Home Upgrades – Interior Doors

Bifolds
I replaced four of the six bifold doors in our home.  The original doors (similar to: http://bit.ly/cqGar9) were ugly, old and one was jury rigged.  These doors totally changed the look and feel of the place, generally making it feel larger.  I also removed the bifold doors that went to my wife’s closet and replaced them with two 36 inch slab doors that slide, creating bypass doors.

The new doors in the downstairs hallway.

The new doors in the master bedroom.

The new doors for the laundry.

Slabs
These were a pain in the butt to replace!  We replaced four interior doors, two of them were 24 inches wide  and the other two were 30 inches wide.  They were just plain doors, no panels, and pretty boring looking.  We used the old doors as a template for where to place the hinge mortises and lock set holes.  The first problem we ran into was that each old door was a quarter inch shorter, width wise, than the new doors.  So we had the painstaking task of shaving that off of each new door.  The next problem was getting the hinge mortises to the proper depth so that the door would shut on the jamb.  We were successful, mostly,  on overcoming these problems.  There are some imperfections, but it’s the best we could do without hiring someone!

The new master bedroom door.

The new nursery door.

The new bathroom door from the hallway.

The new bathroom door from the vanity side.

Home Upgrades – Windows

The first project I signed a deal on was the windows, way back at the beginning of February! All of the windows are custom sizes, which means expensive.  This endeavor cost nearly twice as much as our next most expensive project, the cabinets!  However, we will be able to reap the tax benefits when we file for 2010!

Earlier this week they came to install them and they are so much nicer than the old ones!

The old front windows.

The old rear window and rear sliding glass door.

They don’t exactly match the old one’s but it’s as close as it can be for 2010.  We aren’t living in 1986 anymore!

The new windows in the front of the house.

The new windows in the rear of the house.

One of the problems with the old sliding glass door is that they are too tall for today’s standards (has to do with hurricane winds and such).  So, the new sliding glass door is about 10 inches shorter than the old door.  Some re-framing needed  to be done inside and out.

The outside of our new sliding glass door.

The inside of our new sliding glass door, love the decorative touch!

Home Upgrades – Cabinets

We replaced all of our cabinets, including in the bathrooms, with Conestoga’s solid maple cabinets in the shaker style.  We also replaced the all-in-one range/microwave.  So, we will start with a tour of the old kitchen.  We had builder grade cabinets that had been painted, not by us, with a butcher block counter top and a soffit.  The bathroom vanities had not been painted so you can see what the original color of the kitchen cabinets were.  There used to be wallpaper on the soffit, but we took that down a couple years ago and that’s why you see some blemishes on it.

Our old kitchen complete with old cabinets and soffit!

Our old kitchen complete with old cabinets and soffit!

Our old kitchen complete with old cabinets and soffit!

My wife's old vanity. Large amount of countertop and large amount of wasted space underneath.

My old vanity.

The first things to come down were the wall cabinets and the soffit.  I put up some plastic sheeting to prevent the cats from getting up into the ceiling and to catch any falling substances.

The kitchen without the soffit and wall cabinets.

The kitchen without the soffit and wall cabinets.

We also took out the bar, which left a little bit of wall damage, but nothing too serious.

The bar was not the easiest to take out.

Here we are stripped down to nothing!  This was quite a site to see, luckily it didn’t last too long, the first wall cabinet went in shortly after the picture was taken.

No more cabinets in the kitchen!

My wife’s old vanity was taken out.  We had to cut away some carpet because her vanity is much larger!

The old vanity has been taken out.

Skipping ahead to completion!  It took a couple weeks to get the finishing touches done.  We had a new kitchen sink, microwave and range put in, the cabinet pulls/handles to install and to re-hook up our water filter.  For the counter top and back splash we used Wilsonart’s HD Laminate.

The cabinet over the fridge is freaking massive!

The back splash is the same as the counter top.

Another angle!

Looking down the line of cabinets.

My new vanity.

The mirror in the vanity is new too.  We took out the huge old one and replaced it with a smaller one that swivels.

My wife's new vanity. The counter top is the same as the kitchen.

