Demolition

I don't know if I can really say that demolition has officially started but I did go over to the house early this morning and took down the drop ceiling tiles in what will become the kitchen. They have been bugging me because every time I go in the room I felt like I was entering a cave and because of that was re-thinking having the kitchen there. With the true ceiling height now visible I feel much better about the room. I still have to take down the metal framework and need to rip the bad paneling off the walls, however (and while I generally do not like paneling, I will note for the record that there is good paneling and bad paneling - this is BAD paneling).

Another thing I noted is that the kitchen window is not as high as I thought it was so I am revising the kitchen cabinets in my head again. Previously, when I thought the window was higher, I had planned to have an appliance "garage" under the window. Now I realize that it isn't high enough for that so I am going to just have counter space. I am also no longer sure about having the upper cabinets go all the way to the ceiling - they will be really high. However, I don't like the empty space up above cabinets as it is wasted space that collects dirt so I am reserving judgment.

I also am confused about the sun exposures of the various sides of the house. The streets obviously do not follow the east-west, north-south theme. I noticed this because the front yard should be shady if they did. Instead, it appears to be fairly sunny. This means I am going to have to modify my proposed landscaping plan (also in my head) as I had planned to have hostas and ferns in the front.

My closing adventure...

I am now officially a home owner. Woo ho! Or something like that. I think I would be a lot more enthused about it if I was moving into the home instead of preparing for a renovating adventure…

Anyway, closing day was a bit more exciting than I suspect it is for most people. Here is what I mean – closing time was 3:00 p.m btw.

2:02 – I start to leave the office having just gotten off the phone with the lender. The person I was speaking to needed to go do some research to see why the HUD statement had the figures on it that it did.
2:06 – I leave the parking garage.
2:10 – someone from the lender calls me back and we discuss the HUD statement – it is a draft because it doesn’t show that I already paid the insurance. I also think it is wrong because it has me paying in around $5000 to the construction escrow agent towards the costs of the renovation. He explains that this is how it has to be since the cost of the house plus the budget is that much more than what they are lending me. (btw, I am not sure when the amount they were going to lend me was ever decided – the figure was mentioned at one point but I thought it was the ballpark figure)
2:14 – a new HUD statement is faxed to the lender. The insurance is off but a disbursal fee for the construction escrow agent is included now. He gives me the new total that I have to bring to the closing.
2:15 – I decide the lender rep isn’t going to figure anything out to change the HUD statement so we end the call with him doing some more investigation.
2:30 – I do a drive-by of the house and when looking into the garage I notice that the green chairs are missing.
2:40 – I arrive at the bank and get the cashiers check.
2:54 – I arrive at the title company and tell my agent about the missing chairs. We discuss it and I decide the seller needs to return them. My reasoning is that if he won’t take away the trash/car then he can’t have the good stuff. And I don’t like the SOB.
3:00 to 4:15 – the closing takes place. We call and talk to people at the lender again to see about the issue of me paying money in that will then get paid back out to the contractor/me. The only thing they say they can do is have the bid/budget re-worked to be less. That can’t be done until next week as it will take some time. I decide I would rather finish the close and will worry about this later. My agent reports that the seller says he took the chairs because he thought “they were worth something” but decided later they weren’t so he threw them away. He kindly provided the address of the dumpster he threw them into. (I am not kidding) I will point out at this time that the “closer” at the title company and my agent were wonderful – I am very happy with their performance.
4:15 – I leave the title company with the keys and a ton of paperwork and head to the dumpster location.
4:25 – I arrive at said dumpster and retrieve the chairs. One was not easy to get but with the help of a bungee cord I am able to fish it out.
4:40 – I arrive at my apartment, change and take Jack out for a walk. We go over to my new house. He pees in the yard.

I probably did not do a good job explaining the issue re: me paying money in so feel free to ask questions. After the walk I took a trip to Home Depot where I bought some items to use to secure the garage doors better. I then went back to the house to see about doing that. I ended up spending 30 or so minutes talking to the neighbors who are “Katrina refugees” that decided to not move back. Jennifer (the wife) has family in St. Louis. They are very nice. I explored the garage (the car is an Oldmobile Ciera, btw) and fiddled with securing the doors better. I basically decided that there isn’t anything in there that is easily portable that is worth anything so I punted on rigging anything up to better secure the doors tonight. Maybe later in the weekend…

So there it is. The photo above is the chairs safely stored in my apartment (although they need to be cleaned) and Maxine, the cat.

Closing day

Today at 3:00 I am supposed to close on the house. I think everything is ready. The loan officer is going to figure how much money I am going to have to shell out today which hopefully won't be much. Last night I paid for six months of insurance - I had to get a commercial policy since the house is being renovated without me living there. One odd twist to that is that terrorism is one optional coverage but you specifically have to accept or decline that part of the policy. I declined it...

More colors

Nothing new to report on the house front except that the bank is now doing its thing. While the close is set for May 31st the loan officer is shooting for May 26th. Hopefully we hit that date.

I am still thinking about colors. The yellow and dark brown combination above is what I think I want for the kitchen. In the photo the colors are not quite like they are in real life - the yellow is more "bright" and the brown is not so dark. For those wondering, those are buck-eyes that I collect last year from the park and the yellow dish is from Crate & Barrel.

