I realize I'm being greedy with my after pictures... but I really want them to be perfect. Those of you who know me well know that I take pride in my surroundings so I'm going to have everything spic and span before I show it off. Since last week, Rachel (my sister) came to visit and kicked us back into gear so we could get almost everything unpacked and taking yet another trip to Lowe's for last minute items. We installed curtains in the den, kitchen, and living room. The Comcast folks came and hooked up our digital cable and wireless internet. And went to Lowe's AGAIN for even more last minute stuff.
Speaking of Lowe's... they often get a bad wrap for being a big warehouse store but I wanted to let my readers know about our experiences because we've used them through so much of our renovations and move. Here's a list of what we used them for:
- All major appliances - washer and dryer were purchased there three years ago, fridge, dishwasher, electric range purchased this summer NO PROBLEMS WHATSOEVER WITH THE APPLIANCES THEMSELVES
- All paint and painting tools/accessories - cans of paint, brushes, rollers, etc.
- Curtains for den, kitchen, and dining room - Lowe's actually has some good patterns and colors for very reasonable prices; the material is of average quality but when you have pets and you're going to have kids within the next 5 years or so it doesn't really matter
- Garbage disposal (which works great)
- Faucets for kitchen sink and both bathroom sinks
- Marcus' big rain shower-head
- Lots of nails, screws, and other hardware type things
- Electric circular saw and other power tools
- Carpet
- Counter-tops in kitchen (Corian)
So obviously with our Lowe's right around the corner it's very convenient, but the things that we've bought there have been great. The only thing that didn't go so well was delivery. We had to move back the delivery of our appliances a couple of times due to the conflict of scheduling the installation of our wood floors. The day after our wood floors were put down our refrigerator, range, and dishwasher were supposed to be delivered. The guys arrived and they had the fridge and range... but not the dishwasher. They promised to bring it the next morning so we could leave to pack our stuff up for the move. We waited all day and didn't get it even after calling time after time. So they promised to have it to us the next morning as the first delivery. Again, we only had 3 days to pack all of our stuff up for the move. We had to wait AGAIN until about one or two o'clock for our dishwasher to be delivered. It was rough when Marcus went to talk to customer service...
Other things that have been going on:
Yesterday our bathroom counter-tops were installed. We used Augusta Granite remnants at $40 a square foot which is much less than you'd pay for whole pieces of custom cut granite. Mine is green to match my bathroom and Marcus' is a cream base with veins of dark brown, tan, and black/gray. We talked to Summit Green Solutions for an estimate on foam insulation. Evidently our split-level has two attics (one over the living and dining rooms and one over the bedrooms) and the insulation in both of them is, like so many things in the house, original to its build (34 years ago). In many areas, the insulation is either gone or much thinner than it should be. No wonder the power bill is so massive! So the plan is to save up (because now that we're at what we thought were the end of our renovations our funds are lacking in a major way) and try to do this before winter so we don't freeze to death or before next summer so we don't roast like we do now. Really the only room that is comfortable all day is the den, which because it's halfway under ground-level could be considered a basement. As a matter of fact, Marcus' mother has a house with a similar layout and this room is their basement.
I still haven't heard thing about a job in the school system or a nearby preschool, and I'm freaking out about it.