Time Travel – Italy and France – Day 9

April 4, 1999 – Paris, France

Today’s Itinerary: Eat Breakfast, Ile de la Cite and Ile de St. Louis, Go to Airport

We got back from La Scala late, so I only got about four hours of sleep.  Others got between 30 minutes and three hours because it was prank night.  Breakfast was exactly the same as yesterday.  The other group had to leave early, so it was just our group.  We went to the Ile de la Cite and the Ile de St. Louis to see the Sainte Chappelle and Notre Dame.  The Sainte Chappelle was interesting because it had a lower chapel and an upper chapel.  The upper chapel was much larger and more elegant than the lower chapel.  The upper chapel has stained-glass windows, which look very beautiful.  We walked by the Palais de Justice and went to Notre Dame.  Since today is Easter, there was a mass at Notre Dame.  The line was quite long, so we had Antonio wait in line.  We walked around Notre Dame and went shopping.  When we got back to the line, we found Antonio close to the entrance, off to the side.  So we cut in line and got to view part of the Easter mass.  We also got to see the Cardinal of France and the famous rose window.  It took us a while to re-find the RER station.  Unfortunately, some of us lost our tickets so some us used the same ticket twice.  My ticket didn’t work so I went around the turnstiles.  We made it to the hotel before the bus came, so we had time to search our rooms for any missing items.  We then boarded the bus to the airport about 20 minutes later.  We had lunch at the airport and we used our coupons, which was good for any meal under 75F.  I had stuffed salmon with honey sauce and french fries.  Looking back on today and the trip in general, I’m amazed that we did so many things in only ten days.  I’ve learned a lot and wishing that it didn’t have to end.  There are so many things we didn’t get to see, but I have no regrets.  This has been the best thing that has ever happened to me and I will never forget it.

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I found some old travel journals and have decided to post them in a series I am unimaginatively calling “Time Travel.”  Here is the last entry, verbatim, from my 1999 spring break trip to Italy and France.  I don’t have any digital pictures from this trip as that was before I got a digital camera.

Time Travel – Italy and France – Day 8

April 3, 1999 – Paris, France

Today’s Itinerary: The Louvre, Tour Eiffel, Lunch, Versailles, Elegant Dinner, La Scala

Tonight’s Hotel: Hotel Sofitel

Morning Departure Time: 10:30?

Today we had a great continental breakfast, which consisted of croissants, bread, eggs, bacon, etc.  We headed off to the Louvre, by Metro after finishing breakfast.  We stood in line for about half an hour only because we cut in line.  We saw Mona Lisa, sort of, everyone was crowded around it.  We also saw the Winged Victory and the Venus de Milo, two famous statues.  After seeing those, our group left the Louvre and walked through the Tuileries to the Place de la Concorde Metro station.  We rode the Metro to the Tour Eiffel.  The wait for the Tour Eiffel was incredibly long, about an hours wait.  We cut in line again and the wait was less than 30 minutes!  Clouds marred the view from the top, but you could still see.  We finished with the Tour Eiffel in an hour and rushed back to the hotel to catch the bus to Versailles.  Versailles is quite large and it took most of the afternoon to tour it.  Also, about six from our group and a few from the other group got lost for one and a half hours.  One person got separated from the other group and it took us about half an hour to find her, she was heading toward the RER station, outside of Versailles.  After finding her, we went back to the hotel to change for dinner, but we had a couple of hours to do so.  Dinner, at Les Grands Marches in the Place de la Bastille, was the best I’ve had yet.  I ordered Le Chateaubriand au Grill, avec Bearnaise and a Pinacolada, which was very strong.  We went to La Scala after dinner.  La Scala is a discotheque near the Louvre.  We had so much fun, and we stayed until 01:50!  The Metro was closed so we had to take a taxi back to the hotel.  This is a day I will never forget!

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I found some old travel journals and have decided to post them in a series I am unimaginatively calling “Time Travel.”  Here is the eighth entry, verbatim, from my 1999 spring break trip to Italy and France.  I don’t have any digital pictures from this trip as that was before I got a digital camera.

