Worth The Trip

Only in New York!

 

Although the Giants lost (to Dallas - blah!) on Sunday, at least they played better than that train-wreck of a team, the Redskins. Now, that game was painful to watch! At least if you were a Redskins' fan.

I had a great time in Philadelphia and New York catching up with my housemates and friends from college over the weekend. It has been 9 years since we were all together (at my home in Virginia) but nothing had changed. My roommate (a Kristen also) and I drove to Philadelphia on Friday and there wasn't a moment of silence in the car. We joked that we solved the Syrian crisis, the Middle Eastern Crisis and formulated a plan for world peace on that trip. The chattering only increased when we met up with Kelly and Gail. So much fun to see these girls! 

The girls at Carmine's for dinner.

The girls and our friend, Pete.

While we were at dinner, Pete had great news to announce. We were so happy to be there and share in the celebration of his being cancer-free!

He will still be monitored and scanned regularly but, at this time, whatever very powerful chemo cocktail they were treating him with seems to have eradicated the cancer. After talking with him and hearing the nitty-gritty details of his journey, I can only say that his doctor at Sloan-Kettering is a miracle worker and Pete is the miracle. 

The food at Carmine's was amazing! About 25 people attended the dinner and Pete said we ate close to 40 pounds of food. 

My friend's cute cocktail napkins.

 

I will be back tomorrow with a big update and lots of photos of the house renovation. The work is really moving along these days. Dan said he couldn't promise anything, but there *might* be some tile laid on Friday.

Have a great Monday.

The Fun Part

Now that the demolition has been mostly completed, the fun part begins. 

Painting (actually the first coat of the primer).

 Trimming out the windows, the new door and the closet.

Within the next few days, in addition to working in the bathroom (installing new plumbing, a new light & a new fan and re-wiring some sketchy electrical connections), Mimmo and Dan will finish installing the trim and then begin to paint it.

Mimmo and I spent two hours on Wednesday afternoon at the tile shop and selected the tiles for the flooring (family room, bedroom and bathroom - about 650 square feet total) and the tile for the bathroom walls and the floor of the shower. We found a gorgeous mosaic tile that we will install similar to the mosaic we added in Caitlynne's bathroom (photo below). 

We also came up with an idea for the ledge/fireplace in the family room - I can't wait until that part of the work is complete and I can post photos. It will be an amazing improvement over what was there. We were fortunate that all of the tile we selected were in stock and delivered on Friday so things will really start moving along soon. 

Have a great Monday!

We Have A Thief!

And a chewer! Ugh! 

Chester is driving us crazy with his thievery (notice the sock tucked under the carpet near his front paws)...

He also snatched Mimmo's keys yesterday afternoon and it was only by the grace of God that I heard Mimmo ask Dan where his keys were at the same time I saw Chester slink into the sun room with the keys in his mouth.

Apparently theft wasn't good enough for him because he has now begun to chew anything that isn't nailed down. 

 

I have done some reading about how to modify this behavior but have yet to find a successful strategy. However, you can bet that the kids, Kevin and I have certainly (and very quickly) modified our behavior. All bedroom and bathroom doors are kept closed, everything is picked up and put away before we leave a room or the house and we watch him like a hawk. I tell you, this is worse than when the kids were toddlers! AGH!!!

I am off to Philadelphia today and then on to New York (Manhattan) tomorrow for a reunion with some college friends. One of my housemates from college was recently diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and we are attending a dinner Saturday evening at Carmine's (Upper West Side location) in his honor. Pete's diagnosis was a huge shock to me (and our group of friends) and definitely provided me with a very much needed reality check. Suddenly, my "first world" problems didn't seem so significant. Pete has been pursing a very aggressive form of treatment for the disease and it hasn't always gone as smoothly as it should. He has been in and out of the hospital many times, not only for the chemo treatments but also for infections and related medical issues. Pete is a wonderful father to his beautiful young daughter and I am always so happy when he is out of the hospital and is able to spend time with her. While Facebook has been great way for us to keep up with his treatments and see the photos he posts, it will be so wonderful to catch up in real life! I wish it could be under better circumstances though.

Have a great Friday!

Demolition Photos - Lower Level

The demolition is almost complete! In my opinion, the demolition phase moves the slowest and it is during this time that I find myself getting the most discouraged about ever finishing this project. In our situation, it seems like every time a wall, floor, bathroom, etc. is demolished, we find *something* under, behind, or in that needs to be replaced or repaired - which usually requires more time and/or more money. Sometimes both. In addition, everything is so dirty, dusty and ugly that it is a real struggle for me to imagine how it will all look when finished and "pretty".

Under the ugly carpet in the family room, we found even uglier linoleum. The funny thing is that I have had 2-3 friends over to see the house and they have all commented that they had similar linoleum in their homes while growing up. 

 

 

The original plan was for Mimmo and Dan to repair and re-paint the paneling on the walls in the bedroom; however, we found that the paneling had been installed without any drywall behind it (the paneling was installed directly to the studs and over the insulation) so we removed the paneling and will install drywall before painting.

After the removal of the paneling. 

 

 

And, after the installation of the drywall. 

 

We also found some issues with the support (there wasn't any) of the duct work in the ceiling and the duct was sagging so they built a bulkhead around the duct in order to stabilize it.  

The duct before.

And after...

If you thought the linoleum in the family room was bad, take a look at this loveliness...

It was under the carpet in the guest room and we had a brief scare that it might contain asbestos. Asbestos removal = lots of $$$ and, fortunately for us, it was asbestos-free. 

I didn't think this bathroom could look much worse than it already did but its demolition proved me wrong. In addition to two leaks, we found more ugly linoleum in the area under where the bathtub/shower had been. I am telling you, this house has the monopoly on ugly floor coverings! 

