Our Apartment in Progress: Vol. Three

This week has been all about tile. Our kitchen counters are this lovely yellow color. Originally I wanted a backsplash of yellow penny tile and butcher board counters but in an effort to save money, I compromised on this yellow tile instead. The color makes me really happy and brightens up the kitchen.

Let there be ceiling lights! My dad originally purchased some hideous light fixtures for the place but had second thoughts and decided on these instead. I'm so happy that he did because I didn't have the heart to tell him how ugly the others were. My dad generally has pretty decent taste though.

The counter isn't quite finished in the back there as it still needs grout and trim but I'm so happy to have two sinks. It's awesome. One for me and one for Jake.

The shower is so close to being finished. The little cutout shelves just need a few more pieces of tile and they'll be done. The shower is huge. Jake wants to put a bench in there. I think that is hilarious and since we aren't physically disabled, it'd be pretty lazy to have a bench in our shower.

Things are really close to being finished and I can't wait to begin unpacking our boxes and putting things on shelves. We still have a lot to do but it feels so nice to see progress.

Wall Color.

Do you like our fancy curtain? The paint was still wet so I couldn't rehang the curtain but I wanted to go to bed and I can't sleep if there is any light at all so Jake made me this fancy schmancy window covering.

Our lovely paint color is Adagio by Benjamin Moore. We're pretty in love with it. It's not too dark or too light and actually feels like a color instead of a poor excuse for grey (I dislike pastels and washed out colors).

Our Apartment In Progress: Vol. Two

There has been some progress so I thought I'd share a little update on the apartment. As I've mentioned, we have cabinets. At first I really hated them but they're growing on me. They were salvaged from some apartments my dad and brother remodeled a few years ago. I am still going to paint them eventually but it's not my top priority.

We also have tile, the darker color is the actual color of the tile, the rest still needed to have the grout wiped off.

There are also cupboards in the laundry room to store my soap or whatever other junk I manage to stuff in there. I love having cupboards hidden away to store things like extra light bulbs and tools.

That's my dad, standing by the breakfast bar. We're waiting for our tile to come in at Home Depot for the counter tops. I hope the color looks alright, it's hard to tell when you're choosing from a magazine and not actually holding the tile in your hand.

The place is a mess already! In this photo you can kind of tell that the ceiling has been textured.

A closer look at all of our belongings. The washer and dryer have yet to be extracted from the depths of the trailer, along with about 1/4 of our possessions.

The tile extends all the way down the hall and into the bathroom on the right. For now we're just going to leave the rest of the floor as is and cover it with area rugs. It's such a large space to purchase flooring for and we don't want to spend that kind of money right now.

That's my dad's bum in the bathroom. Where his head is, is where the toilet will be. If you see that crooked piece of wood on the left, that is where the linen closet is. There will be a two sink vanity to the right, directly behind my dad. He was working on some plumbing. The ladder is in the shower, which hasn't been tiled yet. This is the only room where the walls still need some attention and I believe that will be happening later today.

A lot has been accomplished already but it seems like there is still so much to do. I love how it's all coming together.

Room for Improvement @ Lowe's.

It's been awhile since I've ranted (here on the blog anyway, I do it in real life all the time).

There are so many options for consumers in America that it can make choosing where to shop difficult. There are many factors at play, price, location, hours, product availability, etc. To me, Lowe's & Home Depot were pretty much interchangeable until I did some research last year trying to see if they offered military discounts. Lowe's offered them all of the time, Home Depot only offered them during veteran related holidays unless you are retired, which Jake is. So to us it didn't matter but I'd go to Lowe's because I liked that they support veterans all of the time. After today, I'm a Home Depot customer.

As I mentioned, there are so many shopping options available that businesses need to focus on customer service if they want to retain customers. It's been awhile since I've had a bad customer service experience so I suppose I was due. As you know, we're building a loft, it's new construction, we need to buy pretty much everything and today I went to pick up some light fixtures that had come in, get tile for the kitchen, and bulbs for the range hood. The tile I want in the kitchen has to be special ordered, so I found an associate to help me, it was his "quitting time" so he passed me off to another associate. The second guy couldn't find my tile in the computer (not his fault) so we found it in a book. He still couldn't find it in the computer with the additional information so he found the phone number for the tile company and said he'd call me on Monday with a price.  Umm...it was 2 pm, on a Friday, why not call the tile company right now? His excuse was that they're based in Texas and probably already closed. I'm sorry but how difficult would it have been for him to dial the 10 digits to see if they were still open? Companies that are selling millions of tiles probably have customer service support that sticks around after 5pm. Apparently being lazy was more important to him than helping a customer.

