Anatomy of a Remodel, Weeks 20-27

As promised, here's the other kind of post I relentlessly do: a bogged down in remodeling post.

 

I'm not going to lie. Between the holidays and Stan's church responsibilities, the duplex progress slowed to a crawl. I did all the projects I could do, but there's just so many things I'm not capable of, like painting over the blue paint on the ceiling. Popcorn ceiling painting takes a surprising amount of shoulder strength and experience has taught me I will be living at the physical therapist if I take it on, so I thoughtfully let Stan do it.

 

Here's the before

 

and after. It looks perfect. It's hard to see in the above picture, but the blue paint was not only spotted on random ceiling spaces, but was also all around the edge of the room.  This was a time-consuming job, but Stan eventually managed to find the time.

He also found time to hang the new curtains

and fix the unflushing toilet by replacing it with a better toilet from ReStore, a shop owned by Habitat for Humanity we love to frequent (we need to get a life). Instead of a $200 toilet from Lowe's, we found a $35 gently used, quality toilet.



Here's another project I can't do: help replace the sliding glass door. Stan is always sure with enough encouragement, I can muscle that 2 ton window into place and hold it while he cements it in. Fortunately, McKay was in town long enough to do that part for me. Thanks, McKay!

The kitchen is done; the missing cabinet knobs, missing kickboard, and two broken shelves replaced.

The dozens of large holes and 5 or 6 random towel racks added by renters have been removed and repaired in bathroom #1, along with more missing kickboard. 



All the closet doors have been replaced, and new, faux wood blinds have replaced the broken and missing blinds.

The living room has new curtains

the storage room has been emptied and swept,

the family room no longer has a non-working, but tempting fireplace, and has been painted and carpeted,

and all of the broken, missing outlets have been fixed and the old telephone connections have been capped.

The garage door now goes up and down on command.

This place was new and pristine when our last renters took over. It's really hard to see how much wear and tear remains. There are a few things we are just not going to be restored this time around: the uber cheap toilet in bathroom #2 that replaced the top-of-the-line toilet that broke when "the bathroom door came off and fell on the toilet and broke it". Our old renter replaced it himself. I'm impressed he was able to find such a spectacularly cheap one. I suspect we will be replacing it sooner rather than later, just not today.

There's the garage floor that has yuck from...  I don't know. I'm guessing it's oil + battery acid, or perhaps the bathroom spot of the-dog-they-weren't-suppose-to have, but it could be where an alien spacecraft landed.

There's extensive floor damage. We will never put laminate flooring in a rental again. It just doesn't hold up. My own kitchen laminate is 16 years old and is just now beginning to show wear and tear, but nothing like this.

There are still a few random crayon/marker decorations. We're ignoring them because

STICK A FORK IN US! WE'RE DONE!!!!!



You understand, of course, "done" is a relative term. We are still mid-remodel in our little house, and with our record-breaking warm temps, yard work at the 4-plex can't be far away.....