Time Travel – Italy and France – Day 7

April 2, 1999 – Chateau Country and Paris, France

Today’s Itinerary: Eat Breakfast, Amboise, Chenonceau, Chambord, Dinner, Evening Sightseeing

Tonight’s Hotel: Hotel Sofitel

Morning Departure Time: 09:00

We started the day by running off the train and catching breakfast at a nearby cafe.  We had croissants, hard rolls, and either orange juice or hot chocolate.  We then drove a couple of hours to the Chateau country.  We visited Amboise first.  It is a nice chateau, kind of small and quaint.  I didn’t make it through the chateau, sadly.  In spite of that, I know that many Protestants were hanged off of the towers.  We bought chocolates in town and had another breakfast.  Next was Chenonceau, and it was about 20 minutes away.  This place was bigger, better, and was much prettier than Amboise.  We ate lunch at a building close to the chateau.  I had a hamburger and french fries.  Chambord the largest of the chateaux was about an hour away.  Inside there was a double spiral staircase.  Where if two people took opposite sides, the will never see or meet each other.  It took about an hour to tour Chambord.  It took about an hour and a half to get back to Paris.  We stopped at the hotel so we could claim our bags and find our rooms.  Luckily for me, my roommates already got my bag.  About an hour later we left for dinner.  We had salad for the first course.  Salmon and potatoes and carrots made up the second course.  And a really good chocolate pudding made up the third course.  After dinner we headed back to the hotel for about 15 minutes to grab our coats.  We then rode the Metro to the Tour Eiffel for a scenic boat ride.  The boat ride wasn’t too bad, except for the line to get on the boat.  The one-hour ride was a good overview of most of the sights in Paris.  It sprinkled during most of the ride but it was just a minor annoyance.  We then rode the Metro back to the hotel ending the long day.

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I found some old travel journals and have decided to post them in a series I am unimaginatively calling “Time Travel.”  Here is the seventh entry, verbatim, from my 1999 spring break trip to Italy and France.  I don’t have any digital pictures from this trip as that was before I got a digital camera.

Home Upgrades – Drywall Repair

We had A LOT of drywall repair that needed to get repaired before  the place got painted.

Crack caused by the moving foundation.

Crack caused by the moving foundation.

Lots of popping drywall tape in the stairwell.

Damage in the nursery caused by ladders when the exterior of the building was painted.

Continuation of the crack caused by the foundation in the master bedroom.

A cracking seam in the kitchen.

Huge crack in the kitchen.

That is just a small sampling of what had to be done!  There are many more spots that I didn’t post up here.  Most of the other work was drywall anchor holes, dimples, cracked or popping tape and various other dings.

It took nine days (not all them were consecutive) of work to get everything fixed!  Along the way drywall guy pointed out a lot of shoddy work, for example:

Large sections of drywall that are not anchored to a stud:

Notice the lack of nails.

Seams that had a combination of paper and mesh tape:

The corner is paper from the ceiling down to where the green paint starts, that's where the mesh and caulk start and run to the floor.

Hanging drywall starting at the floor instead of the ceiling:

Notice the large gap at the top.

Drywall on the ceiling that was laying on top of a wall:

You can see the new drywall nails (or screws) in the upper right.

I’m sure he could have pointed out many more things, but those were the big frustrations he had with the repair work.

As you can imagine, living in the house with all this work being done was not the most pleasant thing in the world, but we are thankful that is is all over and the cracks have disappeared!

Time Travel – Italy and France – Day 6

April 1, 1999 – Nice, Eze, and Monaco, France

Today’s Itinerary: Visit Eze, Visit Monaco, Eat Dinner, Train to Paris

Tonight’s Hotel: Couchettes

Morning Departure Time: 13:00

Jim was nice enough to let us sleep in today.  Some decided to go swimming, but others went shopping, and a few slept in.  Although, we had to check out of the hotel by 12:00 and leave for Eze at 13:00.  Eze is a town kind of like St.-Paul-de-Vence; it is on a mountainside  and has an exotic garden, full of cacti, at the top of the town.  We shopped around for a little while and then went to the Fragonard perfume factory.  They showed us how perfume, soap, and various other body products are made.  We headed to Monaco next.  We sort of went sightseeing in Monaco but mostly we went shopping.  The group I was with, Meaghen, Jacqueline, Ahava, and Carissa, found a vending machine that dispenses thong underwear, it’s the most absurd thing we’ve seen so far.  After leaving Monaco we went straight to dinner in Nice.  Today quiche made up the first course.  Chicken and macaroni noodles made up the second course.  And a strawberry dessert for the third course was pretty good.  After finishing dinner we headed to the train station to catch the train to Paris.  Antonio and my roommates played Poker until a nice family of three took the other three couchettes in our six-bed cabin.  I have been writing this on the train with limited light.  So far the ride has been partially uneventful, the train consists of only couchettes, so there is not much to do.  The rest of the group’s cabins are two cars up, so we have the nice and quiet car.  Luckily for us…

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I found some old travel journals and have decided to post them in a series I am unimaginatively calling “Time Travel.”  Here is the sixth entry, verbatim, from my 1999 spring break trip to Italy and France.  I don’t have any digital pictures from this trip as that was before I got a digital camera.

