Somehow I have been blind to my deteriorating house....

[thefed]

I have soooo much stuff going on that I apparently didn't see my house become scummy right before my eyes. No, it isn't falling apart...no structural problems or anything like that...but just....yuk.


It's been 6 years since we painted...and thanks to me and the kids....it NEEDS it. I had a few old batteries and tires sitting in plain view in the driveway Crap piled on top of crap in the basement (we have VERY limited storage due to our decision to finish our basement). A bifold door that broke in the basement laundry room has been propped against the wall for...uhhh.... 2 years? I've been meaning to re-construct our master bed closet...the width is 47" which doesnt work for modern bifolds...and there never was a door...so we hung a curtain 5 years ago. The hillbilly who builtour addition before we moved in never removed the windows...so there's a window into the master and bathroom from the addition. Never had the gumption to rip out the metal framed windows during rehab so it never got done. Carpet needs replaced in master. Replaced only 2 of 6 doors in hallway..so they are mis-matched and need finished.


The list goes on....and on......


somehow, I became white trash and didnt notice. too wrapped up in making and saving $$ I guess


The wife finally let me have it...and rightfully so...when I told her my plans of buying another repo in the next month or so to keep me busy this winter. Turns out I have enough right here to keep me busy for a lot longer than that....but SOMEHOW I didnt see the whole picture. each individual thing was like..."eh, i can live with that....theres more important things to do"....but collectively I wonder what people REALLY think about us when they come over? the house is immaculate due to wifes OCD, and it's not falling apart...just a bit...umm...not finished? i cant even think of the right words to describe it. At first glance I'd day it looks nice and well-kept....but the devil is in the details!!


ok, end of rant

 

[bbbamI]

i'm exhausted just by reading your post...

 

[harley]

The shoemakers children are shoeless. A common issue.

 

[brewer12345]

When we bought our place 6 years ago, DW was agonizing over three possible shades of paint for the living room. I told her to pick whatever she likes because in 6 months I wouldn't notice it. Sure enough, I have to think about it or go look to remember what color it is.

 

[slimm]

I have soooo much stuff going on that I apparently didn't see my house become scummy right before my eyes. No, it isn't falling apart...no structural problems or anything like that...but just....yuk.


It's been 6 years since we painted...and thanks to me and the kids....it NEEDS it. I had a few old batteries and tires sitting in plain view in the driveway Crap piled on top of crap in the basement (we have VERY limited storage due to our decision to finish our basement). A bifold door that broke in the basement laundry room has been propped against the wall for...uhhh.... 2 years? I've been meaning to re-construct our master bed closet...the width is 47" which doesnt work for modern bifolds...and there never was a door...so we hung a curtain 5 years ago. The hillbilly who builtour addition before we moved in never removed the windows...so there's a window into the master and bathroom from the addition. Never had the gumption to rip out the metal framed windows during rehab so it never got done. Carpet needs replaced in master. Replaced only 2 of 6 doors in hallway..so they are mis-matched and need finished.


The list goes on....and on......


somehow, I became white trash and didnt notice. too wrapped up in making and saving $$ I guess


The wife finally let me have it...and rightfully so...when I told her my plans of buying another repo in the next month or so to keep me busy this winter. Turns out I have enough right here to keep me busy for a lot longer than that....but SOMEHOW I didnt see the whole picture. each individual thing was like..."eh, i can live with that....theres more important things to do"....but collectively I wonder what people REALLY think about us when they come over? the house is immaculate due to wifes OCD, and it's not falling apart...just a bit...umm...not finished? i cant even think of the right words to describe it. At first glance I'd day it looks nice and well-kept....but the devil is in the details!!


ok, end of rant

Aw heck, it's no big deal - just a little attention to detail and a couple of weekends worth of getting after it. RE: the Master Closet, I had the same problem in my latest rehab. Problem easily solved by Lowes. Buy the prefinished (nothing is worse than painting louvred doors) four section bifolds - width is 47 3/4"...simply plane - or have Lowe's do it - a "smidge" off each outside panel, and you are good to go. I recommend you paint & recarpet the Master Suite first, then hang the doors. Place an armoire, dresser with mirror, or large painting over the window....for now.

