July 30th

The walls, the walls, the baby blue walls! They're of a lighter blue than the walls used to paint the kitchen. Note the hideous wallpaper is gone.



Leftovers, taking up valuable living room space.



Our new KitchenAid refrigerator, with all of the other appliances.



The kitchen "closet" becomes a pantry with the addition of a door.



The pantry is open, and my wife has already started putting things inside.



Mirror and pedestal sink, complete with the shades and cellphone of the handyman.



"Why is he taking a picture of a boring ceiling?" Because at one time, this ceiling was covered with ugly brown acoustical tile. Large sheets of drywall now cover that tile, and the whole thing has been painted over. The old ceiling has now ceased to exist.



A new closet in the same room, made wider by the handyman.



The main bedroom, with dark blue walls and white closet door.



Mirror and lights in the main bathroom.



You'd certainly never figure it out by looking at this picture, but baseboards have been added to the bathroom.



Even the bottom of the sink looks nice now.



The little house, seen from the street.

July 26th or so

The copper pipe to the furnace (left) was leaking. Therefore, you could smell gas in the basement when the furnace was turned on. This necessitated a replacement of all the copper semi-rigid pipe with flexible steel pipe. Did it cost? Yes. But our gas outlets are up to code.



The painters make a mess of the basement. They are removing the rubber baseboards, and will paint the basement walls an ivory color. New wooden baseboards will replace the rubber ones.



I find places for books. We begin moving items from the apartment to the house.



More places for books. Five points for each title you can identify.



Judy's error is rectified -- remember her? She locked us out? Well, we have a new door handle. And this one has no inside "knob lock" that would lock without the key.



Countertop, dishwasher, sink, and faucet in all their glory.



Another view of that fine countertop. Makes the old countertop look like lark's vomit.



This is no ordinary door. Not at our house. This one has been painted white.



The bathroom before I begin applying two coats of "Tub and Tile".



The first coat of "Tub and Tile" has been applied.



Okay. Another sink picture. But my wife really likes this sink.



Boy, we sure do have a lot of books!



Now we have some paint on the basement walls!



The cabinets and countertop opposite the sink.

July 21st, 2006

We had two mismatched overhead lights. Mitch the Electrician matched them for us. Since this is the lower level of the house, all that is important is that they match.



Two new sconce lights in the bathroom. The four lights came buried in a huge box filled with 100,000 styrofoam peanuts.



Mitch also sorted out the tangle of wiring under the sink. The light switch will be the switch to the trash compactor.



The funny part. We expected the electrician in the morning and the delivery of a refrigerator in the afternoon. However, Lowe's didn't show up with a refrigerator; rather, we got a washer and dryer. But since we had paid for it, we said, "go ahead and install them."

This is the empty space left by the washer and dryer. They actually had to remove the door from the basement to get them out.



And there they are, and they work. If we get a hankerin' to do laundry at the house, we'll let you know.

July 10th and afterwards....

The walls have been painted! For the first time, you can see the sky blue color of the kitchen walls.



The cabinet doors have now been painted solid white.



This cast iron sink will become our new sink. All I can say is that it weighs a LOT.



The bathroom looks nice and painted.



This is what the bathroom floor looks like, taken up. See that hole in the corner? Rotten plywood, but that will be fixed.



New floor has been put down in the kitchen!



What the entrance floor looks like. The wood tiles will be removed for hardwood floor.



The bad plywood in the bathroom is being removed.



The backyard neighbors.



Bathroom floor problem solved.



All of the entryway plywood floor will be removed.



A long, tough job.



Finally! They got it all off!



The new plywood is replacing the old...a nice, solid floor in the entryway.



The same thing, really. I was bored, so I took a lot of pictures.



I suppose this picture looks better. "Now which is my best side?"



The kitchen floor in all its glory.



The bathroom floor is repaired! Note the bucket. The bad valves are leaking, and we don't want to get water while the new hardwood is coated.



The plumber replaced one of these pipes. Which pipe? Well, you got me there, buddy.



See the dining room. Now, we have both a chandelier and nice blue walls.



"It's talking toilet!" Well, it doesn't talk. But it works, and that's good enough to me. The new sink is to its right (from sitting position).



The new sink. Ruth is proud of this. I'm proud of it because it's a tall sink, meaning I don't have to bend over.



The cabinet doors are back on the cabinets and everything is in its painted glory.



The range and the dishwasher. The plumber spent so much time fixing pipe that appliance placement will come later.



This is how I remember where I live. This is actually the gravestone of the person who lived here before, and I put flowers in front and a pot of milk on top.



Now the wife has me priming shelves! Sheesh!



Ruth has painted the beadboard. But we're having some problems with the shoe molding. Paging Judy...!



Some new tile to fill the gap.