The Odds and Ends

Doing home renovations has a habit of prying every last ounce of energy from you. What starts as a jolted day hopped up on high hopes and triple Americanos ends with little more than dragging yourself into a warm shower while anxiously awaiting sleep. Thoughts of the day's work and tomorrow's promise to keep you awake if only for a few minutes more, thus depleting even more strength. Blogging can compound the issue as there is a never-ending list of things we've accomplished that regretfully don't always make it to the blog.

While my better half spends the day in San Jose putting in another day's work, I am spending the time researching more information for our upcoming tasks, updating the blog and, of course, finding some pool time with the best kid around. While I'm here, I'll take a minute to share all of those delightful little projects that show up unexpectedly and consume hours on end like a circus side show. Sure, they aren't the main act, but attending to them does infact make a little difference that goes a long way.

The builder's of our townhome community had an affinity for wood trim and built-in cabinetry. Both popular, trendy items in 1996 (the year of our home's conception), but not really looking that great after fourteen years. And nowhere near the unique, modern approach we're taking with our new digs. While we hadn't immediately anticipated ripping out wall cabinetry, it became apparent that if we ever intended to do so we might as well do it now so that we could extend our new IKEA Tundra flooring into the voided coves for a finished look. One such cabinet resided in the upstairs hallway:
While we both liked the extra storage space it offered, it would clash immensely with our flooring and our furnishings. An hour of dismantling (via screws) and lugging it downstairs and into the garage (where it will serve as a storage cupboard and eventually be joined by the matching kitchen cabinets) gave the hallway a new open feel that will get some accent paint and modern shelving in the not-too-distant future. The second cabinet to go served as a linen closet between the Master Bedroom and the en-suite bathroom. Less of a cabinet and more of some trim with attached cabinet doors, Nate unscrewed the doors and did the same on the trim, giving way to an open closet with freshly painted shelving (yes, we had the painters give a fresh coat to every corner!). A future trip to IKEA will probably see us covering this open shelving area with a system of industrial hooks, pullies and textiles to offer us a modern look and privacy for storing a bunch of junk (aka. toiletries and cleaners). Being rid of this built-in allowed for Nate to avoid having to precisely cut the Tundra flooring to fit around cabinetry while allowing him to extend it into the hallway and closet spaces giving the area a finished look (pictures to come).

We've been debating a few details, such as the floor trim to use. While IKEA offers a matching Tundra trim (which we utilized as a stairnose piece already), Nate wasn't keen on the look. Likewise, we weren't impressed with the assortment of trims at Home Depot, which were either too small or too intricately detailed. A nice, flat piece of 4" trim (painted to match the walls) will work perfectly for the look we're trying to achieve and should be readily available and inexpensive at a lumber supply store. Once they are installed sometime in the next few days, the floors will no longer lack the trim and the upstairs will be complete:

Burnt out lightbulbs are a petpeeve, so a trip to the local Orchard Hardware Supply led to the purchase of numerous bright, energy efficient bulbs to replace those darkened areas. Also on the list were sets of new doorstoppers (which were altogether missing and necessary to avoid drywall damage- apparently not a concern to the previous owners!), more cleaning supplies and a welcome mat. It will be great to call this place home next weekend when we move in... for now, it's pool time!