Update

Sorry for the long lapse between postings. For a few days there was nothing to post except my irritation that the contractor was not calling me back. And then there were some technical difficulties with my computer (a cooling fan was malfunctioning – it sounded like it was trying to take off).

So, without further adieu… The Update…

On Saturday I met with the cabinet maker who built my brother/sister-in-law’s cabinets. I am going to have him do my kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities. I think he will have a challenge as the kitchen has some weirdness going on in the layout – mostly due to the window being wide and high. I think I am going to use alder wood stained dark although that is still up in the air.

On Tuesday I got the bid/estimate back from the contractor. A bit higher than I expected but it is supposed to be high to account for any problems that might be encountered. However, I think we will have to work on getting it lower to appease the bank.

Yesterday and today was spent negotiating with the seller/seller’s agent (same person) to move the close date. Needless to say, I think he is a S.O.B. It was around 5:30 or so when we finalized moving the close date until the end of the month. Hopefully it can be finalized before then as every day past today is costing me money (not much but still).

Fireplace tile

This is the lower right corner of the fireplace - the tile and mantle are nice and I plan to keep them. The cover is painted a weird gold color so that will need to be changed - might install a nicer vent-less gas fireplace instead.
In other news, on Sunday I priced out the kitchen counter, cabinets and appliances. The full price version is what is going into the budget that is being submitted to the bank - hopefully I will be able to get everything at a much lower price. Tonight I priced out the lighting fixtures - my draft lighting plan has 30 fixtures total. No ceiling fans, however.
I will also note that it is 9:5o PM and a few minutes ago my upstairs neighbor was playing catch with her German Shepard in the long hallway upstairs. Now she is vacuuming... More motivation to get the house renovated.

Tub, part 2

This is the tub that is now in the first floor bath. I had forgotten that it was a clawfoot tub until I saw it again on Saturday. It isn't as big of a tub as I would like to have but with some cleaning up it might look half-way decent. Of course, the way the plans are currently drawn there isn't room for a tub and a shower in the second floor bathroom. I do think I will keep this tub - the one on the second floor, on the other hand, will probably head straight to the dumpster.

Colors

This is the flower of a yellow-poplar (Magnoliaceae Liriodendron tulipifera L) that I found while walking Jack in the park today. This may make me sound like Genevieve from Trading Spaces but I like color combinations found in nature like this one. I remember one show where she painted a kitchen using the colors you see when an artichoke is cut in half. (The photo of the yellow popular flower I took – the artichoke photo I found online)

Revisions

These are the revised plans without the addition. There were several options for the first floor and the one above is the one I picked. It was the one with the biggest kitchen and that provided the best traffic flow.

Bump

Well, the first "bump" in the renovation has occurred. The architect and contractor went to the house today to discuss the plans. After checking things over they decided that the plans needed to be changed or in the alternative I would have to budget more money to fix the area the kitchen is expanding into on the first floor. Basically, at some point in the house's history two additions were put on the back of the house. One of those is the sunroom area which I already decided needed to be removed due to the foundation issues (i.e. one corner is sinking). The other area is the area noted in the above excerpts from the plans - on the first floor it currently is part of the existing bathroom, a porch and a pantry like area off the existing kitchen while on the scond floor it is the balcony and part of the existing bathroom. I suspect that the addition was put on when the house got indoor plumbing (maybe). Anyway, the "foundation" for both additions is a single layer of brick and concrete piers (the pier is what is sinking on the sunroom). The concern is that this existing area is to unstable and will require complete renovation including a new foundation. This could "easily" be done but it will increase my budget beyond what I am wanting to spend. Therefore, this addition is headed to the trash dumpster along with the sunroom...

This means that the kitchen is being moved such that it incorporates some part of what would have been the dining room (formerly the first floor bedroom) and the first floor bath will only be a half not full bath. It also means that the master bedroom's bathroom will be smaller and there won't be balcony at all.

Perhaps more bothersome is the fact that this delays the bidding process further as the plans have to be re-worked before the bidding can be done.

Comparables

Both of these houses are on the same block as the house I am buying. One is bigger and more expensive (400 square foot bigger) than I think mine will be once finished while the other is about the same size (tad smaller) but uglier and I plan for my house to be finished out nicer. Both are “newer” than mine also. They were built in the 1920s while mine was built in 1895 (or so).

Anyway, that gives you (and me) an idea of the value of my house when finished (hopefully). I am planning to go take a look at both of these houses this weekend to see what they are like. Also, I looked up the smaller house on zillow.com to get the square footage and it lists a purchase date of 12/5/2005 – that is a bit odd but who knows?

Tub

In the "common bath" on the second floor I want a big soaking tub. I don't anticipate that I or anyone would ever use it much but sometimes you need to soak in a hot bath - and that can be a challenge with the normal bath tub/shower combo thing. For me it seems like half of me is above water and freezing and if I try to submerge more of me the water starts draining out the over-flow drain. I am seeing big soaking tubs in magazines but they all seem very expensive. For instance, check out the Galleon from Diamond Spas – the retail in the magazine I saw it in is $13,800. And having looked at the website I imagine it is one of the less expensive ones…

Kitchen Options

It is probably to soon to be thinking about this but I am debating kitchen cabinets. I know that I want something very simple with no extra ornamentation. I cook to much and clean to little and the fewer places there are for gunk to accumulate the better. Anyway, here are some variations that I have pulled from various places...