Jparks and I were not made for home improvements. Not that we're doing the actual work, but I'm not even made to arrange for it to be done, as is evident by the many things that have gone wrong over the past week. Way to be overly dramatic Regan, because really things didn't go wrong so much as I went "wait, crap, what?" a couple of times.
First we had new stairs put in. This required the carpet on the existing stairs be ripped out, the bare wood sanded, new wood cut, and finally laid on the steps. I wasn't prepared for the sanding portion of this improvement and was shocked when it set off our smoke alarms. I was even more shocked when the dust settled on every single surface of my house. Jparks ordered me and Lily to the bedroom so we wouldn't suck up too much dust and when we finally were allowed back down, the whole first floor was covered in a light dusting of snow. And because I do not have any clue about how to clean, we were stuck with the dust until our cleaner could come. Seriously, shouldn't the stair guy have warned us?
The next project was having our bedroom painted. The guys came yesterday to do it and holy shit, does that room now look awesome. But I wasn't counting on the fumes. The fumes that made us not able to sleep in our room last night and forced us to sleep on the futon. Do you know how impossible it is to go from a king sized bed to a futon? It is very IMPOSSIBLE. I normally wake up a few times during the night, but last night I was awake more than I was asleep. And the fumes are still bad enough tonight that jparks has ordered us back to the futon for another sleepless night. I am seriously considering knocking jparks out with some Benadryl and going to the hotel around the corner for the night.
We still have another set of stairs to have installed and no way to cover the area to prevent the dust again. Thankfully my cleaning lady won't mind the extra work. And we still have more things to paint, but our bedroom is done so my sleep won't be disturbed anymore. Because after tonight, I refuse to share a futon with my husband ever again, so help me god.
Next month we have jparks large shelving unit installed and I can't wait to see what complications can arise from that. Maybe a worker will nail himself to it and have to spend the night in our room. It really wouldn't surprise me at this point in time.
Never. Buying. House.
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ReplyDeleteUgh. Luckily, I live with a guy that does this for a living...he's a painter with his contractor's and electrician's license (and he uses a sewing machine like it's going out of style) so he's VERY handy to have around. If you guys need help, call us (and by us, I mean him, ha) =)
ReplyDeleteMaybe I should cancel my appointment with my realtor tomorrow.
ReplyDelete1. Try getting an air purifier and putting it on full blast in the room where the sanding is happening.
ReplyDelete2. Definitely make the painter use low-VOC paint. When I was about 7 months pregnant I painted the changing table with some low-VOC paint and you couldn't even get a paint-smell if you put your nose right down in the open can of paint. No fumes, no headaches, no worries about the baby. It's totally worth the extra few bucks and lots of colors are available...should be able to get at any paint store. Anyway, the extra cost of the paint has to be cheaper than the hotel down the street.
heh heh heh....
ReplyDeleteFrom what I understand you can't buy anything but low VOC paint in CA. I think your room is stinky 'cause it's your whole room, if it were one wall it wouldn't be as bad. When we painted our whole master this summer it was as stinky as your room and I made sure we had low VOC and that was when I learned you can't get anything but. However when we painted the other walls on the main floor there wasn't a smell at all.
ReplyDeleteThe guy at the paint place also suggested adding a capful of vanilla to the paint and that will get rid of the odour, and he said it won't affect the colour or the viscosity of the paint. We didn't try that though.
That's awesome that you're getting stuff done, though.
ReplyDeleteI just whine about all the stuff that needs to be done, and then do nothing. Which is why my countertops suck, kitchen floor is ugly, and house has needed painting for all 7.5 years I've owned it.
I was not aware that it's all-low-voc in ca; I just went to a special store in Menlo Park to get low-voc paint (I am painting my bathroom purple :-D)
ReplyDelete