Vacation Time is Time to Get To Work!!

I went on vacation last week and had an awesome time.  I needed to get away and spend time with family and friends.  It was so relaxing and needed but soon as I got home the reality of a half-finished house hit me and I realized this has to be done!!  I  had jetlag so bad yesterday I rested all day long but today it is time to get cracking on this bedroom.  I called a few contractors up and none bit till I started the work.  One called and said he would come over and give me an estimate.  I told him I started the work already so he best hurry up. Either he will come or he won’t, all I know is I have to get this crap done like NOW!!  I have exactly 4 more days for my vacation so it’s now or never.  Ideally I will start with all the work done and the only thing left to do in the new year is paint and decorate.  Yesssss sounds like a plan to me!!

This room presents a few problems. The ceiling is very  low at 7′.  I can not fit the mirror that came with the dresser because the ceiling is about 2″ too low and I do not want to destroy the dresser by sawing down the legs.  The dresser also sits in front of a window that goes through to my sitting room/spare office turned storage room.  The room used to be a porch but it has since been converted to a room.  While the opening is not technically used as a window it does allow much-needed light into the room. I use the shelf for my make up and a few knick-knacks.  As you can see in the photo there is a piece of colored plastic that when I purchased the house I stupidly thought was stained glass.  LOL  whatever.  To not lose any light value in the room I decided to put a mirror in the place of the faux window.  A mirror will add light into the room, allow me to have a mirror  over the dresser and let me keep the much-needed shelf space.  When I was removing the trim I cracked the plastic so now I am thinking of putting in a two-sided mirror.  I priced it and whew it comes to almost $200!! I have to get two mirrors mounted on each side of a board.  It has to be mounted on the board for safety reasons.  That added a bit to the price.  Nothing about fixing up this raggedy behind house is cheap.  God was I crazy for buying this place!!!

Next problem is the ceiling.  As you can see it is badly stained and it is sagging.  I tried putting some screws in it to lift it up to the studs but it did not work too well.  My plan was to pull it up with the screws then paint the whole thing but it is too damaged and it won’t look good.  Even if I drape it, it will still look ugly and atrocious.

Next problem is that I had these light fixtures over the fireplace mantle. I really liked these fixtures as I thought they added so much charm to the room.

One of the mounting pieces broke and the light fixture is so old it would be hard to replace.  I went out and got me some replacement fixtures but then the electrician said while he could run the lines the roof is sooo low over that side of the house he really did not want to do it.  In other words it would cost me extra for him to do the job.  So I had to make a decision as to whether  I really wanted the lights over the fireplace.  I wanted them because they have extra outlets that I could plug in my curling iron to do my hair but if I am going to put the mirror in the window insert I can use the plug over there.  I decided that they can go.  I cut the fixtures off and am going to enjoy a big wide expanse.  Since my bed faces the fireplace I am thinking of putting something up there that I would like to read every morning.  Some sort of praise to God, as a daily inspiration to open my eyes to and a picture or two might also be nice.  I think I am going to like this idea.

Next problem…yes there are more problems…I said this house was old and needs a LOT of work didn’t I?

Okay there are window problems.  One of the original front windows that has the old leaded wavy glass  took a rock jettisoned by the lawnmower without a guard on it and now has a nice hole in it.  I didn’t do it so don’t blame me…anyway…I want to replace the window but hesitated because I was trying to find some wavy glass BUT it’s almost impossible to find wavy glass without paying a fortune for it.  For the last 4 years I been living with a piece of tape over the hole.  LOL so tacky…you don’t have to say it…I know.  What can I say?  So much crap to do in here it gets overwhelming and after a while you get numb to it!  Eventually that HAS to be fixed

Another two windows took rocks that same day.  You would have thought the person cutting the grass would have stopped there but noooooo they said oops and kept going round the house breaking glass including new windows I had put in days before this.  True story!  They was pissed at cutting the grass…can you imagine?

This hole I conveniently used to run my camera wire in the house.  LOL.  I know that has to be fixed.  None of the wires have been properly run yet.  I saw that strange  dude walking through my yard and I threw cameras up all around the place and the wires are all over the place…a mess!!

The doorway between my bedroom and the sitting room/spare office turned storage room also has a broken pane in it.  I am not sure how that happened but I am thinking of blaming one of the grand kids as a reasonable explanation.  I am considering taking the glass out all together and putting in screen…that way the office will not be so cold in the winter or hot in the summer.  I like to let the kids use this as their living room.  They have their own television and couch and they love this room because of the wall to wall windows in it.  They can watch the squirrels and stuff. Yes I think screens will work on this door.  I just have to figure out how to do it.  I hesitated to add this photo because the sitting room/spare office turned storage room is packed up with stuff and its a bit embarrassing so I used a severe angle so you can’t see too much LOL.   I aired all my other embarrassing photos so not sure why this one was a big deal…

Other problems…I have no door on the bedroom.  I took the door off because when it swung in the room it was too cumbersome.  I am thinking of getting some kind of accordion thingy for the doorway.  Oh and the house is leaning in one corner and it needs to be fixed.  I have no money for foundation work right now.  I know they charge at least $1,000 a pier.  I am thinking only two pier needs work but they will have to take off part of the foundation to get to the piers.  I haven’t had an estimate done but from looking at other foundation plans and estimates I think I am looking at a few thousand dollars.  I just noticed when taking photos that it got worse…look how much the dresser is leaning.    It will have to be addressed pretty soon.

okay so here it is 4:30 and all I accomplished was getting the rest of the crown down and updating my blog…Oh yeah… I did cut the wires to the light fixtures and wrapped them in electrical tape and tucked them back in the hole.  Now I am hungry…  Nothing will get done at this pace.  I will take photos and update later.

Just got a call from the drywall guy…he said he can’t come today… is tomorrow okay.  Well do I really have a choice?  Yeah tomorrow will be fine.