Thursday, December 2, 2010

DIY not entirely FUN

I bought this townhouse in Houston, knowing I would have to put in some work to make it look presentable. Knowing this, of course, did not prepare me for actually tackling the many "little" jobs I've decided need to get done. The first thing I did was handle the closet situation: I had to have my clothes organized so that I could feel like my life was back in order after living out of suitcases for a month. That job was fairly easy and only required a few hours of my time. The rest of the work has been all but smooth sailing.

  
Before
One day, I went to Sears to find an over the range microwave and instead ended up buying a new washer and dryer. I can be impulsive at times, so this didn't come as a big surprise. I bought the things (on sale of course) and hoped they would fit in the tiny room you could (but shouldn't) call a laundry room. It's more of a closet. I did my prep work, sold the old washer/dryer that came with the place, painted, laid tile down and waited for my beautiful new W/D.
After








They finally arrived and the guys that were supposed to install it told me there's no way they will fit in that small space. I told them to try anyway because, COME ON, you can't do that to a lady who clearly is really excited about the new W/D. So they shook their heads and did as they were instructed. Of course, they tell me that the drain for the washer (in the wall) is too small to accommodate the hose. Could they get a different hose? No. I need to call a plumber and have them put in a different pipe. Awesome. Thankfully, Spencer was here helping with renovations, and he trotted off to the local hardware store and bought the necessary pieces to make the whole thing work. Kind of my hero. So once that was done, we faced the problem of getting the stacked W/D into the small space with no dolly. Much grunting and swearing was involved, but we got it in most of the way. At one point, it seemed as if we could push no further and the door to the "room" would not close. I was faced with two options: either return the W/D (not going to happen) or take off the door and put up a curtain to cover the W/D. Spencer offered up another solution. Try to push it in juuuust a little more. It worked. I squealed with delight and couldn't be happier.
New W/D in tiny "room"

This, unfortunately, was not the only problem I faced that day. I was supposed to have the over the range microwave installed (I actually went out and bought one!). The guys arrive with the 72 (!) pound microwave and take one look at the 30 year old hood in place over the stove and tell me it's not going to happen. Why? The hood is most likely hard wired and the microwave has to have a plug. I pointed to the plug next to the stove...no, something needs to be done with the wires from the hood. I need to call an electrician. Seriously? Spencer jumps in and says, of course he can install an outlet for me. What? Well, ok. So off he goes, yet again, to the store, buys the necessities and within hours I have a new outlet above the stove, hidden in the cabinet. Wow. Problem solved, right? Nope. The microwave is actually way too big to fit in the designated space, so I need to buy a much smaller (yet more expensive, somehow) microwave and have it installed. Life without a microwave is a little frustrating, but not impossible. I'll just have to reheat things on the stove for a while longer.

Today I installed a new light in the bathroom and grouted the tile that Spencer laid yesterday. He also painted the bathroom for me (no more bright green!) and had removed the old vanity the other day. The light fixture was not too difficult to install, maybe a 30 minute job, and it only took that long because, like everything else in this place, the light box was off kilter and I had to figure out how to mount the light properly. Grouting took even less time, and now I just have to wait for it to fully dry before I can put in the new vanity, vanity top, faucet and baseboards along the wall.

New light fixture

It's coming together, slowly...and I'm trying to learn to be more patient when things go wrong. Murphy's law is at work with these renovations, but I'm determined to get this done no matter what. Every problem has a solution and with a little help from my friends, I'm sure I'll be able to tackle anything that comes my way.