Well, it's a start, anyway. Baby steps, my friend.

 

[bruce1]

I have a tendancy to do the same thing. I often find something and say I never quite finished that or that looks really grungy now and it relly has for along time. We get used to our surroundings.
Bruce

 

[freebird5825]

i keep a list of things to do/repair for the interior of the house in my email calendar. it chimes at me once a month. during the summer, i blow off indoor projects and do outside stuff. but i do add items.
in winter, i get going on indoor fix-er-up stuff. i call these delayed items "blizzard projects". i make a nice fire, crank up the tunes and get it done.
BTW, thanks for making me notice my living room ceiling needs painting.

 

[Bestwifeever]

The wife finally let me have it...and rightfully so...

This is why it is always good to listen to your wife! You sound like a lucky man to have her, thefed--of course she is lucky to have you, but listening to her sounds like it makes your life better (hope the dog situation is still working out ).

 

[jambo101]

A picture would get the idea across.

 

[FUEGO]

But isn't it easier to just "not do" something than spend the time and effort to do it? There's always something more valuable to do, right?

 

[FinanceDude]

But isn't it easier to just "not do" something than spend the time and effort to do it? There's always something more valuable to do, right?

You have NO IDEA how much that is applies to my house........

 

[Walt34]

Don't feel bad. We bought a brand-new house six years ago. All the rooms are still "builder's beige" because DW can't decide what colors she wants. Heck, it was six months before we hung anything on the walls because she didn't want nail holes in the new house.

Fine by me. I don't care what color the walls are.

 

[Notmuchlonger]

Wish I could have been blind to our house this year. Had to put on a new garage roof and railing Cha ching

 

[tightasadrum]

Well TheFed, that's a wife's job after all. Without them we'd live in a tent and wear ragged clothes, or go without. But don't do what I did.

Three years ago we finally remodeled the kitchen and expanded a bathroom. Spent big bucks. DW had been after me for 32+ years to get it done. Then we sold the house and moved. I knew there was a reason I didn't want to do that remodeling.

 

[ERD50]

Good post, thefed.

Here's is something I find useful, and DW thinks I am being silly - start at the street and close your eyes and mentally clear your mind. Pretend you have NEVER seen your own house before. Pretend you are walking up and thinking of buying it. Now, look at everything with this fresh perspective.

When I do this, I tend to notice stuff that I've walked by 1,000 times and never noticed. Another thing is to just take pictures, w/o even concentrating on what you are taking. Look at the prints. Something about a picture makes things that you normally overlook stand out (that's why you see pictures with a branch growing out of someone's head - we don't notice because we focus on the subject). A while back, we were looking at some birthday party snapshots, and noticed how bare one of our walls was. Adding one pice of inexpensive artwork made all the difference.

Now, since you are young and full of energy, you can make a list and start tackling these jobs this winter. Me, I make the list and take nap

Time for my nap. - ERD50

 

[Khan]

The deterioration does creep up on one.

Every little aberration becomes part of the scenery.

As others have suggested, take pictures; for some reason that shifts the viewpoint (even if you are the only one to view them).

Personally, I have HDD: Housekeeping Deficit Disorder.

 

[W2R]

I made a list of things I need to repair before selling the house in a year or two. Three things require professional help:

1) I need an electrician to figure out why there isn't any electricity getting to the outdoor ceiling fan on my covered patio. I replaced the fan after Katrina destroyed it, only to find out the damage somehow extended to the electrical system.

2) I need a plumber to fix a pencil thin auxiliary gas line to the gas lamp at my front door, broken by Hurricane Gustav, so that I can turn the gas to it back on.

3) I need a carpet layer to replace all the carpet in the house.

