Why is it that every project involved in getting this house into move-in condition takes twice as long and costs twice as much as we had originally budgeted? That weekend we were out of the house because of the check is really costing us now in terms of time, which in turn costs us more in terms of money. We’re trying to do the job right, and early, since we intend to be in this house for a long time and the improvements are for our enjoyment as well as to enhance the value of the house. Our pre-move projects are:
1. Paint the entire interior of the house (except for the ceilings). This is mostly done, thanks to my mother-in-law and my wife (I did some of this, too, but not nearly as much as they). Uncompleted portions are above the kitchen soffit, the vault above the hallway, and the vault above the master shower. Also, the WC in the master suite is still builder-white, but I don’t think painting that is a real high priority.
2. Place crown moulding on the ceiling and walls of the front rooms and the master suite. We got the moulding at Lowe’s last night – and I had to rent a truck to get it to the house, because Lowe’s won’t cut the moulding to size. “The chop saw is only for plywood,” I was told, as if the chop saw wouldn’t work on moulding. Tonight’s project will be painting 232 feet of moulding. Good times.
3. Strip and re-stain all of the the kitchen cabinetry. This has proven to be immensely more work than we had originally calculated on. We’ve burned through one hand sander and at least two different kinds of chemical stripper. We finally gave up and are having new unfinished cabinet doors made, and are waiting for estimates on those from various vendors.
4. Replace the old tacky blinds with nice-looking window covers. We had the blinds guy out to the house last night, and found out that the blinds we were looking at would cost a total of about three times what I’d hoped to spend. So we’ll do one room at a time and live with the tacky old blinds in some of the other rooms for a few months until we can afford to replace all the blinds.
We’re also looking for a few art pieces to put on the walls. Because of the color choices and some of our preferences, one thing that I’d really like would be a Japanese calligraphy – preferably on rice paper or something else that looked nice. The Wife would also like to replace our furniture, but we are going to be out of dough as it is, so that’s going to have to wait. She also needs a new computer; her desktop tower is more than five years old and has recently manifested some performance issues. So there’s no shortage of things to spend the bucks on.
Doing it right always costs more than we estimate. That’s the biggest reason people who attempt to “flip” houses get into trouble. Good luck with the jobs. Call if you need advice.
Can I come over and help paint, Tom Sawyer?It sounds fun when you don’t have to do it.