We were so lucky that this bathroom had not been used much because the water pipe to the bathtub/shower was literally hanging by a thread and there was another leak from a pipe under the sink.  

The toilet had not been installed correctly (one reason for the jack-hammering yesterday) and we found there were TWO layers of drywall on the walls in the bathroom (maybe to make up for the lack of drywall behind the paneling in the bedroom ???). Things that make you go, "hmm".

So, about that jack-hammering yesterday...

The photos below show the bathroom as it looks this morning. A knowledgeable person would know exactly what was incorrect about the original toilet installation (apparently, the toilet was perched on the pipe in the photo below and anchored to the floor with just two bolts) but all I have is this photo. 

 And the bathtub/shower area.

Sonder had to get his nose in there to see exactly what all that noise was about!

Why was it necessary for us to jack-hammer this area? Well, in the photo below, you can see a "step" up into the bathtub/shower...

Rather than install the plumbing into the concrete under the bathtub/shower, the builder (or whomever) just placed it right on top of the concrete (see the photo below). Then, the bathtub/shower was raised to accommodate the plumbing and a platform/step was built around the increased height. 

That step was an accident waiting to happen - stepping out of a shower at that height and on to tile with wet feet?!? Yikes! In order to allow for easier and safer access, I wanted to replace the bathtub/shower with a walk-in shower and remove that raised platform/step. Mimmo, Dan and I were very curious as to what we would find "hidden" under that platform. There had been some chatter of finding Jimmy Hoffa's body and I think we were all a little disappointed to see that it was only built to accommodate the plumbing. I was just glad to see that there weren't any issues under there that would require more time or money! The area is jack-hammered and ready to go and they will lay the new plumbing in that area and install a new shower to be flush with the floor. 

Have a great Thursday!

Beginning Of Lower Level Renovations

Our home is (sort of) a split-level design. After entering through the front door, straight ahead (but on same "ground" level) is our formal living room and to the right is a half bathroom, the breakfast nook, kitchen, dining room and sun-room (which opens to our patio behind the house). To the left is the "split-level" feature of the house:  up 7 stairs to three bedrooms and two baths, down 7 stairs to a large family room, bathroom, bedroom and laundry room. 

Mimmo and Dan began work on the lowest level of our home last Monday and have been progressing with the renovations. These are the "before" shots I took. Things aren't very pretty - and, trust me, what you are seeing is a huge improvement over what we saw when we first toured the house in late June. The carpet and the paint are totally trashed and there are numerous repairs/maintenance issues/upgrades that need to be completed. 

Looking left from the front door entry area down to the family room.

These two windows look out to our front yard. Even though the house is split level, it was built on a slope and is almost all above ground and very bright and light inside. 

Looking up from the family room to the front door entry area and the half bath.

The hallway to the right leads to the bathroom, the bedroom and laundry room.

In the photo below, the bathroom is on the right, laundry room straight ahead and bedroom on the left.

 

I can't even begin to list the many wrong with this bathroom. In fact, I am writing this post to the oh-so pleasant pounding of a jackhammer. More on that tomorrow.

Yuck. Yuck. And More Yuck.

This bathroom definitely had an odd Swedish feel to it and was in desperate need of an update.

Moving on to the bedroom (which we will use as a guest room/office/storage). 

There is a lot of well-lit closet/storage space.

The door leads to our backyard.

This room gets a lot of really great light and I am looking forward to being able to write my blog posts in here. In addition to the window in the door, there are two other windows - one looks out to our side yard and the other to the backyard.

Looking from the guest room to the hallway.

We love this fireplace - it really adds a warm and cozy element to the room in the winter. However, it looks so very small as compared to the size of the room and, without a mantel or any definition around it, it just seems to "float" on that big brick wall. 

In addition, the fireplace was built upon this brick/slate ledge that was painted a very unfortunate shade of tan. 

Mimmo and I have discussed some ideas for transforming the ledge and fireplace into something more appealing and useful. I am still not sure exactly what we are going to do here but if Mimmo and Dan are successful in making this area even somewhat attractive, I will be thrilled. And convinced they can work magic!

Have a great Thursday!

The More Things Change...

Caitlynne remembered we had taken this photo on her first day of Kindergarten...

Navy Elementary School, September 2004

And wanted to take another in the same location for her first day of high school...

Oakton High School, September 2013

New table, new chairs, new decor but the same old ugly wall paper! Ha! At the rate Mimmo and Dan are progressing with our lower level, I only have another three or four weeks (fingers crossed) to bear the sight of that *lovely* wallpaper before it is removed and sent to wallpaper heaven. I am planning on painting the breakfast nook and the kitchen a creamy white  - a huge change from the busyness of this wallpaper. 

Caitlynne's bus picks her up at 6.30 am and, since Christopher doesn't leave until 7.30 am, he was still sound asleep when the photos above were taken. Then, I forgot to take any of him before he left for school (bad mom!) so maybe we will take "third day of school" photos for me to post...

Both kids had great "first days" and both think that they will do well this year - academically and socially. We had a few hiccups getting Christopher placed into the appropriate classes (more on that for my Bangkok/ISB friends...) but everything was finally resolved and he is where he should be.

I am always amazed at how resilient these two kiddos are...I was so worried about them meeting friends, finding their classes, opening their lockers, etc. and they did just great. At the bus stop, Christopher saw three 8th grade boys who live in our neighborhood, two of whom he had already met at a local basketball camp that he attended over the summer. Caitlynne has a few friends in the neighborhood that she has remained in touch with over the years and they wait at the bus stop and then sit on the bus together. All is good.

Have a great Wednesday!