Weekend Contractors

We watch a lot of HGTV, before we moved and became Weekend Contractors, we would turn on HGTV and watch it all weekend long.   That included the Property Brothers.  Jonathan, Drew and I became besties and I could always figure out which house the terrified couple would pick.  Before Weekend Contracting, I was under the seriously incorrect impression that installing hardwood flooring was easy, and that is why this post is a rant against those assholes Jonathan and Drew who never show the hard parts. 

When you pull up carpeting there are hundreds of disgusting staples sunk into the subflooring.  They all need to be removed before the hardwood can be placed.  All. Of. Them.  When have you ever seen Jonathan or Drew removing a staple?  Or even carpeting for that matter? On every single episode they get new hardwood flooring, but do they show the gross parts?  Do they show the stained carpeting that you don't want to touch with gloved hands?  Do they show the horrifying blistered and callused hands?  And, do they show how bruised their knees get after kneeling for hours trying to get every last nail out of the trim.  No.   They do not.  And that is why I believe that show to be a dirty lie, with attractive hosts.

Carpet/staple removal took nearly our entire Saturday, with a break for bloody mary brunch.  It was not a one hour episode and I am not on television.

But, we got the two back bedrooms and the hallway completely cleared of carpeting:

And THEN WE STARTED THE MOST EXCITING PART:  Flooring Install!

 

It was so much fun.  We got the pneumatic nailer that is hooked up the air compressor.   And you have to really whack it or else the nail sticks out and you have to start all over again.  Plus, all of the joints between the pieces have to be very tight.  My dad was an enormous help in getting us started and after he and Jon's dad left, Jon and I finished 20 rows of flooring:  (The first photo is the nail I messed up the first time I tried to hit the nailer)

 

I love the flooring.  It is gorgeous.  It nearly made me forget the carpeting, but only until I walked into the living room and remembered how many staples are probably hiding under the living room and dining room floors.

Until next weekend, weekend contractors - out!

Demo Day # 1 - Master Bedroom and Bath

This weekend we demo'd the master bathroom and bedroom.  And!  Our hardwood flooring was delivered.  All 2.5 TONS of hardwood flooring.  Our garage is so full of flooring that we are those people who have a garage and never park it in.  But, I must say that one of my favorite things is getting home and pulling right into my driveway instead of circling the block searching for parking.

Here's the wood:

It is actually 5,000 pounds.  Of wood.  But it is gorgeous.  Jon laid out some of the wood in the living room to see how it is going to look:  

I just love it.  I'm very glad that we went with the 3 1/4 inch hardwood instead of the 2 1/4 inch.  Especially because I'm hoping it will be faster to lay it.  

The master bath is getting a total overhaul and so Jon demo'd that on Saturday:

The bathroom already looks so much bigger without the wall between the vanity and the room for the toilet and shower.  We also pulled up all of the carpet in the master bedroom and yanked about 500 staples from the flooring.  

Hardwood has to be laid on a completely clean and flat surface so every single nail, tack and staple has to be removed.  

 

It is really coming together.  We have to remove the carpet from the other bedroom and the hallway this week before we can start laying the flooring next weekend!  It is going to look awesome!  I had so much fun wielding the hammer.  I was on nail and staple removal duty.  

 

LG Washing Machine of my dreams

On Wednesday we got confirmation that our new LG washing machine with Waveforce (so cool, if I knew what that was...) was ready for pick up at the hhgregg in Downers Grove.

Luckily Jon was in Geneva that day and got home early and I took a slightly earlier express train.  We went to Home Depot to rent a truck:

It was huge!  A 250 Super Duty and now I want one of my very own, even though Jon wouldn't let me drive and wouldn't take us through the Portillos drive-thru.  This was the artsy Instagram photo I took of the truck through the window. Sadly, it was the only photo I got.













Except for this one of Jon driving the truck!

The truck was actually a great deal because the delivery charge was 80 bucks and the truck was only 20 dollars for 75 minutes of rental.  We got the whole pick up and drop off accomplished in under an hour, so it was much more cost effective to pick up the washing machine ourselves.












So, we picked up our washing machine and installed it the same day!

It was super easy.  Two hoses hooked up from the wall, one hose into the washtub for the rinse water, and an electric plug into the socket!   Look how excited Jon is to have a washing machine that does not take quarters.

