Musings on a Small Life

The guys finished putting down the vinyl and trim (baseboards in three bedrooms, shoe moulding throughout most of the house) at 5 PM Friday afternoon. The stairs were prepped Friday morning, and carpeted Sunday morning.  I'd rather have nice oak stairs and a stair runner than outdated-looking carpet on the stringers, but these stairs are in too bad shape to do that. I think they must have had to use up their entire supply of floor screws, screwing down the subfloor and stairs as much as possible. The fellow who did the stairs even put construction-type glue between the treads and risers.   They all did their best, IMO, to lessen the squeaks. A few were simple and easily remedied, most not--just a function of poor construction when the unit was built. I appreciated that they tried, though. (And it was what I was paying for too!) I had taken Friday off as a "vacation" day, which I desperately needed, as it took me all afternoon and into the evening to get the downstairs mos...

OMC, I thought doing the tiny kitchen was chaos. That's nothing compared to the flooring reno.   They got the vinyl put down in the two back bedrooms; all the trim (throughout the house) will be done on the last day. With the exception of the front bedroom (10x16), the other three rooms are very small. I have to keep moving stuff around, cramming things in, as they work. I won't be able to settle in fully until after the shoe moulding goes on, since they need space to move around the boxes and furniture to install the trim.   They're also having to spend a lot of time screwing down the subfloor, since it was such a poor construction job. They've been able to remove or at least lessen some of the floor squeaks so far, which is great. They can't work miracles, but they're doing their best.   There will be a third fellow here on Friday to work on the stairs. It's quite possible that he will not be able to finish in one day, as he apparently will need to put 3...

I don't have anything earth-shattering to post, at least not yet. Ha. So just a few miscellaneous things: Early morning down at the swamp, August 13th. It's move-out day for my neighbours, so exciting for them, I'm sure. I wish them happy, healthy, successful lives in their new home.   I popped out to a flooring store on Saturday, was there longer than I anticipated, looking at flooring ("life-proof" vinyl options), as well as carpet options for the stairs (for safety!). I already had a general estimate from them, but the flooring I prefer is more expensive (of course) than what was in the estimate.      They will redo their quote to reflect the increased price and a few other things that were omitted from the first one. I have not paid any deposit, but unless the revised estimate is beyond what I'm anticipating, I will proceed. I've been dragging my heels on this because of the mess and work (for me) it will create, but it's not going to happen on its...

"The only constant is change," so it's said. My adjoining neighbours (my quiet, unobtrusive neighbours of 7 or 8 years) sent me a text on Friday letting me know they have a conditional offer in on a larger house and are listing their unit. This isn't a surprise, other than that it took this long. They have an almost 2-year old daughter and the wife might be pregnant again (not that I can or would ask). So while this isn't unexpected, it IS unwelcome. Long-time followers of my blog will (perhaps dimly) recall the previous absolutely ghastly, screaming, abusive people that owned the unit before this lovely family. I cannot and will not go back to living that way. Of course I could have wonderful new neighbours too! Most likely it will be somewhere in-between fabulous and horrendous...hopefully closer to the former than the latter. 🤞 A recent "selfie" with George . Yesterday, spurred on by this, I went to a local flooring place to talk options for redoing ...

With the exception of one piece of moulding along the upper hallway, which the floor guy is coming back this morning to do, the flooring is done. I didn't even bother to take pics before I left him to it on Friday morning. Either I was too tired or I'm just becoming too blasé about it all. I snapped these after I got home in the early afternoon.       Almost done!  The contrast in colour between the old laminate and the new.   He finished around 6 PM on Friday, and I love how he said since he'd done all his cuts outside things wouldn't be too dirty inside. The Swiffer pad below was AFTER I had swept, Swiffered several times already, vacuumed and then mopped. I'm not kidding. I went through almost an entire huge box (the big ones from Costco) before the floor was reasonably free of the dust and dirt. I didn't get to bed till about 11 PM on Friday, exhausted and sore from all the cleaning and of course from moving things back downstairs f...

The main level flooring is scheduled for Friday April 8th and Saturday April 9th. He figures a day and a half. Only one doorway (two sides) to angle grind this time, and everything else should be (fates willing) straightforward. I'm looking forward to having this done! **** I called 1-800-Got-Junk this morning and arranged an after-work time (today) for them to come and get rid of the old sofa bed. I specified in my comments that both the main door and screen/storm door would have to come off and then be put back on properly, or the sofa bed would have to come apart, possibly the frame cut. I'm not sure they can do either of these things, and if so, for a price I can manage, but I'll find out. Someone please cross their fingers this is doable, without breaking or damaging anything, because I'd really like to get rid of the thing. It's become the "weight" around my neck (my mind) now, and I want to streamline and simplify, so that when the time comes ...

D, the floor guy, was here all day, doing the entry and kitchen vinyl plus the stairs. None of the HGTV programs I watch ever shows the real mess and chaos involved, or mentions the hours of clean-up afterward. Here's the reality of having your stairs carpeted and vinyl floor put down. *** The mess and chaos when you live in a small space and have to clear things out of your entry, plus move your stove (and fridge). BTW, I'm really glad I'm down to the sub-floor on the main level -- no worry about doing damage to flooring.      Prepping the old floor.  Jeepers, look at the carpet fibres! This might be worse than Christmas tree needles. :-) The vinyl done in the entry way.  The sides of the stairs now done; very finicky work!  Did I mention the mess and chaos?  Another view of the entry.  The carpet tacks are on.   Now the underlay is on (below). I had gone for the mid-level (of three grades) of...