But there are several things I could do by myself, mostly including painting on the inside and painting the shutters and doors on the outside. Then I need to get rid of excess belongings and call the realtor.

I have been waiting to do anything until after I retire, when I can sit at home and wait for the plumber, electrician, and carpet guy without having to take vacation time to do it. Hey, maybe I'll hire a painter as well and live a life of ease.

 

[unclemick]

Remodel - itis or repair attacks periodically hit me from time to time every few years.

So far I'm in a lull period.

heh heh heh -

 

[FIREd]

We have been guilty of that as well. We moved into our house about 4 years ago and during the first year we spent quite a bit of time painting, furnishing and decorating our new home. We finished the dining room, living room, family room, the guest bedroom and the office but we ran out of steam before tackling the master bedroom. So for 3.5 years, we had just a bed, 2 tiny bedside tables and an old dresser in a fairly large master suite. It kinda looked stupid. No curtains, broken blinds, nothing on the walls, no headboard... But, we just got used to it. (picture below: our bedroom exactly as it looked between 01/2005 and 08/2008).

We are finally getting around to it. We have bought some furniture, curtains, shades, pictures to hang on the wall and it is starting to look much better.

We should be almost finished this week-end, maybe I'll post a few pictures of our new and improved master.

 

[Moemg]

I usually tackle one large project a year and several small ones . I keep a list of everything I want to accomplish and start checking them off my to do list as soon as I motivate the SO. He's a great handyman .

 

[mountaintosea]

I can certainly understand where you are coming from. After retiring I started to look around the house and decided I needed to finish this cabin that I bought 30 years ago. It's just things here and there that needed to get done. But first I started with a new paint job. Luckily I've found a general contractor to do the work who I get along with etc. As the economy is bad and he needs the work, it's work out for both of us.

 

[Urchina]

We've still got bare concrete in the bathroom where we had to jackhammer up the floor to get at a leak in the pipes buried under our slab. That was 5 years ago.

We started a kitchen remodel exactly one year ago today but it's still not done -- the art isn't back on the walls and we have no window treatments. I really don't care, but it drives DH nuts.

Our master bedroom has serious carpet issues and needs to be painted (has since we moved in 6 years ago), but the thought of moving all the stuff that's in there out of the way makes my eyes cross.

Let's not even start on the bathroom remodel that we need to do (which is why we haven't replaced the flooring yet, because we want to do that when we do the remodel, in a couple of years...)

I need to make a master list and work my way through it, but it's daunting right now. At least you have skills and some time, theFed!

 

[jazz4cash]

When we bought our place 6 years ago, DW was agonizing over three possible shades of paint for the living room. I told her to pick whatever she likes because in 6 months I wouldn't notice it. Sure enough, I have to think about it or go look to remember what color it is.

After several yrs of plain white walls, we decided to paint and DW and I disputed for many weeks whether to DIY or hire a contractor. She won the dispute and hired a contractor. After several more weeks haggling over colors for each room and re-paints because the shade looked 'different' after it dried, two tone, stripes and all sorts of high faluttin, labor intensive treatments........I realized going with the contractor maybe saved our marriage.

 

[thefed]

ugggh.the list is growing. as i mudded and sanded the drywall where the old windows were, i looked at the ceiling and can see all the taped lines. it's smooth...no texture. i tried to texture it 5 yrs ago but wife said no...so i tried my best but it isn't perfect. wouldnt ya know she now wants texture. so, i textured the ceiling this morning,andlaid my final coat of mud on the ex-windows and 2 closets.

i also just ripped out our bedroom door to begin that part of the list....new one will be in later this afternoon. but since i will be replacing the door casing on both sides, we will need to replace our outdated baseboards to match.woo hoo.

while we were getting supplies yesterday, wife decided we need another light with pullchain in a far corner of storage....so im doing that today as well...

did i say ugggghhh?

 

[thefed]

no mas! no mas!!! We ended up $700 poorer after visiting lowes again today....doors, doors, lots of paint and primer, door casing.....


UGGGGHHHH