Are We Done Yet? How Long Should A Renovation Take?

No, we’re not Frink. I don’t think we’ll be ever be done. Frink, you may never know a home without projects. You’re a renovation pup. There was a time you enjoyed rolling in torn up carpet foam and tracking through wet paint. Even those exotic textures and smells  bore you now? Sorry, Frink, how do you think I feel?

Tudorks 1 year update: Well, we aren’t divorced yet. That’s good. Everyone says that when you take on a project this huge that a divorce is certain. No, I completely disagree. If anything, it has made our marriage stronger. We have accomplished so much, still working on 1 year before and after pics. We’ve defuzzed, defurred, decarpeted, defunked 2500 square feet of living space. We’ve painted every single room. We’ve waxed every single floor. We’ve put down a new kitchen floor. We’ve electrical and plumbing down. And much, much more. I’ve blanked out half of the nasty projects from my memory. So, what’s left? Here’s the short list as to not bore you, Frink.

1. Finish upstairs bathroom. Please don’t laugh at us. Wasn’t this supposed to be done months ago? Need to touch up paint, clean up floor, maybe get tub glazed. This should be finished in a weekend.
2. Finish downstairs powder room. Put up ceiling tiles, rip up old floor and put down new. Maybe get “new” fixtures, meaning something more authentic to the era of the home. Oh, and get them working. A month of weekends?
3. Random paint touch-ups. We painted every room and then messed it all up in the renovating process. A room could be done nightly.
4. Repair front porch. Concrete is cracking, chipping. It’s a big mess and we are so intimidated by concrete projects. Pay somebody.
5. Finish cleaning door hardware and hang up remaining doors. Maybe a weekend?
6. Fireplace mantel. I will be so happy when that is done. I’m so picky that this may never get finished.
7. Oh, and all the new things that have to be done: replace windows, roof, make us completely and totally broke. Ughh, do I have to think about this? Welcome to the wonderful world of home ownership. Frink, can’t you get a job posing on a greeting card or something so we can replace a few windows or something? All you do is lay around, complaining, staying in your kennel all day.

So, yeah, these are the main things left. It’s doable considering how much we got done in 1 year on our own, but frankly I’m sick of renovating. I know this feeling is very normal when talking to other people and visiting home forums.  All of you home builders, home restorers, home renovators- how long did your project take? Are you finished? Am I sweating the small stuff? I expect repairs throughout ownership, but how long did it take you finish your “must do now” list? How did you live through it? 🙂

-Victoria

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Tudorks Painting The Dining Nook

As usual, Frink is overseeing the renovation.

We finally removed every trace of the layers and layers and layers of retro-fabulous wallpaper from the dining nook! We may have resorted to an electric sander with a buffer pad and diluted Mrs. Meyers cleaning products, but we did it. Since then we’ve had the windows replaced being that the ones that were there had some homemade mess of glass that was caulked together. We painted the room a dove gray mistint that I love (less lilac than the picture). I am going for a swank early 60’s Hong Kong hotel, think the decor of the hotels featured in the series I Spy. I got my wish and it will be fantastic. I didn’t realize that most of the things we own fits in the “swank early 60’s Asian hotel” category.  I’ve started decorating this space. I’m not finished. Does one ever stop decorating their space? I’ll show those pics when I get there. I desperately need a sputnik!!!

I just wanted to share this little accomplishment. I can now eat dinner at a table. I haven’t had that in 7 months.

-Victoria

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Picturing Pretty Pink Bathrooms

I have no idea what is going on with me and pink lately. I have never disliked pink, but it has never been my favorite color. I seriously think I am trying to defeat the “guyness” of the house we are buying. I mean what chick would allow the cabinets to be covered in fur, a babe silhouette mural, or well, crazy amounts of sick mess? It’s like I am trying to balance the house by making everything pink. Anyways, I am thinking of painting the powder room downstairs, the half bath, the same shade of pink that I will do my boudoir with. It will help provide some flow of color on the bottom level. I don’t know yet but it is what I am leaning too currently.