I was so angry after this because now I didn't know what to do about the tile. I need it for the kitchen, we're ready to lay it, I needed to make the decision and get it taken care of today. I don't want to wait until Monday, what if he called me and I thought the price was ridiculous, then I'd be out of luck. I drove nearly 2 hours in the rain to get to Lowe's and now they can't won't help me. I can't order the tile online because it's not on their website. So I decided to do what any logical person would do and I went across the street to Home Depot where they were more than happy to order any tile I wanted. The guy even sat there patiently while Jake and I hemmed and hawed over which color we wanted (they had a larger selection of colors to choose from than Lowe's). To top it off, we got our military discount on the special order and they'll call us in 10 days when it's ready to be picked up.

Lowe's, a word to the wise, when your competitor is literally across the road, don't piss off your customers to the point where they're shaking, because they won't be your customers anymore.

*I've been informed that Home Depot now offers military discounts year round to all military, not just retired.

Finally Making Progress!

This has been a busy week. Our apartment is really coming along and boy are we exhausted. We'd be exhausted anyway but the thing that really kills us is that there are 3 flights of stairs to climb to get to our loft. My legs feel tingly all of the time.

This week's progress so far:

walls & ceiling are textured and primed
the ceiling has been painted
decided on a color and purchased paint for the walls
kitchen cabinets are installed
cabinets installed in laundry room
hardie board is on the floor, ready for tile
3/4 of our belongings have been carried up all of those stairs
bed has been assembled and we have a skeleton of a bedroom set up

We were going to paint earlier this week but there was a big storm and the power was out for a good 18 hours so we couldn't get the color mixed. Then we were going to paint the next day but my dad decided to start installing things and was creating all kinds of dust so we've just decided to paint last, so we don't get dust in our paint.

A lot of the things we're using in our apartment have been saved by my dad from old jobs. All of our cabinets came out of an old apartment building he worked on a few years ago. They're pretty hideous but nothing a few coats of paint can't fix. We have a huge apron sink he saved that we're going to install eventually but it needs some repairs done to the porcelain before we can use it. I think it's so cool that we are finally using this stuff my dad has been holding onto for years.

I had my heart set on butcher board countertops but I've decided to opt for tile since it's less expensive and we won't have to drive 4 hours to get it. Also, we're only planning on staying here for a year or two before we move into the house across the street. We'll spend money to get exactly what we want in that house and save our money on this one.

Dig Out the Paintbrushes.

The primer is up and today we finally get to add some color! 

Wish us luck!

Update: After a storm last night there is no power (I'm at my mom's, she has a generator), so painting will have to wait until the paint store has power and can mix our paint color. 

Our Apartment In Progress: Vol. One

Since we're here, even though we're unable to move in yet, I just wanted to share our apartment with you. I'll continue to do this periodically. I can't wait until I'm able to share a finished product. These photos might not make the most sense, but at least you'll see where we're at.

This is the view from the bedroom doorway. The structure on the right is the stairway. 

The dark doorway over by the office chair is the bathroom. To the left of the door are the two bedrooms.

This area is the kitchen and that little doorway to the right is the laundry room. 

The view from the dining area. 

This photo is blurry but I love the beam in the ceiling. 

Moving Day Debacle.

So we made it to our destination last night, sort of. I mean, we made it, my car wasn't quite so lucky. It's at the dealership being repaired right now. It was snowing really hard and there were downed trees in the road and the underside of my car had a date with one of those trees. We were less than an hour from our destination and after spending 10 hours in the car already, it was really frustrating. We had to wait in the snow for over an hour for the tow truck but at least we were okay.

All the pets are settled in and happy and we're waiting for our apartment to be finished so we can begin moving in our belongings. In the mean time, I'm running a zillion errands and playing with my niece who is visiting from California. She just learned to say, "puppy" as she chases my mom's chihuahua around, so cute!

Our New Apartment

When we move, we'll be living in a new apartment type space that my dad built. He'll be our only neighbor, below and off to the left. He better be a quiet neighbor! Just kidding, my dad is always at work. The space is a 40 x 40 ft. room with nothing in it. My dad just finished insulating and hanging sheetrock. He also is framing in a bathroom and hooking up plumbing and electrical. When we get there, we're going to go pick out tile and bathroom fixtures together. It's really exciting to me that we get to help create this space down to the details, even though it's just a temporary living space. Some of my fondest childhood memories are of my dad teaching me to lay tile and I can't wait to do it again and to teach Jake.

