right now, standing tall and still accepting mail for the week.

But knowing this was a sign, we bought a new mailbox and post on Tuesday. I wanted a green mailbox and a white post. Unfortunately, the only mailboxes in green were super huge.... and the wooden posts were, well, even bigger. So we're going from a small, inadequate, embarrassingly cruddy mailbox to a large, phallic, bigger-than-all-the-neighbors mailbox.

This picture is terrible - but as you can see, this mailbox post is huge. Thank god half of it goes in the ground! Mike sanded it last night and will hopefully paint it tomorrow if not tonight. If all goes well, we could have this baby up and running by Monday!

It'll be such a change just to have a mailbox that doesn't leak or lean to one side. I still have to get some of those wrought iron numbers for the post - that's another thing I hated about the old mailbox: the number stickers. Ew!

Anyway - enough about mailboxes! That was a total tangent project.

We're finally making headway on the trim! Yay! At this point everything is cut and nearly ready to be installed. Mike put on the 2nd coat of stain last night.

The only thing remaining to be stained is the closet doors, which need to be sprayed. (We have an automotive grade paint sprayer - no junky sprayers here.) And they need to be sprayed outside. And it looks like weather will not be cooperating for this weekend. So more delays there.

Also - I got a couple bounce backs from my email to Closetmaid regarding the organizer. So glad they care, you know? So I suppose we'll be going with a white organizer, (Grrrrrrrr!) which we will probably purchase sometime next week once all the trim is installed.

I guess I should just be happy it's all coming together. This Sunday begins the 30 day countdown. I have to admit I'm nervous. Mostly about getting everything done in time. All the weird dreams and hectic work days aren't helping either. I have to get everything prepared at work too, after all!

Cherrified!

I have a closet organizer in my bedroom closet that I'm just in love with. It's a Closetmaid Completions Cherry 16" set with matching drawers and shelves. The cherry color just happens to match our hardwood and trim color perfectly!

Granted, the dam thing was expensive. Nearly $90 for the 16" base set and then around $30-40 for each 10" drawer. So, as you can imagine, I didn't purchase everything at once. Whenever I had some extra cash, I'd head over to Lowes, where I first bought the main $90 set, and I'd pickup a drawer here, a shelf there, etc.

I was really looking forward to purchasing a second set for the baby's room - the main set, the drawers, the shelves - I was just going to purchase everything. So yesterday at lunch I went out to my nearest Lowes...

And they didn't have it. In fact, they didn't have any more Closetmaid Completions sets. They had a new brand! They didn't even have any of the accessories for the Closetmaid sets. And the new brand, though similar in style, was a completely different color.

Then I tried Home Depo. They were carrying Closetmaid Completions.... but not in Cherry.

At this point I went online and frantically started searching. Neither Home Depot or Lowes had the Cherry colored set available. Lowes still listed it, but you couldn't purchase online and it wasn't finding the item at any of my closest stores.

I found several blogs talking about a big sale on Closetmaid Completions at Lowes - 75% off. Boy am I pissed I missed out on that memo!

Then I went to the Closetmaid site - turns out you can't order Completions direct from Closetmaid, though they still listed the cherry set and accessories in their online catalog.

I checked Ebay - no luck. And no other store or website seemed to carry it.

So I went back to Closetmaid's website and sent them the following inquiry:
I currently have one of your Closetmaid Completions Cherry 16" closet organizers with several drawers. I love it because it matches the cherry hardwood floors and trim of my house. I want to purchase another 16" Closetmaid Completions Cherry closet organizer with drawers and other accessories. However, it seems Lowes has discontinued carrying it, Home Depot does not carry it in the Cherry color, and I cannot purchase it online. Has this product been discontinued? I hope not. I would really like to purchase. Where can I purchase?

But I have a feeling they're going to tell me that color has been discontinued. I can't tell you what a disappointment this is. It was the perfect color! And now I can't even get new accessories in the same color for my closet set. I can purchase the wire drawers instead of the laminate wood-looking ones, so I'm not totally screwed, but still!

Hopefully Closetmaid will get back to me soon. If the set is indeed discontinued, I will have to purchase an odd ball wood color - or just go with white. I can't help but think that I wouldn't be in this situation if the sets and accessories weren't so dam expensive!

UPDATE - I just looked again at Home Depot's website - they're calling the wood color of their Closetmaid sets cherry - but it is definitely not the color I previously purchased. Looks more like oak to me.

This is Home Depot's Cherry


The Cherry color I currently have and am looking for.