I absolutely love this pink bathroom I found on a design blog. Of course this bathroom is much larger than our powder room. I mean it even has a fireplace. But, I love what is going on in this bathroom. This ballet pink is the color that I have found for the boudoir. (Boy, do I ever hope it turns out like this shade). I have a mirror that looks very similar, which I will spray paint a white or putty. I was also planing on adding black accents if we painted the bathroom pink. It adds an edge and keeps it from being too nursery. I have a flashy frame that I have spray painted glossy black. It houses a H.G. Lewis autograph and “Paint Me Blood Red” print. I’ve got all of these accessories in storage: birdcages, black shelves, that certain gothic lolita type stuff. I can’t wait to pair it with pink. However, we are thinking of doing the floor in a light green composite linoleum tile that is an avocado green shade. It should work. Pink is one of my new favorite neutrals.

I also like this all white bathroom that has a bit of pink accents that I found shared on Flickr. I just want to add a bit of pink here and there for the house to know that a lady lives there. I feel that this second bath is a good compromise. It isn’t as offensive and can easily be changed. However, it is still very romantic. And most importantly, it looks clean and fresh. I must confess that I probably just like it because it has painted hardwood floors and a clawfoot tub. That’s a winning combo by my standards.

So, these are a few pretty “pink” bathrooms that I wanted to share. I was really disappointed to be purchasing an older home to fix up that didn’t have pink bathroom fixtures. I have always dreamed of having a bathroom with a perfect pink tub, toilet, sink. This has been my dream since childhood. And yes, I would go all out. I’m talking pink flamingo accessories and mint green rugs. There is an awesome blog that I absolutely adore, www.savethepinkbathrooms.com. Well, I don’t have a pink bathroom to save (I’m trying to create one the best that I can) but I do have a pink kitchen to save and I’ll be sure to share that with all of you.

-Victoria

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I Should Be Emptying The Rental House In 100 Degree Heat…

But, I’m just worn out and need a break. Even if a break means sticking to the computer chair while the vintage fan blows scorching hot air from outside into my face. Our inside thermometer reads 95. It’s misery and I get to load, pack, carry furniture and David’s Talentmaker  into a beat up U-Haul. Oh, and I get to singe my nose hairs with the vapors of bleach in hopes of getting a security deposit back. What a great day!

A perfect living room

Anyways, enough of my whining over a miserable heatwave here in the Pacific Northwest. I’m from the Southeast. I’ve seen these temps before but never without the modern marvel of a/c. So, while I sweat out pounds and pounds of liquid, I would like to share a room that makes me happy. I love this vintage modern living room. When I think of all of the hard work that I am doing now and all of the misery of the renovation ahead of me, I think about how it will all be worth it in the end. (Geez, I hope so. Talk to me in 6 months and still see if I say this stuff.) I like this simple room. I love the architectural details, the robin’s egg blue walls, the not so frou-frou chandelier, the wide planked wood floors. This room would be lovely in the nude, but it really looks great with help of the mid-century modern furniture. The lines are simple, the colors muted. And it looks like what we already have in our possession. It’s a nice way to make our 40’s-60’s furniture work with our mid-30’s house. I really can’t wait until we get to transform the place. Rumor has it we close tomorrow, but we’ve heard this before so it is hard for me to trust anyone. Until then I’ll be working hard, working on developing the ugliest heat rash ever, and working on keeping it all together. We still don’t know officially where we will be living. That being said. If you don’t hear from us in a while we are either homeless sleeping on the park benches by the ferry terminal, hiding in a remote cabin around Mt. Baker, or in our new house working hard and waiting for it to be internet ready.

-Victoria

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I’m The Chosen One; I’m The Sprayer.

David and I have been debating the pros and cons of purchasing a paint sprayer for sometime now. We have 2500 square foot of interior, including, cabinets, built-ins and trim to prime and paint. It’s a job and it is going to be time consuming. I’ve been reading and researching paint sprayers. It looks like they are super beneficial for spraying primer. And it looks like we will still have to roll on the top coat or color with a traditional roller for a uniformed look. But, I am at a place, especially since we must move in this August, to do anything that will save time. But, I don’t want to spend lots of money either. We can’t afford the industrial paint sprayers that retail for like $700. The cheap ones ($50 to $100) with a canister appear “cheap” and seem to be for small projects and I am not interested in this model. The reviews on-line vary. We found a re-furb top loading sprayer (Wagner 0515000T Spray Tech) on amazon.com for under $100 ( a new one costs $200) and reviews are mixed. I just don’t know what to do because we have a large space to prime and paint. I’ve never used a paint sprayer like this before. I’ve used a siphon gun to paint and stain furniture. But, I’ve never sprayed an interior before.

