Just a couple days from the big move, and work on the new house is moving along nicely. Saturday we had a lot of help from Bhavna and Ginny (co-workers of mine and Lisa’s, respectively) and were able to get most of the living room and the office done. We also discovered that the Chinese food place within walking distance is AWESOME! Honestly, I haven’t had decent Chinese food since moving out of Hoboken a year and a half ago – and there I used to get some once or twice a week. But this place (China Gourmet, for anyone who might be in West Orange) had fantastic food, which tought me the true pleasure of shitake mushrooms.
Later in the evening, our friend Ivy dropped by. After helping us put up the first coat for the dining room, we sat around and discussed color schemes for other areas of the house. It was rather odd that all three of us became very excited once we decided upon “Earth Tone” for the hallway – but we’re still a-twitter from the decision. About three quarters of a bottle of wine later, and Ivy managed to talk us into ripping up the carpet in our living room. It was most definitely in bad shape, but there was a great deal of risk as to what condition the floor below would be in. While there is some damage in certain areas, overall it looks excellent – although the decision would have made more sense to make at 1 PM rather than 1 AM!
Now with all of the rooms containing bare hardwood floors, I’ve abandoned the plans to refinish them. It’s truly amazing how quickly your ambitions for a new home can be squelched by reality – but there remain plenty of other projects in my future. Less than a week into homeownership and a couple runs with a hardwood floor scrubber has quickly replaced any goal of sanding, staining, and sealing I might have entertained.
I was hoping to create a flickr set to update with pictures from the ongoing project – unfortunately I just found out that regular accounts can only create 3. Now I must decide whether or not I really want to spend the money for a pro account when I fully intend to setup zenPhoto on this site. Not that $25 is a lot of money, but I don’t know that it’s worth it for me…
Whoops, I got sidetracked – inspite of the lack of a set, there are updated pictures of the house available.
Very cool… I’d love to help, but between the super bowl and this being my support week, I’ll probably have to pass on either of the designated help days, and end up being that sorry bastard that shows up once all the real work is already done, and helps you stare at boxes that we may or may not unpack.
On the bright side, Sasha may be coming by sometime this weekend, and using her real estate black magic to get me an estimate on the value of my place. One more step on the way to selling it, and buying something a little closer to… well, closer to everything and everyone in my life.
Ha! That’s exactly how we felt about our floors when we ripped up the carpets.
There are things that would be “nice” and things that are important and things that are critical. Perfectly refinished floors aren’t critical 🙂
@Markus – No problem, there will be plenty of bastards who show up for future parties!
@mizerychik – I swore I wouldn’t let that stuff go, but once you are faced with it… well, it’s easy to get lazy real fast!
I’d send you an im, but since you’re not on right now… I have four GIANT candle boxes (the PartyLite stuff came in) just sitting around my house. Would you want to pick them up on Wednesday for moving stuff?
I’ll let you know. It depends on how the old place stands after Lisa does some stuff today. But I’m hoping to finish up the majority of what remains by Wednesday – so we probably won’t need them.
And once again, thank you soooooooooooooo much for all of your help on Saturday. I can’t believe how much you guys did while not feeling well. Lisa and I owe you and Jeff BIG TIME – a nice dinner out somewhere is definitely on the horizon!