We started washing immediately and this thing was totally worth the money.  We did get a good Easter deal, but it was still an expensive and unexpected purchase.   It is very efficient and the sticker on the side says that the washing machine is only going to cost us 12 dollars a year.  That seems like a lie, but they probably can't lie to you on the side-sticker, right?

We love the new washing machine and very glad that it was so easy to pick up and install.

Lumber Liquidators and Hardwood Flooring

 As soon as we had even an inkling of home ownership we started spending an unusual amount of time in home improvement stores.  Literally every weekend one of us would say "want to go look at the tools at Home Depot?"  And, then that turned into hours of tile-fantasizing, imagining how much of a dishwasher we could afford and Jon deciding which floor nailer and all-purpose multitool would work best for some vague projects.

We also spent a lot of time at Lumber Liquidators.  My sister got her flooring there and they came highly recommended as a great place for  hardwood.  Plus, they run regular sales and you can feel like you are getting a deal.

The week before we closed, we went to lumber liquidators to decide on flooring.  This was an intense process.  I love dark, wide woods.  This hickory, for example, looked so delicious:

But, naturally there was a month long wait period on that apparently very popular flooring. 

Jon wanted something much lighter:  

That's a huge difference in flooring types.  Honestly, I was compromising with the hickory, for the first house we bought and then rejected, I wanted super dark handscraped hardwood.  So, the hickory option felt like a compromise. 

Eventually we settled on this: 

A darker, reddish wood called Gunstock Oak in 3 1/4 inch wide planks.  It is solid hardwood and we got it for a great deal - nearly 60 cents/per square foot off the listed price.   

We got an email saying that our flooring is in stock and ready to be delivered.  We ran into a slight snag scheduling the delivery, but they finally called me back and all 1800 square feet are turning up on Saturday!  That means we have to clean our garage so that there is space for all that wood.  I am super excited. Hopefully we can start clearing carpet out of the bedrooms this weekend and start installation next weekend, but of course, we will keep you updated!  

Moving Day!

We closed on our house on March 28th!  Everyone warned us that closing could be a nightmare, but we got lucky and had the keys in about 40 minutes. Plus, all of my fears with the wire transfer not working, or not having enough cash were unrealized, which was somewhat frustrating when I think of all the sleep I lost over our wretched bank.

After we got the keys we went to the house for the first time as homeowners.  It wasn't a long visit because Jon had to go back to work.  But, we got some very bright and squinty shots of us at the house.

 








Then, I insisted that Jon carry me over the threshhold, which was not romantic at all, since he interpreted that as a "sack of potatoes lift" instead of a movie moment.

Saturday March 30 was moving day and I scheduled the movers for 7:00 AM, which really seemed like a mistake when we had to set our alarms earlier than the time we usually have to get up for work.  Fortunately we had excellent movers.  We hired Jay Movers, who came highly recommended on Yelp and they came with a huge truck, and three guys who must have had a load of morning redbull.  At one point, we saw the couch walk by with only one set of legs under it.  It probably would have taken 12 people to get that thing out if we didn't hire movers!

Here is our ridiculously packed apartment before the move:

 

See all those suitcases?  That is just clothing!  We can literally go weeks without doing laundry and before we had a washer and dryer in our house(!), we frequently would wait that long to wash clothes.  Of course, the first thing I did in the new house was start a load of clothes and then realized that the washing machine was broken!  So, our second very expensive purchase was a new LG washer that we got for a great Easter deal.

After only one hour, the movers had our stuff out and into the truck.  Then we loaded up the cat and it was off to the burbs.  We were completely finished moving things by 10:30 AM, so although it was an early morning, it was worth it to be finished moving before noon.

Here's the last blurry picture of us in the old place (thanks mom):

Honestly, it was a little bittersweet.  Our neighborhood was beautiful with lots of restaurants and shopping within walking distance.  Plus, we got engaged in that apartment, planned our wedding there, and came back to that apartment after we got married.  So, for me at least, it was bittersweet.  Jon's response when I told him that was: "I hated that place!" Men.

But, we are all glad to be moved in, especially Moe who after realizing that he wasn't going to go back into the travel carrier, loved rolling around on the white carpet.

  

We get the hardwood flooring delivered this week and we are going to have adventures-putting-in-the-new-washing-machine after we pick it up.  Watch for those updates!