PROS: 1-These babies are quick if they work properly. Videos on youtube.com show people priming a room in like 2 minutes. The speed is unbelievable (that is saying that the machine works properly). When priming, I won’t have to have anything taped off, like trim, so I could prime very quickly. We are redoing the floors anyways. 2-There are some available for under $200 and this is in our budget. Also, when we finish I can use it for painting furniture and other odd jobs like that. However, I read that these cheap-o ones don’t last very long and since we have a huge job, it could be “disposable”. That would be a bummer but still $100-$200 is much cheaper than hiring a professional to speed up this process. 3-They appear easy to use, no going up and down a ladder. Many have long hoses and seem to have a long range. At first I was put off by refilling it if it was top loading or a canister model, but then I remembered that you have to dump paint into a paint try every once in a while no matter what you are doing. You always risk making a monster of a mess. I can’t get around refilling unless we have a paint grill in a 5 gallon bucket. 4- Everything has to be primed. I mean we have smoky stains, naked lady murals, and trim painted black. We can’t get out of that.

CONS: 1-I have to assume that the machine will work and that I can use it. I read horror stories about people who spend an hour trying to get it to work. In an hour, I could have a small room primed. 2- I’m sure these things are messy. I’ll need windows taped off and gear for myself so I can breathe. 3- Also, sprayers “run” so I would need to have back up, like a roller to fix these mistakes. I imagine that it would be so misty in a room that I could miss these runs. 4- We still have to roll on color. That’s going to take time. However, many of these have a roller attachment. I don’t know if those are any quicker. 5- Cleaning appears to be a pain. It can take 20 to 30 minutes for clean-up. This wouldn’t be a big deal if we were using a primer but it could be a pain if I was switching mediums frequently.But, clean-up is a pain when painting anyways. We have a big job so I imagine clean-up would only be a daily ordeal, not something that I do for 30 minutes and then take 30 minutes cleaning up.

If anybody has any suggestions about painting, please share. I’ve painted before but I’ve never had such a large project. Everything needs primed and painted, including ceilings, trim, everything. Plus we have plaster walls that are textured. I don’t know what would be better for this. Also, I want to waste as little paint as possible. I am all about efficiency so please be my Watcher and give The Sprayer some tips!

-Victoria

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Help Us Choose Colors For The Exterior

I usually know exactly what I want, especially when it comes to color. But, choosing exterior colors for this house has been very difficult for me. I want something dark and menacing since I have always dreamed of having the spooky and creepy house on the block. David and I have always wanted the Addam’s Family house.

Addams family home

Something that people see and say “you know that place is haunted” or “Billy, just leave your frisbee”! I have always wanted that hill top manor, menacing with a black wrought iron fence. Well, the house we are purchasing is creepy but not like the Addam’s Family home. This home has housed and catered to mental illness for so long. The exterior and location isn’t very menacing and it currently sports two different shades, a somber gray on the front and sides and a warm dull brown in the back. I then started to think of houses in town that I like. I am constantly attracted to the same combo of dried grass clipping green or chick yellow with a popping red door. This is the “happy” family home. I always think of them as rich and happy and they never fight because people with white picket fences are always happy. I thought this combo would really improve the resale value of the home because it always tricks people. So, we told the painter we wanted a dried fennel shade or a grass clipping green, we’d paint the door a regal red. Well, the more I think about that, the more boring it becomes. When I drive around town and I see the bright chartreuse homes with tomato red trim, I think, “man, somebody cool lives there”. I realize that this is our house and we can do what we want because most exterior paint jobs last about 5 years. The next owner can paint it a boring cream. I can do what I want. So we started throwing around brighter greens with eggplant or dark chocolate trim. I knew the trim was going to be dark, I must add some menacing element to this house. Screw white trim, too safe and predictable. I want my house to be something my mother would never do. There are no rules in the neighborhood. I might as well do what is fun. But, I’m torn. Really. Between practical me and artsy me.

The final set of color choices.

We are leaning toward choice number one right now.  The red on the door should be the color of an oriental poppy, and the garage door should be a California poppy.  We like this color combination because it’s tame enough to alleviate our anxiety about resale, but with the added bright colors we can gain some eccentricity.  If we do choose to flip the house, we could simply repaint the doors in something pedestrian, like taupe.  We’re hardly experts, but we predict that the bottom option would have the highest curb appeal- it was our safe bet.  With number one we plan on planting poppies, coral roses- a hot garden.  In the back we plan on planting mostly white, night blooming plants.  It’s a nice compromise between being a wimp and going neon.

-Victoria & David

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