Posted by Matthew
Thu, 20 Apr 2006 05:17:00 GMT
I think we actually have made a decision on the cat transportation front. But, before I cross it off the todo list I’ll document what we decided. After to talking to my sister who is a small animal vet I was a bit freaked out. She suggested we take Seymour in the cabin. Clearly she has never driven in a car with Seymour. If the howling doesn’t convince you to pull over the pathetic mewling makes you cry and the tears force you to pull over. No way am I subjecting a plane full of humans to that torture.
Checking the United web site we were able to confirm that they do have a pressurized cabin for your pet’s comfort. It is not however clear if that cabin is air conditioned. The airline can refuse to take your pet on your flight (period) and will if the heat at your destination or origination point is too severe. The temp here in San Francisco isn’t really a concern. But DC in July could certainly melt poor kitty. Therefore one of us will be flying direct with the cat on United leaving SFO in the early evening and arriving in DC in the late evening. We’ve yet to decide who is doing the driving. More on that in my next post “Human transport”.
Posted in Moving cross-country | no comments | no trackbacks
Posted by K
Tue, 18 Apr 2006 04:56:00 GMT
We might have some counterspace-at-a-premium issues in the new kitchen (or, maybe I am pretending we will so I can look at stuff like this), so I have been thinking about how to get things off the counter (also, our cluttered counters right now kind of drive me crazy. Go hide, rice cooker. Blender, you are very pretty but I hardly use you). Feng Shui aside, magnetic knife storage on the wall is cool. Bad thing: do you really want to smack knives on metal every time you put them back? Ugh, I don’t. Not only will it screw up the blade, but that sound!
Well, the the Acacia magnetic knife storage bar is at your service (you can see other ones and buy them here). Genius. I suppose they might not be too hard to make if you can do that sort of thing. But eh, my not-very-sexy knife block was about the same price, I think.
Posted in Remodeling: Kitchen | no comments | no trackbacks
Posted by K
Sat, 15 Apr 2006 04:55:00 GMT
I finally got around to putting up the rest of the before-we-ripped-it-apart pictures. They are over here.
Also, we made the first commitment to something to put in the house, with a pair of kitchen pendants.
I am also in the process of buying some wacky lamps on eBay, one of these and one that I can’t find online right now (it looks like sails stretched between two rings, kind of).
Also, I think Fireslate is out of the countertop running, not that it was ever a number one contender. I think it gets too blotchy and stained even if you try to take care of it.
Posted in Remodeling: General | no comments | no trackbacks
Posted by K
Sun, 09 Apr 2006 17:03:00 GMT
More pictures of the now-finished demo can be found here and I understand they are cleaning up that junk in the backyard (some of the stuff did not come out of our house, like that wicker thing and that fence-looking thing, so I guess the neighbors are using our yard to get rid of stuff).
I am currently being a huge dork and am making scale drawings of all the kitchen walls and planning out the cabinets. I think we are going with IKEA since they are cheap and rated highly by Consumer Reports (higher than other cabinets I was thinking about). I am conflicted about countertops… Corian remains stupidly expensive, I think, even though I can’t be sure. Concrete is cool but a pain, stainless is expensive and gets fingerprinty, and I am kind of interested in soapstone (even with the possible need to oil it) just because if it reminds me of seventh grade science class. How could it be bad?
Budget woes abound since we have to replace a lot of plumbing and wiring (which really isn’t so surprising, but still, very sad-making for our wallets), so we have to sit down and figure all that out. We may be moving into a house with unfinished floors if we run out of cash.
We also went out yesterday and looked at flooring, with the bathroom floor in mind. I just can’t get behind any floor tile that isn’t 8 bucks a square foot because it is all ugly and/or boring. Well, actually, most floor tile is ugly and or boring except I like hex tile, which is eight bucks a square foot. We did find field tile that is not horribly expensive ($3 a square foot) which was exciting but kind of useless since we need the tile there and not here.
So we also looked at and considered or ridiculed wood, engineered wood, bamboo, engineered wood that looked like bamboo, cork, vinyl tiles (we actually found one cool pattern), rubber tiles (which I want but will be very pricey and seem to be a pain to get if you are a residential consumer type person and not, say, a hospital), linoleum, and bright pink carpet.
I also got to fondle my faucet some more. I will pull the trigger and just buy it soon (somewhere cheaper than that). I have been mooning over it for five months now.
Also, one of our neighbors-to-be dropped by and told our contractor that she had an original door to the house she would give to us if we wanted (I think she is getting rid of it otherwise). I love our neighborhood. I kind of like our 1940’s door but this one sounds like it would let a lot more light in, and I am all about that (of course, I have to talk to Matt about this before I write back). But thanks, neighbor we do not know yet!
Posted in Remodeling: General | no comments | no trackbacks
Posted by K
Sat, 08 Apr 2006 21:04:00 GMT
I will post more later, but demo started a week ago, is now done, and our backyard looks like this:
Posted in Remodeling: General | no comments | no trackbacks
Posted by K
Thu, 23 Mar 2006 04:25:00 GMT
I got some serious cold feet last night. It hit me very suddenly and I was absolutely convinced that this was the wrong thing to do and that we are morons and that I can’t move and etc etc etc.
I am slightly calmer although melancholy now. Hopefully going back in a week will make me remember why I want to be in DC in the first place. Here’s to hoping. Otherwise I am going to go crazy.
I was in love with the place
in my mind, in my mind
I made a lot of mistakes
in my mind, in my mind
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Posted by K
Mon, 20 Mar 2006 03:04:00 GMT
So we head back out to the east coast at the end of the month, for a wedding, but also to meet with the Chosen One, our contractor Jorge. He’s got keys already, and is heading over at some point to walk through the house with an electrician.
When we go out we will meet with Jorge and:
- discuss light, outlet, and switch placement
- measure out the kitchen (I am going to get the cabinets down so we can see the window) since I am most worried about getting the wrong measurements and thus the wrong cabinets
- find out what exactly we have to deal with behind that scary scary wood paneling
- measure out the bathroom and decide where we want the tile
- freak the fuck out
I am right now obsessed with Reversible Destiny Lofts and am fighting my desire to put light switches in the middles of the walls or on the floors.
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Posted by K
Tue, 28 Feb 2006 20:00:00 GMT
It’s a miracle… the Longest Closing Ever (three months and a week, about) is over. We are closed. It is ours. Now the fun can really begin, if Chips gets back to us with an estimate and we figure out if we should change the locks now, later, or now AND later.
It feels weird.
Posted in Purchase | no comments | no trackbacks
Posted by K
Sun, 26 Feb 2006 17:20:00 GMT
Good god, I really want to win the lottery so I can have these cabinets. Their portfolio is killing me.
Posted in Remodeling: Kitchen | no comments | no trackbacks
Posted by K
Sat, 25 Feb 2006 16:55:00 GMT
So we now have yet another closing date… next Tuesday at 11.30 AM. I am mentally rolling my eyes and yawning at the thought, because I am jaded. Our agent assures us that “everyone is motivated” to have this happen, but I am not buying that, really. Why would everyone suddenly be motivated when for the last few months there has been little to no evidence of motivation? We are the only motivated people involved, it seems, and we are just about out of time before our loan extension ends and we get penalized, which is adding to our motivation. But I am not sure it is adding to anyone else’s.
Anyway, we will see. I was just looking at the contract, here, and I realized we signed it November 21. Over THREE MONTHS ago. It’s kind of insane if you think about it. It’s a good thing I mostly don’t. It’s also a good thing we are not in a hurry to move in, or have a lease ending here or something like that.
Posted in Purchase | 1 comment | no trackbacks