Once we finish the bathroom, we're going to install a kitchen. I don't think it will be too hard since we already have a fridge and stove and my dad has leftover cabinetry from one of his previous jobs. I've been thinking about this space a lot. It's exciting and overwhelming. How do you decorate and manage space in a 1600 sq. ft. room? I mean, I could teach dance in there. I think we're going to dedicate certain areas of the room to different things; use the couches to block off one corner for a living room space, set up a craft area in another corner, and our computers against another wall.

There are two bedrooms that are attached but aren't part of that room, so at least we don't have to have our bed out there for everyone to see. If it were up to just me, I'd paint the entire room a nice bright color with white trim, but since it's not solely my preference, I think we might go with grey walls. Now to start researching the perfect shade of grey. Any suggestions?

I'm liking this shade of grey. {via}

Our Kitchen!!

Have I mentioned that I love our new kitchen? Well I do. It makes me so incredibly happy. It's huge, I mean, you could dance in it that's how big it is (and I have). It's yellow which happens to be my favorite color and as opposed to our last kitchen, there is a lot of counter space. It's really nice to work in there.

Right outside is a cute little covered patio area where I'm sure Jake will be grilling this summer. Right now we're storing our old fridge until my dad comes to get it. His fridge has been acting up so we're trading him our fridge for a dryer. I've mentioned before that I've saved up enough for a washer but not the dryer. Now we've got it all worked out so I get my washer and dryer and my dad doesn't have to spend so much money on a new fridge. The one we are giving him is fairly new and in great condition.

There is so much cupboard space in the kitchen. It's awesome. There is room for everything. Every bowl, pot, and spoon has a place. There's even a nice big pantry to store my dry foods. Downstairs in the basement is another room for storing home canned foods. 

This is where the table will go once Jake makes it. I can't wait to have a table. When I'm chopping a lot of veggies I prefer to do it sitting down because I'm lazy like that. Right now it's a catch all for empty boxes that need to go to the recycle center. They don't pick up recycling here which makes me kind of sad but that's okay. It's not like it's a long trip to the recycling center. Actually, it's not like it's a long trip anywhere in this town. I'm just happy that there is recycling at all.

The Bathroom. Exciting, I Know.

What I really wanted to show you was the kitchen but I didn't get around to making it respectable looking until later in the afternoon, so when I went to take pictures it was night time and they came out all dark and gloomy. They did not do the kitchen justice. So instead, you're getting a photo of the bathroom. It's not even a very good photo. This is the downstairs bathroom. It's long and skinny and painted a weird tan color. I've been having a lot of trouble with blogger today so instead of the two photos I've been trying to upload, you only get one. Sorry. I'll try and post another photo later today, hopefully with some better lighting.

I really love the large built in cabinet next to the door. It's really deep and has a lot of storage space. In fact, this whole house is overflowing with storage. It's awesome because we have a lot of things to store, like box after box of paperwork from the Army/VA, extra computer monitors, blankets, and lots of stuff for Rock Band. Rock Band is awesome but it kind of takes up a lot of space. Now we have a big closet right next to our living room to shove the drums, guitars, mic, and keyboard in.

Moving and Tsunamis.

Our new home. 

Oh my gosh it has been a stressful couple of days. As I'm sure you all know, even the most organized move can bring on a giant wave of anxiety and ours was less than organized, add no heat and an actual giant wave and you've got yourself one stressful situation.

It's a 7 hour drive from our old house to our new house. I decided to make the drive alone on Thursday so I would be here all day Friday for the technician to stop by and turn on our gas (heat) and to put all of the utilities in our names. I didn't have any heat Thursday at the house but luckily the landlord left a little space heater so I spent the night on the bathroom floor cuddled up to the heater. I figured it was the smallest room so hopefully it'd get warmer than the larger rooms.

So here I am, barely sleeping on the cold floor and I get a phone call around 5 am that there was an earthquake in Japan and a tsunami is predicted to hit the Pacific Coast. I never went back to sleep. Almost all of my immediate family lives up and down the Oregon and California coasts and a lot of my extended family. I tried to go back to sleep but I couldn't, so I started calling everyone, even though it was an hour earlier on the coast, to tell them what was happening. Come to find out, my little brother had already done the same thing. After a very anxious morning I am very happy to report that my family is safe and sound but my heart goes out to those in Japan.

Jake and our stuff arrived later in the day and now we have the monumental task of unpacking. Woo hoo! I actually really enjoy unpacking, it gives me a chance to start from scratch and be super organized. Plus, I can take my time.

Anyway, I wanted to share a few of my favorite parts of our new home:

My Salty and Peppy couple looks really cute in my new yellow kitchen that is huge and awesome.

The wall in my shower is covered in these awesome designs of Venice, Italy.  It just might be my very favorite part of the house.