Time Travel – Italy and France – Day 5

March 31, 1999 – Nice, France and St. Paul de Vence, France

Today’s Itinerary: Sight see Nice, Go to St. Paul de Vence, Evening Activities

Tonight’s Hotel: Hotel Ambassador

Morning Departure Time: 09:00

Today breakfast consisted of croissants, hard rolls, orange juice, and hot chocolate.  We went to the Russian Church after breakfast.  The church was small for its size and elegance, which led to boredom, for me, quickly.  It resembled the big church in Moscow, however.  We then headed to an overlook on the eastern part of Nice to see a beautiful view of the surrounding area.  We kept going up higher and higher, we eventually reached another church and a nice garden.  We saw some roman ruins of a coliseum and ruins of some other building.  The coliseum was closed so we didn’t get any pictures of the inside, but it was much smaller than the Colosseum in Rome.  We went back to the hotel for two hours of free time.  A few people went running while others went walking.  A few people also went swimming, and for the most part they had fun.  For lunch I had American style pizza and water.  Our free time was up and we boarded the bus to St. Paul-de-Vence.  St. Paul-de-Vence is a neat little town with rather narrow streets and plenty of shops.  We went shopping for the most part.  The town had some interesting shops and even had a museum.  Three hours later we headed back to Nice for a quick dinner.  I don’t remember what was for dinner tonight.  Two more hours of free time followed dinner so we could prepare for clubs.  We didn’t have the opportunity to go to the Pam Pam or Wayne’s, the British Pub, so we decided to go to a Karaoke place near the hotel.  We stayed three to four hours.  In order to get in you had to buy a drink so.  I had a beer.  Most everyone sang a song or two.  Karaoke got kind of boring after awhile and some left, but most stayed until the end, which was around 00:30.

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I found some old travel journals and have decided to post them in a series I am unimaginatively calling “Time Travel.”  Here is the fifth entry, verbatim, from my 1999 spring break trip to Italy and France.  I don’t have any digital pictures from this trip as that was before I got a digital camera.

Time Travel – Italy and France – Day 4

March 30, 1999 – Pisa, Italy and Nice, France

Today’s Itinerary: Head to Pisa, See Pisa and shop, Head to Nice, Eat Dinner, Evening Activities

Tonight’s Hotel: Hotel Ambassador

Morning Departure Time: 09:00

The day started with an ordinary breakfast of toast, rolls, etc.  After checking out of the hotel we headed to Pisa, which was about one and a half hours away.  In Pisa we saw the Leaning Tower, the Baptistery, and the Cathedral.  There was a mass for the Italian mafia in the Cathedral, so we couldn’t take any pictures.  We then had a couple of hours to shop.  The shopping was better here than it was in Florence.  I bought a leaning mug, a plaque of Pisa, and a thimble for my grandmother.  For lunch we stopped at an Autogrille.  I had pasta, lasagna, and chocolate pudding with pineapple.  The it was about four hours to Nice.  There were countless tunnels along the way.  After arriving in Nice we went straight to the chocolate factory.  We learned how different kinds of chocolate and candy are made.  The chocolate and candy that are made in the factory are really good.  After checking into the hotel we walked to Le Chantilly for dinner.  We had egg salad for the first course.  Veal and french fries made up the second course.  We had a really good chocolate pie for the third course.  After dinner we stopped by the beach.  The beach is very rocky and not fun to walk on.  We then went to a discotheque called the Pam Pam and stayed for about 30 minutes.  We headed for another but got turned away because there was a private party.  We almost got turned away from a British pub, called Wayne’s, with live music but some how we got in.  We stayed until closing, 15 minutes later.  This pub was crowded and smoky, and not to mention hot.  We might have better luck with the clubs tomorrow though.

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I found some old travel journals and have decided to post them in a series I am unimaginatively calling “Time Travel.”  Here is the fourth entry, verbatim, from my 1999 spring break trip to Italy and France.  I don’t have any digital pictures from this trip as that was before I got a digital camera.